The newly released World Bank report has estimated that the number of extremely poor people globally went up by nearly 71 million in the year 2020 as compared to 2019 — a 11 percent increase. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of poor swelled by around 56 million in India. It means that about 79 percent of the total people globally who slipped into poverty during the first year of...

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)...

-The India Forum There has been an increase in economic inequality in India over the past few decades, with the rich-poor gaps among the largest of several peer economies. Household surveys show that alongside the slowdown of growth in recent years, there appears to have been some decrease in inequality. 1. Introduction Popular discussions on inequality in India receive periodic attention with the annual publication of reports by the World Inequalities Database (WID),...

-TheIndiaForum.in Since 2015, there has been a sharp rise in farmer suicides in Punjab. Farmers in the state borrow large loans at high interest rates; some of which is used for consumption. According to official data, 51% of farmer suicides in Punjab are due to a high level of indebtedness, mostly to institutions. Farmer suicides are back in focus. Media reports suggest that in April 2022 alone 14 Punjab farmers died by...

-The India Forum The government's lack of respect for national surveys on consumption has meant that the door has been opened to preparation of unofficial estimates on poverty made on questionable assumptions. Two such recent estimates highlight the need to resume collection of data to get a true picture of poverty The government of India does not seem to be interested in knowing how many poor there are in the country. The missing...