Best of BS Opinion: Labour market distress, fiscal consolidation and more

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Wednesday

The effects of two devastating waves of the Covid-19 pandemic in India are receding, but the threat of new variants including Omicron continue to hang over India’s economic trajectory. The pandemic has significantly affected the job market and the labour force participation rate has declined by 3 percentage points to about 40 per cent. As our lead editorial notes, while the increase in welfarism and social protections can postpone the inevitable and somewhat protect living standards, the fact is that sustained increases in productivity, wages and job security for the vast mass of Indians is the only sure foundation upon