The increase in organized sector employment (i.e. in establishments employing 10 or more workers) in the second quarter was much higher as compared to that in the first quarter of 2017-18. The seventh round of the Quarterly Report on Employment Scenario in selected sectors (as on 1st October, 2017), which was released in March this year, confirms this. The Labour Bureau’s latest report says that during the period 1st April to...

-The Hindu Why measuring inequality is not the same as measuring changes in the level of poverty in India In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion on increasing inequality within several countries of the world, including India, particularly after the publication of Thomas Piketty’s book on inequality. It is true that rising inequality has adverse economic and social consequences. The Gini coefficient or other measures of inequality are being...

-Livemint.com The government expenditure on MGNREGS in 2017-18 was nearly Rs. 25,000 crore more than what was spent in 2013-14 New Delhi: The national rural employment guarantee scheme saw a record expenditure of Rs63,887 crore in 2017-18, the highest since it was launched 12 years ago, showed data provided by the government on Monday. However, high demand for work from rural households in a normal monsoon year (2017) also suggests acute rural distress,...

-Hindustan Times Non-farm jobs was positive despite negative jobs growth in 2014-15 and 2015-16 The KLEM database released by RBI on 27 March, 2018 gives employment statistics for the Indian economy till 2015-16. It shows that total employment shrank by 0.2% and 0.1% in India in 2014-15 and 2015-16. These statistics raise disturbing questions. India’s Gross Value Added (GVA) growth increased continuously between 2012-13 and 2015-16. Why did employment growth go into negative...

-Livemint.com Use of population figures from 2011 census instead of 1971 census for sharing tax revenue among states triggers opposition from South India New Delhi: A political storm is brewing in South India over what is normally a largely unnoticed bureaucratic exercise undertaken once in five years to determine how India distributes its pooled tax revenues among its many states. Several chief ministers and opposition leaders of southern states have expressed vehement opposition...