As more companies ask their employees to return to office after the pandemic, the share of women employed in regular salaried jobs in urban India decreased from 54 per cent in the first quarter to 52.8 per cent in the second quarter of the current financial year, according to the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data. The slump in the share is the lowest in wage employment in any quarter in the last six years when the National Statistical Office started releasing the quarterly PLFS surveys in Q3 of FY19. The share of women in wage work was highest in Q1 of FY21 at 61.2 per cent.
We need real laws to protect whistle-blowers, and even more than that real action should be taken against perpetrators, says Sandip Sukhtankar.
Each bottle of pickle that leaves FarmDidi, headed to a consumer, has a little kahani behind it -- it's linked to the tale of a life, the life of a simple, striving village woman who created it, and that's what gives Manjari Sharma satisfaction and happiness.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget proposals lay out a comprehensive road map for transforming India into a developed nation, focusing on key priorities that aim to generate ample opportunities for all citizens in "Viksit Bharat". It sets the stage for sustained economic growth, social development, and technological advancement.
'The government should come back as a job creator as it did in the 1960s and the 1970s.'
'MGNREGA is definitely like a lifeline and is the employer of the last resort'
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said he will participate in the party's protest programme in New Delhi on October 3, a day after he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in connection with the school jobs scam in Kolkata on the same day.
'Elections are fought to win.' 'In our party, the leadership takes the final decision, and our leaders are very clear about it.'
The government has revised the wages for unskilled manual workers under the national rural employment guarantee scheme by indexing it to inflation, Rural Development Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said.
However, in 950 booths, voting will end at 4 pm, though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to exercise their franchise.
The generation of quality jobs and skill development should be the focal point, cutting across ministries and departments, asserts Nivedita Mookerji.
With the fiscal deficit target staring at the government, the FY25 Budget has limited expenditure options, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee along with party leaders and workers sat on a dharna at the Rajghat in New Delhi on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary on Monday demanding the release of funds for West Bengal by the Centre.
Watched by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi who is in the forefront to ensure that United Progressive Alliance's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is a success, Rural Development Minister C P Joshi said, "Everywhere, including in Parliament, there are doubts in everybody's mind that the way in which NREGA should function, is not happening."
Member of Parliament can now allocate funds from their local area development scheme kitty for rural employment guarantee programmes. The move that comes just ahead of Budget is aimed at providing the much-needed fiscal cushion to operate the UPA's most ambitious social security programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
On October 1, Union Cabinet cleared the proposal of the rural development ministry for naming National Rural Employment Guarantee Act after Mahatma Gandhi.
The government on Friday renamed its flagship rural job guarantee programme - National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) - after Mahatma Gandhi.
'BJP and RSS may have differences over minor issues but their hearts long for one common aim -- that of A Hindu Rashtra.' 'And this time to prove this point the RSS has prepared to help BJP win this election with all its might.'
The government is committed to provide Rs 100 a day as wages under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, said finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Scheme faces pincer attack with a proposed higher proportion of expenditure on material, reducing the budget available to pay wages and focus on implementing it only in 2,500 blocks.
'Last Saturday, the largest number of people travelled by air on a single day!' 'There is a kind of hunger among consumers to spend as they have been confined to their homes and not spending for almost 2 years.'
'We are confident that over the next few years the government will strike a fine balance between populist measures and growth, and manage coalition partners well.'
The government on Friday admitted certain flaws in its flagship rural employment programme like irregularities in payment of wages and said steps were being taken to set them right.
The unemployment rate for women was last this low around Diwali in 2022. The unemployment rate has dropped for women from 14.9 per cent in December 2023 to 11 per cent in January 2024, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). It was higher in January 2023 at 13.5 per cent.
Sources in the Rural Development Ministry said the actual expenditure incurred in 2020-21 will be higher than the allocated funds and it will at least be at par with this year's total estimated expenditure of MGNREGS.
The Budget proposals are expected to boost the fortunes of consumer goods and fast-moving consumer goods companies, which have been struggling with poor consumer demand for more than a year. The Budget announcements, such as the increase in standard deduction by Rs 25,000 for income-tax payers and slab revisions, will put more money in their hands, boosting consumer demand. Private consumption is also likely to benefit from a new scheme to offer internships to 10 million youths in the country's top 500 companies.
The proposed exemption in customs duty on import of lithium, cobalt and other rare minerals in the Union Budget 2024-25 is likely to lower the battery production cost and help in making electric vehicles more affordable for the buyers, auto industry leaders said on Tuesday.
Enclosing the money with a letter, the workers affiliated to the Gram Swaraj Mazdoor Sangh "expressed concern" at the "meagre" hike as they felt that the central government was facing "paucity of funds", otherwise the wages would have definitely increased in tune with Jharkhand's minimum daily wage which is Rs 212.
Mortgage finance remains a structural growth opportunity in India with a policy focus on affordable housing, housing shortages, low mortgage penetration, and rising incomes as drivers. Affordable Housing Finance Companies (AHFCs) serve the mass market, low-income segments, which is the least-serviced category, and to operate in this segment, the mortgage provider needs good assessment skills. AHFCs and HFCs have also been increasing exposure in other mortgage segments (loan against property, developer loans among others).
Of these 8.5 million additional people employed in September, 6.5 million were in rural India, reveals Mahesh Vyas.
The TMC general secretary, considered number two in the party, shared the letter sent to him by the central agency on X, formerly Twitter.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the actual spending under the scheme in the fiscal year ending March 31 "would be highest".
The government's ambitious rural employment project MGNREGA has come under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court which today said money was not reaching real beneficiaries and in many cases going to wrong hands.
The Odisha government told the assembly over 40,000 workers migrated from the state last year, with the highest number -- 26,151 -- from Balangir.
'Given our turbulent neighbourhood, the prime minister is likely to emphasise on democratic dividend as the reason behind India's continuous prosperity.'
Indian pharmaceutical companies are stepping up their efforts to combat the problem of counterfeit drugs, employing a variety of strategies, from packaging innovations to engaging private investigation agencies. The stakes are high, as counterfeit medicines not only harm consumers but also tarnish the reputation of leading brands.
The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, (IIT-KGP) has lined up four courses for rural development this year to facilitate skill development among the rural youth as well as create self-employment opportunities.
Naveen Patnaik is known as an "absentee landlord" who needs bureaucrats like Pandian to run his government.
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