As many as 14 crore agri-labourers make up the biggest economic class in India – and the poorestIN the recently presented Economic Survey for 2022-23, tucked away in the verbiage and data, there is a nugget of information that should shock the conscience of all Indians, whether ruling BJP supporters or not. According to the calculations done by the government’s own economists, real wages – that is, wages adjusted to inflation – of rural labourers are either stagnating or showing a marginal fall over the past over two years.

EVERY Republic Day makes us realise how far we have advanced since founding of our republic. A fundamental premise of our constitution which, in the first place, was enshrined to realise the aspirations of our freedom struggle – a State with common citizenship irrespective of caste, creed, language and culture.

THE RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat in an interview to the editors of the RSS publications, Organiser and the Panchjanya (January 15,) dealt with a range of questions. Bhagwat’s comments should be taken as the 2023 update of the writings of RSS founders like Hedgewar and Golwalkar for the building of a Hindu Rashtra. He says “Hindustan is a Hindu rashtra. This prosperous and powerful Hindu society—Hindu Rashtra—Bharat—will reach to the pinnacle of its glory and provide leadership to the world.” The RSS spelled out its project when India was a British colony.

Labour force has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, according to CMIE.LATEST estimates put the number of unemployed in India at over five crore. This is just short of the heights reached during 2020, the first year of the pandemic, which saw recurring lockdowns and a shutdown of the economy. These estimates, made by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), are drawn from periodic sample surveys carried out by the consultancy.

THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI), being the central bank of our country, came out with a concept note on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) on October 7, 2022. Within a month of issuance of this note which was intended to create awareness about the digital currency among the general public, RBI has come out hurriedly with the pilot issuance of whole sale CBDC on November 1, 2022; further retail digital currency has been introduced on December 1, 2022.