In 1954, a Bombay economist named A. D. Shroff began a Forum of Free Enterprise, whose ideas on economic development were somewhat at odds with those then influentially articulated by the Planning Commission of the Government of India. Shroff complained against the ‘indifference, if not discouragement’ with which the state treated entrepreneurs. At the same time as Shroff, but independently of him, a journalist named Philip Spratt was writing a series of essays in favour of free enterprise. Spratt was a Cambridge communist who was sent by the party in 1920s to foment revolution in the subcontinent. Detected in the act, he spent many years in an Indian jail. The books he read in the prison, and his marriage to an Indian woman afterwards, inspirited a steady move rightwards. By the 1950s, he was editing a pro-American weekly from Bangalore, called MysIndia. There he inveighed against the economic policies of the government of India. These, he said, treated the entrepreneur as a criminal who has dared to use his brains independently of the state to create wealth and give employment. The state’s chief planner, P. C. Mahalanobis, has surrounded himself with Western leftists and Soviet academicians, who reinforced his belief in rigid control by the government over all activities. The result, said Spratt, would be the smothering of free enterprise, a famine of consumer goods and the tying down of millions of workers to soul deadening techniques.
The voices of men like Spratt and Shroff were drowned in the chorus of popular for a model of heavy industrialization funded and directed by the governments. The 1950s were certainly not propitious times for free marketers in India. But from time to time their ideas were revived. After the rupee was devalued in 1966, there were some moves towards freeing the trade regime, and hopes that the licensing system would also be liberalized. However, after Indira Gandhi split the Congress Party in 1969, her government took its left turn nationalizing a fresh range of industries and returning to economic autarky.
Which of the following statement can most reasonably be inferred from the information available in the passage?
Show Hint
- P.C. Mahalanobis believed in empowering private entrepreneurs and promoting free market.
- Phillip Spratt preferred plans that would create economic conditions favourable for a forward march by the private enterprise.
- Restriction on free markets enriched large Indian companies.
- Philip Spratt opposed the devaluation of rupee in 1966.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The passage describes Phillip Spratt as a supporter of free enterprise. He criticized government control and believed the state hindered entrepreneurs.
He viewed government control as leading to “smothering of free enterprise” and advocated for conditions favouring private entrepreneurship.
Step 2: Evaluate the options
(a) Incorrect – P.C. Mahalanobis believed in state control, not empowering private entrepreneurs.
(b) Correct – Spratt clearly favoured free market plans that help private enterprise.
(c) Incorrect – The passage does not say restriction enriched Indian companies.
(d) Incorrect – The passage does not mention Spratt’s view on rupee devaluation. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(b)} \]
Which of the following statements is least likely to be inferred from the passage?
Show Hint
- Acceptance of A.D. Shroff’s plans in the official circles smothered free enterprise in India.
- The views of the Forum of Free Enterprise ran against the conception of development then prevalent among the policy makers.
- A.D. Shroff believed that state should actively support the private sector.
- Phillip Spratt had been educated in Cambridge.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
Shroff was against state control and promoted free enterprise. The passage shows his ideas were not accepted, but rather ignored or discouraged.
Step 2: Evaluate the options
(a) Incorrect – This implies his plans were accepted and led to smothering free enterprise. In fact, his plans were not accepted}.
(b) Correct inference – The Forum’s views went against the prevailing government approach.
(c) Correct inference – Shroff believed in promoting the private sector.
(d) Correct inference – Spratt was Cambridge-educated, as mentioned in the passage. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(a)} \]
Select the statement that best captures the central purpose of this passage:
Show Hint
- Highlight that even though there were advocates for free market and private enterprise in the early years of independent India, they were crowded out by others who supported a dominant role for state over private enterprise.
- Explain the politics behind Indira Gandhi’s decision to nationalize the banks.
- Demonstrate with the help of statistics how the preference of policy makers for Soviet style economic policies prevented India’s economic growth.
- Establish that devaluation of rupee in 1966 was vindicated by subsequent experience.
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
The passage discusses the conflict between early advocates of free enterprise (like A.D. Shroff and Phillip Spratt) and the government’s preference for state-controlled economic planning.
