-TheWire.in Uttar Pradesh has seen 8,742 encounters ever since the BJP CM took over. New Delhi: Since Bharatiya Janata Party’s Adityanath came to power in March 2017, Uttar Pradesh Police has injured at least 3,302 alleged criminals in 8,742 ‘encounters’, leaving several of them with bullet wounds on their legs and bringing to unofficial use the term “operation langda” (lame), the Indian Express has reported. The number of deaths in this time frame...

The recently released quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data broadly confirms the dip in employment and jobs during the countrywide lockdown period, followed by a certain degree of recovery in the post-lockdown months last year as have been indicated by various survey-based studies and research papers. The quarterly bulletin on PLFS provides data on key employment and unemployment indicators i.e. Unemployment Rate (UR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Labour...

-The Hindu Malappuram, the most densely populated district of Kerala, epitomises the challenges the State faces in controlling the rising number of COVID-19 infections. Abdul Latheef Naha and C. Maya explain how the State, which seemed to have a grip on the pandemic, has been faltering “Two people have died. Please come and pack the bodies,” a nurse tells the cleaning staff who are on a break. Within a few minutes, cleaning...

-Livemint.com Development—healthcare, jobs, education—inevitably lowers the total fertility rate Give me a rupee for every time I have heard “demographic advantage" applied to India in the last several years, and I’d be sitting on a small fortune. Invariably, the mentions are tinged with pride, as if we’ve suddenly transformed into a commendably and overwhelmingly young nation. Truth is, we used to be even younger and are getting steadily older. But that’s a story...

-The Hindu Unless policy action ensures higher demand and growth, India will continue on the path of a K-shaped recovery In recent times, right-leaning economists have been arguing that the Government does not need to do anything with the economy and that it will revive by itself. They call those who disagree with them, doomsday merchants. These economists reason that, like after the Great Depression, the economy rebounded worldwide, and so will...