-Down to Earth Employment in agriculture has increased. Will it lead to shed the belief that agriculture will not be able to employ further? The latest data of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a non-government research agency, points out an interesting trend in employment in India. An increasing number of people are joining agriculture for employment in a shift from non-farm sectors like manufacturing and other informal jobs. The CMIE analysis...

-Down to Earth Water shocks affect not only the number of people who move but also the skills they bring with them Rainfall variability is expected to be one of the contributing forces in migration, according to a new World Bank report released 23 August, 2021.  Rainfall deficit is linked to approximately 10 per cent of the increase in global migration between 1970 and 2000, the report said.  Water shocks affect not only the...

-Down to Earth Amid a derailing COVID-19 pandemic, after Cyclone Tauktae devastation, comes a deep deficit in rainfall Farmers in Gujarat are staring a possible drought after the failure of the southwest monsoon in the state this year. This, even as people in the state have already suffered nearly two years of economic difficulties due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and it has been three months since Cyclone Tauktae.  Please click...

-Down to Earth Lower caste communities are ostracised and denied access to rehabilitation facilities during natural disasters The malpractices of untouchability and caste-based discrimination, although banned in India, continues unabated in several districts of Odisha. During a natural calamity, they turn into a greater menace as the ostracised people are denied access to rehabilitation facilities. Dalit communities Keuta, Kandara and Siara in Puri district, who sell fish to survive, suffered a major financial...

-Down to Earth A shift in lifestyles, COVID-19 pandemic has changed the game for Aminabad’s locksmiths. Most say they do not want their children to get into this occupation   Samir Khan sits cross-legged on the side of street in Amindabad — one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Lucknow — with a heap of unfinished keys, a file and a small hammer. There is a police station on the opposite side. He...