-Vikalp.ind.in In a recent interview with the Swarajya magazine, the Prime Minister of India apparently said, ‘more than a lack of jobs, the issue is a lack of data on jobs’[1]. For those of us who have been using the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) data on employment and unemployment for decades now, such a statement made by the government, come as a surprise. As a researcher I have been using...

-The Times of India JAIPUR: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has shot off a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to discourage states, particularly Rajasthan, from diluting the laws governing temporary suspension of telecom services and issuing orders for shutdown of internet and data services. In its letter dated August 8, the representative body for telecom service providers said that, as per rules, the direction to suspend internet services...

-Livemint.com India’s richest districts are situated along the western coastline while the poorest are clustered in the easternmost parts of the country, shows analysis Mumbai: Where do the affluent in India live? That’s the million dollar question consumer goods firms, marketers, and analysts often struggle to answer because of patchy and unreliable data. For the first time in India, an Official data source provides detailed data on household assets and consumer durables that...

-howindialives.com/ Livemint.com The recent protests by the Marathas might have roots in the declining returns from farming across Maharashtra between 2006-07 and 2014-15 Falling farm incomes in rural Maharashtra might be an important factor fuelling the current spate of protests by the Marathas, who are demanding reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. The net returns from farming, or wholesale prices minus costs of production, declined for most of the major crops...

-Outlook The collection of separate figures for suicides of farmers and farm labour has started in 2014, the year in which there were 5650 farmers committed suicides as against 6710 cases of farm labour suicides. According to the latest figures released by the government, farmer suicides in 2016 have come down to 6351 from 8007 in 2015, a drop of 21 per cent.  Suicides among agricultural labourers, however, have gone up by...