-The Hindu Textile traders and cotton farmers say they’re suffering unprecedented losses. For a State half whose population is linked to textiles, such a crisis could have far-reaching consequences. With the Assembly polls scheduled in Gujarat later this year,  A.M. Jigeesh explores whether this financial adversity could have political repercussions Hours after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was launched at a midnight gala on June 30, 2017, a 38-year-old textile trader,...

-The Hindu Peoples Action For Employment Guarantee says rule that mandates recording attendance on a mobile app is a violation of the NREGA law The Union Rural Development Ministry must withdraw its order to discontinue manual attendance for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme work sites with more than 20 workers to replace it using a mobile phone-based application — National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) for recording attendance, the Peoples...

-Hindustan Times The announcement came hours after 17 opposition parties decided to field former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, currently with the Trinamool Congress, as its consensus candidate, after its first three choices demurred. Droupadi Murmu, the former governor of Jharkhand, will be the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) nominee for the July 18 Presidential election, and most likely the next President of the Republic. The decision to nominate her was taken at the...

-The Hindu The government should re-establish its role as the principal employment generator With his announcement that 10 lakh government jobs will be provided over the next 18 months on a “mission mode”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent four messages. One, the creation of employment is indeed a problem and can no longer be hidden from the public discourse. Two, the private sector, especially modern sectors such as the service and manufacturing...

-The Hindu   Why has the revision of textbooks in the State triggered opposition from several communities, writers and students? The story so far: A textbook revision committee headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha was set up in Karnataka following a memorandum submitted by the Karnataka Brahmin Mahasabha to the Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh. The memorandum demanded revision of Class 6 Social Science textbooks on the ground that they “hurt the...