-Newsclick.in The cheer and celebrations all around following the PM's announcement, however, do not improve the farmers’ situation or ease their struggles. On the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Prime Minister Modi announced his government’s decision to repeal the three farm laws that were to impact the lives and livelihoods of people -- especially the very small and marginal farmers and the common people i.e. the consumers of farm produce.  This is...

The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-ThePrint.in Greater formalisation will see a shift from low-paying, labour-intensive jobs in informal sector to more productive, formal-sector jobs. This could lead to disruption in short term. A report issued by the State Bank of India (SBI) last month estimated that India’s informal economy has shrunk to 15-20 percent of the GDP in 2020-21 from 52 percent in 2017-18. The report uses employment and digitisation to assess the extent of formalization in...

One is almost certain to hear this from an economist that if something is available at free of cost or at a subsidised rate thanks to government intervention, then people tend to overuse or overconsume such goods/ commodities. So, the best solution is to create a market for such 'almost freely available' or 'highly subsidised' goods or commodities. Once people start paying to use or consume such goods/ commodities, they...

-The Hindu However, suicides among landowning farmers dropped slightly during pandemic year The number of Agricultural Labourers who died by suicide in 2020 was 18% higher than the previous year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released on Thursday. However, suicides among landowning farmers dropped slightly during the pandemic year. The farm sector was one of the few bright spots in the Indian economy last year, recording growth on the...