Policy analysis

According to the investment bank, India is on course to achieve average annual GDP growth of 6 to 6.5 per cent over the next decade – one of the fastest rates globally. However, this pace may not be enough to meet the employment aspirations of the country’s rapidly expanding working-age population, which will swell by nearly 100 million over the next ten years.

The 24-month cohort follow-up, conducted between August 2022 and December 2024, paints a troubling picture of early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, violence, and severe gaps in reproductive health services for some of the country’s most marginalised women.

The report’s broader poverty measure underscores how deeply structural pressures are squeezing households. The poverty rate – nearly 28 per cent – has jumped significantly in just three years.

With just five years left to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new United Nations report has warned that the world is “alarmingly off-track” on gender equality, placing millions of women and girls at risk of being left behind.

While male participation in the labour market remained largely steady, dipping only slightly from 48.1 million to 48.0 million, female participation plunged more markedly – from 25.3 million in 2023 to 23.7 million in 2024.

According to the study, India’s recent trajectory on non-communicable disease mortality marks a departure from the broader global pattern.

Nepal’s army stepped in late Tuesday night to impose an indefinite curfew across major cities, including the capital Kathmandu, as the country reeled from violent Gen Z-led protests that forced Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli to resign on Tuesday.

Using self-reported questionnaires, the survey assessed aspects such as alcohol and drug use, eating habits, physical activity levels, psychosocial wellbeing, injuries, exposure to violence and skipping meals due to food insufficiency.