Fr. (Dr.) Joseph Marianus Kujur, S.J.

Director

The world is going through a difficult phase due to the covid-19 pandemic. There have been unprecedent changes in all areas of life across the world. In India, the situation is much worse than many countries. If we take just one aspect of life into consideration, there are startling revelations. According to the Business Standard, for instance, India's unemployment rate in 2017-18 rose to a 45-year high. In June 2020, the unemployment rate in Jharkhand was 33.6%, which was second in the country after Haryana with 33.6% unemployment rate. As per the analysis of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIC) Pvt. Ltd., as on 15 July 2020, the overall unemployment rate in India was 8.4% of which 10.8% was in the urban areas and 7.3% in the rural. The unemployment rate in Jharkhand was over 47% a few months ago. One of the reasons for high unemployment rate is due to decline in the labour force participation rate to 46.5% for those who are 15 years and above. Things were bad even before the global pandemic. The current slowdown due to the lockdown has made things worse. Under the prevailing circumstances the role of the Research and Planning becomes extremely important. It is indeed a matter of investigation whether the 'new normal' has any consideration for the commons suffering from structural inequalities, inequitable policies and exclusion. The migrants and displaced, and among them women and children, are the worst victims of various forms of violence and suffering. According to a study by Oxfam, covid-19 could push a billion people into poverty. Additional people are into poverty due to 20% income drop caused by the covid-19 recession. My dream for the Department of Research and Planning is to engage in innovative and creative works of critical thinking and analysis so that policy interventions can be made to bring in qualitative difference in the lives of millions of people. Hence, let the research be not an armchair research but action research, which not only adds to the existing body of knowledge but is also responsible for social transformation.