-The Hindu An SBI Research study’s claim that there is greater formalisation of the economy is unfounded According to a recent State Bank of India (SBI) Research report, the informal economy in India has been shrinking since 2018. Formalisation, the report says, has taken place through the gross value-added (GVA) route, consumption through increased digital payments, and the employment route. Let’s examine each of these. The report claims that the share of the...

-PTI/ TheWire.in The National Campaign Committee for Central Legislation on Construction Labour has called the blanket ban on construction 'irrational', adding that the ban ought to be limited to demolition and excavation. New Delhi: A construction workers’ body has moved the Supreme Court seeking ex-gratia relief schemes for daily workers who will suffer the loss of income due to the sudden complete ban on the sector’s activities imposed by NCR states to...

The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-Newsclick.in Dipa Sinha, economist and lead campaigner with the Right to Food Campaign, explains the myriad reasons for India faring worse on crucial hunger indicators and the way out. Economist Dipa Sinha, who teaches at the School of Liberal Studies at Ambedkar University, is actively involved with the Right to Food Campaign. In an interview with Newsclick, she explains why hunger is not an isolated concern but the result of a confluence...

-The Hindu However, suicides among landowning farmers dropped slightly during pandemic year The number of agricultural labourers who died by suicide in 2020 was 18% higher than the previous year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report released on Thursday. However, suicides among landowning farmers dropped slightly during the pandemic year. The farm sector was one of the few bright spots in the Indian economy last year, recording growth on the...