Most of us order food and book cabs without thinking much about the person on the other end of the app. There are a lot of them. NITI Aayog (2022) counted 7.7 million gig and platform workers in 2020-21, about 6.7% of India's non-agricultural workforce, and expected 23.5 million by 2029-30.
BACKGROUND
Women’s economic insecurity is shaped not only by low household income but also by unpaid care work, limited control over resources and unequal access to employment. State governments have increasingly responded through direct cash-transfer programmes that place money in women’s bank accounts. Madhya Pradesh’s Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna Yojana is one of the most significant examples of this shift.
Policy Update Divya Natarajan Background Quality Control Orders (QCOs) are mandatory technical regulations, issued by Central Government Line Ministries after consultation with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), that require specified products to comply with designated Indian Standards before they…
Angela Rajeev Background The ‘Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS)’ is the largest facet of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and has been run by the Ministry of Rural Development since 1995 (Ministry of Rural Development, 2025).…
Jammu and Kashmir's handicraft sector combines household-based production, specialised craft skills and a large network of small artisans. The sector includes carpets, Pashmina, Kani and Sozni shawls, papier-mâché, walnut wood carving, Khatamband, embroidery and several regional crafts. According to the J&K Economic Survey 2025-26, the Handicrafts and Handloom sector provides livelihoods to approximately 4.45 lakh artisans. The same survey reports 6,969 registered cooperative societies supporting these artisans and 634 training centres offering one-year and two-year programmes. Around 6,000-7,000 trainees complete these wider training programmes each year.
BACKGROUND
As India transitions towards a developed country, economic growth is accelerating faster, creating productive and formal employment opportunities for its growing workforce, particularly its young population. As per PLFS Annual Report 2025, Youth (age 15-29) unemployment rate has declined 9.9% in 2025 from 10.3% in 2024, While the manufacturing sector improved from 11.6% to 12.1% in 2025, still leave a substantial gap between the size of India's workforce entering the labour market each year and the pace of formal job creation.
In the elections to the State Assemblies of Keralam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry, one emerging pattern had been the engagement, or lack thereof, of the younger generation, the Gen Zs in particular, in the electoral process.