Demography

In July 2021, Uttar Pradesh announced a population policy, the draft of the Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill, 2021. While the contents of the bill are contentious, so is the timing of its tabling in the legislature. In terms of substantive population planning, the draft document is not only detrimental to long-term demographic transition, it has serious repercussions for welfare state mechanisms.

This paper examines the performance of four southern states in various economic and social sectors during the past decade, comparing and contrasting them with each other and the average all-India figures in these sectors. Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have done the most to initiate reforms in recent years. Kerala is moving in this direction too, after initial delays, as is Tamil Nadu. As the four states face several individual and common challenges in the coming years, they need to deepen reforms and tailor strategies in keeping with their particular circumstances, in their quest for growth.

The state of widowhood is both a personal condition and a social institution. Widowhood brings about severe social, economic and cultural deprivations. In this paper, we study the well-being of widows in terms of the impact that social marginalisation and economic dependence has on their psychological and physical conditions. The emerging trends have been discussed after a detailed analysis of data.