How A Year of Covid-19 Financially Dented India’s Middle Class
For Indians who had newly joined the growing middle class, the economic crisis following the pandemic has dealt a severe blow.
Surging Fuel Prices Further Dent India’s Pandemic-Stressed Economy
Retail prices of petrol and diesel have gone up even as global crude prices dampened, and the dollar-rupee exchange rate remained relatively stable. All told, more than half the price consumers pay per litre of fuel goes to tax, of which the lion’s share goes to the central government.
How Second Wave Is Decimating Rural Economy
The government says that the economic impact from the second Covid-19 wave will be less than that of the first. But economists point to signs of a growing rural economic crisis, and call for urgent relief measures to ward off long-term damage.
The Sorrow of War: The Long Silence of Bao Ninh
Interview with Bao Ninh, Vietnam’s most celebrated writer, best-known for ‘The Sorrow of War’, which was immediately deemed a classic of war narrative when published in English in 1994, earning comparisons with Erich Maria Remarque’s famous ‘All Quiet on The Western Front’.
India’s Poor are Eating into Their Savings, Thanks to High Inflation and COVID-19
Rising inflation is forcing millions of households in India to cut back on food and dip into their savings for essentials. This could wipe out gross household savings, hampering future economic recovery because households would have no money to spend.