The views of these free-market thinkers were mostly ignored in favor of socialist-style control, especially through figures like P.C. Mahalanobis.
Step 2: Evaluate all options
(b) Incorrect – Indira Gandhi’s decision to nationalize banks is briefly mentioned, but not the focus of the passage.
(c) Incorrect – The passage does not include statistical evidence. It’s more narrative and ideological.
(d) Incorrect – The devaluation of the rupee in 1966 is mentioned, but not evaluated as right or wrong.
(a) Correct – This precisely summarizes the central idea: support for free enterprise was present but suppressed by state-dominated ideology. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(a)} \]
Philip Spratt came to India because he:
Show Hint
- Fell in love with an Indian woman.
- Wanted to protest against the economic policies of the Indian government.
- Was offered the editorship of MysIndia.
- Had been instructed to work towards the goal of inciting a revolution in India.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The passage says: "Spratt was a Cambridge communist who was sent by the party in 1920s to foment revolution in the subcontinent."
Step 2: Evaluate all options
(a) Incorrect – Although he married an Indian woman, that was after his arrival. It was not the reason he came.
(b) Incorrect – His protest against Indian government policy came later, during the 1950s, not his original purpose.
(c) Incorrect – He was not invited to edit MysIndia; he did it later, independently.
(d) Correct – His original purpose was to incite revolution, as per the communist party's instruction. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(d)} \]
The author avers that A.D. Shroff's ideas were somewhat at odds with the views of Planning Commission because:
Show Hint
- A.D. Shroff was in favour of rigid governmental control over all economic activities.
- Shroff had opposed government’s decision to devalue Indian rupee.
- The hostility of the government to private entrepreneurs was complained against by A.D. Shroff.
- Shroff had been critical of the influence of Soviet academician over India’s economic policy.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The passage clearly states that A.D. Shroff criticized the "indifference, if not discouragement" shown by the state towards entrepreneurs.
This indicates a disagreement between Shroff’s views and the Planning Commission’s state-controlled development model.
Step 2: Evaluate the options
(a) Incorrect – Shroff actually opposed rigid government control.
(b) Incorrect – The passage doesn’t say he opposed the devaluation of the rupee.
(c) Correct – This directly reflects the author’s statement.
(d) Tempting but incomplete – Though he criticized Soviet influence, that’s not the main reason his views clashed with the Planning Commission. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(c)} \]
The ideological shift of Philip Spratt to the right was caused by:
Show Hint
- The demise of the Soviet Union.
- The start of the weekly called MysIndia.
- The books that he encountered in the prison.
- The dissolution of his first marriage to his college friend.
The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The passage says: “The books he read in the prison...inspirited a steady move rightwards.”
This directly shows that his shift to the right was due to the books he read while in jail. Step 2: Eliminate incorrect options
(a) Incorrect – The Soviet Union’s fall happened decades later.
(b) Incorrect – MysIndia came after the shift, not the cause of it.
(c) Correct – Directly mentioned.
(d) Incorrect – His marriage is mentioned, but not as a cause of ideological change. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(c)} \]
Select the statement that could be most plausibly inferred from this passage:
Show Hint
- Philip Spratt and A.D. Shroff were members of the Forum for Free Enterprise.
- The first two Five Year Plans emphasized on the importance of private enterprise as the spearhead of economic growth.
- P.C. Mahalanobis had mooted the expulsion of foreign firm like Coca Cola and IBM from India.
- The hopes that the licensing regime would be liberalized after the devaluation of Indian rupee were belied in the aftermath of the split in the Congress Party.
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The passage says: After the rupee was devalued in 1966, there were hopes for liberalization. But after Indira Gandhi split the Congress in 1969, “her government took its left turn,” returning to nationalization.
Step 2: Evaluate each option
(a) Incorrect – The passage does not say both were part of the Forum. Shroff was; Spratt was an independent writer.
(b) Incorrect – The first two Five-Year Plans focused on public sector, not private enterprise.
(c) Incorrect – There’s no mention of Mahalanobis expelling foreign firms.
(d) Correct – This inference is strongly supported by the text and logical events. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(d)} \]
The author alludes to nationalization of industries in 1969 in order to:
Show Hint
- Show the contradictions between AD Shroff’s economic views and the official economic policies of the Government of India.
