In the absence of income or expenditure-based headcount ratio, the growth in the real wages (i.e., nominal wages adjusted against retail inflation) of the manual workers is considered to be a good proxy to assess the trends in poverty. This is because the manual, unskilled/ semi-skilled labourers exist at the bottom of the pyramid or economic hierarchy, and most of them belong to the social categories Scheduled Castes (SCs) and...

-The Telegraph At the GST Council meeting in September it was decided to correct the inverted duty structure for textiles and footwear The GST Council on Friday decided to defer the hike in textile duty to 12 per cent from 5 per cent that was due to take effect from January 1 and referred the matter for review to the group of ministers on rate rationalisation. The panel, the highest decision-making body for...

-TheWire.in Treating occupational safety for sanitation workers as a technical issue about personal protective equipment is not enough to understand the various elements involved, from changing behaviour to the larger context of sanitation workers’ lives. At 8 am every morning, Murali, a de-sludging operator bids his two children goodbye and leaves his house. He cleans his vehicle, removes and tucks his chappals in a corner of his truck, and begins his workday. As...

-Newsclick.in According to union leaders, due to the panchayat polls from April to May in Uttar Pradesh, there was a halt in MGNREGS work, and the demand for labourers further slumped due to the complete lockdown that followed soon after. Lucknow: Brindaban Banjara (40), a security in-charge at Paragon footwear in Nangloi area of Delhi used to earn Rs 22,000 per month before the pandemic hit. But, within a span of three...

  Among other things, one of the reasons (given by some economists) behind low labour force participation rate (LFPR) of women vis-à-vis men in the country is that more young girls are educating themselves, causing an improvement in the secondary and tertiary enrolment rates. It means that more Indian women are staying out of the labour force in order to continue their education – secondary education and / or college &...