-Newslaundry.com The government has sold coal blocks for far cheaper prices than they fetched five years ago. In 2015, the Narendra Modi government auctioned two coal blocks in Chhattisgarh. Gare Palma IV/1 fetched a bid of Rs 1,585 per tonne while Gare Palma IV/7 was auctioned for Rs 2,619. The bid for the first block was too low, the government claimed amid allegations of cartelisation, and cancelled it. In case of the...
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An urban jobs safety net -Rajneesh
-The Hindu It is time to formulate a wage employment-based national urban livelihood scheme similar to MGNREGS During the pandemic, we have again and again faced the difficult choice of saving lives versus protecting livelihoods. According to the World Economic Outlook report of April, 2021 of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), almost all countries, except China, experienced economic contraction last year. The global GDP shrunk by 3.3%. The contraction in the U.S.,...
More »Official data corroborates deepening of livelihood crisis in urban areas during the 2020 nationwide lockdown
The recently released quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data broadly confirms the dip in employment and jobs during the countrywide lockdown period, followed by a certain degree of recovery in the post-lockdown months last year as have been indicated by various survey-based studies and research papers. The quarterly bulletin on PLFS provides data on key employment and unemployment indicators i.e. Unemployment Rate (UR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Labour...
More »Financial burden of child births is rising in India -- even in free public health facilities -Prem Shankar Mishra and TS Syamala
-ThePrint.in ISEC Bangalore researchers studied NFHS data to find that out-of-pocket expenditure for a normal delivery at a public facility is higher for rural households (Rs 5,368) than urban (Rs 4,330). Maternal and child healthcare services in India – including antenatal care, natal care (institutional delivery, or births delivered in a medical facility), postnatal care, and childcare – are meant to be free of cost in public health facilities. Several policies and...
More »14 States set to reopen schools for classes X-XII
-The Hindu Almost 50% of teachers vaccinated. At least 14 States and Union Territories have reopened or plan to reopen schools partially this month, given the continued low numbers of COVID-19 infection and the high rate of vaccination among teachers. However, almost all States only plan to bring back older students despite the Indian Council of Medical Research’s recommendation to start with primary school students. At a Health Ministry press conference on Tuesday,...
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