Contrary to the rising economic distress on the ground since the last few years, the official press release related to the fourth Annual Report on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) at first glance seems to give a rosy picture about the employment situation in India.  Defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force, the unemployment rate in usual status (principal activity status + subsidiary economic activity status)...

-Livemint.com The government had to lower the import duty on edible oils several times in recent months to tame food inflation NEW DELHI: The government is set to launch an oilseed mission to boost domestic production of oilseeds and reduce import dependence, said NITI Aayog member, agriculture, Ramesh Chand. India currently makes around ₹1 trillion worth of edible oil imports every year or nearly half of its demand. The proposed scheme was devised after...

-Down to Earth Southwest monsoon could switch into a drought-prone mode, lasting decades in the future India witnessed repeated multi-year droughts over the last thousand years, predominately before 1871, a new study has predicted. This contrasts with the drought history of the post-1871 era. The country saw only one instance of a three-year-long drought during this period, from 1985-1987, the study published September 19, 2022, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy...

-Newslaundry.com The finance minister asked a valid question. Here’s the answer. Last Tuesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked India’s corporate honchos why they were not investing in the Indian economy. “I want to hear from India Inc,” she said, “what’s stopping you when countries and industries abroad think this is the place to be.” This is a valid question. In this piece, we will try and piece together why India Inc, as corporate India...

-The Hindu The Census in India is about many things — it must be made a priority and used to affirm a sense of comradeship Among the best uses of a census anywhere in the world was perhaps what happened in the United States when, in 1850 and 1860, anti-slavery campaigners used numbers from two consecutive national censuses to build support for the abolition of slavery. They showed the number of enslaved...