Door-to-door and village-to-village surveys carried out by researchers of the Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana detected a total of 9,291 suicides that were committed by farmers in six districts of Punjab during the period from 2000 to 2018. Situated in the Malwa region of Punjab, which is known for cotton farming and the prevalence of cancer among its population, Sangrur (2,506) witnessed the highest number of...

-The Hindu It is time for political leaders to clamour for an overhaul of India’s economic performance measurement framework In a few weeks, a quarterly ritual will play out in India. The Government will release the first quarter’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth numbers with some chest-thumping about how India is among the fastest-growing economies in the world. Opposition parties will hold press conferences on the same day to counter such bombast...

-The Telegraph There is no mention of compliance with ‘good manufacturing practices’ or the need to make inspection reports public, leaving the process of regulation vague and dependent on whims of drug inspectors This month, the Union ministry of health published the draft new drugs, medical devices and cosmetics bill to replace the antiquated Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Yet, most of the draft bill appears to be a copy of the...

-The Telegraph The Reserve Bank of India’s usual strategy of raising interest rates to hold inflation at bay kicked in a bit late and has not been working well so far In India, price inflation has been creeping up in the recent past. The latest data for June 2022 show consumer price index inflation to be 7.01% and wholesale price index inflation to be 15.18%. Food prices, which are an important component...

-CounterCurrent.org According to a NITI Aayog recent report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ India’s gig workforce, estimated to be at 77 lakh in 2020-21. It is expected to go up to 2.35 crore by 2029-30. Gig worker are defined by Niti Aayog as those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement. Gig workers can be broadly classified into platform and non-platform-based workers. Platform workers are those whose work...