-NDTV A recent headline in Quartz, an otherwise serious media agency, claims that JAMmu and Kashmir is the first state in India to "commit to a universal basic income" (UBI). A glance at the original source quickly negates this claim: it is based on nothing more than "seeds of a thought" (sic) from the Finance Minister of J&K about possible cash transfers for a small minority of poor households. This is...
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Farmer suicides up 42% between 2014 & 2015 -Priyanka Kakodkar
-The Times of India MUMBAI: Farmer suicides in the country rose by 42% between 2014 and 2015, according to newly released data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It recorded 5,650 suicides by farmers and cultivators in 2014. The figure rose to 8,007 in the latest data. Several states across the country battled severe drought in both 2014 and 2015. Some, including Maharashtra, experienced two successive years of drought. With 3,030 cases,...
More »Among larger states, most parties in UP and Tamil Nadu; fewest per capita in West Bengal -Jay Mazoomdaar
-The Indian Express De-listing of 255 parties by the EC has thrown up data on distribution of India’s minor political outfits and the nature of political entrepreneurship in the country. On December 23, The Indian Express began reporting a multi-part series on 255 political parties that had been de-listed by the Election Commission after it found that none of these had put up a candidate for any Vidhan Sabha or Lok...
More »Poor swiped out in choice-less, not cash-less, society -Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey
-The Indian Express For the poor, with little cash in the first place, digital promises to ‘swipe’ them out, before their marginalisation is even addressed. Demonetisation is, by its very nature, an autocratic, coercive step. The demonetisation of November 2016 has affected every single Indian. We are, as usual, persuaded to bear the pain and suffering, to “sacrifice” for the nation. The rhetoric continues but it now seems clear that the objective...
More »Right to Food activists demand for safeguards to reduce hardships of demonetisation
A press statement issued from the Right to Food Campaign on 27 December, 2016 says that the demonetisation of old currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- denomination wreaked havoc on the livelihood security of the poor people. The labouring and toiling masses, who are mostly engaged in the informal sector, have been adversely affected due to the scrapping of old currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/-...
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