The FCI’s Bizarre Logic
The Karnataka government’s plan to launch its “Anna Bhagya” scheme on July 1 under which it was planning to provide 10 kg of free rice per month to each family below the poverty-line has run into problems because of the…
Self-employed Workers in India
Well over half of all workers in India are self-employed. The proportions of self-employed workers are significantly higher in rural areas, and among women. In rural areas, it is presumed that it is the dominance of small-scale agriculture that leads…
A Common Misconception about Capitalism
There is a commonly-held view that while capitalism in its early stages brings about unemployment and hence an accentuation of poverty, this initial damage is subsequently reversed as it keeps growing. The unemployed get largely absorbed into the ranks of…
Davos Man Must Pay
To mitigate the worst effects of climate change and prevent societal breakdown, we must shift to renewable energies and reduce extreme inequality. But doing so would require massive increases in public spending, which is why governments must overhaul their outdated…
Hunger and Poverty
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2022 has just come out, which shows India occupying the 107th position among the 121 countries for which the index is prepared (countries where hunger is not a noteworthy problem are left out of…
When Governments Fail: A pandemic and its aftermath
August 2021 6.14 x 9.21 inches (xx+292) 312 pages Hardback ISBN: 978-81-947175-4-6 Rs 900 The Covid-19 pandemic has generated human suffering and economic devastation across the world – but these reflect not just the effects of the disease but the…
Billionaires and the Pandemic
Wealth distribution data are notoriously difficult to interpret. This is because variations in stock prices affect wealth distribution, so that a stock market boom suddenly makes the rich appear much richer, while a stock market collapse makes wealth distribution less…
Deception on Poverty
There is much self-congratulatory back-slapping among governments, the World Bank officials and many economists about the “decline in poverty” that is supposed to have occurred between 1990 and the onset of the recent pandemic. This decline is claimed on the…
On Prime Minister’s Claims about the COVID-19 Relief Package
Prime Minister Modi was on the TV screens once again yesterday which marked the last day of the third month after his sudden announcement of lockdown at the end of March. This lockdown has plunged the entire economy into a…
Covid-19 Crisis calls for Universal Delivery of Food and Cash Transfers by the State
The immediate need for universal food and cash delivery is by now obvious and urgent. Across the country, there are reports of people — migrant workers, local workers, peasants, pastoralists, fisherpeople, vendors, ragpickers, and the destitute — facing extreme hardship,…