Greek jobless at record high; India may be close to another crisis; India's 'Pink sari revolution'

1 Greek jobless at record high (BBC) Greece's unemployment rate hit another record high in May of 27.6%, according to the country's statistics body. The figure, from the Hellenic Statistics Authority, compares with a jobless rate of 23.8% in May last year. The biggest age group without a job remains those aged between 15-24, where the rate is 64.9%.

Greece is in its sixth year of recession, and has seen a 25% drop in output since 2007. It has been the worst affected of eurozone economies and was the first to receive an international bailout in May 2010. The country was given another 6.8bn euros last month from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank. The money has strict conditions attached which demand that government debt levels are reduced.

That has meant deep job cuts, tax increases, and reductions in wages and pensions. However, more austerity measures are being demanded. The government's actions so far have prompted widespread public anger and protests, which have sometimes turned to violence. Last week, figures from the official eurozone statistics agency reported that Greece's unemployment rate was 26.9% in June, compared with a eurozone-wide figure of 12.1%.

2 India may be close to a crisis (Linda Yueh on BBC) Is India in danger of another crisis? And could it hold lessons for others? A weak currency won't necessarily lead to a crisis. But, if it makes it harder to pay for a deficit that is owed to overseas creditors, that's when it could become a problem.

The newly appointed governor of the RBI, the Indian central bank, Raghuram Rajan, and I discussed last year about the risk that India could experience a repeat of the 1991 balance of payments crisis. The country ended up being rescued by the International Monetary Fund. There are a few key similarities. India still has a persistent current account deficit - the widest measure of trade that includes investment flows. And a weak rupee doesn't help with the cost of borrowing to finance that deficit. Worryingly, India's current account deficit is wider and the rupee is weaker than in 1991.

In July 1991, the rupee eventually fell by more than 32% against the US dollar after foreign exchange reserves were depleted, so government interventions to prop up the currency were no longer possible. The rupee has now hit historic lows against the US dollar and has declined by more than 15% since May.

The most vulnerable countries are those with sizeable current account deficits, and India falls into this category as it has one of the largest for a big economy. Its current account deficit hit a record high of 6.7% of GDP last year. For the full fiscal year that ended on 31 March, the current account deficit was nearly 5% of GDP. To give a sense as to the magnitude, the IMF in its monitoring role of global macroeconomic imbalances raises alarm bells when a current account deficit reaches 6% of GDP. Making things even harder, it has a sizeable fiscal deficit, which has recently come down to 5% of GDP, as well as high rates of inflation. Both are reasons why foreign investors would want to leave.

Economic growth has also dropped to 5%, the slowest pace in a decade, down from the heights of 9% reached during the mid-2000s, and back to the 4-5% rate that characterised the slow pace of growth before the 1980 reforms. Rajan has a huge challenge ahead of him. And how he manages it could have for other emerging economies contending with the eventual end of the era of cheap money.

3 India’s ‘Pink sari revolution’ (Margherita Stancati in The Wall Street Journal) At a time when the struggles of Indian women are attracting global attention, author Amana Fontanella-Khan reminds us that a different narrative is possible. In her new book – “Pink Sari Revolution” – Mrs. Fontanella-Khan tells the extraordinary story of an all-women vigilante group who fight injustice in remote, rural India.

The gang’s work isn’t always easy, but under the leadership of the feisty Sampat Pal, they take on corrupt officials, challenge caste-based prejudice and fight for the rights of women who are victims of abuse. Mrs. Fontanella-Khan, who spent three years reporting on the gang, spoke about the origins of the self-styled “Gulabi,” or pink, Gang, about its charismatic leader and tells us why there is hope for positive change for women in India.

“The Pink Gang are an all-women vigilante organization based in Bundelkhand, a region in [the northern state of ] Uttar Pradesh known as the badlands of India. They fight for the rights of women, the lower castes and the poor. Their trademark is their pink sari uniform, which they wear to be easily recognizable and to foster a sense of unity among members. They chose pink because, unlike most other colors, it had not been appropriated by either a political or a religious group.

“Often, the rhetoric around abused women is defined by their perceived powerlessness. This narrative reinforces the idea that women are passive, helpless people upon whom men impose their will. We need stories that recognize the agency of women and their ability to shape their lives and impact society. The Pink Gang reminds us that, through unity, power is within the reach of all women, no matter what their background.

“What sets Sampat apart is that she always fiercely resisted attempts by others to control her. Crucial to her story is that Sampat achieved financial independence early on in life by teaching herself how to sew. Her work granted her an increasing amount of freedom until, in her forties, she became her own master. Such is her autonomy today that she spends most of her waking life with a male colleague, with whom she lives [as a couple] when not in her family home–this is unusual by most standards, let alone a rural Indian one.”