-The Indian Express India started the calendar year by recording the slowest GDP growth rate in six years and ended it by entering a technical recession. Here's how it all unfolded. Dear Readers, Right through the year, at ExplainSpeaking, we have strived to make sense of the most important developments in the Indian economy. As the year ends, here are the highlights from 2020 and five things to watch out for in 2021. The...

-The Hindu “Economic conditions continued to improve through November on the back of the uptick in agriculture and manufacturing,” RBI officials say in an article in the central bank’s monthly bulletin. There is now more evidence to show that the Indian economy “is pulling out of COVID-19’s deep abyss and is reflating” at a pace that beats most predictions, RBI officials, including Deputy Governor Michael Patra, said in an article in the...

-Down to Earth The percentage of women using safe menstrual products highest in Andaman and Nicobar Islands (98.9%); least in Bihar at 58.8% The percentage of women using sanitary products and practising hygiene during menstrual cycle increased across states and Union territories in the past decade-and-a-half, first phase of the recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) has found. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa and Telangana...

-The Hindu Advisory in the backdrop of suicides in Telangana Hyderabad: The Reserve Bank of India has advised public to be wary of unauthorised digital lending platforms and mobile apps. Taking note of reports about individuals and small businesses falling prey to a growing number of unauthorised digital lending platforms/mobile apps, the central bank on Wednesday said “members of public are cautioned not to fall prey to such unscrupulous activities.” It urged them...

-The Hindu Use of contraceptives on the rise, rural-urban gap narrowing, finds analysis of NFHS-5 The latest data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5) provides evidence of an uptake in the use of modern contraceptives in rural and urban areas, an improvement in family planning demands being met, and a decline in the average number of children borne by a woman, and prove that the country’s population is stabilising and fears...