-Scroll.in An excerpt from ‘The Making of a Catastrophe: The Disastrous Economic Fallout of the Covid-19 Pandemic in India,’ by Jayati Ghosh. There was much that was wrong with the Indian economy, society, and polity before the pandemic struck; and this book has suggested that much more has gone wrong since. It is easy to feel horror at the inequalities exposed and accentuated by governmental and societal responses to the pandemic, despair...

-The Hindu Indian delegation to bring up exploitation of apprentices The 110 th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) will launch the first round of discussions on setting standards for apprenticeships. India is sending three delegations on behalf of the Government, employers and employees to participate in various group meetings of the ILC, beginning on Sunday at the headquarters of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva. The ILC will have a...

-TheWire.in A recent research paper examining consumption expenditure and landholdings in Uttar Pradesh sheds new light. Mumbai: For years, researchers and academics have studied how wealth and income inequality in India is, more often than not, split along caste lines, with upper castes cornering a larger piece of the pie. However, the measure of their enrichment and the consequent impoverishment and exclusion of Muslim Dalits and Hindu Dalits has received less attention. A...

-IdeasForIndia.in The Mandal Commission and Sachar Committee reports, among others, have indicated the existence of caste inequalities within the four major caste groups. However, data on this subject remain limited. Using data from a novel 2014-2015 survey conducted in Uttar Pradesh, this article shows that within-group inequalities among upper castes are significantly less, relative to the within-group inequalities observed among both Hindu and Muslim OBCs and Dalits. Broadly, four social groups –...

-Down to Earth The arduous journeys of those who migrate for medical treatment in India Marta kya na karta (One can do anything when pushed to the wall),” says 40-year-old Rita Kumari from Supaul district of north Bihar. At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was tightening its grip across the country Rita and her daughter, Sandhya, had to undertake multiple trips to hospitals in Nepal and Uttar Pradesh, before reaching the All...