The Telegraph Over 60 scientists have signed a statement accusing the Indian Council of Agriculture Research of trying to ‘silence the voices’ of public sector scientists Sections of scientists on Monday asked India’s apex agricultural research agency to revoke what they described as a “gag order” intended to prevent former government researchers from articulating concerns about genetically modified mustard. Over 60 scientists have signed a statement accusing the Indian Council of Agriculture...

-The Hindu How did the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust acquire personal information of voters? Can the data be recovered? The story so far: On November 16, Bengaluru’s civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said in a press release that it had cancelled permissions granted to the Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust to conduct house-to-house surveys to help create awareness about the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral...

-Hindustan Times The umbrella body of Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Delhi have issued a charter of demands seeking a more ‘liveable, breathable and commutable’ city. The umbrella body of Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs) in Delhi have come up with a ‘People’s Manifesto’ for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, issuing a charter of demands seeking a more “liveable, breathable and commutable” city. The manifesto issued by United RWAs Joint Action...

-The Telegraph Citizens’ participation in policy-making is an important factor in assessing the quality of democracy Within five days of the announcement of Agnipath, the scheme had been amended 10 times, raising the larger question concerning consultation in policy-making. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has taken a number of policy decisions without public consultation — from demonetisation, which saw 60 changes in 43 days, to GST, which has been...

Do you want a job that does not pay you at all? The answer will be surely 'no' for most of us. And yet, in our previous analysis, it was found that the proportion of 'helpers in household enterprises' among the total number of workers grew over various rounds of annual PLFS (Periodic Labour Force Survey), from 13.3 percent to 15.9 percent between PLFS 2018-19 and PLFS 2019-20, and then...