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International Women’s Day 2025: Towards equality and empowerment

Throughout this week, I4I has been sharing some of the latest evidence and ideas around women’s empowerment to mark International Women’s Day 2025. Discover the five-part series, and more about I4...

  • Symposium

Defensive cooperation: Understanding pro-social attitudes in Indian Muslims

Mainstream theories of development predict greater willingness to contribute to public goods in more homogeneous settings. This article reports findings from a study in Delhi slums to assess how Hindu...

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Affirmative action in credit markets: Can it enhance minorities’ welfare?

In 2009, as part of a Government of India programme to improve the welfare of religious minorities, commercial banks were directed to increase credit to these groups. This article finds that the polic...

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Give women credit

Since its inception in the 1970s microfinance has emerged as an important tool to support livelihoods among those who lack access to traditional banking services, though the method has its critics. Er...

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Political reservation and the quality of governance

Existing evidence suggests that while political reservation for traditionally marginalised groups tilts governance outcomes in favour of those groups, there are non-discernable or negative effects on ...

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Women empowerment in nutrition: Role of common pool resources

Absence of effective public service delivery and well-functioning markets makes the rural poor highly dependent on common pool resources such as forests and water resources for their livelihoods. In ...

  • Notes from the Field

Women empowerment in nutrition: Access to healthcare

Access to healthcare is constrained by three key factors – physical access to healthcare facilities, ability to pay, and quality of care. In this note, Udayan Rathore discusses how within poor hous...

  • Notes from the Field

Women empowerment in nutrition: Role of seasonality in food security

In this note, Ankita Mondal provides an account of the impact of seasonality on nutrition and livelihoods of the rural poor, especially women.

  • Notes from the Field

Women empowerment in nutrition : Ideas of empowerment

As part of the ‘Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition Index’ project, a group of researchers spoke with rural women and community workers from Araria in Bihar, and Ganjam, Rayagada, Kandhmal, and Na...

  • Notes from the Field

Women empowerment in nutrition: Do women really have a say in preparing and providing food?

Decision-making capacity of women within the household and in the community is considered to be a reflection of their empowerment. In this note, Sweta Bhusan discusses one dimension of decision-makin...

  • Notes from the Field

Women empowerment in nutrition: Ideas of empowerment

As part of the ‘Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition Index’ project, a group of researchers spoke with rural women and community workers from Araria in Bihar, and Ganjam, Rayagada, Kandhmal, and Nay...

  • Notes from the Field

How female foeticide has influenced fertility and parental investments in girls

The introduction of ultrasound technology in India has been documented to have led to a phenomenal increase in abortion of female fetuses. However, this column finds that it also decreased son-biased ...

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Encountering deprivations in the field

Several women in India face domestic violence, are not allowed to work, and need to seek permission from husbands or in-laws to carry out basic tasks. In this note, Singhal and Vernekar share their e...

  • Notes from the Field

Quota policies and career advancement: Evidence from Indian politics

Can quotas for women in politics induce institutional change in the long run? This column examines whether affirmative action for women in Indian local government had spillovers into state and nation...

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The demographic impact of extended paid maternity leave in Bangladesh

In March 2017, Indian Parliament passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 extending paid maternity leave to 26 weeks. This column analyses the impact of extension of paid maternity leave i...

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Recent Contributors

Karan

Karan Bhasin

University at Albany, SUNY

Surjit

Surjit Bhalla

International Monetary Fund

Tirthatanmoy

Tirthatanmoy Das

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

I4I

I4I Team

Ideas for India

Kanika

Kanika Mahajan

Ashoka University

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Zahra Siddique

University of Bristol

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Sugat Chaturvedi

Ahmedabad University

Nishant

Nishant .

Independent researcher

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Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: An update

Building on past research, Saswata Ghosh and Pallabi Das estimate the state- and district-level fertility differentials between Hindus and Muslims using data from the latest round of the NFHS. They sh...

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A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India

Castes in India are closely associated with certain occupations and determine the jobs done by millions. This study uses a new dataset to show that a large proportion of workers still work in their ca...

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Sex ratios and religion in India and South Asia

In South Asia, low child sex ratios are increasingly an isolated Indian phenomenon. Within India, child sex ratios are ‘normal’ among Christians and Muslims but much lower among Hindus, Sikhs, and...

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