-Newsclick.in Labour force has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, according to CMIE. Latest estimates put the number of unemployed in India at over 5 crore. This is just short of the heights reached during 2020, the first year of the pandemic, which saw recurring lockdowns and a shutdown of the economy. These estimates, made by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), are drawn from periodic sample surveys carried out by...

-Newsclick.in The government appears to be blithely indifferent to the devastation caused by its food grain mismanagement. The latest available data shows that the allocation of wheat for distribution through the Public Distribution System (PDS)— the ration system as it is known—has fallen dramatically this year. This has naturally led to a drop in offtake, that is, the distribution to needy families. Till October 2022, 115 lakh tonnes of wheat was allocated from...

There is some respite expected for India in terms of prices of imported commodities. This may ease the depletion of its foreign exchange reserves. The country has faced a widening of its merchandise trade deficit from US$ -17.91 billion to US$ -26.91 billion between October 2021 and October 2022. The commodity price data provided by the World Bank in December 2022 (termed as The Pink Sheet) shows that energy prices plummeted by...

-The Hindu “It would have been better if seed production trials take place in a controlled rather than in an open environment so as to assess various risks before conducting open field trials,” read a statement by the AIPSN. Following the go-ahead for production and field testing of hybrid seeds of genetically modified (GM) mustard, All-India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) has demanded that the open field tests, if any, be conducted with...

-Newsclick.in In an open letter addressed to Nirmala Sitharaman, 51 eminent economists have flagged less contribution to NOAPS and the lack of action on ensuring maternity benefits. Several prominent economists have proposed to the Union finance ministry to increase social security pensions and make adequate provisions for maternity benefits in the 2023-24 Union Budget. In an open letter addressed to Union finance minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman, 51 eminent economists—including Abhijeet Singh (Stockholm School...