-TheWire.in "I think the fact that the whole [NSSO] exercise began with a fundamental premise of keeping it comparable, that has been forgotten." The fierce debate over India’s unemployment figures came to a head last week, when a jobs data report by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) was finally made public. This report has been a source of contention ever since two members of the National Statistical Commission (NSC)  resigned allegedly...

-The Hindu Rising unemployment must also be seen as a function of rising education and aspirations The report from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) is finally out, garnering a lot of attention based on selective reading of tables and spurring partisan debates. In particular, the staggering increase in the unemployment rate, from 1.7% in 2011-12 to 5.8% in 2017-18 for rural men and from 3.0% to 7.1% for urban men, has...

-The Hindu Cabinet Ministers take to Twitter to allay concerns over draft educational policy New Delhi: The Centre went into damage control mode on Sunday, with senior Cabinet Ministers of Tamil origin taking to Twitter to allay concerns about the draft National Education Policy’s recommendation regarding the three-language formula and mandatory Hindi teaching in Schools, which has sparked outrage across the political spectrum in Tamil Nadu. The draft policy will only be implemented...

-The Hindu They remain highly vulnerable to disaster, with weak resilience. Puri: Sulochana Das, a 35-year-old woman in the nondescript village of Sainsa Sasana, had little choice when her four-member family rushed to take refuge in a roadside shop as cyclone Fani menacingly hurtled towards the Odisha coast on May 3. A month later, Ms. Das’ family cannot just think of moving out of the 10 sq. ft. one-room shop because the place...

-The Hindu Iskcon’s Akshaya Patra Foundation refuses to add onion or garlic to the meals it provides even though the children crave the familiar taste Tabarak, a 14-year-old boy in Devarjeevanahalli, a locality in central Bengaluru, would rather walk home at lunch break to quickly grab a bite than eat the free meal served at School. “He finds the School food too bland,” says his mother, standing in the narrow passage of...