Time Spent on Employment-Related Activities in India: A Note

Recent remarks by leaders of corporate India have sparked an interesting public debate. Their general point is that if India wants to become a developed nation, people will have to work 70 hours a week or more. Assuming a six-day work week, this translates to 700 minutes per day on employment-related activities. So far, the public discussion has mostly focused on efficiency versus quantity of work. Though this is an important aspect, it is imperative to first understand how things stand on the ground by studying the available data. That is, how much time is spent on employment-related activities across states, different economic sectors, types of enterprises, rural versus urban differences, and differences across genders and social groups within the country. In addition, this note also provides evidence of the association between time spent on employment-related activities and the per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) at constant prices.

Examining trends in growth of cities in India using novel high frequency data

Examining volume and directions of domestic migration in India using novel high frequency data

Female Labour Force Participation Rate

The female labour force participation rate (LFPR) is a crucial indicator of women’s economic empowerment and overall economic inclusiveness. This research paper presents econometric analysis highlighting a significant resurgence in female LFPR across Indian states, especially in rural areas, since 2017-18. There are three broad themes for the empirical analysis: (1) Recent trends in female LFPR, (2) The effects of marital status and parenthood on LFPR, and (3) LFPR variations with age and gender across all regions and states of India.

India and Global IPR Treaties

To become an international player in the knowledge economy, India needs to take global IPR treaties more seriously as these agreements create the framework for the country’s R&D ecosystem to align with global best practices and accurately benchmark our performance with international peers. In this EAC-PM Working Paper, we explore 4 such international agreements and look at the pros and cons of each of them. These are the Strasbourg Agreement Concerning the International Patent Classification 1971, Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement on Industrial Designs 1999, Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Geographical Indications 2015 and the Design Law Treaty 2024.

AGROFORESTRY: MISSING TREES FOR THE FOREST

Despite being a tropical country, India has not been able to unlock the full potential of agroforestry. India’s agroforestry sector remains under-utilised and stifled by regulation. According to a study published in the journal of “Environment, Development and Sustainability”, as of 2021, the area under agroforestry (defined as tree cover per cent greater than 10 per cent on agricultural land) is estimated to be around 28 million hectares, which is a mere 17 per cent of total agricultural land and is far less when compared to the global average of 43 per cent. Agroforestry is India’s primary source of timber. As per the Indian Council on Forest Research and Education (ICFRE), over 93 per cent of India’s domestic timber was produced by “trees outside forests”, a majority of which are agroforestry plots. However, a stringent, complex and cumbersome regulatory policy combined with a conservation-led approach to forestry has stifled the growth of agroforestry in India. Consequently, India has become a net importer of timber. In 2023, India imported over USD 2.7 billion worth of timber1 (ITTO 2023), which equals almost 12 per cent of all agrobased imports for the same year (Damodaran 2024)