-Scroll.in It is time for citizens to set an agenda for long-term governance, writes Anirudh Krishna in this excerpt from ‘Re-forming India’. Fixing the cycle of poverty – preventing descents and enabling escapes – is eminently possible. Other middle-income countries have much lower levels of poverty. It requires, however, that things work well in the public realm – that everyone, and not just the few who are assisted currently by social service...

-Frontline.in The Oxfam India report on employment says jobs remain a huge challenge in India where half of the workforce depends on agriculturefor livelihood. Employment, or the lack of it, has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the general election this year. Most surveys show that the single biggest concern preoccupying the electorate, especially the youth, is unemployment. The very fact that the Government introduced a quota for the...

-News18.com The report states that women are much worse affected than men because they have higher unemployment rates as well as lower labour force participation rates. Bengaluru: India’s unemployment reached its highest at 6 per cent in 2018, double of what it was in the decade between 2000 and 2010. According to a report by Azim Premji University's Centre for Sustainable Employment, 50 lakh people lost their jobs after Narendra Modi’s...

-Livemint.com * Over 40% of India is in the grip of abnormally dry conditions. Will the elections bring any relief? * The situation in Maharashtra is approaching the 2016-like crisis, when consecutive years of drought forced the state Government to supply drinking water to Latur by train NEW DELHI: Between November of last year when Sharad Markad opened a cattle relief camp in drought-hit Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra and now, the price of...

-Mongabay.com * The Marathwada region in Maharashtra is in the midst of another drought. While most of the area is dry, some villages practising watershed development are surprisingly green. * In the absence of political interventions some villages are going into self-help mode. Villagers allege vested interests in ‘man-made’ drought. * Lack of policy changes and political will have also been blamed for current situation. * Meena Menon travelled extensively through the drought-hit districts...