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Disparities among Indian workforce are stark. Gender and educational inequalities are alarming. It has been revealed at a time in the Annual Bulletin on Additional Indicators based on data collected in Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), July 2019-June 2020 released recently, which it could not conceal despite tampering with definitions, and providing data on only usual status that does not reveal the current status on the ground.

Panchkula: In-form Amandeep Drall, is all set for an encore, having won at Chandigarh last week, the Kapurthala based golfer starts strong favourite in the 11th leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour at the Panchkula Golf Club.

October 16 marked 38 years since the death of Maurice Bishop, leader of the tragically short-lived People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada (PRG). The PRG was formed when the New Jewel Movement (NJM), led by the widely popular Bishop, seized control of the country from the U.S.-backed dictator Eric Gairy. Although the NJM government lasted only four years before Bishop was killed in a military coup led by Bernard Coard (after which the U.S. invaded to destroy the remnants of the movement), Bishop’s humane and popular policies, as well as his internationalist perspective, remain an inspiration to students of the Grenadian Revolution.

The Prime Minister launched National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) on 27th September 2021 giving high hopes that it will bring about drastic improvement in healthcare of our people. The mission is basically to collect and compile health data which has been made easy by the modern technology. Maintaining database on health can be helpful in planning for healthcare. It is also useful for the epidemiologists and research workers in health to analyze health situations from time to time. Already several IT organizations have come up with systems to maintain such details. Patient does not have to carry several pages of her/his medical record as these can be obtained with click of a button. Many corporate hospitals have such systems installed.

The recent high frequency indicators suggest an ongoing economic recovery in India, but pressures of inflation have been elevated along with several other uncertainties. Though IMF assessment for India after Article IV Consultations has said ‘inflation eased to 5.6 per cent in July returning to within the RBI’s inflation target of 4±2 per cent’ it should not be a matter for complacency either for the government or the people. We need to tread carefully.

Maybe in a decade, or a decade and a half, the only Hindu left in Bangladesh could be India’s envoy to Dhaka. That if that gentleman happens to be Hindu. The story is that at the rate at which the Hindu is racing towards "endangered species" status in Bangladesh breaks hearts. In fact, the Bengal Tiger would think it’s better off than the beleaguered Bangladeshi Hindu.

The highly unsatisfactory conditions of prisons and prisoners often gets reported in India. To what extent is this related to budget-related factors? Analysis of official expenditure data for prisons for 2019 throws some light on this issue. Data from ‘Prison Statistics India 2019’, published by the National Crime Records Bureau, shows the total budget allocation for prisons was Rs. 6,818 crore. However, the actual expenditure was Rs. 5,958 crore during the financial year 2019-20. Prisons spent 34 per cent of this on inmates. In 2019-20, this figure was Rs. 2,060 crore.

The principal ruling party of Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf under the Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi, is, to say the least, facing a crisis of existence and identify as the PTI-led government in Islamabad sets its foot into the last year of four-year tenure. The state is towards bankruptcy as its aggregate debt shot up vertically to Rs 149 trillion. On the other hand, signs of strained relationship between the PTI government and miltablishment are more than manifest on the choice of Director General, Inter-Services International, country’s top intelligence outfit and an arm of armed forces. Thus the PTI government has a two-sided battle for existence.

Ten years after Occupy Wall Street movement took over a small park in downtown Manhattan, the new left that was birthed there continues to develop and grow. The occupation of Zuccotti Park — and the numerous other occupations that it inspired — was short-lived, but it transformed the political landscape in the United States and beyond. At Zuccotti, a tent city thrived with newspapers, a library, a kitchen, and dozens of working groups, and it buzzed with constant political discussion about a world in which 1 percent of the population enriches itself at the expense of the rest of us, the 99 percent. A decade later, writes Occupy participant, documentary filmmaker, and author Astra Taylor, the US political situation “remains far more promising than it was at the start of the last decade.”

Recently, the food delivery apps Swiggy and Zomato have come under severe criticism over social media over the plight of food delivery workers. It has been alleged that these workers are not only severely underpaid, but are also not getting the minimum job security that they rightfully deserve.