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Tag Search: “caste”

Introduction to e-Symposium: The architecture of affirmative action

The Supreme Court of India recently upheld an amendment that excluded Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backwards Classes from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota, restricting it on...

  • Symposium

Design choices for implementing affirmative action

In this expository piece, Ashutosh Thakur explains the various ways in which affirmative action policies can be implemented, and discusses the underlying tradeoffs and issues at hand. He delineates th...

  • Perspectives

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...

  • Articles

Caste-based differences in self-help groups: Evidence from a rural livelihood programme

The National Rural Livelihood Mission aims to increase income and improve wellbeing for rural households. Using survey data from nine states in India, this article analyses the existence of caste-base...

  • Articles

Birth versus worth: Impact of the caste system on entrepreneurship in India

The prevalence of the caste system has restricted social mobility in India. This article further looks at how caste disparities have contributed to the misallocation of resources across firms. It quan...

  • Articles

Caste inequalities within socio-religious groups: Evidence from Uttar Pradesh

The Mandal Commission and Sachar Committee reports, among others, have indicated the existence of caste inequalities within the four major caste groups. However, data on this subject remain limited. U...

  • Articles

Is OBC reservation good for development?

The affirmative action debate has always been riddled by the question of merit versus social justice, and discussions around having a caste census have once again reignited the controversy around rese...

  • Articles

Measuring caste inequality across Indian states

Although recent research on inequality shows that upper castes have the highest levels of material well-being, there is a wide variation in caste inequality across India. Measuring three forms of cast...

  • Articles

Do quotas in public sector employment for disadvantaged groups enhance their welfare?

Affirmative action policies remain controversial with many arguing that benefits come at the expense of those excluded, and accrue disproportionately to the elite in disadvantaged groups. Analysing na...

  • Articles

Social identity, health networks, and health knowledge

Health knowledge, driven by education, is a critical factor for the achievement of good health outcomes. Analysing data from the Indian Human Development Survey 2004-05, this article examines how know...

  • Articles

How wide is the ‘sink of localism’ in India?

While spatial segregation based on caste or religion is a constitutive feature of social life in India, there have been very few systematic studies of it. This article presents central findings from t...

  • Articles

Covid-19 spread: Does social and economic diversity matter?

Arresting the spread of Covid-19 requires collective action by communities, which is likely to be more challenging in settings with high diversity. Using district-level data from India, this article e...

  • Articles