Economic and Political Weekly

16/09/2025

EPW Engage | Borders are not objective. They construct the identities of “insiders” versus “outsiders,” building upon governmental agendas, historical structures of discrimination, and monetary incentives.

Stricter migration policies and anti-immigration incentives are being implemented across several Global North countries like the United Kingdom (UK). While these decisions are framed as measures to combat employment scarcity and cost of living crises, the narratives employed by politicians and polic...

16/09/2025

2024: Excerpts from EPW Articles on Films

Image Image Image ​Read the articles to know more about the films featured above:   Kaathal—The Core : ‘Queer’ Malayalam Cinema? | Anu Kuriakose Space, Love, and Multispecies Entanglements in Pariyerum Perumal | Antony Jacob Sebastian The Winds Know It All : Climate Change, Disasters and Vu...

16/09/2025

These quotes have been selected from the article “Dalit Journals in Colonial Madras (1869–1943)” by J Balasubramaniam, which attempts to construct a history of Dalit journals in colonial Madras by analysing the sociopolitical contexts of the time.

These quotes have been selected from the article “Dalit Journals in Colonial Madras (1869–1943)” by J Balasubramaniam, which attempts to construct a history of Dalit journals in colonial Madras by analysing the sociopolitical contexts and the content of 42 journals published from 1869 to 1943....

16/09/2025

Despite Bihar’s high economic growth rates over the past 15 years, its female labour force participation rate has declined, especially between 2004–05 and 2018–19, with a modest increase after 2018–19.

Despite Bihar’s high economic growth rates over the past 15 years, its female labour force participation rate has declined, especially between 2004–05 and 2018–19, with a modest increase after 2018–19. This “U-curve” phenomenon of FLFPR in Bihar is examined using the National Sample Surv...

16/09/2025

With a surge in student and white-collar population, Pune has attracted migrant labourers to meet the demand for domestic work. This paper attempts to understand the lives of part-time female domestic workers in the Viman Nagar neighbourhood.

With a surge in student and white-collar population, Pune has attracted migrant labourers to meet the demand for domestic work. This paper attempts to understand the lives of part-time female domestic workers in the Viman Nagar neighbourhood. It explores the current market conditions of domestic wor...

16/09/2025

There is a need to overhaul its design not only to align it with trade policy but also with the country’s comparative advantage in labour-intensive manufacturing.

The revival of industrial policy after the global financial crisis (GFC) 2008 in developed, emerging, andThe revival of industrial policy after the global financial crisis (GFC) 2008 in developed, emerging, and developing economies has become a matter of great importance in the international develop...

16/09/2025

Discussion | Representing prolonged conflicts faithfully is never easy. This is true for both the actual subjects of the conflicts and outside observers.

The article, “Selective Outrage, Selective Targeting: The Politics of Othering in Manipur” The article, “Selective Outrage, Selective Targeting: The Politics of Othering in Manipur” by Thongkholal Haokip (EPW, 3 August 2024), is well-written but contains several subterfuges and partial repre...

16/09/2025

Special Article | Air pollution is a serious environmental issue in cities like Beijing (China) and Delhi (India) and the governments in both countries have taken several measures to address it.

Air pollution has become a serious health concern in many cities across the globe, particularly in rapidly developinAir pollution has become a serious health concern in many cities across the globe, particularly in rapidly developing urban centres like Delhi (India) and Beijing (China). Several stud...

16/09/2025

Postscript | Having set out to do fieldwork in the middle of COVID-19, a researcher reflects on the complexities of balancing motherhood and research in the face of a pandemic.

As I reflect on my doctoral research, I’m reminded of the challenges I faced as both a researcher and a new mother to a nine-month-old. The COVID-19 pandemic, spanning a year and a half, compounded with postpartum issues, shifted my research to the sidelines rather than keeping it at the forefront...

16/09/2025

Commentary | The Forest Conservation Rules, 2022 in India materialised an alliance between the centralisation of environmental control and exemptions for capitalist interests.

This article looks at the modifications made to the legal framework1 of forest conservation in the country and attempts to put them in the larger context of the evolving concerns of the Indian forest regime.This article looks at the modifications made to the legal framework1 of forest conservation i...

16/09/2025

Commentary | A comparative legal analysis of panchayat delimitation frameworks in Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Punjab highlights the structural inadequacies hindering democratic representation at the grassroots level.
Mayuri Gupta and Nivedhitha K write in EPW:
https://www.epw.in/journal/2025/22/commentary/local-governance-and-legal-gaps.html

16/09/2025

Review of Urban Affairs | The centrality of an artisan’s household within the geography of traditional bangle-making is analysed by spatially locating it within the networks of production in the context of the Firozabad artisanal cluster in Uttar Pradesh.

Firozabad city1 in Uttar Pradesh is a non-metropolitan, mono-industrial artisanal cluster2 associated with a single material glass,3 located just 40 km from Agra. Among other glass products, it is the “glass bangle”-making that has given this cluster a unique identity of a place where glass bang...