-The Hindu Post-1991, changes in industry caused a second de-industrialisation; the results in agriculture are likely to be no different Almost all sections of people including farmers agree that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-mandi policies for agricultural marketing, initiated in the 1960s for a few crops, have outlived their utility and the system needs a new policy in the face of the agricultural sector’s growth slowdown, the crop-composition not widening, and...

-The Indian Express India's economy in 2020: As Annus Horribilis 2020 comes to an end, there are positives in the economy: signs of a GDP rebound, and buoyant equity markets. But demand is weak, receipts are down, and the employment situation is grim. All eyes are on the Budget — and on the vaccines In a little over a month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present what she has heralded as “a...

-The Hindu With labour law reforms set to change industrial relations, trade union responses must include social dialogue too Ten central trade unions (CTUs) have called for a nation-wide strike on November 26, 2020 to condemn what they consider to be the anti-people, and anti-labour economic policies of the government. This follows strikes in the coal and defence sectors protesting privatisation and the corporatisation policies of the government. It is essential to...

-The Hindu The UN Secretary General’s recent advice to India amounts to asking for its virtual de-industrialisation and stagnation The UN Secretary General António Guterres’s call for India to give up coal immediately and reduce emissions by 45% by 2030 is a call to de-industrialise the country and abandon the population to a permanent low-development trap. Piling on the pressure In an extraordinary move in climate diplomacy, Mr. Guterres, delivering the Darbari Seth Memorial...

-The Hindu For employers, availability of skilled workforce and worker-management ties are more vital Some State governments including Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) have proposed ordinances to exempt manufacturing establishments from the purview of most labour laws. In a discussion moderated by Suresh Seshadri, Amit Basole (Associate Professor of Economics, Azim Premji Unversity, Bengaluru) and K.R. Shyam Sundar (Professor of Human Resource Management, XLRI, Jamshedpur) look at the backdrop for...