Next time your food shows up hot and on time, think about the person who brought it. Ten-hour shift, two apps running at once just to make the math work, and under Indian law, they're now technically eligible for social security benefits. Technically.
Everything is possible at the tap of a screen these days, whether it's ordering groceries, booking a cab, or hiring someone for personal care services. The promise of delivery in minutes has made life smoother and more dependable. But we often overlook the human effort running through the city behind every order. These jobs are among the fastest-growing in recent years, yet they are marked by odd hours, a lack of basic amenities, occupational risks, and a lack of proper grievance redressal mechanisms. India's gig workforce was estimated at 7.7 million in 2020-21 and is projected to reach 23.5 million by 2029-30 (NITI Aayog, 2022).
Exporters compete on price, and part of that price is made up of domestic taxes that no other mechanism returns to them.
The persistent narrative of youth apathy towards politics has become empirically untenable in contemporary India.
According to the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, the official and legal definition of the bonded labour system refers to a form of forced, or partly forced, labour in which a debtor or their family agrees to work for a creditor. This condition arises in three ways: first, through debt, loans, or financial advances; second, through customary or social obligations; and third, through inheritance or birth into a specific caste or community, which leads to forced labour. Therefore, Bonded labour has long been recognized as one of the gravest violations of human rights in India.
The rapid expansion of digital payments, online services, social media and connected technologies has created increasingly complex forms of cybercrime. Investigating such offences requires specialised capabilities in digital evidence collection, cyber forensics, electronic device examination, online financial trails and emerging technologies. However, cybercrime investigation also faces capacity-related challenges, including uneven access to specialised training, the need to keep investigative skills aligned with rapidly evolving criminal methods, and the requirement for coordinated capacity-building across State and Union Territory law-enforcement agencies. The Ministry of Home Affairs has recognised these needs through initiatives supporting cyber-forensic laboratories, specialised training and technical assistance to investigating officers (Ministry of Home Affairs, 2022; Ministry of Home Affairs, 2024).
The textile and apparel industry is an important part of India’s economy, contributing to employment, exports and industrial development. However, the sector faces several challenges, including gaps in production capacity, limited integration across different stages of the value chain, raw-material constraints, technological gaps and barriers to accessing international markets.