-The Hindu Workers’ union in Rajasthan adopts motto ‘Let there be dignity of labour and decent wages for work’ Jaipur: Unorganised workers from different sectors in Rajasthan, who formed their first-ever union two years ago, have sought recognition of their labour rights for getting minimum wages, social security, monthly ration through public distribution system and implementation of law with the guarantee for 100 days of work in a year to each household. The...

-The Indian Express Viable solutions to PDS portability are being ignored in the push for Aadhaar. Migrants’ woes are often invoked in making a case for portability of benefits in the public distribution system (PDS). Most recently, an article (‘A hundred small steps’, IE, September 26) did just that. However, in many cases of short-term seasonal migration (a dominant form in India), only one or two of the household members migrate,...

-TheWire.in The lack of a cohesive legislative framework stigmatises domestic workers and is a colossal disservice to those who rely on domestic labour for their livelihood. Shipra Mondal has been a migrant for almost her entire life. Having first moved villages after marriage, Mondal has since shifted around, within the state of West Bengal, numerous times and now lives in a slum in East Kolkata. Her husband works at a construction site,...

-Newsclick.in Till October 2019, over 2.5 crore applicant households were turned back when they sought work under the rural job guarantee scheme. It would have seemed natural – indeed, imperative – that, as India grapples with a deadly slowdown, with agricultural economy growing only at around 2% and rural joblessness hovering at a shocking 8%, the government would infuse some energy in the implementation of the rural jobs guarantee scheme (MGNREGA). This...

-Financial Express The government’s proposed Unnati scheme, if it works as planned, offers MGNREGA beneficiaries a ticket out of the programme, and, in the long run, out of poverty. It has been clear for a long time that MGNREGA is barely the poverty reduction tool it is often made out to be; at Rs 204 per day per person, the average wage rate across the country is too low to sustain a...