Through the Looking Glass

The Financial Express As the practice of sharing becomes more prevalent, cities will develop their own culture, and it is fascinating to see that emerge Over the last month or so, since car-pooling apps launched their pooling or shared services in Mumbai, they have become a favourite mode of transport for many of us office-goers. Concerns on sharing rides with unfamiliar people have given way to the joys of looking forward to meeting with strangers. The stories that are narrated, the experiences shared, the friendships that are made make up for the few minutes of detour that sharing inevitably entails. Of course, the cost of travel coming down has also been a big positive. The co-passengers typically cover the same route as I do, and both of us can do with company in the hour-long ride. It speaks volumes of Mumbai’s infrastructure that a 12-km ride back home in the evening via the Western Express Highway typically takes around an hour. Earlier, the way to while away time was to ...

The Financial Express A revised estimate of the labour market in 2022 finds 500 million Indians could still be dependent on agriculture India’s consumption story is predicated upon the millennial and post-millennial demographic performing productive, paying jobs. A revised forecast of India’s labour market by 2022E is sobering: half-a-billion people are expected to be dependent on agriculture, contributing to only a ninth of the GDP. The pace of transition is not encouraging—we examine the implications of this on urbanisation, inequality and women empowerment, among other factors. A review of 24 industry reports commissioned by the National Skills Development Council (NSDC) and their comparison with similar reports that NSDC had put together around the end of the last decade shows a sharp fall in overall expected job creation. The earlier forecast expected to see 654 million working Indians by 2022E, this number is now lower at 575 million. The earlier estimate pegged Indians em...