-The Indian Express With the figures indicating that the job crisis triggered by Covid-19 continues, Kerala economy may be facing long-term impact, with remittances from abroad, mainly West Asia, its lifeline. Thiruvananthapuram: AMIDST the Covid-19 pandemic-induced economic crisis, 5.52 lakh people who have returned to Kerala from abroad since May last year have given loss of jobs as reason, according to government data. As per figures compiled by the Department of Non-Resident Keralites...

-Down to Earth Social, cultural stigmas reasons for lack of improvement The present-day education system has come a long way and age-old traditions have undergone a drastic change. One of the biggest achievements of India was the increase in literacy rate to 74.04 per cent in 2010-11 from 18.3 per cent in 1950-51. The country has been making great strides in educating children; at the time of Independence, India was largely illiterate (nine...

Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...

-The Telegraph The inadequate sanctioning of schemes across gram panchayats hinders operations, thereby reducing employment opportunities The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act tracker released by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee as well as a research report presented by LibTech India reveal why the rural job programme has not been able to cater to the needs of the poorest during this steep rural job crisis. Earlier, a survey by the Azim...

-Outlook India A schoolteacher shot right through the eye, businessmen brothers disappeared, a jewellery shop looted of crores, even politicians murdered…Nitish is fast losing his USP. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar may have earned compliments for his administration’s zero-tolerance policy towards crime in his previous three terms—closing the insulting Jungle Raj repeat-phrase that defined the state before his rule. But his latest tenure has thrown up a big challenge on the law...