-Livemint.com * A new study highlights that collaboration between the state and companies is key to resolving the jobs crisis * The study argues that the global shortfall in good jobs is a massive failure of the capitalist market economy NEW DELHI: The lack of good jobs is one of the most significant issues affecting societies globally. A combination of technological and economic forces, such as globalization, automation and the gradual decline of...

-The Indian Express An urban employment guarantee programme is an idea whose time has come. Temperatures are rapidly warming up in what promises to be a blistering summer of India’s electioneering. Amidst the belligerent grandstanding on national security and the communal messaging barely below the surface, Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of a minimum income guarantee scheme came as a relief, if only because it tried to steer the public discussions to the...

-The Telegraph Funding small entrepreneurs will require more bank loans, preferably collateral-free, which will generate more NPAs The government has been compelling banks to adopt a softer lending policy to promote self-employment. The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, launched in 2015, provides collateral-free loans to small entrepreneurs outside the farming sector in three categories: Rs 50,000 loan in the ‘Shishu’, Rs 5,00,000 in the ‘Kishore’ and Rs 10,00,000 in the ‘Tarun’ segments respectively....

-The Hindu Governments can provide direct cash transfers while creating conditions for employment With the Congress promising through the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme ?6,000 every month to the poorest 20% of households if voted to power, Mahendra Dev and Pronab Sen talk of the importance and problems of direct cash transfers. Providing social protection is important even as governments try to create conditions for income-generating activities, they say in a discussion...

-The Indian Express Social policy is in danger of getting lost in electoral histrionics. As the country inches towards parliamentary elections, a deep confusion pervades the realm of social policy. When the Narendra Modi government came to power five years ago, there were high expectations of a rollback in welfare schemes. The previous government, so went the story, had gone overboard with social spending, and Modi would set this right. In...