Urban exclusion: Rethinking social protection in India in the wake of Covid-19
Economic insecurity caused by lockdowns during the early days of Covid-19 forced many households to rely on government welfare schemes to fulfil their consumption needs. Using data from the June 2020 ...
- Pallavi Choudhuri Sonalde Desai Santanu Pramanik
- 13 June, 2022
- Articles
Fatal oblivion: India's National Family Benefit Scheme
The National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) – which provides financial assistance to families in the event of the death of a breadwinner – has been plagued by low budget allocations, restricted cove...
- Jasmin Naur Hafiz
- 03 January, 2022
- Perspectives
Covid-19: Impact on migrant workers in Bihar
The nationwide lockdown – imposed in March 2020 to contain the spread of Covid-19 – left large sections of migrant workers in a precarious position, with livelihoods lost, and no means of public t...
- Gaurav Datt Swati Dutta Sunil Kumar Mishra
- 27 October, 2021
- Notes from the Field
Not by growth alone: The salience of redistribution in poverty eradication
Recent studies posit that per capita incomes of developing countries are finally on track to catch up to those of industrialised countries. In this post, Enevoldsen and Pande contend that this country...
- Nils Enevoldsen Rohini Pande
- 18 October, 2021
- Perspectives
Covid-19: Impact on income inequality in India
Even as global inequality was falling, income inequality in India increased during 1990-2019. With the occurrence of Covid-19, the trend of increasing income inequality in the country is expected to n...
- Mrinalini Jha Rahul Lahoti
- 01 September, 2021
- Articles
Covid-19 and growing food insecurity: Insights from rural Bihar
Emerging research shows that Covid-19 has had a devastating impact on the already undernourished and marginalised populations, by affecting their access to food and nutrition, and consumption patterns...
- Swati Dutta Aditi Madan Sunil Kumar Mishra
- 25 August, 2021
- Notes from the Field
Spatial disparities in household earnings in India
The per-capita state domestic product of Haryana (India’s richest state) was 5.6 times that of Bihar (poorest state) in 2017-18, up from 3.8 in 1996-97. Differences in urbanisation levels and inabil...
- S. Chandrasekhar Karthikeya Naraparaju Ajay Sharma
- 18 August, 2021
- Articles
PDS, National Food Security Act, and Covid-19
Introduced in 2013, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) brought about fundamental reforms in the public distribution system (PDS) and most importantly, declared a legal ‘right to food’. Based on...
- Ruchira Boss Mamata Pradhan Devesh Roy Sunil Saroj
- 16 August, 2021
- Articles
Focussing on inequality of opportunity to sustain India’s growth
India has seen a four-fold increase in average incomes since 1990, which has reduced the share of the population living in absolute poverty from 45% to 20%. Yet, there are large and widening inequalit...
- Sriram Balasubramanian Rishabh Kumar Prakash Loungani
- 12 July, 2021
- Articles
How has the Covid-19 crisis affected the urban poor? Findings from a phone survey - III
While the devastating impact of the second Covid-19 on public health in India is well-known, there is relatively little evidence on its economic and psychological dimensions. Based on surveys in indus...
- Farzana Afridi Amrita Dhillon Sanchari Roy
- 02 July, 2021
- Notes from the Field
The changing demand for welfare in rural Pakistan
The proliferation of cash transfer programmes in developing countries has raised concern regarding a crowding-out effect on citizens' demands for investment in universal public services. Based on a ho...
- Matteo Iudice Rehan Rafay Jamil
- 24 June, 2021
- Articles
The Covid-19 crisis and food security
India’s national lockdown in 2020, imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19, threw millions of people out of work and sharply reduced earnings for those who remained employed. Based on data from mu...
- Jean Drèze Anmol Somanchi
- 21 June, 2021
- Perspectives
Covid-19: Health and economic impacts in Indian slums
Initial predictions suggested that slum communities – densely packed, with shared water taps, and an impossibility of social distancing – would be particularly hard-hit by Covid-19. In this note, ...
- Harlan Downs-Tepper Anirudh Krishna Emily Rains
- 31 May, 2021
- Notes from the Field
Examining district-level performance of Ujjwala: The case of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand
Launched in 2016, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) aims to encourage the adoption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. Using National Sample Survey data for 2014 and 2017, this article ex...
- Manisha Mukherjee
- 25 May, 2021
- Articles
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Wealth inequality, class, and caste in India: 1961-2012
The level of wealth inequality in India is close to that of some highly unequal countries in the world. This article assesses the long-term evolution of wealth inequality in the country for the period...
- Nitin Kumar Bharti
- 28 June, 2019
- Articles
Covid-19: What can be done immediately to help vulnerable population
With over 80% of India’s workforce employed in the informal sector and one-third working as casual labour, Covid-19's spread and subsequent unplanned lockdowns, have created economic havoc in the li...
- Reetika Khera
- 25 March, 2020
- Perspectives
EWS reservation in higher education: Affirmative action or vote bank politics?
The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, provides for 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in higher educational institutions within the general category. In this post, Devi...
- Devika Malhotra Sharma
- 11 September, 2019
- Perspectives