'Cost of primary education (class 1 to 5) has increased by 31% between 2014 and 2018, shows a comparison of National Statistical Office or NSO (formerly National Sample Survey Office) survey reports for the 71st Round and 75th Round. This is mainly fuelled by a staggering increase in private schools, both aided and unaided varieties. Similar increases have taken place in other higher levels of education, the reports show...'
'What happens when you ask leaders in the Narendra Modi government why they resent criticism? You get publicly hauled over the coals – and told you “hurt national interest” – by a whole army of Bharatiya Janata Party ministers and senior leaders. On Saturday, Bajaj Group chairman Rahul Bajaj asked a group of ministers – including Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal – some tough questions on lynching, Pragya Thakur and the government’s ability to accept criticism...
'Biocon Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw on Sunday said the government did not want to hear any criticism on the economy while expressing hope that it reaches out to India Inc. to work out solutions to revive growth. Shaw’s remarks came a day after veteran industrialist Rahul Bajaj said the people were afraid to criticise the government...'
'The assault on Dalit gender equality activist Bindu Ammini, by a fervent Ayyappa devotee, reveals the fragility of the Hindu nationalist male ego and a deals a chink to the Hindutva armour... Like other nativist and anti-pluralist projects, Hindutva is premised upon the restoration of a primeval order that involves the dominance of man over woman, father over son, savarna over avarna, avarna over Dalit, fair skin over dark, state over subjects, religion over law, priest over devotee, teacher over student.
'India’s economy grew at its slowest pace in six years for the second quarter of this fiscal year, according to official data released by the government on Friday evening. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth rose just 4.5% for the quarter ended September 2019, in a development that reinforces concerns that the Indian economy is slowing down and unlikely to record 6% growth for the whole fiscal year. In ‘gross value added’ (GVA) terms, the economy grew at 4.3% compared to 4.9% in the previous quarter.
'Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the national trade union affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has come out against the government’s labour reforms, saying the proposed law against the interest of workers. The government tabled the Industrial Relations Code, 2019 in the Parliament on Thursday. The Bill seeks to offer a slew of benefits to industries by curtailing compliance burden as well as employee benefits.
'The Centre has admitted in parliament that the unemployment rate in rural areas nearly doubled from 2.9% in 2013-14 to 5.3% in 2017-18. In the same period, there was over 50% increase in unemployment in urban areas. The most striking trend has been the rise in unemployment among urban males from 3% to 6.9% during the two year period from 2015-16 to 2017-18...'
'The Assam government, which had announced that all the households in the state have had a power connection since the end of March this year, said in parliament that two lakh households had not been electrified on that date...'
Electoral bonds are bearer bonds, introduced as a mechanism for individuals and companies to donate money to political parties in India in 2018 by the BJP government. They were introduced without consultation and ignoring objections of the Election Commission and the RBI. Electoral bonds worth Rs.
'A government committee set up in February examined computers and pen drives and interrogated officials in charge of printing documents in an effort to identify the source of a leaked report showing that unemployment figures had hit a four-decade high in the year after demonetisation. Details of the report were published in the Business Standard in January, after the government’s refusal to release the data prompted two senior officials of the National Statistical Commission to resign in protest the same month.
