-The Indian Express EPFO manages social SECurity funds of workers in the organised/semi-organised SECtor in the country. EPF is applicable to establishments with more than 20 workers. New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO’s) enrolment numbers, which formed the basis for an ‘independent’ study released earlier this year that the government cited as an indicator of buoyancy in formal job creation in the economy, has now been sharply whittled down for...

-Hindustan Times The key to this problem lies in the way political and electoral financing are conducted in this country The stranglehold of political parties on the electoral and political system continues to increase with time. The anti-defection law, passed in 1985, formalised the control of political parties even on Parliament. Despite a large number of candidates on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), the candidates with a realistic chance of getting elected...

-TheWire.in While the pre-matric and post-matric scholarships recorded staggeringly low numbers of beneficiaries, the merit-cum-means scholarship, which is given to students enrolled in professional courses, was less affected. New Delhi: Recently, at a conference on ‘Islamic Heritage: Promoting Understanding and Moderation’ in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a speech, “The Government of India is leaving no stone unturned in empowering the Muslim youth. We want them to have the...

-The Hindu Constitutions are needed not only to limit wielders of existing power but to empower those traditionally deprived of it The recent judgment by the Supreme Court clarifying the respective jurisdictions of Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor and its elected representatives and specifying the limits of their powers once again underlies how fortunate we are to have the Constitution. Why should gratitude be expressed for living under a constitutional democracy? Why do we...

-TheWire.in It will greatly bring down the poverty reduction impact of the programme, harm the construction of much-needed rural infrastructure and dramatically diminish the labourers’ bargaining power vis-à-vis the farmers. At the recent fourth governing council meeting of the NITI Aayog, the government announced the formation of a sub-group of chief ministers to propose ways of linking the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with agricultural activities. The group is headed...