- Exemplify the shift of the Indira Gandhi led government to the ‘left’.
- Demonstrate the ideological changes in the world view of Philip Spratt.
- Highlight the negative political repercussions of the decision to devalue the Indian currency.
The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
The passage states: After Indira Gandhi split the Congress Party in 1969, “her government took its left turn nationalizing a fresh range of industries.”
This indicates a shift towards socialist or left-leaning economic policies. Step 2: Evaluate all options
(a) Incorrect – While there is a contrast with Shroff’s views, the reference to nationalization is mainly about government’s shift.
(b) Correct – The nationalization is used as an example of the “left turn.”
(c) Incorrect – Philip Spratt’s ideological shift is mentioned earlier, not linked to 1969.
(d) Incorrect – The passage does not mention political repercussions of devaluation. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(b)} \]
“Neither Philip Spratt nor A.D. Shroff ________ able to convince Mahalanobis.” Select the most appropriate phrase out of the four options for filling the blank space.
Show Hint
- were
- are
- was
- is
The Correct Option is A
Solution and Explanation
In sentences with “Neither...nor”, the verb agrees with the subject closest to it — in this case, “A.D. Shroff.”
However, both subjects are singular, but together they imply a plural action: “were able.” Step 2: Check tense consistency
The context is past tense (“were drowned... were devalued…”), so the verb must also be past.
“Were” is the correct past plural verb. Step 3: Eliminate wrong options
(b) are – Present tense, incorrect.
(c) was – Singular, but two subjects make it plural.
(d) is – Present, incorrect. % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(a)} \]
The word ‘inveighed’ in this passage means:
Show Hint
- Praised
- Recited
- Proclaimed
- Remonstrated
The Correct Option is D
Solution and Explanation
The passage says Spratt “inveighed against the economic policies of the government.”
This suggests he strongly criticized or protested. Step 2: Analyze the meaning of options
(a) Praised – Opposite of intended meaning.
(b) Recited – Irrelevant, incorrect.
(c) Proclaimed – Neutral, but does not imply criticism.
(d) Remonstrated – Correct. Means “forcefully protested.” % Final Answer \[ \boxed{(d)} \]
Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
- ”In recent years, technological advancements in AI and machine learning have fundamentally altered how we approach daily tasks. The growing reliance on these systems brings both challenges and opportunities, especially in areas like automation, healthcare, and customer service.”
What is the primary concern regarding the increased use of AI in daily tasks as mentioned in the passage?
- NMAT - 2025
- English Language Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension
Meta is recalibrating content on its social media platforms as the political tide has turned in Washington, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing last week that his company plans to fire its US fact-checkers. Fact-checking evolved in response to allegations of misinformation and is being watered down in response to accusations of censorship. Social media does not have solutions to either. Community review — introduced by Elon Musk at X and planned by Zuckerberg for Facebook and Instagram — is not a significant improvement over fact-checking. Having Washington lean on foreign governments over content moderation does not benefit free speech. Yet, that is the nature of the social media beast, designed to amplify bias.
Information and misinformation continue to jostle on social media at the mercy of user discretion. Social media now has enough control over all other forms of media to broaden its reach. It is the connective tissue for mass consumption of entertainment, and alternative platforms are reworking their engagement with social media. Technologies are shaping up to drive this advantage further through synthetic content targeted precisely at its intended audience. Meta’s algorithm will now play up politics because it is the flavour of the season.
The Achilles’ Heel of social media is informed choice which could turn against misinformation. Its move away from content moderation is driven by the need to be more inclusive, yet unfiltered content can push users away from social media towards legacy forms that have better moderation systems in place. Lawmakers across the world are unlikely to give social media a free run, even if Donald Trump is working on their case. Protections have already been put in place across jurisdictions over misinformation. These may be difficult to dismantle, even if the Republicans pull US-owned social media companies further to the right.
