Opinion: Poonam Gupta and S Priyadarshini. The real growth rate of the Indian economy in the April-June quarter of 2023-24 (Q1, FY24), according to the latest data released by the Central Statistical Office (CSO), stood at 7.8 per cent. Market economists embraced this data as reflective of their own projections, and in line with their... Read More
Opinion: Sudipto Mundle Likely hysteresis and a closing demographic window make a case for wide-ranging reforms to sustain high economic growth Post-covid scenarios chalked out by NCAER indicate that effects of this shock will persist for a long time and we can’t expect a quick return to our pre-pandemic growth path even in the most... Read More
Opinion: Anupma Mehta Can the Generation Equality Forum ensure two basic rights for women: The right to safety and peace at home and to decent work outside of it? The recently concluded Generation Equality Forum has once again pinned the focus on gender equality and how far we are from achieving it in most parts... Read More
Opinion: Charu Jain The evaluation criteria proposed by CBSE is flexible enough to accommodate concerns of students. With the central government deciding to cancel the Class XII examinations a majority of state education boards and stakeholders welcomed the move in view of the safety of students and teachers. However the cancellation policy also introduced uncertainty... Read More
Opinion: Palash Baruah DL Wankhar The United Nations’ “Policy Brief: The impact of Covid-19 on children” dated April 15 2020 was convinced that “Children are not the face of this pandemic.” This was also evident in India when the ‘first wave’ of Covid-19 hit the country. Scientists and experts were convinced that children were less susceptible... Read More
Opinion: Sanjib Pohit No doubt the pandemic has exposed the fragility of India’s health sector. The shortage of doctors hospital beds ventilators oxygen medicine etc. is the stark reality of the day. The story is true across all over India. Incidentally none of the metros have stood apart in this pandemic disaster even though health... Read More
Opinion: Pallavi Choudhuri Children in households without piped water or LPG have lower learning outcomes. This negative impact is greater when women bear a greater share of the burden of unpaid work compared to men. Inadequate access to safe drinking water and clean cooking fuel leads to serious health concerns. The importance of safe water... Read More
Opinion: Sanjib Pohit Soumi Roy Chowdhury and Supratik Guha Using tech to monitor river water quality real-time will help. India is a home to 4 per cent of the world’s freshwater resources and it ranks among the top 10 water-rich countries of the world. In spite of being home to the major river systems both perennial... Read More
Opinion: K P Krishnan The answer to the question of how to vaccinate a billion Indians is perhaps to be found in basic economics. What is the most important health imperative as well as the most significant economic stimuli for India today? Unarguably it is Covid vaccination. We must remember that the story does not end... Read More
Opinion: Bornali Bhandari Samarth Gupta Ajaya Kumar Sahu and K Subbaraje Urs The East’s low may worsen the regional imbalance as the second Covid wave rages on. The NCAER Business Confidence Index (BCI) a measure of business sentiments fell for two consecutive quarters in 2019-20:Q4 and 2020-21:Q1 on a quarter-on-quarter basis. After the lockdown restrictions were withdrawn... Read More
Opinion: Bornali Bhandari Samarth Gupta Ajaya Kumar Sahu and K Subbaraje Urs The Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns have had a significant adverse impact on jobs and livelihoods. Using 2006-2021 data from a quarterly survey on business sentiments this article examines fluctuations in firms’ hiring of temporary/casual and permanent workers across three major economic events –... Read More