Most international development economics and industrial organization literature emphasises the importance of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) as important to output, but especially to employment generation. Countries have different definitions for SMEs. In India the MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are defined in terms of investment in plant and machinery or equipment. The MSME Ministry (Annual Report, Government of India 2017 – 18) stated that the sector accounts for 45% of the manufacturing output and 40% of the total exports of the country; also that MSMEs accounted for 30.74% of GDP in 2014– 15. Not surprising, MSMEs are considered a driving force of the economy.

Authors:

• Santosh Mehrotra
• Tuhinsubhra Giri

In this issue, we have a wide range of articles from writers who have looked at children with disabilities in a variety of ways- but through the same lens: inclusion. There are articles tracing the history of different organizations which have worked for several years to create opportunities for the education of children with disabilities, language acquisition, travel, opportunities for independence and respectful acceptance, among others.

AtRiA, November 2019 focuses on journeys ‑some are enjoyable, some tiresome, some endless. A mathematician’s journey is full of unexpected delight, simply because of unexpected detours, sudden discoveries and interesting alternatives. Have fun as you travel with us. Read all about the young Yatris and their journey of discovery in Features. This section also describes more abstract journeys from the Regular Pentagon to the Icosahedron and the Dodecahedron (Part 2) and from the familiar 2 and 3 dimensions to n dimensions in Extension of the Pythagorean Theorem. In ClassRoom, Simple Cryptography and Triangles with Integer Sides are articles sparked off by previous articles in AtRiA . An Unusual Proof of the Centroid Theorem, Modified Pascal Triangle and Orthocentre of a Triangle may motivate you to write similarly! You will find ideas in our regular columns – How to Prove It, Low Flow High Ceiling and TechSpace which features the simulation of a dice game this time. Our issue is short of 100% without the PullOut, enjoy the learning trajectory on Percentages, defined and illustrated with plenty of examples in this issue. How Craig Barton Wishes he’d Taught Maths is an excellent review by Sir Timothy William Gowers, reprinted from his Weblog.

This article analyses relationships between the implementation of state-level industrial policies in India and manufacturing sector economic performance (employment and gross value added), utilising data from the Annual Survey of Industries conducted by the Government of India. I employ panel data fixed-effects regression models to evaluate the associations between the industrial policy and state-industry specific performance over the 2007-08 to 2014 – 15 period, incorporating potential effects of the state government’s political alignment, infrastructure provision and educational expenditure in the state. The results provide evidence of a positive correlation between industrial policy implementation and firm output and employment, by around 12.6 — 14 per cent. However, subsequent introductions of an industrial policy are negatively associated with employment and are uncorrelated with industrial GVA. This analysis has implications for economic policy in light of the Central Government’s plans to implement a revised industrial policy at the national scale.

Author:

• Raavi Aggarwal

To contribute to the critical matter of India creating just and sustainable employment, the University has set up the Centre for Sustainable Employment (CSE), which conducts and supports research in areas of work, labour, and employment. The University is attempting to provide empirically grounded, analytical reflections on the state of work and workers in India, as well as to evaluate and propose policies that aim to create sustainable jobs. To this end the University also gives grants to create new knowledge in the above areas. It also hosts a working paper series to which contributions are invited from researchers, policy-makers, civil society actors, and journalists. The University’s CSE website is an important part of this agenda. In addition to research papers and policy briefs, it hosts government reports, as well as data and statistics on the Indian labour market. This also includes executive summary of the report.

State of Working India 2019 consists of labour market trends between 2016 and 2018, and four policy papers around the theme of employment generation.

Download Full Report

Executive Summary

Media Coverage and Press Release

Download Chapters

• What do Household Surveys Reveal about Employment in India since 2016?
• Strengthening Towns through Sustainable Employment: A Job Guarantee Programme for Urban India
• Using Fiscal Policy to Alleviate the Job Crisis
• Creating Good Jobs Through A Universal Basic Services Programme
• How to Revive Indian Manufacturing? On the Need for Industrial Policy

Release event: Presentation and panel discussion

State of Working India 2019 Release Event Part One — YouTube

State of Working India 2019 Release Event Part Two — YouTube

Microenterprises have been the engines of job growth in the majority of dynamic economies. India is home to thousands of microenterprise clusters as well as millions of distributed entrepreneurs who can become job creators. Fostering of such mass-entrepreneurship is key to addressing India’s employment challenge. Case studies of clusters in general, and of women entrepreneurs in particular, show that if key factors such as collective action, infrastructure, credit, and market linkages are in place, returns to entrepreneurship are vastly improved. Inspirational stories are also emerging in the use of fourth industrial revolution technologies to improve access to markets and enter global value chains in a way that awards greater agency to women entrepreneurs.

