-The Indian Express Unorganised sector is worst-affected by demonetisation. Can banks go to them? An incident in 2000, during my initial years of work, woke me up to an uncomfortable question about post-economic liberalisation India. I was at a meeting with waste-pickers at Digha in Patna and a woman told me of her troubles with a Rs 500 note. She had saved money and changed it into a Rs 500 note, wrapped...

-HardNewsMedia.com A lack of jobs and an abundant workforce have meant that the agrarian states of India have become tinderboxes waiting to catch fire Statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s annual report, “Crime in India”, reveal that in 2015, the number of ‘agrarian riots’ have increased by a whopping 327 percent. The number of cases of ‘agrarian rioting’ increased from 628 to 2,683 in one year. The bulk of...

-PTI Job creation in India successively slowing down; employment might shrink 7 million by 2050 As many as 550 jobs have disappeared every day in last four years and if this trend continues, employment would shrink by 7 million by 2050 in the country, a study has claimed. Farmers, petty retail vendors, contract labourers and construction workers are the most vulnerable sections facing never before livelihood threats in India today, the study by...

-The Times of India New Delhi: A toilet that runs on solar power, has a water ATM to provide drinking water and vending machines for snacks and sanitary napkins: The city's first smart toilet, inaugurated on Sunday by the New Delhi Municipal Council at Rafi Marg to mark the second anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, has all that and more. NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar said the smart toilet design would be...

-The Indian Express An enduring solution to India’s water woes lies in buffer stocking during monsoon months and release during lean seasons. Till June end this year, the government was worried about how to cope with back-to-back drought. But by the second half of August, the scene changed dramatically and several states were in the spate of floods. In Bihar, more than five million people have been affected and 6,50,000 displaced from...