-The Hindu For employers, availability of skilled workforce and worker-management ties are more vital Some State governments including Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) have proposed ordinances to exempt manufacturing establishments from the purview of most labour laws. In a discussion moderated by Suresh Seshadri, Amit Basole (Associate Professor of Economics, Azim Premji Unversity, Bengaluru) and K.R. Shyam Sundar (Professor of Human Resource Management, XLRI, Jamshedpur) look at the backdrop for...

-The Hindu India slid into the pandemic crisis in the backdrop of economic downslide; fiscal stimulus has to be structured The impact of COVID-19 will be debilitating for the global as well as the Indian economies. Various institutions have assessed India’s growth prospects for 2020-21 ranging from 0.8% (Fitch) to 4.0% (Asian Development Bank). This wide range indicates the extent of uncertainty and tentative nature of these forecasts. The International Monetary Fund...

-The Hindu The virus reveals how dependence on private sector-led economic growth has proved to be disastrous  Dr. Manmohan Singh’s 1991-92 Budget speech marked the beginning of the end of the ‘Licence Raj’ in India. The Budget also announced the reduction of import duties and paved the way for foreign-manufactured goods to flow into India. Following this, most of the manufacturing sector was opened up to foreign direct investment. India’s Industrial Policy...

-The Indian Express Over the last several days, various organisations in Punjab have been protesting against a revised land policy relating to village common land, which is known as ‘shamlat’ land. Over the last several days, various organisations in Punjab have been protesting against a revised land policy relating to village common land, which is known as ‘shamlat’ land. The state Cabinet recently approved an amendment to the Village Common Land (Regulation)...

-The Indian Express A comprehensive employment policy combined with an Industrial Policy is necessary to address the crisis. A report in this paper (IE, November 1) on various employment estimates for 2017-18, based on the PLFS (periodic labour force survey) data, has received considerable attention. We have received several queries from policy makers regarding the differences in our employment estimates with studies by Laveesh Bhandari and Amaresh Dubey (BD), and Himanshu...