-The Hindu It was a long struggle for Suvam to get his ID cards printed with only his mother’s name The PAN allotment process is perhaps not as cumbersome as it used to be. But for Suvam Sinha, it took seven years to get his PAN card and other documents — the way he wished them. That is, without his father’s name on them. On February 11, the 23-year-old celebrated his victory with...

-NDTV.com The electricity workers are protesting against the privatisation of the electricity department. Chandigarh: Large parts of Chandigarh have been left without electricity and water for over 36 hours after a major power outage following a three-day strike by electricity department workers. Thousands of homes have been without power and water supply since Monday evening and traffic lights are not working in many areas in the city. Government hospitals have rescheduled surgeries. The Chandigarh...

-Press release by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 2 February, 2022 Notwithstanding the rural distress, implementing NREGA is a legal obligation of the Central government. However, the demand-driven nature of the Act has been repeatedly stifled in letter and spirit. By severe rationing of funds, it has been made a supply driven programme. Today is NREGA diwas and while we are supposed to be celebrating the idea of rural employment guarantee, we...

-The Hindu Study by Libtech India blames official apathy for improper bank account linkage HYDERABAD (Telangana): A total of 4.7 lakh farmers in Telangana have not received either part or full benefits under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, a study by Libtech India, a research group, found. Under the scheme modelled after Rythu Bandhu scheme of the Telangana government, the Central government is transferring ₹6,000 annual benefit each to eligible farmers in three...

In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...