Media consumption is, in essence, evidence-based judgement that mediums must adapt to. Content moderation, not free speech, is the adaptation mechanism. Musk and Zuckerberg are not exempt- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
According to the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, commodities available for consumption are not inherently negative things. Baudrillard tried to interpret consumption in modern societies by engaging with the ’cargo myth’ prevalent among the indigenous Melanesian people living in the South Pacific. The Melanesians did not know what aeroplanes were. However,they saw that these winged entities descended from the air for white people and appeared to make them happy. They also noted that aeroplanes never descended for the Melanesian people. The Melanesian natives noted that the white people had placed objects similar to the aeroplane on the ground. They concluded that these objects were attracting the aeroplanes in the air and bringing them to the ground. Through a magical process, the aeroplanes were bringing plenty to the white people and making them happy. The Melanesian people concluded that they would need to place objects that simulated the aeroplane on the ground and attract them from the air. Baudrillard believes that the cargo myth holds an important analogy for the ways in which consumers engage with objects of consumption.
According to Baudrillard, the modern consumer ”sets in place a whole array of sham objects, of characteristic signs of happiness, and then waits for happiness to alight”. For instance, modern consumers believe that they will get happiness if they buy the latest available version of a mobile phone or automobile. However, consumption does not usually lead to happiness. While consumers should ideally be blaming their heightened expectations for their lack of happiness, they blame the commodity instead.
They feel that they should have waited for the next version of a mobile phone or automobile before buying the one they did. The version they bought is somehow inferior and therefore cannot make them happy. Baudrillard argues that consumers have replaced ’real’ happiness with ’signs’ of happiness. This results in the endless deferment of the arrival of total happiness. In Baudrillard’s words, ”in everyday practice, the blessings of consumption are not experienced as resulting from work or from a production process; they are experienced as a miracle”. Modern consumers view consumption in the same magical way as the Melanesian people viewed the aeroplanes in the cargo myth. Television commercials also present objects of consumption as miracles. As a result, commodities appear to be distanced from the social processes which lead to their production. In effect, objects of consumption are divorced from the reality which produces them.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
CONVERSATION ANALYSIS: Read the following transcript and choose the answer that is closest to each of the questions that are based on the transcript.
Lucia Rahilly (Global Editorial Director, The McKinsey Podcast): Today we’re talking about the next big arenas of competition, about the industries that will matter most in the global business landscape, which you describe as arenas of competition. What do we mean when we use this term?
Chris Bradley (Director, McKinsey Global Institute): If I go back and look at the top ten companies in 2005, they were in traditional industries such as oil and gas, retail, industrials, and pharmaceuticals. The average company was worth about $250 billion. If I advance the clock forward to 2020, nine in ten of those companies have been replaced, and by companies that are eight times bigger than the old guards.
And this new batch of companies comes from these new arenas or competitive sectors. In fact, they’re so different that we have a nickname for them. If you’re a fan of Harry Potter, it’s wizards versus muggles.
Arena industries are wizardish; we found that there’s a set of industries that play by very different set of economic rules and get very different results, while the rest, the muggles (even though they run the world, finance the world, and energize the world), play by a more traditional set of economic rules.
Lucia Rahilly: Could we put a finer point on what is novel or different about the lens that you applied to determine what’s a wizard and what’s a muggle?
Chris Bradley: Wizards are defined by growth and dynamism. We looked at where value is flowing and the places where value is moving. And where is the value flowing? What we see is that this set of wizards, which represent about ten percent of industries, hog 45 percent of the growth in market cap. But there’s another dimension or axis too, which is dynamism. That is measured by a new metric we’ve come up with called the ”shuffle rate.” How much does the bottom move to the top? It turns out that in this set of wizardish industries, or arenas, the shuffle rate is much higher than it is in the traditional industry.
Lucia Rahilly: So, where are we seeing the most profit?
Chris Bradley: The economic profit, which is the profit you make minus the cost for the capital you employ is in the wizard industries. It’s where R&D happens; they’re two times more R&D intensive. They’re big stars, the nebulae, where new business is born.- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
- On the first day of January 2025, the Indian Meteorological Department [IMD] announced that 2024 was the hottest year on record. A study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water shows that nearly eight out of ten Indians live in districts that are at risk of either a flood, a cyclone, or a drought. Nearly twenty three States in India are heatwave-prone. In the summer of 2024, India recorded more than 44,000 cases of heatstroke and over 300 heat-related mortalities, as per the bulletin of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Water reservoirs and the energy demand that keeps India powered are impacted too. During a ten-day long heatwave in Delhi, peak power demand was 16% higher than the previous year.
