Category Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being

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India’s Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules, 2019: Balancing Development, Ecology, and Coastal Community Livelihoods

India's coastline is one of the most consequential stretches of land in the country. The country's coastline was officially reassessed from 7,516.6 kilometres to 11,098.81 kilometres in 2025, following updated measurements using modern GIS software and high-resolution High-Water Line data. The revised figure reflects improved measurement techniques rather than a physical expansion of India's coastline. Around 250 million people depend on India's coastal areas for their homes and livelihoods, particularly through sectors such as fisheries, transport, and tourism. Mangroves, coral reefs, turtle nesting beaches, sand dunes, and estuaries provide important ecological and protective functions, while coastal ecosystems also support livelihoods and economic activity.

New Rehabilitation

From Fragmented and Failing to Integrated: What Delhi’s New Rehabilitation Complex Says About India’s Child Care Institutions

Children enter India’s child care institutions every year, yet many continue to face overcrowding, staff shortages and gaps in rehabilitation. For children in conflict with the law, rehabilitation is especially important because the juvenile justice system is meant to support reintegration rather than simply punish them. Delhi’s proposed rehabilitation complex in Alipur could be an important step in that direction. But can a modern facility solve problems that have existed within the system for years?

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Industrial policy and Technological transformation: Assessing the Rajasthan Semiconductor Policy And the making of a regional semiconductor hub 2026

On 18 March 2026, the Government of Rajasthan approved the Rajasthan Semiconductor Policy 2026, formally released as a policy document by the state government on 24 March 2026. The policy was introduced against the backdrop of India's broader semiconductor push under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and reflects a deliberate attempt by the state to move away from its traditional industrial base of textiles, mining, and handicrafts toward a technology-driven growth model aligned with the state government's "Viksit Rajasthan-2047" vision.

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Viksit Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) (2026): A Policy Initiative for Regional Air Connectivity

The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched the Viksit UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) on 4 July 2026 for FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36, a modified form of UDAN, launched in October 2016 which has transformed regional connectivity by operationalising 669 routes and connecting 95 airports, heliports and water aerodromes, benefitting over 1.66 crore passengers (PIB, 2026). This upgraded UDAN scheme emphasises on India’s development and self-sustainable air connectivity across the country.

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Andhra Pradesh RTGS: Reinventing Governance Through Data

After the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the state faced major governance challenges in coordinating departments and delivering timely public services to over 49.5 million citizens (CAG, 2017) Isolated departmental systems and periodic reporting created data silos, delaying critical decisions in disaster response, welfare delivery, and grievance redress. Poor inter-departmental coordination hindered accountability, transparency, and performance tracking. Furthermore, the lack of integrated, real-time data severely limited predictive capacity, preventing proactive disaster management and evidence-based policymaking.

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Female Education and Workforce Participation (PLFS 2017–18 to 2023–24): Evidence from the U-Shaped Worker Population Ratio in India

Since the introduction of Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), India's female labour force participation rate (LFPR) has risen sharply from 23.3 per cent in 2017-18 to 41.7 per cent by 2023-24. LFPR counts women who are either working or actively looking for work. This article looks at a related but different number: the Worker Population Ratio (WPR), which counts only women who are actually employed. WPR is the number PLFS publishes broken down by education level, and it answers the question that matters most for policy, not whether a woman is looking for work, but whether she has found it.

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From MGNREGA to VB-GRAM-G

For twenty-one years, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 gave every rural household a legal entitlement to 100 days of unskilled work a year. Its funding was generous to states: the Centre covered full unskilled wages and 75% of material costs, leaving states only a quarter of materials, plus administration and unemployment allowance.

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