'India has slipped to 102 position in the Global Hunger Index 2019 of 117 countries, behind its neighbours Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Seventeen countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores of less than five, the website of the Global Hunger Index that tracks hunger and malnutrition said on Wednesday. The report, prepared jointly by Irish aid agency, Concern Worldwide, and German organisation, Welt Hunger Hilfe termed the level of hunger in India "serious". In 2000, India was ranked 83 out of 113 countries.
'The Bharatiya Janata Party released its manifesto or “Sankalp Patra” for the Haryana elections on Sunday... The manifesto, which has 15 chapters and 248 points, has been termed by the BJP as its vision document for “The Haryana of My Dreams”. Khattar said the manifesto is in line with the principles of creating a “Ram rajya”... Since Haryana has earned the dubious distinction of becoming the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country at around 28%, the manifesto also makes promises for promoting industry and providing jobs to the youth...'
'The release of richest people’s lists is usually a signal for much back-slapping and triumphalism in the corporate world and its hangers on in the media. It is seen as some kind of symptom that India is doing well, people are getting wealthier, achhe din (good days) are here, although such lists are only for a 100 people (as in the case of the Forbes India list) or perhaps more (as in IIFL Hurun list), in a country of 1.3 billion people.
'In its July 16, 2019 issue, Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) mouthpiece, spat venom against the public sector in general and against BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) in particular. The magazine published an article, wherein it is stated that, “laziness, indifference and barren dullness are the well-known marks of the public sector”. By publishing such an article in the Organiser, the RSS has exposed its true colours vis-à-vis the public sector of the country.
'Declaring the indefinite strike by unions of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) illegal, chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said more than 50,000 protesting employees will not be taken back into service. Employees of the public road transport body have been on a strike since Saturday morning, demanding the corporation’s merger with the government. Among the other demands were filling various posts and better pay and job security. A call to strike was given after talks with the government failed to make any headway...'
'A set of new surveys conducted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on consumer confidence in the economy, as well as how the country’s manufacturing sector has been impacted by the slowdown, reveals an unflattering picture. Taken together, they point out how the two major drivers of the Indian economy, investment and consumption, have indeed slumped over the last few months...'
'...Privatisation is being introduced in diverse ways. Some public sector enterprises are earmarked for outright sale, not just loss-making ones, but even those which make handsome profits. In others, the government intends to reduce its own share of equity below 51% through disinvestment. In still others, the idea is to break up the total activity into several different individual activities and to privatise some individual activities by divesting the public sector of those; this last route is what is being followed with regard to the Railways.
'Business and commerce is suffering one of the worst phases in Kashmir’s history, say trade leaders, as the ongoing crisis following the clampdown and communication blockade continues to cripple business leading to economic losses across sectors. The losses, as per the estimates of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industries (KCCI), have crossed over Rs 5,000 crore in the past two months after the Centre imposed restrictions on August 5, in the wake of abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories...'
'The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has given in-principle approval for relaxing air pollution standards for coal-fired thermal power plants. The decision was taken on May 17, 2019 in a meeting chaired by the ministry’s joint secretary, Ritesh Kumar Singh... It is noteworthy that before the meeting, the CPCB had sent a monitoring report on seven units of four thermal power plants to the Ministry of Environment on May 2, 2019. The pollution body found that emissions at just two units out of the seven exceeded the 300 mg/Nm³ emission limit.
'The decision of a bench of the Delhi High Court of comprising Justices D N Patel and C Hari Shankar on Friday September 27, to issue notices to different government bodies – the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and its wings, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the National Housing Bank (NHB) – to investigate the allegations levelled in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a non-government organisation, the Citizens Whistle Blowers Forum against I
