COVID-19 labour laws dilution: ‘Neo-liberal character has eroded welfare state’

We have moved back to the 19th century in regard to labour laws, says labour economist KR Shyam Sundar

How we reviewed NDA’s interim budget last year

Modi government’s maiden budget was a patchwork of abandoned schemes being revived or existing ones being re-named. Despite some fund …

A hard rain’s falling

Sayantan Bera tells the story of a man and a state, paralysed inside the remote islands of Sundarbans

West Bengal labour department's tea garden survey kept under wraps

Excerpts and recommendations from the unpublished survey report of all tea gardens in the state that reveals miserable living conditions of …

India becomes first country to adopt an agroforestry policy

Four-day world congress on agroforestry in Delhi pushes for accelerating growing trees on farms for sustainable agriculture and mitigating …

‘Restore land to tribals; allow them to be self-reliant’

K K Usha Raju took charge as president of Attappady block in Kerala seven months ago. She is 31 years old and belongs to Muduga tribal community. …

Funds for social welfare cut drastically in revised budget estimates

Ministers write protest letters to prime minister and finance minister, saying it would greatly impact ongoing schemes

Have technology, will survive

A green agenda based on the paradigm of pollution prevention can rescue the small-scale industry

Mere plans

Government proposes. Industry disposes. Programmes for cleaning up have very largely gone by the wayside

Rice at risk

Growing paddy is not viable for small farmers of Kerala. Will the state be able to preserve the crop which delivers a number of ecological …

Supreme Court order triggers NREGS wage debate

How much should workers under rural employment scheme be paid if minimum wage fixed by a state is more than that of the Centre?

Green energy takes toll on green cover

A forest generated by residents in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district is being destroyed to set up windmills

The small big polluter

Resource crunch and poor regulatory processes have made small-scale industries the pariahs of India's environment

Sponge iron industries are killing fields

The sponge iron industry is growing fast and polluting alarmingly. K Radhika in Chhattisgarh and Maureen Nandini Mitra in Jharkhand and Orissa …

Cash transfers do not benefit

Jitendra visited three districts in Rajasthan to meet people who are supposed beneficiaries of UPA government’s much-touted Direct Benefit …

Will India officially be poverty free in 2023?

National Statistical Office rolling out consumption expenditure sample survey; may note impact of central schemes adding to people’s income

PMO orders huge cuts in social sector spending for 2015-16

Employment guarantee, rural road and sanitation schemes among those likely to be affected

MPs funds to now be used to develop over 2,000 ‘model’ villages

Ministry of rural development will channelise MPs’ funds through different schemes for Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

Mission possible

The Centre gives India just about eight years to free its villages of open defecation. This seems unlikely. But the states of Sikkim, Haryana and …

Half-way to autonomy

Decisions by Maharashtra’s top forest official can empower gram sabhas prepare plans to revive their forests, but a policy is awaited

Angry Vidarbha farmers vote for BJP

Congress loses its bastion for failing to implement poverty alleviation schemes and inadequate disaster relief for farmers in distress

COVID-19: Centre’s financial package through DBT attracts criticism

Financial assistance given to approximately 390 million beneficiaries, says Union government, countered by experts who say stranded migrants left out

Rare takes on the year just passing by

Being a Down To Earth reporter entails merging the personal with the professional. The magazine you so dearly own has a fascinating world hidden …

Tensions that continue

While launching this newsmagazine, our founder-editor Anil Agarwal had said that in the years ahead, India will have to seize every possible …

‘Rethink economics of poverty’

Want poor families in north India to immunise their children? Offer the parents a small bag of lentils as an incentive and vaccination rates make …