The recently released quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data broadly confirms the dip in employment and jobs during the countrywide lockdown period, followed by a certain degree of recovery in the post-lockdown months last year as have been indicated by various survey-based studies and research papers. The quarterly bulletin on PLFS provides data on key employment and unemployment indicators i.e. Unemployment Rate (UR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Labour...

-The Hindu ‘Pandemic has made matters worse for women, the young, self-employed, migrants’. Direct transfer of money into bank accounts of informal workers and an urban employment guarantee scheme were among the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour in its report on the impact of the pandemic on rising unemployment and job loss. The report, which was presented in the Lok Sabha and tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, said:...

-The Telegraph This year, a combination of factors is hurting the agriculture sector immensely A quiet, reverse transformation is happening in the countryside, and it is disconcerting. This sowing season, growing numbers of farmers are falling back on their bullocks as fuel prices are piercing the roof. The tractor, the symbol of modern farming, is becoming a luxury in the literal sense. The conventional ploughing equipment tied to bullocks costs only a...

-The Hindu India needs a sharp revival of demand for which higher per capita incomes are necessary The provisional estimates of annual national income (2020-21), released on May 31 by the National Statistical Office, did not have any surprises, but for one, that is, there is nothing encouraging in the numbers. The agriculture sector continued its impressive growth performance, reiterating that it still remains as the vital sector of the economy, especially at...

-TheWire.in Cooperatives are useful for political parties in two ways – they are a font of funds as well as handy for dispensing patronage.  A day before the reshuffle, Narendra Modi’s National Democratic Alliance government created a new Ministry of Cooperation. It would provide, said its statement, a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in India. A day later, it announced Union home minister Amit Shah would also head...