- IPMAT - 2025
- Verbal and Logical Ability
- Reading Comprehension
Questions Asked in CLAT exam
- The "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam", 2023 Act received near-unanimous support in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. The legislation mandates the reservation of one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies, and Delhi (as a union territory with an elected assembly) for women. This linking of the implementation of the Act to the implementing of two long-term exercises of census and delimitation, makes little sense to many, and sounds quite like empowerment delayed for now.
In a 2012 article 'Holding Up Half the Sky: Reservations for Women in India', Rudolf C Heredia breaks down the common misconceptions that cloud our understanding of women's political participation- "When women do attain a national leadership role it is often because they have inherited the mantle from their fathers ophusbands, rather than as persons in their own right and are then projected as matriarchs, part of the joint family, complementary to the patriarchy rather than a challenge to it."
In 'Equality versus Empowerment: Women in Indian Legislature', 2023, Soumya Bhowmick makes the case for going a step beyond quotas, and to turn our attention to the complexities that shape women's agency in the country. This, he argues, would require a bottoms-up approach, rather than merely handing out reservations in a top-down manner. "In a country like India with a considerably large heterogeneous population, the dissemination of legislative power would be insufficient to protect the interests of minority groups such as women, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes." He concludes that "implementing the idea of reservation for women would bring about descriptive representation, but its transformation into substantive representation would depend on the change in the attitudes of the people."
While the reservation of one-third of seats for women belonging to the scheduled castes and tribes under the amendment to article 330a and 332 of the constitution is a welcome step, it remains to be seen whether it fully acknowledges the complex interplay of hierarchies, socio-political relationships which also affect the extent and nature of complications that surround effective realisation of women's politics for Indian politics to emerge as a truly emancipatory space.- CLAT - 2025
- National Affairs
- In keeping with the slogan for this year's Olympics, "Games Wide Open," the opening ceremony took place outside a stadium setting by the river, for the first time. In many respects, the Paris Games turned out to be one of the most elaborate cultural rituals since Covid swept across the world beginning in late 2019. Health restrictions forced the organizers of Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 to sharply limit the scale of the festivities, with events largely closed to the public. Paris 2024, powered in part by pent-up demand for communal experiences, symbolized an international post-pandemic vibe shift.
The International Olympic Committee and French officials managed strict security measures in place. Yet the recent history of violence in France - including the 2015 terror attack in Paris that left 138 people dead and at least 416 injured - stalked public consciousness prior to the games. The geopolitical backdrop for the Paris Games was no less troubling. The war between Israel and Hamas which had crossed the six-month mark, raised fears of a protracted conflict and wider regional instability. The devastation in the Gaza Strip has provoked international outrage, isolating Israel on the global stage. Meanwhile, Russia continues to gain ground in its military offensive against Ukraine as some Western nations worry about the rise of authoritarianism. These international crises raised serious concerns that could come into play during the Games in the form of protests and other political demonstrations.
Nevertheless, Olympics organizers put up a show that stunned the throngs assembled on the boulevards of Paris, not to mention the millions of people who watched the Games unfold on their televisions and mobile devices. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, India secured a total of six medals; one silver and five bronze which was one down from the highest haul of medals from the previous Olympics. Neeraj Chopra earned a silver in men's javelin with an 89.45 throw, narrowly missing gold to Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem. Shooter Manu Bhaker made history by clinching bronze in the women's 10'm air pistol, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in Olympic shooting. The men's hockey team achieved a second consecutive bronze, defeating Spain 2-1, with captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring both goals.
(Extracted, with edits and revision, from "The Olympics are nearly here. For a weary world, they can't come soon enough", NBCNEWS)- CLAT - 2025
- Sports and Physical Education
- During the First World War, Indian merchants and industrialists wanted protection against imports of foreign goods, and a rupee-sterling foreign exchange ratio that would discourage imports. To organise business interests, they formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927. The industrialists attacked colonial control over the Indian economy and supported the Civil Disobedience Movement when it was first launched. They gave financial assistance and refused to buy or sell imported goods. After the failure of the Round Table Conference, business groups were no longer uniformly enthusiastic. They were apprehensive of the spread of militant activities, and worried about prolonged disruption of business, as well as of the growing influence of socialism amongst the younger members of the Congress.
