-The Hindu Study finds that bondage has spread from farm sector to fast-food chains, carpet-making units BENGALURU: The banned system of bonded labour, albeit with a new twist, still survives among us. About 7,646 people are forced to work in bondage in different districts of Karnataka, according to a report submitted by a committee constituted to study the prevalence of the practice in the State. The committee, headed by journalist Sivaji Ganesan, submitted...

-Business World In the run up to Independence Day, Professor Ashok Gulati wrote a scathing critique of what he has described as “elitist biases in public policy”, that ignore the reality of the masses in rural areas. The reality he describes is that of low rates of growth in agriculture; a sector that majority of Indians still depend on.  He lamented the excessive preponderance of economic policy discourse in the country...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Haryana panchayati raj law stipulating educational qualifications for contesting the forthcoming local polls, which according to the petitioners created an insurmountable barrier for an overwhelming majority of women and Dalits. After hearing senior advocate Kirti Singh, a bench of Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre stayed the Haryana Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Act, 2015, which mandated educational qualifications for...

-The Times of India With the introduction of a minimum educational qualification to contest panchayat elections, an overwhelming majority of the rural population in Haryana and Rajasthan rural population has been effectively barred from contesting. In Haryana the minimum qualification is matriculation for unreserved seats while it is class eighth for seats reserved for women and Scheduled Caste candidates. Census 2011 data shows that only 16% of the rural population aged 20 or...

-The Hindu Across the country, unless adequate jobs are created for the large labour force, the frustration of the youth is not likely to be contained. In Gujarat, the Patels or Patidars, who constitute about 15 per cent of the State’s population, are an economically and politically dominant upper caste. As successful farmers, as small and big industrialists, as traders as well as non-resident Gujaratis, spread practically all over the world, they...