Dear Express Explained reader, Over the past three decades, the share of India's working population that is engaged in agriculture has fallen overall, data show, indicating an important and welcome structural transformation. And yet, this process has been weak and deficient. Surplus labour has moved away from farms, but they have gone not to higher value-added non-farm activities, but instead to low-pay, informal sector jobs in construction or service delivery. Harish Damodaran captured this dimension of India's jobs crisis. Separately, Harish wrote about the significance of the resumption of the Black Sea grain trade after more than five months following a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. As ships laden with grain make their way out of Odesa and other ports and head out to countries in Asia and Africa, how is India impacted? Harikishan Sharma reported last Sunday that the Law Ministry has conveyed to a parliamentary committee that a review of personal laws can be considered when a "sizeable majority" of the population seeks a change. The government's stance on the hot-button issue of enacting a uniform civil code has evolved over the years from a general reluctance to enter into the sphere of personal laws to underlining the need for wider consultations, and the provisions of the Constitution. Harikishan trawled through records of written replies in Parliament over the past three decades to drop pins on the most important statements made in this regard. Madras High Court this week directed the Tamil Nadu government to use pictures of the President and Prime Minister in its ads for the Chess Olympiad, relying on a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that had issued guidelines on government spending on ads. Apurva Vishwanath wrote on that judgment from seven years ago, what it said, and in what context. I'd like to point you to two environment and climate change-related explainers we did this week, following action that the government took. One, the conversion of two of the Prime Minister's 'Panchamrit' promises made in Glasgow last year relating to the strengthening of climate targets into official policy; and two, the introduction of a Bill in Parliament to fortify and make more robust an existing 20-year-old law on the conservation of energy. Amitabh Sinha wrote on the significance of these steps, and what impact they are likely to have at both the national and the individual level. Finally, as we watched, our hearts swelling with pride, the remarkable achievements of India's weightlifters who won gold at the Commonwealth Games, one question might have struck many of you: how on earth does a human being end up lifting weights that are several times their own? In a wonderfully detailed explainer, Mihir Vasavda laid out what it takes: technique and training, and sometimes, having a slight frame helps as well. Stay safe and stay aware. Keep reading The Indian Express Explained. Some of our content is now behind a paywall, so if you haven't subscribed to The Indian Express yet, this may be the perfect time to do so. Click here to subscribe. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | 
