-Frontline.in The Oxfam India report on employment says jobs remain a huge challenge in India where half of the workforce depends on agriculturefor livelihood. Employment, or the lack of it, has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the general election this year. Most surveys show that the single biggest concern preoccupying the electorate, especially the youth, is unemployment. The very fact that the government introduced a quota for the...

-Financial Express If ever there was a beautiful word in Indian polity, it shall be none other than ‘poverty’. Existence of poverty, the necessary evil, ensured the Congress and various regional parties win elections after elections through rhetoric, albeit repeatedly but in different forms, and finding a page on their election manifestos. Did any of the ideologically opposite previous dispensations ever knocked the door of the poor man for eliminating the...

-The Pioneer In the absence of any sunset clause or distinct feature to identify the beneficiaries who succeed in climbing themselves out of poverty, the scheme of direct cash transfer as an income support welfare measure and as a potent tool of empowerment does not sound convincing even on paper Thanks to the proposal for the universal basic income, it has become a topic for discussion as one-fifth population of this country...

-The Times of India Average food prices in 2018-19 were almost the same as they were in 2017-18—a phenomenon not seen for at least 27 years. An analysis by credit rating agency Crisil shows food inflation measured by the consumer price index rose only 0.1% in 2018-19. The last time annual food inflation had fallen below 1% was in 1999-2000. economists attribute low food prices to a string of factors including bumper...

-The Indian Express Whichever party wins the election, the real long-term challenge is to stem the rot of institutional foundations. The headlines say that the ruling party manifesto emphasises nationalism (“nation first”), and, on the economic front, it will aspire to make India the third-largest economy in the world by the end of the next decade, to make it reach the list of top 50 countries in the ranking of Ease...