-Networkideas.org In recent times, the clamour for formalising economic activity, or shrinking its unorganised component and expanding the organised, has been heard from diverse sources. There are those who want formalisation to occur because the unorganised sector is seen as being largely outside the direct and indirect tax net, depriving the government of much needed resources. Hence, for example, one feature seen as favouring the Goods and Services Tax regime is...

-The Hindu Business Line They account for a third of the agricultural workforce, but don’t get the benefits and opportunities the menfolk enjoy India celebrated its first Women Farmer’s Day on October 15, but the word farmer or kisan is still seen as being synonymous with a male farm worker. This perception is built on two assumptions — first, farming is a masculine profession; and, second, when women are involved in farm...

-Livemint.com The production of ‘mahua’ is finally entering the formal economy as new initiatives seek to upscale this indigenous drink, selling it across the country and even the globe It is a cloudy morning in Nangur village in Bastar district, Chattisgarh. It is a settlement of a little over 400 families, considered fairly large in these parts. We make a bumpy journey down a narrow, unpaved road intermittently shaded by sargi (sal)...

-Press release by Baatein Aman Ki dated 13th October, 2018 Baatein Aman Ki is a pan India campaign led by women to spread the message of peace, harmony, tolerance and love, and to safeguard Constitutional values. Five yatras with 125 women have travelled across 22 states of India from September 22nd, holding public meetings with diverse sections of society. Over 600 programmes have been organised in 200 cities, towns and villages....

-The Telegraph Daltonganj: If you are a government schoolteacher in a Palamau village and want your biometric attendance recorded, better be nimble at climbing trees. The Raghubar Das government’s digital dream needs a leg up on a palash tree on the campus of an upgraded plus two school in Sohree Khas village in Satbarwa block, 41km from Daltonganj. Since September 25, when Palamau district administration gave the co-educational school with 800 students a...