-The Telegraph Experts say government measures facilitate supply of poor quality equipment and threaten to hobble country’s research efforts The Narendra Modi government’s Make-in-India campaign and e-marketplace initiative have stirred frustration among scientists who say these measures facilitate the supply of poor quality equipment and threaten to hobble the country’s research efforts. The Make-in-India campaign embedded in the Government-e-marketplace (GeM), a portal for online procurement, appears to have ignored the realities of India’s...

-The Hindu Business Line  The latest PLFS report shows that urban India has recouped jobs lost during Covid, but there are some structural shifts As Covid wanes, India’s high-frequency indicators suggest that economic activity is normalising quickly, with high-contact services such as trade, hospitality and travel being the latest to revive. NSO’s latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the April-June quarter of 2022 shows that the growth revival is reflecting in...

There is euphoria abound about India's growth performance during the first quarter of the current fiscal. As compared to the corresponding period last year, the year-on-year (y-o-y) GDP growth in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022-23 is down. However, one should take into account the fact that the high growth performance of the real GDP in Q1 of 2021-22 was due to the low base in the corresponding period of...

-The Hindu Business Line The Centre should build on the success of PMJDY to promote other financial products for the lower sections of society As the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) completes its eighth year, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a rare State-initiated welfare scheme that has not just met but exceeded its initial promise. That the scheme has made a material difference to financial inclusion is evident...

-Hindustan Times As the public sector has contracted, there has been no other good employer that has emerged to take its place despite the economic expansion of manufacturing and services sectors. Despite several decades of rapid growth of the private sector in India, the allure of a public sector job, historically associated with security, steady pay, and multiple benefits, continues to remain strong for most Indians. The protests following the announcement of...