-Hindustan Times Several announcements — a bad bank, the proposal for a development financial institution, and bank recapitalisation — aim at reforming the economy. But these will not respond to the structural inequalities caused by the pandemic Covid-19 is a crisis like no other. And, expectedly, it has wreaked havoc on the Government of India (GoI)’s financial arithmetic as it struggled to deal with collapsing tax revenues and increased expenditure pressures. Therefore,...

-Hindustan Times The farmers want to take out the rally on Outer Ring Road, while the police have suggested alternate routes. With protesting farmers refusing to budge from their decision to take out a tractor rally on Republic Day, the administration has geared up to stop them. Hindustan Times' sister publication Livehindustan reported that Uttar Pradesh government has asked supply officers in all the districts to not give diesel to protesting farmers. Thousands...

-Hindustan Times Among the major concerns of the gram sabhas with the proposed acquisition of the forest land is that it is being done without their consent and even before the land is diverted under the provisions of the forest conservation act Ten gram sabhas from Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, mainly consisting of people from the Gond tribe, have raised objections to Centre’s intention to acquire 712.072 hectares (ha) of land for mining...

-Hindustan Times Maternity benefits should be a right of all workers regardless of employment status, or the number of children The key findings from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) of selected states have reminded us that India is facing a crisis of poor nutrition outcomes. Prevalence of stunting among children has remained stagnant or increased in most of these states. The appalling under-nourishment of children reflects poor maternal nutrition, widespread anaemia...

-Hindustan Times The concentration of political and economic power has made democratic contestation challenging. Citizens are finding other methods Fearing that India’s controversial proposed farm laws will disproportionately benefit a few corporate magnates, farmers have made Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance storefronts and Reliance Jio infrastructure the sites of major protest over the past few months. While Ambani has insisted that his company has no plans to enter corporate farming, his purported political networks...