Only 7% of households, on average, have worked the full 100 days guaranteed under the programme, while wages are low and allocations inadequate.

Migration is a tool to fight oppression and an opportunity to improve living standards. But when higher caste groups move into these destinations, the same hierarchical patterns emerge.

India’s prisons were 21% over capacity, better than 31% in 2022. But three in four are under trial, and less than half the prisoners identified for release were actually released.

India is reported to have 573,220 prisoners, based on the latest government data released in 2023. The majority of them — more than three in four — are undertrials.

State legislation on gig work is a requirement considering the scale of gig work will increase over the next few years, say experts.

The Public Distribution System needs to diversify the food basket it provides, and expand coverage to account for the population increase since 2011, says economist Reetika Khera.

Since 2019, the budget allocation for the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that has 129 million active workers has been consistently lower than or at most same as the previous year’s revised estimates

Migrant workers from various eastern states in Ernakulam say that returning home to vote means job loss and incurring high expenses which many do not want to risk.

The notions that the colonial British government had was derived from classical Hindu texts, says sociologist Surinder Jodhka. Reality of caste is local and fluid and linked to many issues like employment and land ownership.