-The Indian Express From September 28 to October 1, Patna received about 400 mm of rainfall. With all 39 sump houses remaining non-functional till October 1, at least 60 per cent of Patna faced water-logging. * “Any modern city requires four basic infrastructure systems in place to function efficiently — drinking water supply system, storm water drainage system, sewage system and sewerage network system, and solid waste management system. Patna Municipal...

-The Indian Express More than 90 per cent of the cane returns are spent by farmers. as cultivation cost and for repayment of crop loans. So how would these farmers survive for a year or more without receiving their entire produce amount by a sugar mill? The sugar industry was unanimous in hailing the push given by the Narendra Modi government for the production of ethanol. The policy, which was unveiled...

-The Hindu Patience and perseverance are required to get information under the RTI When journalists seek information under the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, there are many surprises in store: the information is often denied or responses to queries are pARTial because the “information is not available”, or “doesn’t pertain” to the depARTment contacted, or is stated to be under the category of exemptions (any information which could affect the sovereignty...

-The Hindu While indexation of the NREGA wages is critical, lifting them to the minimum wage would help workers and the economy The government made two recent announcements at two ends of the spectrum to mitigate the economic crisis. One concerns a new indexation of NREGA wages meant to increase rural incomes. The second is a reduction in corporate tax rate. Prices of commodities increase each year, so it’s important to accurately estimate...

-The Hindu The decision was taken during a tripARTite meeting at Kolkata’s New Secretariat Building where representatives of the workers’ union and planters’ association met Labour Minister Moloy Ghatak. Kolkata: The West Bengal government and the Tea Planters’ Association of Darjeeling hills on Friday agreed to the demand of tea garden workers across 87 gardens in the Darjeeling hills for a 20% bonus. The decision was taken during a tripARTite meeting at...