The industrial working classes did not participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement in large numbers, except in the Nagpur region. As the industrialists came closer to the Congress, workers stayed aloof. But inspite of that, some workers did participate in the Civil Disobedience Movement, selectively adopting some of the ideas of the Gandhian programme, like boycott of foreign goods, as part of their own movements against low wages and poor working conditions. There were strikes by railway workers in 1930 and dockworkers in 1932. In 1930, thousands of workers in Chotanagpur tin mines wore Gandhi caps and participated in protest rallies and boycott campaigns. But the Congress was reluctant to include workers' demands as part of its programme of struggle. It felt that this would alienate industrialists and divide the anti-imperial forces.
Another important feature of the Civil Disobedience Movement was the large-scale participation of women. During Gandhiji's salt march, thousands of women came out of their homes to listen to him. They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt, and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail.
[Excerpt from Chapter II - Nationalism in India, India and the Contemporary World, NCERT]- CLAT - 2025
- Historical Events
- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi used a BRICS summit in Russia recently to showcase ambitions for a more harmonious relationship between the world's two most populous countries after years of animosity.
The meeting between Xi and Modi, who have not held formal talks for five years, was one highlight of a summit. BRICS also gave an opportunity to the Russian President Vladimir Putin for showcasing that the West had failed to isolate Russia over the Ukraine war.
A final communique listed a number of projects aimed at facilitating trade between BRICS nations including an alternative payment system to the dollar but did not include details or timelines.
Just two days after New Delhi announced that it had reached a deal with Beijing to resolve a four-year military stand-off on their disputed Himalayan frontier, Xi told Modi that they should enhance communication and cooperation and effectively manage differences.
BRICS - an idea thought up inside Goldman Sachs two decades ago to describe the growing economic clout of China and other major emerging markets - is now a group that accounts for 45% of the world's population and 35% of the global economy.
Former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill, who coined the BRIC term in 2001, told Reuters that he had little optimism for the BRICS club as long as China and India remained so divided.
"It seems to me basically to be a symbolie annual gathering where important emerging countries, particularly noisy ones like Russia, but also China, can basically get together and highlight how good it is to be part of something that doesn't involve the U.S. and that global governance isn't good enough,"
The 43-page final communique from the summit ranged from geopolitics and narcoties to artificial intelligence and even the preservation of Big Cats, but lacked detail on some major issues. It mentioned Ukraine just once.
(Excerpts from "Putin scores a BRICS win with rare Xi and Modi show of harmony" By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, October 23, 2024)- CLAT - 2025
- International Affairs
- According to the estimates of the World Inequality Report 2022, in India, men earn 82 percent of the labour income, whereas women earn 18 percent of it. A woman agriculture field labourer makes Rs. 88 per day lesser than her male counterpart, according to the Ministry of Agriculture’s data for 2020-21. While a man is paid Rs. 383 a day on an average, a woman makes a mere Rs. 294 a day. The gap in their daily wages is more than the cost of two kilograms of rice. This gap differs from State to State. Field laborers, for instance, make the most money in Kerala. While a man gets Rs. 789 per day, a woman is paid Rs. 537. While this is the highest amount paid to a woman labourer in a State, it is also Rs. 252 lesser than what her male counterpart was paid. As of 2020-21, Tamil Nadu has the highest gender wage gap among agriculture field laborers at 112 percent. It is followed by Goa (61 percent) and Kerala. The wage gap is the lowest in Jharkhand and Gujarat (6 percent each), but the women laborers there get paid just Rs. 239 and Rs. 247 per day, respectively.
Men earn more than women across all forms of work, the gap greatest for the self-employed. In 2023, male self-employed workers earned 2.8 times that of women. In contrast, male regular wage workers earned 24% more than women and male casual workers earned 48% more. The gender gap in earnings is still a persistent phenomenon. However, there are differences in trends. The gender gap has increased for self-employed workers, while falling for regular wage workers. Male regular wage workers earned 34% more than women from 2019 to 2022, with the gap falling to 24% in 2023.- CLAT - 2025
- Statistical Estimation