-The Hindu Business Line Trade union seeks urgent measures to alleviate pain of joblessness, drastic fall in income Trade unions and industrial associations painted a grim picture of the unemployment scenario in the country at a recent meeting of the Labour Standing Committee. The trade unions demanded urgent measures such as direct cash transfers to address job loss and wage loss, while the representatives of industries demanded a re-look at the current...

-Newsclick.in Modi government has been mercilessly hiking up taxes on petrol and diesel to take money from the people and boost its resources. Since the prices of petroleum products were deregulated some years back and supposedly “linked” to markets, the central government has weaponised this to simply impose an indirect tax burden on the people. Take the four big metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. On an average, petrol prices have increased from...

-The Hindu Council leaves the 5% tax levied on vaccines unchanged. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday decided to waive the tax levied on two critical drugs against COVID-19 and mucormycosis — tocilizumab and amphotericin B — and reset the tax rate to 5% for 14 major pandemic relief items, till September 30. Non-BJP-ruled States registered a strong dissent, terming the continued imposition of GST on critical COVID supplies and...

A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the countrywide lockdown imposed on 25th March, 2020, which was extended for nearly two months in phases, affected the food and nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the Indian population. It says that a programme like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme covers four-fifth of primary-school-aged children in the country that helps in improving not only nutrition but also...

-The Hindu “This is a George Floyd moment for India’s citizens, with the refrain – I can’t breathe," the court says. The Delhi High Court on Friday held the Government’s imposition of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on oxygen concentrators imported for personal use as ‘unconstitutional’ and said oxygen concentrators constitute a life-saving device during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a George Floyd moment for the citizens of this country. The refrain is...