-The Indian Express This is a record high since 1950 and is almost twice the rate at which the overall population grew. The number of Indians over the age of 60 has hit an all-time high, accounting for 8.6 per cent of the country’s 121-crore population, according to latest official figures. A report released by the Ministry of Statistics on Thursday said that the number of citizens over the age of 60...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: An NGO has questioned a move to have national security adviser Ajit Doval address a conclave of Supreme Court judges today without a counterbalancing presence of human rights activists to present an alternative view. In a letter to Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms has argued that the three-day judges' retreat in Bhopal that ends tomorrow should also invite rights activists...

-Livemint.com/ Bloomberg Corruption being rife though, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has boosted agricultural wages and rural-labour market Over the last 10 years in India, perhaps no other law has sparked such sustained debate as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), universally known as ‘Narega.’ Passed by the previous Congress government in February 2006 and upheld by the Narendra Modi administration, it’s given rise to the...

-The Tribune The Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi, conducted a survey to gauge the impact of the switch to cash transfers on the consumption patterns of the poor in Chandigarh. The preference for kind vis-a-vis cash transfers was recorded. Importantly, public opinion found no place in the decision- making process. Feroza Begum had to make a choice between food security and her children's education. Allow me to rephrase it: Feroza Begum had...

Amidst the prevailing gloominess over agrarian crisis, a recently released report says that the growth rate of agricultural output in both India and China were the same during 2008-2013. The agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) of both these countries on an average grew at 3.3 percent per annum during that period. The latest available data from the 2016 Global Food Policy Report, however, indicates that the neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka...