-Livemint.com Merely putting the labour component of other projects in MGNREGA may not lead to any value addition There are several studies and reports that clearly show that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has accomplished its objectives to a large extent. Initially, this government derided the programme as some kind of a dole—but it later acknowledged its role in rural development, if reluctantly. The chief ministers’ council in...

-National Herald Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at London School of Economics, in an interview to Tathagata Bhattacharya says the government has failed on many counts At the end of the day, it is growth and employment generation via new investment that is key to long-term economic progress. Various welfare schemes are a way of providing a social safety net to the poor in the short-run. It is performance along these two...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's state governments often set their minimum wages lower than the recommended national minimum wage, decided by the Union labour ministry, a report by the International Labour Organisation has said. It has added that the minimum wages often show large inter-state variations, unrelated to the cost of living, for the same kind of job. This is because the Minimum Wages Act of 1948 does not say on what...

-Livemint.com The present government has incentivized employers to comply with the EPF law by making their contribution for three years to expand formal sector employment Surjit Bhalla and Tirtha Das’ (B-D, hereafter) background paper, titled All You Wanted To Know About Jobs In India, But Were Afraid To Ask, is now available on the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) website (goo.gl/Y5CLtF)—a welcome initiative. It claims: “While there are no official employment...

-The Hindu The former Chief Statistician on calculating GDP back series, on indicators of development, and the fall of the rupee The draft of the back series GDP data, which was made public by the government recently, is unlikely to change drastically even if other methods of calculation are used, says former Chief Statistician of India, Pronab Sen. The noted economist discusses GDP, employment and poverty data; the value of the rupee;...