Falling total employment is an unprecedented trend seen from 2011-12 to 2017 – 18. Due to a decline of employment in agriculture and manufacturing and slow growth of construction jobs, the process of structural transformation, which had gained momentum post-2004 – 5, has stalled since 2012. Mounting educated youth unemployment, and lack of quality non-farm jobs have resulted in an increase of the disheartened labour force. Though the share of regular and formal employment increased marginally due to growth of formal jobs in the private sectors, the share of informal jobs within government/​public sector increased. A dominant share of jobs is still generated by micro and small units of the unorganized sectors without any formal or written job contract. In both government and private sectors the number of contract jobs (with less than a year’s contract) is on the rise post 2011-12. Not surprisingly, real wages have not increased in either rural or urban areas.

Authors:

• Santosh Mehrotra
• Jajati K. Parida

The Karnataka Crime Victimisation Survey report is based on the findings of a crime victimisation survey undertaken by Azim Premji University with the assistance of independent field investigators in 2017. The main objective of the survey was to understand the scope and nature of crime in the state and to analyse the extent to which the National Crime Records Bureau records capture the rate of crime in Karnataka. 

It is certainly a platitude to say that learning can happen everywhere and at all times, at the most unexpected places and moments in our lives. However, that said, we also recognise that the school is a very valuable place of learning: formally and systematically in a graded way,level upon level so that we can tackle end-of-stage examinations which help us to choose our futures. But while all this is happening, a lot of undocumented and stimulating learning is going on simultaneously,
In this issue, articles on experiential learning about the environment, reading as a means of expanding horizons as well as acquiring language skills, the morning assembly as a treasure house of the learning experience- are all here. Other articles have given detailed accounts of science as a dispeller of superstition and an enhancer of a spirit of enquiry and curiosity. Sports do more than just teach the rules of the game, suggests an article: they can internalise values, inculcate inclusion and gender equality. There is an array of perspectives on the learning within learning which, paradoxically, falls outside of it.
All in all, this issue confirms what has long been felt and known — the learning that occurs outside the classroom is as vital as the formal pedagogy which takes place inside.

Explore big questions around 4 themes: black holes, the wound healing capacity of the skin, Higgs bosons, and the matrix of life. 

Use the activity sheets in ​‘A milky way to learn biology’, ​‘What do we really see’, and ​‘Trees and seasons in a changing world’ to introduce students to thinking like a scientist, the human vision, and neighborhood trees. 

Discover how astronomers measure distances in space in our new section ​‘How do we know?’ Explore how engaging students in raising an urban terrace farm can strengthen their understanding and involvement with the local environment in ​‘Pedagogy of dirty hands’. 

Try out the concept builder from ​‘Physics for closeted Aristotelians’ to find out how well your students understand motion under gravity. 

Read our ​‘Research to practice’ section to discover how to create embodied learning experiences for students in the science classroom. Or learn more about the first image of a black hole in our section ​‘Hot off the press’.

Looking for more? Enjoy our pull-out poster on human skin and booklet on identifying 10 common trees.

The July 2019 issue features Fractals on the cover — those distant and beautiful and highly mathematical creations have been brought a click away in our TechSpace section. Enjoy creating them and adding to your repertoire. We also take you through the magical tour of the beauty of mathematics starting with an article on Pentagons. Pi enters the ClassRoom section and the primary has plenty of learning — have fun joining the dots and exploring geometrical figures with different lenses. Students share their mathematical findings in two exciting articles. Our pedagogy article helps you to Understand Learners’ Thinking. And the Middle School problem corner is a Do_​It_​Yourself hands on problem solving section. The PullOut is on Ratio. 

