What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1 : Wetter & not that hot: Why is summer of 2025 atypical so far?

Context

A cooler-than-usual summer over large geographical areas of the country has contributed to keeping all-India average temperatures within the normal range

Unusual summer

• The summer of 2025 has been unusual so far.
• High day temperatures, typically reaching between 40 degrees and 45 degrees Celsius, and heatwave days have been largely absent.
• May, in particular, has been exceptionally wet in many parts of the country with thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain and, in some cases, hail.
• No record-breaking temperatures have been reported from any part of the country .
• In March, maximum temperatures remained higher than normal over Central India, but the rest of the country experienced normal temperatures.
• But as a whole, the country’s Core Heatwave Zone (CHZ), spanning Central, North, and Peninsular India between Gujarat and West Bengal, which is prone to heatwave conditions every year from March to June and occasionally in July has not as yet experienced a significant heatwave episode this summer.
• A cooler-than-usual summer over large geographical areas of the country has contributed to keeping all-India average temperatures within the normal range.

Why this trend this year

• The primary reason for a wetter- and cooler-than-usual summer so far has been the frequent passage of streams of western disturbances in the lower latitudes.
• Western disturbances are eastward-bound winds that originate in the Mediterranean Sea and cause rain or snow along their way.
• There were four such episodes in March and April, and there have been two in May so far.
• There has also been a continuous incursion of moisturefrom the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea into the Indian mainland, with the subsequent wind interactions causing rainfall and thundershowers.
• Following a thunderstorm event, the maximum temperature generally falls by 5-7 degrees Celsius.

An especially wet May

• The month of May usually sees higher-than-normal temperatures, with North, Northwest and Central India experiencing heatwave conditions.
• Over the past three weeks, Northwest India has experienced thunderstorms resulting in above normal rainfall and normal or below normal maximum temperatures.
• The weekly all-India rainfall (May 2-8) stood at a 20% surplus. As a result, the maximum temperatures over the West, Central, and Eastern Indian regions dropped by 2-5 degrees Celsius below normal.
• In addition, below normal minimum temperatures (departure 1-3 degrees Celsius) were recorded over the East and Central India regions.

Conclusion

However, this year, the southwest monsoon is expected to hit the Kerala coast – considered the official onset of the southwest monsoon over India – on May 27. While onset is not an indicator of the future advance of the monsoon, if weather conditions are favourable, the possibility of a normal advance of the monsoon and an early onset over the country as a whole cannot be ruled out.

 

Editorial 2 : Labour Force Survey has an update. It’s a welcome one

Context

Changes in the PLFS’s methodology and frequency are welcome. As India’s economy grows and seeks to attract global investors, credible and timely data will be non-negotiable. The current data on the Indian labour market leaves a lot to be desired.

PLFS – improved version

• India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has unveiled a new and improved version of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)and, with that, started providing timely data on the state of the labour market.
• The PLFS was launched in 2017 as an annual survey to replace the quinquennial Employment-Unemployment Surveys.
• Up until now, apart from the annual picture of India’s unemployment, PLFS would provide a quarterly update, but only for urban areas.
• Last week, the MoSPI shared the first-ever monthly PLFS data for April. Shifting to a monthly reporting cycle promises a salutary effect on policy evaluation.
• In the past, timely official data was scarce  to find out the impact on unemployment of, say, a pandemic-induced lockdown or a disruption like demonetisation.
• Some private agencies, such as the CMIE, have long been providing monthly, and even weekly, data, but such data has been challenged.

The improvements

• The PLFS has been revamped beyond just improving its frequency.
• For one, the sample design has been improved and the sample size enlarged.
• The sample size for each round of survey will now be a 2.65 times increase in sample households to be covered in the PLFS.
• The district has been made the primary geographical unit to ensure sample observations from most of the districts in the PLFS sample, which, in turn, will improve the representativeness of the estimates.
• Also, notably, the annual reporting period has been aligned to the calendar year, beginning with January 2025 instead of July-June.
• This shift will enable timely updation of India’s labour market statistics in the databases maintained by the international agencies.

Concerns Regarding India’s Labour Force

• Female LFPR remains much lower than male,with urban female unemployment at 8.2%. Only 3% of employed women aged over 25 years hold advanced degrees.
• WPR and LFPR show minimal year-on-year change, indicating sluggish job creation.
• Employment growth is not proportional to economic growth, indicating jobless or low-quality job growth.
• A large proportion of the unemployed workforce consists of youth, especially those with secondary or higher education.
• According to the ILO, India has the 2nd-longest average workweek globally at 46.7 hours, with 51% working over 49 hours, just behind Bhutan.
• Despite this, India’s labour productivity remains low, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per working hour of just USD 8, placing it 133rd globally as of 2023.
• A large portion of the rural workforce remains engaged in low-productivity or subsistence work, raising concerns about underemployment and the prevalence of informal, insecure jobs over quality, skill-intensive employment.

Conclusion

As India’s economy grows and seeks global investors, credible and timely data will be non-negotiable. The current data on the Indian labour market leaves a lot to be desired. These changes in the PLFS’s methodology and frequency are welcome.