The PARI Library: wrapping up 2024

The year 2024 marks a milestone at the PARI Library – we curated and archived a record number of resources this year. These included acts and laws, books, conventions, essays, anthologies, glossaries, government reports, pamphlets, surveys and articles.

Meanwhile there were other, more sobering records being broken too – 2024 is set to be the hottest year on record, overtaking 2023 which was the previous hottest year on record. The changing climate has impacted migratory species, one in five of which are now threatened with extinction. And the wetlands of India themselves, all the spang, jheel, sarovar, talav, taal, kola, bil and cheruvu are under threat.

The links between pollution and heat have been well documented, and air pollution due to particulate matter was especially bad in South Asia. The concentration in India was 54.4 micrograms per cubic metre, 11 times the limit outlined by the World Health Organization. New Delhi, where the concentration hovered around 102.1 micrograms per cubic metre, fared even worse prompting a comic about the experiences of a gig worker for a ride-sourcing service.

With two consecutive years breaking temperature records, the Paris Agreement is that much closer to being breached. But the natural environment wasn’t the only one experiencing a temperature rise. The political climate in the country also went through its own warming leading up to the 2024 General Elections which formed the country’s 18th Lok Sabha.

Electoral bonds, introduced by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, in the year 2018 were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2024. A month later, the State Bank of India and the Election Commission released details about the purchase and encashment of these bonds.

Future Gaming And Hotel Services (PR and Private Limited), Megha Engineering And Infrastructures Limited and Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited were the top three donors to political parties through electoral bonds. On the receiving end, the Bharatiya Janata Party (Rs. 6,060 crores), the All India Trinamool Congress (Rs. 1,609 crores) and the Indian National Congress (Rs. 1,422 crores) were the biggest beneficiaries.

A comparison of wealth distribution in India in 1922 and 2022 showed that the richest one per cent in India had a greater share of the total national income in 2022 than they had in 1922. Almost 60 per cent of the national income in 2022 went to the richest 10 per cent in the country. 

In contrast, the average individual in rural India spent only about Rs. 3,773 per month on goods and services, as recorded by the 2022-23 Survey of Household Consumption Expenditure. And the average real earnings of workers saw no improvement between 2019 and 2022.

Gender injustice and inequality in India showed no change as the damning Global Gender Gap Report ranked the country at 129, two places lower (and worse) than the previous year. It marks Indian women’s worsening position in the educational and political spheres. We also did badly on the SDG Gender Index, ranking 91 out of 139 countries in gender equality. 

Speaking of gender, as many as 135 sitting Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) had been charged with cases of crimes against women – outraging a woman’s modesty, abduction with intent of marriage, rape, repeated rape, domestic abuse, purchasing minor for prostitution, and abusing the modesty of a woman.

It’s never too late to brush up on your knowledge of law. The Law and Everyday Life, a toolkit published this year by Justice Adda, aimed to aid people in doing just that.

In addition to these, we archived resources on health, languages, gender, literature and much more – complete with summaries and highlights. We also added to our Library Bulletin project which rounds-up PARI stories and resources on specific concerns. Next year, we aim to widen the scope of our study which sustains this people's library. Keep dropping in to see what’s new!

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Cover design: Swadesha Sharma