Hindutva, Economic Neoliberalism and the Abuse of Economic Statistics in India Jayati Ghosh https://doi.org/10.4000/samaj.6882  https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/pdf/6882

Economist Jayati Ghosh, in a piece titled Hindutva, Economic Neoliberalism and the Abuse of Economic Statistics in India, explained how the Narendra Modi government’s efforts at implementing the Hindutva agenda adversely affects economic activity.

Quoting examples of the 2002 Gujarat riots and the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, she said, “Riots – often instigated cynically by proponents of Hindutva for political and other purposes – are clearly not economically beneficial in the aggregate. However, they can sometimes lead to benefits for part

Five Issues That Are Hurting the Indian Economy https://thewire.in/economy/indian-economy-inflation-adani-press-freedom-politics Apart from economic issues such as high inflation and crony capitalism, mental health, majoritarian politics and press freedom also impact the overall growth of the economy.
Five Issues That Are Hurting the Indian Economy

India’s ‘developed’ status by 2047 depend on empowering its blue-collar workforce https://price360.in/articles-details.php?url=indias-developed-status-by-2047-depend-on-empowering-its-bluecollar-workforce Dr. Rajesh Shukla September 14, 2023

Data from PRICE’s ICE 3600 surveys (2016 and 2021) provide some major insights into the current status of this population.

In terms of size, they form a third of the country’s population: 500 million people equivalent to 100 million households who earn their livelihood through daily wages. Nearly half of them are residents of just five states - 15% are residents of Uttar Pradesh, followed by Maharashtra (11%), Bihar (9%), West Bengal (8%) and Tamil Nadu (7%). If the effect of population is removed, the top five states with the highest concentration of labour are: Bihar (50%), Madhya Pradesh (46%), West Bengal (42%), Jharkhand (40%) and Odisha (38%).

The labour households have an average annual income of Rs 126,000 (2020-21) which is one-eighth of the national income. Undoubtedly, a large segment has been able to extricate itself from grinding poverty, but their economic condition continues to be precarious at best. For the overwhelming majority of these households, savings is minimal. They spend almost all of what they earn and regularly borrow to meet their routine expenses. In 2016, 28% labour households reported that they were in debt and by 2021 this figure had risen to 40%. The share of indebted households (ranging from 13% to 57%) is highest in Bihar, Maharashtra and Telengana where more than half of labour households were reported in debt in 2020-21.

The significance of financial support and subsidies to this population cannot be over-emphasised. The pandemic threatened to push them back into crippling financial crises. Nearly 72% of labour households surveyed by PRICE revealed that they had received food or free rations from the government during the lockdowns. Another 58% reported receiving subsidised rations. NGOs provided food support to 14% of households while for 19% of such households, food support came from friends, relatives and neighbours.

Cash transfers from the government helped mitigate the financial crunch for nearly 32% of households and free medical aid was a much-needed resource - 23% received this from the state government and 15% from the central government. Another 23% confirmed that they had benefited from LPG subsidies.

While hailing the contribution of the workforce in our quest for economic development, we need to reiterate our commitment to building the skillsets, and social and economic well-being of this very large and significant segment of our population. Only then will we truly realize the potential of the “trinity of demography, democracy and diversity” in fulfilling our objective of becoming a developed economy by 2047.