-Newsclick.in Story of the tribal women of South Gujarat who form nearly half the workforce of 2.5 lakh sugarcane workers yet are the worst exploited in the sugar industry Manisha Sunilbhai Shinde, a tribal sugarcane worker of Jarsol village in Dang, Gujarat, is a mother of one at the age of 20. Married to a sugarcane labourer at the age of 15, she went from working in her parent’s koyta unit to...

-Science.thewire.in * In the near-term, the IPCC report reaffirms that India can no longer afford to ignore the very real developmental challenge that climate change poses at home. * In a significant development, the government’s statement contains a clear and welcome acknowledgement of the relationship between climate change and extreme events. * To embark on a low-Carbon development pathway, however, India will need an institutional architecture with a more strategic bent. “It is unequivocal...

-The Hindu There is rock solid scientific evidence to demand the cancellation of many upcoming and approved hydel projects In normal circumstances, when a mistake is understood and suffered, one tends to learn from it and not repeat it. Unfortunately, this does not hold true in the case of the policy makers who are bent upon permitting projects and large-scale infrastructure in the already fragile and vulnerable Ganga-Himalayan basin. Recurrent disasters in...

Generally, economists refer to indicators like Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) and Unemployment Rate (UR) in order to assess the extent of joblessness and work related preCarity at a particular period of time in a certain geographical area. However, there are other indicators too, which can help in understanding the job situation, livelihoods security and vulnerability of workers in a better way such as 'percentage distribution...

-Down to Earth Tanks have fallen into disrepair for lack of a clear community ownership; but farmers, mostly women, are now being paid for its upkeep There is a reason why tanks — water bodies that store rainwater for irrigation — are in abundance in Karnataka. The state does not have many rivers; nor does it receive a lot of rainfall.    Karnataka’s Kolar district is dotted by these tanks, which have assumed...