Economy

What Did You Do in the Last 24 Hours?

The first nation-wide survey of the time spent by men and women on various activities during all 24 hours of the day brings out the gender inequalities in the work that each of them do.
▶14-Dec-2020
Ashwini Deshpande

Comorbidities of the Indian Economic Recovery

The comorbidities of falling investment, exports, and consumption will make recovery look like the Nike swoosh logo: a flat and protracted recovery. A series of measures, including a rebuilding of…
▶14-Oct-2020
Alok Sheel

Confronting Precarious Work

The precarisation of labour is written into the very logic of platform business models. Ignoring this, and focusing only on social security measures to protect workers, normalises exploitative labour…
▶07-Oct-2020
Kaveri Medappa, Rajorshi Ray, Mohammad Sajjad Hussain

The Three Farm Bills

The rules of the game in markets have changed dramatically. But there are problems with the fundamental premise of the approach, there are doubts about the future of state intervention & there…
▶28-Sep-2020
Sudha Narayanan

Is India Concerned about its Energy Security?

India's overambitious targets for solar energy could destabilize its power sector and threaten energy security. Rather than 'green' political posturing, the country must plan an energy…
▶22-Sep-2020
Tejal Kanitkar

Idea of Social Stock Exchanges for India

Social enterprises have the potential to make a significant impact on India's society and economy, but they struggle to find sustained funding. Social stock exchanges can help bridge the funding…
▶22-Sep-2020
Varsha Aithala
Explainer

Can Conventional Metrics of Employment be Accurate During a Lockdown?

Labour force surveys that yield estimates on job numbers are designed to capture work inputs in 'normal' situations. The concepts and methodology used can lead to errors in estimates during…
▶15-Sep-2020
PC Mohanan, Aloke Kar

How can more women take up paid employment?

The abysmally low participation of women in paid work in India even today is very worrying. Policy interventions should look at how to encourage higher work participation, through offers of higher…
▶09-Sep-2020
AV Jose
Essay

Seven Lessons for the Future

The pandemic has already taught us that for a better world we cannot have the market as the backbone of the economy; we need a more inclusive politics; decentralised governance is essential; and we…
▶14-May-2020
Prem Chandavarkar
Covid-19

Locking out the Working Poor

With more than three-quarters of India’s workforce either self-employed or in casual work, and earning low incomes, the lockdown was bound to devastate their livelihoods. Conditions were poor before…
▶16-Apr-2020
Ishan Anand, Anjana Thampi