-Newsclick.in Inequality is not natural but manufactured. It’s time policymakers stopped normalising the wealth and income gap. Else, post-Covid inequality could become a permanent feature. Wealth and income inequality are more than just economic concepts. They also influence education and health outcomes, poverty levels, employment and unemployment rates, opportunities, choices, and, ultimately, happiness. Of late, several reports have investigated the impact of COVID-19 on various segments of society at the regional, national,...

-The Hindu Business Line Employment increased by about four lakh in the January to March 2022 quarter as against the previous quarter in nine selected sectors of the economy. The Fourth Round of Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) by the Labour and Employment Ministry revealed that the estimated employment increased to 3.18 crore in the fourth quarter of 2021-22 in the selected sectors as compared to 3.14 crore in the third quarter of...

It is hard for the media to ignore the findings of global Human Development Report (HDR) whenever a newer and updated version is released. Every time when the HDR is published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), media persons and commentators tend to compare the performance of their respective countries with that of performance in previous years as also with respect to the relative performance of other nations. One of...

-The Hindu Business Line  The latest PLFS report shows that urban India has recouped jobs lost during Covid, but there are some structural shifts As Covid wanes, India’s high-frequency indicators suggest that economic activity is normalising quickly, with high-contact services such as trade, hospitality and travel being the latest to revive. NSO’s latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for the April-June quarter of 2022 shows that the growth revival is reflecting in...

-The Hindu Business Line The Centre should build on the success of PMJDY to promote other financial products for the lower sections of society As the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) completes its eighth year, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is a rare State-initiated welfare scheme that has not just met but exceeded its initial promise. That the scheme has made a material difference to financial inclusion is evident...