-Hindustan Times Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh appreciated Irom Sharmila saying that she has sacrificed half of her life staging dharna and hunger strike for 16 years as part of the anti-AFSPA movement. IMPHAL: Hours after the Centre removed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from several parts of three northeastern states of Assam, Manipur and Nagaland, the Manipur government has decided to felicitate “Iron Lady” Irom Chanu Sharmila for...

In the absence of income or expenditure-based headcount ratio, the growth in the real wages (i.e., nominal wages adjusted against retail inflation) of the manual workers is considered to be a good proxy to assess the trends in poverty. This is because the manual, unskilled/ semi-skilled labourers exist at the bottom of the pyramid or economic hierarchy, and most of them belong to the social categories Scheduled Castes (SCs) and...

-Financial Express With the fertility rate falling below replacement, challenges of higher dependency, burgeoning healthcare and social security needs will emerge. India must mount the necessary policy-response The time has come for India to turn a new leaf on population policy. The country’s fertility rate has already fallen below the replacement level, 2, according to the latest data from the National Family Health Survey, which was largely collected before the nation felt...

-IDROnline.org/ TheWire.in "The problem with Indian democracy is that despite the presence of millions of voters, the pool of decision makers get smaller and narrower at the top." Aruna Roy is a social activist and founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Her work and leadership led to the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005—a landmark act that empowers citizens to demand transparency and accountability from government institutions....

-Behanbox.com New Delhi: Usha Sahu, 45, a Mitanin trainer from Bemetara district in central Chhattisgarh was in for a  shock when she checked her bank account in October. The bank had deducted Rs 2000 from the 4,000 rupees that she received as a special incentive for the Covid-19 duties for the months of April to September, 2021. “When the other Mitanins in the block started complaining about the deduction, I checked my...