-Centre for Financial Accountability Jawabdehi Yatra organised by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) along with 80 other organisations in Rajasthan is making history. Rajiv Gandhi once said that only 30% of the government funds reach the ultimate beneficiary.  The government machinery in many states is seen as uncaring and unaccountable.  There are various reasons, mainly shortage of staff poor training, large-scale Outsourcing and also insensitivity among a section of the employees and...

-The Hindu There are many indices of proof that seriously contradict the tall claims of employment generation in India Reports on and the visuals of the recent agitations by railway job applicants reveal a widespread problem of massive job insecurity among India’s youth. Alarming figures of unemployment have been recurrent even before the huge dislocation unleashed by lockdowns imposed in 2020-21 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Much before the pandemic,...

-The Hindu Policy efforts to formalise the economy will have limited results as the bulk of informal units are petty producers Since 2016, the Government has made several efforts to formalise the economy. Currency demonetisation, introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), digitalisation of financial transactions and enrolment of informal sector workers on numerous government Internet portals are all meant to encourage the formalisation of the economy. But why the impetus...

-The Hindu The analysis is fraught with caveats and the interpretation of the survey results calls for caution Last week, the Ministry of Labour and Employment released the results of a new Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for April-June 2021 for the organised (formal) sector. It represents establishments (or units) employing ten or more workers. The surveyed sectors were manufacturing, construction, trade, transport, education, health, accommodation and restaurant, Information Technology/Business Process Outsourcing (IT/BPO),...

-Livemint.com * Poor handling of the pandemic threatens to derail our competitive advantage in the global economy * India’s economy is well-positioned in IT and Outsourcing; health and pharma; and higher education and research, which are sectors expected to be leading drivers of global growth NEW YORK: India’s economy is in a downward spiral. The Economist Intelligence Unit just lowered the forecast for India’s growth in the coming year from -5.8% to -8.5%....