-NetworkIdeas.org Recent data from the Annual Survey of Industries, covering up to 2015-16, provide some interesting insights into the changing nature of industrial employment in India. In the decade up to 2015-16, there was a significant increase in the number of factory workers, by around 40 per cent. This expansion can be dated from around 2005-06 onwards and especially up to 2011-12. This is to be expected, given that that was...

-Scroll.in Dealers claimed that government-run oil firms are threatening to block supplies if the information is not provided. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has asked 10 lakh employees at petrol pumps across the country for personal details like their caste, religion and which constituency they are from, NDTV reported on Tuesday. The information is ostensibly meant for a skill development programme, but dealers have threatened legal action, claiming that...

-Livemint.com Preference for government jobs is highest among college-educated rural youth, a segment seen at the forefront of recent agitations for quotas, shows analysis In one of the largest such exercises ever conducted in the world, millions of applicants are appearing this month for an online recruitment test conducted by the Indian Railways. The Railways Recruitment Board (RRB) has received more than 24 million applications for roughly 120,000 vacancies in the organization. Most...

A recent report by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) enlightens one about the state of farmers' income and indebtedness in 2015-16. Entitled NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey 2016-17 – in short NAFIS 2016-17 – the report says that between 2012-13 and 2015-16 the average monthly income for agricultural households grew by around 39 percent. One may recall that the Key Indicators of Situation Assessment Survey...

-The Tribune The lure for land at a reasonable rate and better funding options are drawing farmer-entrepreneurs from Punjab and Haryana to Canada The North American nation is drawing farmer-entrepreneurs in large numbers from India’s breadbasket — Punjab and Haryana. No, they aren’t the rich ones buying luxury villas in exotic locales. They are the aspiring ones who expect to hit pay dirt as authorities in the former English colony provide agricultural...