📉 5.1%. India's job market had a good month.

Good morning.

Two stories today that tell you something real about where India is headed. One is about jobs. The other is about exams. Both matter more than most headlines this week. Let's get into it.

In Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, Professor Rajendra Yadav noticed mango saplings growing in the open, about to be eaten by stray cattle. That moment changed what he did with every fruit pit he ever saw again.

Since 2020, Yadav has collected discarded pits from neighbours, doctors, and fruit vendors - dried the seeds, and sown them between thorny bushes where cattle cannot reach. Over a lakh seeds. Many now full-grown trees. Vendors who once threw away rotten fruit now call him to collect it.

Know someone who does something like this and never talks about it? Reply and tell us their story.

What happened?
India's unemployment rate for people aged 15 and above fell to 5.1% in July, down from 5.5% in June. Rural unemployment dropped sharply to 4.5% from 5%. Urban unemployment stayed flat at 6.7%. Read More →

The good news:
More people are entering the workforce. Labour force participation rose to 55.4% from 54.4%. Female participation saw the strongest jump, climbing from 32.7% to 34.4% in a single month. More women are working or actively looking for work than at any point this year.

The honest picture:
Urban female unemployment actually rose to 8.8%. And while the headline number improved, it is still higher than the 4.9% India recorded in 2023-24. The broader trend since FY26 has been a slow drift upward, not downward.

Why it matters:
The July data breaks a three-month streak of stagnant or rising unemployment. But one good month does not make a trend. The real test is whether this holds through the rest of the year.

📖 Related: An interesting piece on why Gen Z is bearing the brunt of India's job crisis even as the headline numbers improve. Worth reading alongside today's data.

Scroll to the end for the answer

🎓 Education: NTA is overhauling how India's major exams are run. Over 50 staff removed, 10 new leadership positions created including a CTO and a Chief Information Security Officer. Private sector specialists coming in for cybersecurity and question-paper design.

💳 Fintech: WhatsApp Pay has overtaken Cred and Amazon Pay on UPI, hitting 167 million transactions. The app your family already uses is now also their payment app.

🌧️ Weather: IMD has spotted a powerful monsoon system over the Bay of Bengal. Very heavy rain alerts are active across multiple states.

🎭 Northeast: Assam's cultural heritage took centre stage at Nritya Sangam in London, bringing classical and folk dance traditions to an international audience.

🏥 Health: NITI Aayog has proposed interstate licence portability for healthcare professionals. A doctor licensed in Tamil Nadu could practice in Delhi without re-registering.

📱 Telecom: 24.4 billion spam calls and messages between April and June. That is roughly 270 million a day. Your phone is not imagining things.