-The Hindustan Times   More Indians are feeling the gloom of a faltering economy, a global poll has suggested, with as many as one in every four rating their lives poorly enough to be classified as ‘suffering'. "Suffering" has more than doubled in recent years as Indians begin to have a grim outlook on the future as well, according to US-based research firm Gallup's report. The firm interviewed 5,000 adult Indians in...

-The Business Standard The structural changes in India's rural workforce Seldom in the past has the country's labour market gone through structural changes faster than it has in recent years. Apart from a sharp decline in the proportion of workers employed in agriculture, the perceptible withdrawal of women from the workforce is the most striking feature of India's labour market. Going by the numbers the census and the National Sample Survey Office...

-The Business Standard The issue is likely to figure in its assessment of the 12th Five-Year Plan As it sets about preparing the groundwork for the mid-term appraisal (MTA) of the 12th five-year Plan, the Planning Commission is worried over the impact of slow growth in the first two years of the Plan (2012-13 and 2013-14) on employment and livelihoods. A Planning Commission official said returning to the high-growth trajectory at the...

-Down to Earth Half of India's population defecates in the open. In all probability, they will continue to do so for the next 10 years By the time you read this article, some 600 million Indians must have taken that first call of nature. But for most, it must have been very unusual: to take that hesitant and humiliating step out of their homes to defecate in the open. Everyday, an...

-Economic and Political Weekly   This article presents estimates of the impact of the public distribution system on rural poverty, using National Sample Survey data for 2009-10 and official poverty lines. At the all-India level, the PDS is estimated to reduce the poverty-gap index of rural poverty by 18% to 22%. The corresponding figures are much larger for states with a well-functioning PDS, e g, 61% to 83% in Tamil Nadu and...