Shikha Chaturvedi

Datanomics: India's passport weakens again as global mobility divide widens

India's passport strength stagnates at 57 visa-free destinations, even as China and high-income nations widen their global travel reach, the 2025 Henley Index shows

India among world's busiest nations, strives for work-life balance

People with advanced education qualifications have more workload on them

Datanomics: Measuring India's cloud seeding scale and rainfall impact

A 2014 Beijing study found that a 1 mm increase in rainfall intensity reduced PM2.5 levels by 4-28 per cent, highlighting the potential of such interventions in improving air quality

Chhattisgarh at 25: Going strong, but still has a lot on its plate

The state's development record captures both continuity and constraint. Challenges like regional imbalances persist, writes Shikha Chaturvedi

Datanomics: Half of Bihar's MLAs face serious charges ahead of polls

As Bihar heads to the polls, new data from ADR exposes deep-rooted criminalisation across parties - with nearly half of its former MLAs facing serious criminal charges

Datanomics: How India-Afghanistan ties have shifted under Taliban 2.0

India cautiously renews economic engagement with Afghanistan, balancing humanitarian aid and trade ties without extending formal recognition to the Taliban regime

StatsGuru: India's female labour force boom hides crisis of real employment

India's jobs surge hides a deeper divide - women's participation is rising, but much of it comes from unpaid and insecure work, exposing persistent gender gaps in meaningful employment

Suicides by housewives high in states where domestic violence is normalised

Societal acceptance of abuse, rather than its actual frequency, may shape how women respond to distress

Suicides by daily-wage earners up 45% in 5 years, says NCRB report

Share in total suicides rose to 27.5% in 2023, says NCRB report

StatsGuru: Decoding the recent slowdown in India's factory wage growth

Nominal factory wages rose sharply through the first decade (2004-05 to 2013-14), peaking in FY11 before settling into lower, steadier growth in later years

Despite defence pact with Pakistan, India remains Saudi's key trade partner

Saudi-Pakistan defence pact underlines Islamabad's reliance on Riyadh, while India's ties rest on larger trade and diversified remittances

Statsguru: The paradox of women's empowerment, leadership in South Asia

South Asia, therefore, has been central to the story of women in top leadership, but the numbers remain small even today

In managing national debt, France could borrow a leaf from India

European giant's subsidies and welfare spending blamed for stretched financial resources

Datanomics: New Nepal PM faces challenges from graft to economic revival

She begins her term with a promise to fight corruption, which is the foremost challenge in the fragile economy

Datanomics: Internet blocks rare in Nepal, not sole cause of Gen Z unrest

Globally, internet shutdowns have risen in the past decade, rising to 296 in 2024. India topped the list from 2016 to 2023

East to West; urban and rural: The rise of private coaching in India

Tripura leads in share of students in parallel schooling system but participation is low in Rajasthan

Datanomics: Slack in informal manufacturing in pre-tariff quarter

First-ever quarterly estimates of unincorporated enterprises show job and enterprise losses in manufacturing, raising concerns over India's growth outlook

Datanomics: A changing educational landscape for India's schools

As many as 50.9 per cent of teachers are still employed in the government sector in FY25

Datanomics: India's GDP surprise driven by deflator effect across sectors

The sharp uptick was largely due to the impact of GDP deflators, which remained unusually soft, particularly in the primary and secondary sectors

Datanomics: Job patterns expose India's labour market fragilities

These fault lines indicate that while growth may remain steady, global shocks such as tariff hikes could magnify job losses