13 March, 2025Decentralisation and spatial (mis)allocation of irrigation water
Canal water – an important source of irrigation in India – often tends to be unequally distributed among farmers within a geographical area. Based on a survey in the state of Odisha, following the...
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Sabyasachi Das Souvik Dutta 
14 February, 2025
- Articles
The influence of local politicians in the private education market
Private schooling has experienced rapid expansion in India – both in terms of number of schools and student enrolment. Analysing data from 2005-2017, this article shows that constituencies represent...
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Muneer Kalliylil Soham Sahoo
- 07 February, 2025
- Articles
How immigration policy uncertainty affects labour markets
President Trump’s re-election has reignited debate over H-1B visa policies, a temporary high-skill work visa programme wherein 70% of visas are held by Indians. Analysing jobs data from India from t...
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Ritam Chaurey Kanika Mahajan Shekhar Tomar
- 08 January, 2025
- Articles
Drawing the line: The short- and long-term consequences of partitioning India
Colonial rule in India culminated in the birth of two nations, forcing the displacement of millions. This column analyses the economic and political consequences of the Partition in 1947. It finds tha...
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Prashant Bharadwaj Saumitra Jha
- 08 September, 2017
- Articles
Political decentralisation, female leadership, and health in rural Bihar
Political decentralisation and female representation in governance are known to improve social welfare by influencing policy decisions in favour of women and children. Analysing data from rural Bihar,...
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Santosh Kumar Nishith Prakash
- 23 August, 2017
- Articles
Governance and public service delivery in India
The International Growth Centre recently produced a synthesis paper (Afridi 2017) bringing together insights from its research on governance and public service delivery in India, over the past seven y...
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Farzana Afridi Nalini Gulati
- 07 August, 2017
- Perspectives
Midday meals scheme: Are corruption claims exaggerated?
Soon after Aadhaar was made compulsory for availing midday meals in schools, the government claimed that the move had helped expose several instances of schools siphoning off funds under the scheme by...
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Monika Yadav
- 31 July, 2017
- Articles
Why 'free' speech is not always 'costless'
A recent CBI raid at the premises of the owners of NDTV has sparked off yet another round of debates about freedom of the media, the spectre of authoritarianism, and freedom of expression in India. In...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
- 19 July, 2017
- Perspectives
Juvenile delinquency and income disparity across Indian states
The gravity and frequency of juvenile crime incidents in recent years point towards the urgent need for rigorous analysis of the issue. Based on data from Indian states, this column shows that juvenil...
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Nabamita Dutta Dipparna Jana Saibal Kar
- 05 June, 2017
- Articles
The development disconnect: MNREGA in Bihar's Jamui district
In this note, Amrita Dhiman describes her team’s visit to Jamui district in Bihar – the district that is supposed to have generated the highest number of person-days under MNREGA in its division i...
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Amrita Dhiman
- 02 June, 2017
- Notes from the Field
Aadhaar: It's not black and white
Amidst the emerging privacy concerns surrounding the success of Aadhaar and its integration in our day-to-day lives, Outline India conducted a survey in Delhi to understand people's reception of Aadh...
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Anindita Adhikari
- 31 May, 2017
- Perspectives
The state of the economy and mass perception
In this article, Ashwini Kulkarni of NGO Pragati Abhiyan contends that the media should tap into the knowledge of practitioners that are familiar with the ground realities of social sector schemes –...
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Ashwini Kulkarni
- 19 May, 2017
- Perspectives
A proposal for public funding of elections and political parties in India
The Finance Minister of India recently introduced measures aimed at cleaning up political party funding in the country. In this article, Gowda and Santhosh highlight the limitations of these measures,...
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M.V. Rajeev Gowda Varun Santhosh
- 21 April, 2017
- Perspectives
Consumption spikes and election delays
There is ample anecdotal evidence on political parties bribing voters with cash or consumption goods prior to elections, in India and other developing countries. However, there is an expected lack of ...
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Anirban Mitra Shabana Mitra Arnab Mukherji
- 20 April, 2017
- Articles
Free speech and the rule of law
In this article, Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, argues that the fight over freedom of expression in India is a shadow fight; the real fight is about preser...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
- 07 April, 2017
- Perspectives
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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
The digital dream: Upskilling India for the future
While the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace at which technology is becoming commonplace in our lives, it has also exposed a stark digital divide, leaving a large proportion of India’s popul...
- Venugopal Mothkoor Fatima Mumtaz
- 23 March, 2021
- Perspectives