-The Telegraph 'It is on the verge of losing status as a democracy due to shrinking space for media and civil society' More people are living under autocracies than under democracies across the world and India’s “steep decline” on democratic traditions despite electoral politics is a contributing factor to the global surge in autocratisation. India has also been put among the top 10 autocratising countries. This is one of the conclusions of a study...

-TheWire.in No job contract means lower pay and longer hours. In a desperate bid to encourage investment, several states have made sweeping changes to labour laws over the past month. A number of states have extended the maximum daily work hours from nine to 12, removed the requirement to pay minimum wages, diluted safety norms, restricted the rights of workers to unionise and made it easy for employers to FIRe workers. While netas...

-The Hindu India risks losing benefits of the demographic dividend by not creating enough jobs for new entrants, warns Professor Mehrotra. Santosh K Mehrotra, Professor of Economics at the Centre for Informal Sector & Labour Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University and author of the recently launched book Reviving Jobs: An Agenda For Growth said the current reverse migration has set the country back by 15 years, and stressed that the economic stimulus...

-The Hindu The reforms in agricultural marketing are no more than reiterations of earlier pronouncements The announcement of reforms in agricultural marketing by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in May, has been hailed by some as the “1991” moment for agriculture. While it does not mean much on the ground, it has successfully managed to deflect attention from the pittance offered by way of fiscal support to the agricultural sector, as a part...

-TheWire.in The stimulus package has not made clear whether or how small farmers will really benefit. As agricultural activities are in full swing due to ongoing rabi harvest and forthcoming kharif sowing, the continuing lockdown in India is pushing small farmers further to the margins. While various governments (both Central and states) have announced relaxations for agricultural activities and support for farmers, impact of the lockdown can be seen in terms of...