- Scroll.in India prohibited manual scavenging in 1993. But it took another 20 years to expand its legal definition to include the manual cleaning of drains, sewers and septic tanks. Mumbai, with the richest municipal corporation in India, was among the worst offenders when it came to the implementation of the 2013 law. Records maintained by the Safai Karamchari Andolan, a national organisation working for the rights of sanitation workers, show 19...

-Deccan Chronicle HYDERABAD: In a move that is likely to trigger a fresh controversy between the BRS government and the Centre, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has issued directions to its officials in Telangana state to accept only fortified raw rice for public distribution (PDS) starting on January 9. The FCI's circular may spark a verbal spat between the Telangana government and the Centre because some rice mills throughout the state...

-The Telegraph About 20 workers would come to the work site every day, get photographed for attendance carrying basketfuls of soil or digging the earth, and then leave without doing any real work New Delhi: This summer, Gaudsahi village under Kapileswarpur gram panchayat in Odisha’s Puri district began renovating the village pond under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. About 20 workers would come to the work site every day, get...

-Scroll.in After years of criticising the state government, the AAP is now in power in Punjab. But farmers remain sceptical of the proposed solutions to the problem. In early October, the paddy in Punjab’s Sangrur district was in the final stages of ripening. Fields rippled in various shades of green and golden-brown, the latter indicating crop that was almost ready to be harvested. The picturesque landscape belied a problem that the state had...

-The Telegraph After decades, Bengal’s jute mills are witnessing a steady influx of women workers, The Telegraph on the troubles woven into the trend When an industry opens its doors to women workers, it can expose how regressive its factory floor is. The face of the jute industry in Bengal has changed over the last 50 years; now more than ever because of the large presence of women.  Once these mills were known...