News: Recently, the Periodic Labour Force Survey’s latest quarterly bulletin was released last week. Findings of PLFS The unemployment rate for workers of 15 years or above in urban areas came down from 10.3% during October-December 2020 to 8.7% in October-December 2021. The labour force participation rate (LFPR) has also increased marginally from 46.9% in… Continue reading India’s biggest policy challenge
Author: Luv Sharma
An inflation focus that neglects growth could lead to stagflation
News: Recently, the International Monetary Fund published statistics on actual inflation rates and growth rates in the world in economy group-wise which also include corresponding figures for India, for the period 2015-2019, 2020, 2021 and projections for 2022. Contents1 What are the findings? 2 What are the factors underlying inflation? 3 What are the macroeconomic policy responses… Continue reading An inflation focus that neglects growth could lead to stagflation
Explained: What’s causing high inflation and where?
News: India’s retail inflation rose by 7.79% in April, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Inflation in food items rose by even higher — 8.38% in April — according to the MoSPI’s Consumer Food Price Index. However, the biggest jump was registered in fuel prices, which rose… Continue reading Explained: What’s causing high inflation and where?
The good side of inflation: Accelerating prices make govt debt management easier. Higher food prices mean bigger farmer income
Context: Some positive effects of inflation. How is inflation beneficial in some respects? A higher inflation (consumer price index or wholesale price index) helps in the lowering of the estimated fiscal deficit. The fiscal deficit, is calculated as a percentage of the nominal GDP. The nominal GDP because of the way it is calculated on… Continue reading The good side of inflation: Accelerating prices make govt debt management easier. Higher food prices mean bigger farmer income
Shallow and deep ecologism
News: India continues to face with the unrelenting heatwave. Although, heat waves are known to have been a reality for hundreds of years. But more extreme, frequent and prolonged heat waves in recent has exposed the long-term effects of climate change which have exacerbated them. Concept of Ecologism The concepts emerged in the 1970s,… Continue reading Shallow and deep ecologism
Time to solve a solvable encroachment problem
News: Recently, illegal structures on public land in National Capital Regional of Delhi were razed using bulldozers. This has brought into forefront the major issues of encroachment in the urban areas. What are the major issues in urban areas? Traffic The urban spaces are plagued with the problem of vehicular saturation. There is scarcity of… Continue reading Time to solve a solvable encroachment problem
The good cop
Context: There have been the National Police Commission, the Ribeiro and Padmanabhaiah committees, and other commissions which directly alluded to police reforms. In addition, the Malimath Committee and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission indirectly expressed requirements for police reforms. The Supreme Court acknowledged the requirement of police reforms in Prakash Singh judgment of 2006. Contents1… Continue reading The good cop
Heading for GSTExit
News: Recently, Britain witnessed Brexit because loss of some sovereign freedom in return of the economic gains of a common European market was capitalised. India may also see the “GSTExit” if the trust and faith between the centre and the state is not revived in the Union-states relationship. Importance of GST The GST untangled disparate… Continue reading Heading for GSTExit
Still a long way for termination as an unconditional right
News: Recently, the issue of abortion was in the news internationally. This brings into picture the legal status of abortions in India. Legal Status of abortion in India Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), voluntarily causing (if not caused in a good faith) a woman to miscarry is an offence attracting a jail term of… Continue reading Still a long way for termination as an unconditional right
The bitter dispute over India’s pandemic mortality
News: How many people died in India as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? This question has become the subject of a heated argument after the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated India’s pandemic excess deaths at around 4.7 million. The Government of India issued a strongly worded response, while media houses and editors also jumped… Continue reading The bitter dispute over India’s pandemic mortality
