Economy

When we pick up the newspaper from our doorsteps every morning, we do not usually stop to think how it got there. But newspaper distributors and the entire chain involved play a huge role in ensuring that we are connected to what's happening in the world, through the morning dailies they deliver. Come rain, shine or even worse - the pandemic, their job of collecting and distributing newspapers never comes to a halt. They are indeed as vital as those who make and write the news. But unfortunately, the news distribution sector has always remained in the shadows with little…

The pandemic has not only been a health emergency, but also a huge blow on the economic front. Many people lost their jobs while many more have faced pay cuts. Some like R Sunitha stepped up to the challenge by starting their own business ventures. Sunitha, who lost her job, became a home chef during the lockdown. "I took it very hard initially when I lost my job. But I knew I had to pull my act together to earn during the pandemic. I applied for a trade licence and started my own food business and became a home chef,"…

In part 1 of this story, we saw the economic impact on informal waste workers’ livelihood and the entire informal recycling sector due to the lockdown. We now see what policy changes have been proposed in the waste recycling sector and what action Bengaluru has taken on the ground. Let’s start with understanding the informal waste recycling sector -- this Indian ecosystem is quite unique . A formal study on Recycling Hubs showed Bengaluru’s informal recycling value chains crisscross the formal and informal segments of the economy at many different levels. Recycling sector - Value chain. Graphic source: Valuing Urban…

“April-May is the peak period for us to collect a lot of newspapers and books; unfortunately, we were unable to procure any kind of waste," says Muniswamy, a  scrap dealer from  HSR Layout. With his shop shut, he had no income, yet he had to continue paying rent for the premises. Muniswamy’s experience reflects the story of countless informal waste workers across Bengaluru, after the pandemic led to multiple lockdowns, disrupting livelihoods.  Maheshwari collects waste hair by picking from streets, and also goes house-to-house  buying hair from individuals, and sells in bulk. She says, “With the lock down, I couldn’t…

“The recession and inflation over the last year and more has broken the middle class and crushed low income groups,” says B.D Sharma, a retired director of public relations with the Himachal Pradesh government.  “Whatever I and my wife, who also retired from a government job, had invested in a Fixed Deposited (FD) scheme,” says Sharma. “The regular interest income from this has dropped by 45 to 50% due to cut in interest rates, but our monthly household budget is up by 120%!” Urban families, especially in towns like Shimla, a hill town known even during pre-pandemic times for its…

Besides health, the socio-economic distress caused by the pandemic is likely to leave a deep impact on the urban milieu. Urban agglomerations are often characterized as organic, dynamic life systems quite capable of being able to adapt, respond to opportunities and absorb adversity. Their vibrancy is argued to be inhibited and even distorted by state interventions. The disparities and inequalities that characterize several Indian cities might lead one to question these beliefs even during regular times. However, the pandemic has thrown up several new questions on the resilience of cities. Whether this be the exodus of migrant workers, loss of…

In Part I and Part II of our focus on urban jobs and livelihoods, we had examined the need for and feasibility of an Urban Work Guarantee scheme. Citizen Matters also spoke to two eminent economists on the various issues concerning creation of such a scheme. Amit Basole, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Employment at APU (Azim Premji University), has been advocating an urban employment guarantee programme since 2019, and particularly since COVID lockdowns. Dr Jos Chathukulam is lead author of an EPW paper about Kerala’s experiment with its Ayyankali Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. That such a scheme is…

As one enters Day 2 Day Medical in Mazgaon, Byculla the huge pharmacy counter right at the back of the large store catches the eye. Three long aisles of all kinds of products -- packaged food, toiletries, cosmetics, and items of daily need -- separate the entrance from the counter, which has a large front that runs up to the ceiling. Upon this front are written the words, “He Cures, We Serve”. Day 2 Day Medical is one of several new format stores that have been proliferating in Mumbai all through the pandemic-induced lockdowns. “We actually have two branches of…

There does seem to be a broad consensus among economists with whom we spoke, that an urban employment guarantee scheme is necessary to stabilise the economy. Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, a Senior Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation’s Economy and Growth Programme, considers expansion of the employment guarantee programme to urban areas (beyond the MNREGA scheme for villages) as a necessary step in his blueprint for economic revival. He elaborates on this argument in a paper he wrote in January 2021. “Apart from boosting purchasing power and thereby consumption demand, such a scheme has the potential to raise and stabilise urban wages,” writes Mukhopadhyay.…

Everyday, the advertisement sections of our morning newspapers bear notices of banks auctioning the properties of enterprises that failed to repay loans for more than three months. Everyday, smaller manufacturing companies in Chennai, which had successfully braved the economic distress even during the tsunami and the 2015 floods, are bringing down the shutters for good. And while the COVID-triggered medical crisis and political news routinely eclipse such news, COVID-19 has actually crippled the MSME sector in Chennai (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises), leaving many entrepreneurs neck deep in debt. Industrial estates in Chennai that were always abuzz with activity are now…