Globally, research has shown that, there is a high correlation between the level of per capita income and the rate of female labour force participation. At the same time the agency and autonomy of women in a country improve with the level of female labour force participation.

Authors:

• Santosh Mehrotra

With the lack of official government data on unemployment and other labour market indicators, the most viable and recent source have been the regular household surveys conducted by the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy (CMIE). Given the differences in methods in data collection, it becomes exceedingly important to establish some comparability between the government and the CMIE datasets. This paper attempts to do that using two methods. First we fit a model of employment status on the CMIE data and see how well it predicts outcomes in the older Labour Bureau 2015 – 16 and NSS 2011-12 data. Then we compare state-level estimates of broad labour market indicators from CMIE 2016 and Labour Bureau 2015 – 16 datasets. The broad results are that despite differences in methodologies, the estimates for men are quite comparable between the surveys, while measures of women’s participation in the labour force seem particularly sensitive to the way questions are asked in surveys.

Authors:

• Rosa Abraham
• Anand Shrivastava

The problems of India’s development and governance are routinely linked to the logic of India’s electoral democracy. As a result, a great deal is known about elections, but paradoxically our knowledge of politics and society between elections is relatively underdeveloped. As much as anything else, development and governance outcomes are shaped by how the government functions between elections; including how it relates to citizens on a regular basis, how it provides routine public services to them, and how public order is maintained. Further, governance processes are nested in the social and political relationships between citizens and government functionaries.

This issue focusses on Textbooks and their significance in learning, how they are created, the ways they have been used and how they can be improved upon. The articles are based on classroom experience and as such are relevant and universal. Much thought has gone into the perceptive analyses by the authors, who have considered the full impact and importance of the power of textbooks.

The March 2019 issue is packed with articles for students, teachers and teacher educators of all classes. Striking results are not just reported, they are also explained and justified with proofs. And our sources vary from students to observations from colleagues in mathematics classrooms and mathematical tricks from websites- these are explored and explained.

Explore three ​‘Emerging Trends in Chemistry’ – new elements, metal-organic frameworks, and fluorescent tags. Read ​‘Serendipity’ & ​‘Annals of History’ to re-live the exciting jigsaw-puzzle-like process of scientific discovery – whether of a novel protein or the structure of DNA. 

Engage with the process of encouraging peer instruction in the science classroom through ​‘Students as Teachers’, or use our activity sheet ​‘Early Bird Nature Detectives Bingo’ to get students to observe (non-human) life in their backyards. 

Use our ​‘Science Lab’ section to get your students to calculate their molar masses (!) or understand pressure and volume through simple experiments with easily available low-cost materials. 

Discover the chemicals in everyday phenomenon through ​‘The Scent Orchestra of Flowers’ & ​‘The Chemistry of Life’. 

Explore the concept of energy from three very different perspectives with ​‘The Mystery of Dark Energy’, ​‘Powering (human) Life on Earth’ & ​‘Clean Energy’. Plus, enjoy our two pull-out posters on ​‘Doppler Effect’ and ​‘Some interesting scents of flowers’.

A continuous and sharp decline in the already depressed female labour force participation rate in India post 2005, particularly in the face of its rapid economic growth raises questions about the inclusiveness of the growth process. The paper recommends a set of policies based on the analysis of the nature and trends of female work participation and a brief analysis of the underlying reasons behind such trends. Women are moving out of the low productivity agricultural sector, which necessitates an increase in employment opportunities in the nonagricultural sector, particularly in rural and in semi-urban locations. Improving skills for employability, especially in manufacturing clusters (which is where the jobs are) located close to young girls’ rural homes, would help the females to join the labour force if non-agricultural jobs are growing. To release women from unpaid work in the household to join the paid labour force, it is essential to improve child care facilities and other basic service facilities, which again calls for raising the share of public expenditure in some sectors and specific facilities. For instance, increasing single working women’s housing, making public transport safer, and modifying public programmes to cater to women’s needs can pave the way for more women to engage and remain in the labour force, become active participants in the growth process, and thus achieve greater economic empowerment.

Authors:

• Santosh Mehrotra
• Sharmistha Sinha