The return of the unemployment rate to pre-lockdown times is not worth celebrating because it is more a reflection of a shrinking labour force than a decline in the count of the unemployed, observes Mahesh Vyas.
Some of India's largest companies have seen a slowdown in the growth of temporary, contract and casual jobs, as compared to the increase in their total workforce. The absolute number of such jobs is up 30 per cent between financial year 2017-18 and 2021-22 (FY18-22), shows an analysis of data collated from the annual reports of S&P BSE 100 companies. Forty-eight firms were considered for the final analysis based on the availability of uniform data across the last five years. In comparison, the total workforce numbers are up 36 per cent in the same period.
The situation raises concerns about whether the promised freebies will once again push the state into a revenue deficit.
While we seem to want soldiers on short-term engagement, warfare itself is getting more technical and needs skilled manpower. The world has seen the dismal performance of armies that rely on short tour of duty soldiers or have outsourced war to 'contractors' in Afghanistan and now in Ukraine, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Around 81 per cent of the workers constitute the unorganised sector - devoid of any social security cover and outside the purview of a complex set of labour laws.
'The rise in unemployment, underemployment, discouraged workers and job insecurity is likely to continue, with very adverse consequences for the nation's economic well-being and social cohesion,' warns Shankar Acharya.
The government's decision to release the reports comes two days after over 200 scholars from across the globe issued a statement demanding release of all withheld reports produced by the NSO, including the household consumer expenditure survey that was junked.
Economy has become a major cause of concern for the new government with GDP dropping to 5.8 per cent in the last quarter of the 2018-19.
Of the 3,893,149 registered applicants on the MP Rojgar portal, only 21 individuals have been successfully placed in government and semi-government positions since April 2020.
The Indian economy is likely to grow at over 7 per cent in the current fiscal year, former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya said on Wednesday, while observing that the growth rate should sustain next year too provided the forthcoming Budget does not have any negative surprises. Panagariya further said recessionary fears have been around for a while but so far neither the US nor the EU has gone into recession. "From the viewpoint of India, in terms of headwinds originating abroad, the worst is probably behind us," he told PTI.
Releasing the survey report after taking into account the expert committee recommendations, Statistics Secretary Pravin Srivastava told reporter, "It is a new design and a new matrix. It would be unfair to compare it with the past. This 45- year high is your interpretation. I don't want to claim that it is 45-year low or high."
This is the full text of the address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of India's 78th Independence Day.
Retail sales of cars are back to January 2018 levels in August 2021. Two-wheeler retail sales are 22 per cent lower, nearly four years down the line.
Highlighting the plight of train drivers, the note said loco pilots, especially those who drive goods trains, work 14 to 16 hours a day and get to go home after three or four days.
Reports (not denied by India) that the USA had 'for the first time provided real-time details to their Indian counterparts on the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion' into Tawang at the LAC in December 2022, helping India thwart China's expansionist designs, show how operationally effective the USA-India friendship has become on the ground. A engaging excerpt from Sreeram Chaulia's must-read new book, Friends: India's Closest Strategic Partners.
The Economic Survey will remain a documentation of the government's resolve to not recognise the severe stress on the labour markets and on the livelihoods of Indian households arising out of the pandemic and the consequent lockdown, observes Mahesh Vyas.
All four labour codes are likely to be implemented in one go from April 1, the beginning of the next fiscal year, labour secretary Apurva Chandra said on Wednesday. The parliament in its just concluded session passed three labour code bills: the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, the Social Security Code, and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (OSH). The Wage Code Bill, 2019 was passed by the parliament last year.
The scarcity of resources is particularly evident in the case of Rajasthan compared to many other states.
'From our survey we found that there was a problem in the agricultural sector and drones could solve the problem.'
India's consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation could ease in the coming months thanks to the arrival of kharif crops, lower international commodity prices, and a pass through of lower input costs to consumers, the finance ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review (MER) for October, which was released on Thursday. The MER, however, warned that the global macroeconomic situation remained precarious and a recession in many advanced economies would impact India's exports. "Easing international commodity prices and new Kharif arrival are set to dampen inflationary pressures in the coming months.
The state's revenue receipts might not afford various freebies announced by the parties, unless revenue deficit and hence fiscal deficit is widened.
As voting begins in Bihar in the first phase of assembly elections on Wednesday, the fate of political leaders depends on how the electorate perceives they can solve ground-level issues from reverse migration to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
'Falling labour participation rate is common in the ageing populations of the developed world.' 'But India is a country with a young population.' 'It is imperative that the labour participation increases.' 'We need a larger labour force to increase our per capita income level,' points out Mahesh Vyas.
Mithun Chakraborty started from scratch in bit roles and had no Godfather backing him. Yet, remarkably, his career now straddles six decades and he continues to win acclaim, observes Dinesh Raheja.
The problem of unemployment is spread across the economy.
Moreover, the process to release those arrested between July 1 to August has started, and many have already been released, it added.
'The economic impact of this lockdown is evidently huge.' 'Its impact on the livelihood of vulnerable sections of the society is immeasurably bigger,' observes Mahesh Vyas.
Bringing to the fore the ugly face of 'forced labour' in India, a new study by the International Labour Organisation has said bonded labourers often lose their freedom to choose employment due to lack of transparency in wage system and continue to work for unlimited period.
American economic historian and labour economist Claudia Goldin won the 2023 Nobel Economics Prize for her work examining wage inequality between men and women, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2023 was awarded to 77-year-old Claudia Goldin "for having advanced our understanding of women's labour market outcomes" the prize-giving body said in a statement. Goldin will receive 11 million Swedish kronor, or around $1 million, as the sole winner of this year's prize.
'It is building the country's infrastructure, and delivering it very efficiently.'
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised Rahul Gandhi as the leader of opposition on Wednesday, a day after the Congress communicated its decision to name him for the position to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
The other members of the interim government will be finalised after consultations with various political parties, the press secretary added.
'For the common man, the economic conditions are not going to get better.'
Modi said these steps exemplified his government's approach of 'minimum government and maximum governance'.
Hopefully, the small recovery in the labour force and employment seen in the September-December 2017 wave will gather momentum in the coming waves, says Mahesh Vyas.The challenge, says Mahesh Vyas, is to find the corresponding jobs for these aspirants.
Managing the senior generals has proven to be quite a headache for General Asim Munir, even as he and his team of loyal henchmen labour hard to dispel the sense of unhappiness among the public about the army's overbearing presence and interference in matters 'civilian', notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
While overall employment rose from 456 mn to 463 mn between FY11 and FY15, with farm employment falling by 26 mn over the same period, the net addition to employment over the entire four year period was a mere 7 mn.
Unemployment was worse only in the pre-demonetisation period, according to the data, at 9.6 per cent in August 2016.
'Garm Hava understands that the scorching, hate-filled, doubt-filled affair between Hindus and Muslims is our national love affair.' Sreehari Nair revisits M S Sathyu's classic film, featuring the incomparable Balraj Sahni at his finest in his final role.
Most economists were of the view that the NSSO should release the data, as any move to withhold it will dent the image of country's statistical system.
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