-The Hindu Redistribution measures have been ineffective and there are no policies discouraging accumulation of income and wealth The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the stark divide between the rich and the poor. At this juncture, evaluating the state of inequality serves as an eye-opener on the income/wealth divides prevailing across regions. Such divides are represented in terms of the share of income/wealth among the top 10% of the population against the bottom...

-NetworkIdeas.org The very day, December 11, when the Indian finance ministry spuriously claimed a robust recovery in the Post-pandemic Indian economy, newspapers carried news of an acceleration in the US inflation rate. The inflation rate in November 2021 over November of the preceding year had been 6.8 per cent in the US, which was higher than the corresponding rate in any month over the previous 40 years; in particular, petrol prices...

-Forward Press An email interview with one of the foremost development economists against the backdrop of the latest report of the World Inequality Lab describing India as one of the most unequal countries in the world The World Inequality Lab has just published the World Inequality Report 2022. The Paris-based organization, which is directed by top economists, including Thomas Piketty, has painted a grim picture of the inequality in India based on...

-IdeasforIndia.com The Centre has sought an additional Rs. 25,000 crore as funding for MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). Based on simple calculations using official data, Ashwini Kulkarni contends that the actual fund requirement is in fact much higher. As the pandemic continues to adversely impact rural livelihoods, the government should allocate sufficient funds to MNREGA, in order to honour the work-on-demand guarantee. For over a month, national and local...

-The Hindu It is a very important first step in addressing the mental health and well-being of children scarred by the pandemic It is now clear that COVID-19 caught us all by surprise. The school education sector in India too struggled during the novel coronavirus pandemic. While online learning for children has had its fair share of challenges, including learning loss, fatigue from online learning to mental stress, there is another group...