Economic & Political Weekly’s June 2026 issues (Vol. 61, Nos. 23 and 24, dated June 6 and June 13) cover India’s growth-strategy debate, the gig-worker welfare experiment, the GDP rebasing to a 2022-23 base, the politics of the coming delimitation, and the SC sub-classification verdict’s fallout in the southern states.

[Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Sameeksha Trust, June 2026, https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/23 and /24]

Issue 23 (June 6, 2026)

Editorials

Editorial Gist
India Needs a New Growth Strategy India must escape low capital formation and demand that is strong only at the premium end, through broad-based domestic demand, sustained R&D and new urbanisation
Israel’s Sustained Aggression Warrants a Rethink by India Argues the Lebanon ceasefire holds only in breach and that India should review strategic ties with Israel on pragmatic and moral grounds
Retrogression through a Thousand Cuts Critiques the MP High Court’s May 15, 2026 Bhojshala-Kamal Maula (Dhar) judgment for using the AMASR Act to bypass the Places of Worship Act, 1991

Key Articles and Commentary

  • Welfare Fees, Welfare Boards and Platform Capture in India’s Gig Economy: The Karnataka Experiment (Mahapatra, Meher)
  • Socio-economic and Regional Determinants of Health Insurance Coverage: Insights from CAMS 2022-23 (Bonu, Bhushan)
  • Digital Consumption in India during 2022-23 and 2023-24 (Pawde)
  • Mangroves in India: Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Carbon Sequestration (Agarwal, Narayan, Dutta)
  • Weaponised Finance and the Tariff War (Anoop S Kumar)

Issue 24 (June 13, 2026)

Perspectives and Special Articles

  • Political Justice in the Constitution and the Imminent Delimitation (Aymen Mohammed)
  • SC Sub-classification Verdict: The Path to Social Justice in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (Damera et al)
  • New Data, New Estimates: A Critical Examination of India’s 2022-23 National Accounts Rebasing (Singh, Kulshreshtha)
  • Harnessing FDI: Strategic Insights for Enhancing India’s Manufacturing Exports (Kaushal)
  • Clean Cities, Contaminated Water: The Contradictions of Urban Governance (Bhushan, Barua)
  • The NEET Fiasco: Beyond the Obvious (T Sundararaman)

The Three Highest-Yield Pieces for UPSC

1. Gig-Worker Welfare: The Karnataka Experiment (GS2/GS3)

The Karnataka Platform-based Gig Workers (Social Security and Welfare) Act, 2025 is India’s second state-level social security law for app-based gig workers, after Rajasthan’s pioneering Platform-Based Gig Workers Act, 2023. It levies a differential welfare fee of 1 to 5 percent on platform commissions, collected through a Payment and Welfare Fee Verification System, and gives workers registration, unique IDs, two-tier grievance redressal and scheme access. EPW’s caution: platforms may pass the levy down to workers (lower commissions) or up to consumers (higher prices), and compliance costs may entrench the largest aggregators (“platform capture”).

2. Political Justice and the Imminent Delimitation (GS2)

Argues that the constitutional value of political justice (Preamble) should guide delimitation, not just the north-south seat arithmetic. Frozen delimitation has kept SC/ST representation below their population share; “identity-blind” boundary-drawing risks gerrymandering and minority under-representation. Pairs directly with the May women’s-reservation debate and the 850-seat proposal.

3. SC Sub-classification After Davinder Singh (GS1/GS2)

Builds on the August 1, 2024 Supreme Court verdict in State of Punjab v Davinder Singh (7-judge bench, 6:1), which upheld sub-classification within Scheduled Castes and overruled E V Chinnaiah (2004). The piece argues dominant SC castes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana captured a disproportionate share of benefits, situating the Madiga movement’s demand. External context: Telangana became the first state to operationalise sub-categorisation (Act notified April 14, 2025).

Prelims Pointers

  • India has 73 crore citizens under age 30, 28 crore more than China (EPW growth editorial)
  • India’s R&D spend is 0.65 percent of GDP (EPW growth editorial)
  • Karnataka gig-worker welfare levy: 1 to 5 percent of platform commissions; first such state law
  • CAMS = NSS Comprehensive Annual Modular Survey, 2022-23; poorest decile has the lowest health-insurance coverage
  • GDP rebasing: base year moved from 2011-12 to 2022-23, using GSTN and MCA21 V3 data
  • SC sub-classification: State of Punjab v Davinder Singh, August 1, 2024, 7 judges, 6:1, overruled E V Chinnaiah (2004)

UPSC GS Relevance

  • GS1: society (caste, SC sub-classification)
  • GS2: delimitation and political justice, gig-worker welfare governance, the Places of Worship Act, India-Israel ties
  • GS3: growth strategy, GDP rebasing, FDI and manufacturing exports, digital consumption, mangrove carbon