-Down to Earth The central government has mandated digitally capturing the attendance of all workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGnregs). Labourers and activist groups have opposed this and pointed out several loopholes in the move. The National Mobile Monitoring System, which came into effect on January 1, 2023, was launched with claims of bringing transparency and eliminating corruption at the ground level. Pilot tests began in May 2021 at...

- Factly.in Data sourced from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs Statistical Handbook 2021 indicates a significant fall in the number of short duration and half-hour long discussions in the Lok Sabha in recent terms. The data was compiled and published by Factly.in.  The data indicates that the largest number of half-an-hour discussions was in the fourth Lok Sabha (1967-70), where this format was used by members 183 times. The first Lok Sabha...

Jharkhand's government schools have a massive teacher shortage, a survey by Gyan Vigyan Samiti Jharkhand has found. The survey was conducted in 138 primary and upper primary schools between September and October 2022 to assess their condition after the Covid-19 pandemic. Jharkhand's school system was shut for two years, among the longest in the world. Teachers told the surveyors they felt that most students had forgotten how to read and...

-TheWire.in/ With PTI inputs The state government will recover costs of the spoiled procured wheat from officials. New Delhi: Haryana’s deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala on Tuesday (November 15) said that 58.59 lakh metric tonnes of paddy have been procured in the state during the current season, far exceeding the target of 57 lakh MT. Chautala said that nearly 98% farmers have already received the payment amounting to Rs 11,819 crore directly into their...

Contrary to the rising economic distress on the ground since the last few years, the official press release related to the fourth Annual Report on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) at first glance seems to give a rosy picture about the employment situation in India.  Defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force, the unemployment rate in usual status (principal activity status + subsidiary economic activity status)...