23 November, 2023The growing wave of decentralisation: Comparative evidence from developing countries
Over the last few decades, decentralisation has been rapidly spreading in developing countries across the world, with around 35 countries announcing new or deepening decentralisation reforms in recent...
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Jean-Paul Faguet Lakshmi Iyer Sarmistha Pal 
16 November, 2023
- Videos
How women in politics impact maternal mortality
In the twelfth post of I4I’s month-long campaign to mark International Women’s Day 2023, Bhalotra et al. show that mortality during and after childbirth remains high, even where the knowledge and ...
- Articles
Does being local matter? Administrative decentralisation and human development
In this post, Chaudhary and Iyer discuss the administrative decentralisation reforms brought about by the Panchayati Raj Act, and measure the effect of decentralisation on the provision of public serv...
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Latika Chaudhary Lakshmi Iyer
- 13 January, 2023
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Covid-19: Is it time to decentralise power?
Raghuram Rajan speaks to Econ Film’s CoronaNomics show, on the merits of de-centralised governance in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, how local authorities can be empowered, and the risk o...
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Raghuram Rajan
- 24 July, 2020
- Videos
The politics of post-retirement appointments: Corruption in the Supreme Court?
The Indian judiciary bats for judicial independence. Wary of executive interference, judges ferociously protect their institutional turf. But does India’s judicial system suffer from an underhanded ...
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Madhav Aney Shubhankar Dam Giovanni Ko
- 15 June, 2020
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Court congestion, caste identity, and business performance
Effective contract enforcement is the key for the formation and expansion of business enterprises. But how does improvement in court performance matter differently to different caste groups? This arti...
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Tanika Chakraborty Anirban Mukherjee Sarani Saha Divya Shukla
- 14 May, 2020
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Kerala’s management of Covid-19: Key learnings
Kerala was the first Indian state to be affected by Covid-19 with the highest number of cases at one point in time, but today it has a flat infection curve and one of the highest recovery rates in Ind...
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S.M. Vijayanand
- 02 May, 2020
- Perspectives
How district courts influence firm growth
The Economic Survey 2018-19 highlights that the single biggest constraint to ease of doing business in India is contract enforcement and dispute resolution, and increasing capacity in lower judiciary ...
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Manaswini Rao
- 29 January, 2020
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Electoral cycles and incomplete public works projects: An analysis of the MPLAD scheme
The successful execution of public works programmes undertaken by governments often hinges on the completion of a vast array of local-level projects intended to create tangible amenities to improve th...
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Jonathan Darsey Anjali Thomas
- 08 January, 2020
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There are none so blind as they who will not see
Based on Government of India’s own data, the government and the community of economists in India have come up with different narratives about the position of Indian economy. In this post, Pronab Sen...
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Pronab Sen
- 16 December, 2019
- Perspectives
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: Issues and gaps in service delivery and access
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana is a much-needed and purposeful scheme, given the health hazards faced by women inside households as 79% of rural Indian households still depend on traditional unclea...
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Rahul Ranjan
- 11 December, 2019
- Perspectives
Do politicians receive special treatment in courts?
Do Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) facing pending criminal cases receive favourable treatment in the Indian legal system? This article uncovers opposite effects of winning office, depending o...
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Rubén Poblete-Cazenave
- 26 August, 2019
- Articles
Consent to nothing: Aadhaar-based payment systems in welfare
The process of seeding Aadhaar with bank accounts in order to link welfare schemes and cash transfers with Aadhaar payment systems, created chaos on the ground. In this note, Niklas Wagner and Sakina ...
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Sakina Dhorajiwala Niklas Wagner
- 23 August, 2019
- Notes from the Field
How democratic are the states of India?
India is often credited for its success as the world’s largest democracy – but does the degree of democracy vary across Indian states? This article develops an index to map the development of subn...
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Jos Bartman Imke Harbers Enrike van Wingerden
- 13 August, 2019
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Political alignment and economic outcomes: Evidence from legislative assembly elections in India
Theory suggests better economic outcomes prevail when providers at different levels of government are politically aligned. While politicians are jointly responsible for several policies, other policie...
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Sourav Sarkar
- 02 August, 2019
- Articles
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Governance Posts
Unique Health Identification and Aadhaar: A case for mandatory linkage
As part of the Digital India initiative, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issues a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number to each patient, which documents their entire journey in th...
- Mudit Kapoor
- 23 December, 2016
- Perspectives
Caste dominance in rural India: Cause and effect
Rural India remains a caste-based society. This column explores why caste continues to play such an important role and what the effects are. It argues that trade and agricultural productivity suffer, ...
- Siwan Anderson
- 16 August, 2012
- Articles
Why did the Indian economy stagnate under the colonial rule?
How did the Indian economy fare under the colonial rule? Is the average Indian significantly better off after Independence? This column examines trends in GDP per capita in order to determine the stan...
- Aniruddha Bagchi
- 16 September, 2013
- Articles