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UNION BUDGET 2023-24

Without growth or welfare, Budget 2023-24 is one that curtails social spending

One expects welfare spending to spike before elections. But this Budget goes against the grain.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

Digital rupee not the magic bullet Central government is hoping for

Societal transformation is not possible without addressing inherent structural inequalities.

2016: Demonetisation

The government was not prepared to handle the mayhem that followed the announcement.

1991: Economic reforms

In hindsight, India’s liberalisation has been a mix of hits and misses.

1969: Banks nationalised

The move increased the reach of banking in rural areas.

Kaushik Basu: ‘Pay more attention to ordinary people’

In conversation with the economist and former Chief Economic Adviser.

Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay

Rural Unemployment

MGNREGA: Safety net looks fragile

Though not the only solution to rural unemployment, it is an important social security measure.

More stories from Economy

Daily wage labourers wait for work at Labour Chowk, Majlis Park, Delhi, in February 2022.

Can the impact of automation on labour be absorbed by a robot tax?

The effect on a labour-surplus developing country might be devastating in the short term.

Sujoy Chakravarty

Jean Dreze: ‘DUET is just an idea now’

“The Central government has shown no interest in an urban employment initiative.”

Anupama Katakam

Workers under the Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme cleaning the premises of the Mananchira pond in Kozhikode. States such as Kerala already have employment programmes for the urban poor.

DUET: A scheme for the urban poor

Economist Jean Dreze proposed the scheme in 2020.

Anupama Katakam

App-based food delivery workers wait near a restaurant to pick up orders for customers in Hyderabad in February 2021.

Can new age digital companies meet India’s massive workforce needs?

Business models of companies reveal precarious working conditions and exploitation of employees.

Anupama Katakam

At a job fair in a college in Mangaluru, Karnataka, on March 3, 2022.

Unemployment crisis in India is an invisible epidemic

Instead of reaping its demographic dividend, India is staring at three categories of joblessness.

Ritwik Mukherjee

In June 2018, Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and his junior colleague Anant Kumar Hegde release the Ministry’s report card in New Delhi.

Skill India grounded: Problems plague technical training ecosystem

The system is managed and financed by the government instead of by industry.

T.K. Rajalakshmi

At a small shop in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, on June 30, 2017. Small businesses like these have been the worst affected by the GST regime.

Goods and Services Tax: Faulty by design

Never was so much promised to so many in the name of a tax.

At a construction site on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. In the construction sector, which is a significant source of employment, Gross Value Added grew annually by just 1.56 per cent between 2018-19 and 2021-22.

Is India’s ‘economic recovery’ a mere illusion?

The same hubris that characterised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s premature declaration of victory over the pandemic last year is at play now in the d

A community Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata, on October 13, 2021. Durga Pujas in Kolkata alone have estimated footfalls of 2 to 3 lakh people daily, providing employment and incomes for those involved in organising and performing as well as for sellers of wares and food and other service providers at the venues.

Reviving India’s beleaguered creative economy

The creative sector, which holds immense potential for employment generation and a healthier, happier population, suffered a body blow during the pand

Currency note of Rs.2000 denomination.

The missing Rs.2000 notes

The Rs.2000 currency notes introduced at the time of the 2016 demonetisation are hardly seen anymore, and there are concerns whether they are being us

Bank employees stage a protest against privatisation of nationalised banks in Ahmedabad on November 26.

Agenda for inequality: A new report raises red flags over privatisation

The People’s Commission report cautions the government against privatisation, as it will find it difficult to deliver on the future challenges emergin

Aakar Patel: ‘Modi shrank India’s workforce by a fifth’

Interview with Aakar Patel, author of ‘Price of the Modi Years’.