-Newsclick.in Caste and religious divisions within 32% SC population of Punjab – 39 castes over 5 religions -- over the years have precluded them from developing their own distinct and viable state-level leadership. The postponement of Punjab Assembly elections on account of Guru Ravidass Jayanti on February 16,  is a clear indication of the reinforcement of the SC’s identity in the state, which has the highest percentage of SC population (31.94%) in...

In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...

-Moneycontrol.com An intense focus on securing market access abroad and promoting Indian goods saw dozens of new products including Himachali millets and Chandauli’s black rice being shipped from India to several new destinations such as the UAE, and Denmark India’s agriculture and allied exports grew at a brisk 21 percent in the first eight months of the current financial year despite broken supply chains and various challenges brought about by the COVID-19...

-The Hindu Business Line/ NetworkIdeas.org In recent years, when the economy as a whole performed poorly, reports on how old and new businesspersons accumulated huge volumes of wealth in short timespans have been commonplace. There is also evidence that conspicuous consumption is on the rise. This has led observers to conclude that income and wealth inequality in India has increased. Hard evidence on the extent of that increase is difficult to...

-Hindustan Times Gross domestic product (GDP) statistics are released at both current and constant prices. The latter discounts inflation (more on this later) from the base year of the current GDP series. Let’s assume it takes a tonne of steel to build half a kilometre of road. Let’s also assume steel costs ₹1,000 a tonne and there is a tax of 10% on steel. Now, if steel prices doubled in a year,...