-The Hindu The analysis is fraught with caveats and the interpretation of the survey results calls for caution Last week, the Ministry of Labour and Employment released the results of a new Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for April-June 2021 for the organised (formal) sector. It represents establishments (or units) employing ten or more Workers. The surveyed sectors were manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurant, Information Technology/Business Process Outsourcing (IT/BPO),...

-GaonConnection.com The One Nation One Ration card scheme was launched in June 2019 to reform the Public Distribution System (PDS). However, close to 100 million people are estimated to be excluded from the PDS. There are several other challenges in the new scheme that need to be addressed. The condition of migrant Workers suddenly shot to the limelight in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic as hundreds of thousands of migrants...

-Down to Earth There are prominent shortcomings in implementation, especially registration of Workers and and collection and distribution of Cess The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had widespread and devastating consequences to communities and enterprises in India and across the globe. However, the situation was particularly grim for the 453.6 million internal migrants in India, evidenced by the unprecedented ‘reverse migration’ witnessed during the pandemic.  Their vulnerabilities were exacerbated by the fact a...

-Livemint.com Real estate must contribute more to our economy and that calls for sectoral reforms and cheap homes Over the past few weeks, the financial and economic world has been worried about the likely collapse of Evergrande, the world’s most-indebted real estate company. At the same time, the bigger issue of China’s dependence for growth on its real-estate sector remains. In a Working paper titled, Peak China Housing, Kenneth S. Rogoff and Yuanchen...

-Hindustan Times Around 250 residents of Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand started a march from Surguja district to Raipur, around 330 kilometres away, on Monday demanding cancellation of all coal mining projects in their region.  Environmentalists and activists are also taking part in the march. “The representatives of all 30 villages of Hasdeo Arand ... are part of this padayatra (foot march) demanding justice from state and Central government by cancelling all coal mining projects...