India’s employment crisis: Jobless growth, threat of automation, and impact of climate change on productivity
Unemployment and underemployment have always been important issues in post-Independence India. We have always been a primarily agrarian, labour-surplus economy with low capital stock that has manifested in low industrial productivity and a largely non-remunerative, monsoon-dependent agricultural sector. Key metrics for measuring the health of the job market are the
Editor’s Note | Vaishna Roy writes: Will India vote for what really matters?
As Prime Minister Modi stokes divisive fears, can the opposition offer a compelling alternative focused on lives, livelihoods and liberties? As I write this, a blazing summer is well underway across the country accompanied by the return of vitriol to the campaign trail. Prime Minister Modi’s brazenly communal reference to
India’s middle class is caught in a vortex of economic woes and divisive politics
The BJP is only discussing religion as opposed to the country’s struggling economy. | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak India is on track to surpass Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy in 2025, a year earlier than the International Monetary Fund previously projected. If that is the case, India’s booming economy
Food inflation in India has been accelerating at more than 8 per cent year-on-year since November 2023
At the halfway mark of India’s elections, food remains a pinch point, for both consumers and producers. Inflation numbers bear the pain out: even as the overall retail inflation rate remained virtually unchanged in April, food inflation surged to a four-month high of 8.7 per cent, where rural consumers bore
Despite Election Commission’s campaigns urging every citizen to vote, millions of India’s migrant workers find it nearly impossible to exercise their democratic right.
“Among every 1,000 men in our villages, around 300 voters are working outside the State. It is not possible for all of them to return to cast their vote,” says Habib Biswas, 29, from Faridpur in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, who drives heavy vehicles for a living. He is, however,
Digital Darkness: India leads the world in internet shutdowns
WATCH | Digital Darkness: India leads the world in internet shutdowns In light of India’s ranking in global internet shutdowns, watch this explainer about the reasons behind such shutdowns, internet blackouts in other nations, resultant fallouts, and so on. | Video Credit: Camera and editing by Samson Ronald K.; Presented
The other ‘Coal Scam’ – Frontline
More than a decade ago, when media and civil society were going gung-ho against the then UPA government for the “Coalgate” scandal, the furore was focussed on a report prepared by an independent institution, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, that revealed evidence implicating the Union government and
Gujarat: Before industry, comes the safety of lives
This year, Gujarat’s Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said his government aims to become a $500 billion economy by 2026-27. Much of this stellar growth, said Patel, was thanks to the State’s ease of doing business, investor-friendly approach and robust industrial infrastructure. By extension, it would make sense that a State
World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2024: 134 Years to Parity, India Ranks 129th
The Global Gender Gap Report 2024, released by the World Economic Forum, presents a dire picture of the current state and evolution of gender parity across four indices: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. It would take 134 years, that is, till 2158, to
India Heatwave 2024: Deaths, Crop Failures, and Economic Impact Highlight Climate Vulnerabilities
In his book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet Jeff Goodell writes; “We simply have not come to terms with it, especially in the way I am describing. It is not how anyone expects to die. In part, it’s because we live in