Economics Demystified

In these extraordinary times of pandemic, given the return of migrants to their villages in large numbers, the dependence on MGNREGA as a major source of employment is expected to increase manifold. However, MGNREGA to successfully prove as an instrument to reduce rural distress, some changes will have to be made in its design and implementation. For the last one month newspapers are filled with some kind of mishaps happening with migrants labourers with their condition getting worse with every passing day. Be it’s the news of killing of 15 migrants by a train run in Maharashtra or killing of 25 migrants workers in a truck collision in Uttar Pradesh; these incidents clearly indicate towards their growing misery. These workers are desperate to leave their present workplace and are walking back to their native places barefooted with no food and public transport operating. Although the state governments are making arrangements for their safe return to their native places by arrang...

While the Indian economy has been hit really hard by the corona crisis, economists are tossing on the shape that recovery path would follow. With lockdown getting stretched in phases, economists are predicting beyond traditional V, U, W, and L-shaped recession towards more of a “Nike swoosh” recovery trail. As time is passing, the coronavirus crisis is proving to be an unwanted sequel to 1930’s Great depression, with its consequential economic devastation exceeding that of 2008 Great recession. With Government getting more optimistic towards lifting up of lockdown, economists are busy speculating the shape of the recession and the plausible recovery out of it. In the initial phases of lockdown, it was V shaped recession that was getting popular among economists; however, with this covid-19 crisis getting stretched, majority of economist now are hinting more towards a Nike swoosh shaped recovery. Let’s analyse some of the famous recovery patterns on which economists are tossing upon. ...

At a time when the rural economy was already under distress, Covid 19 pandemic is going to make things worse for the agriculture sector. Some short term support measures by the government can help it to sail through this difficult time. In this pandemic situation, it seems that lockdown and social distancing are the only effective ways of dealing with the pandemic. However, its repercussions on thousands of rural and migrant workers are already visible. Regardless of support promises and efforts by the government to prevent them from moving out, majority of workers are not reporting for work with most migrant workers returning to their native places. While the government has exempted operation of agricultural mandis from the lockdown, however, in the absence of migrant labourers, harvesting of the rabi crops will be difficult especially in wheat surplus states Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. At a time when the rural economy was already witnessing declining agricultura...