14 November, 2024Is it better to be governed by an elected leader or appointed bureaucrat?
The division of governance functions and responsibilities between politicians and bureaucrats varies, both across and within political regimes. Based on an experiment in Karnataka, this article examin...
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Abhishek Arora Siddharth George Nivedita Mantha Vijayendra Rao M.R. Sharan 
25 September, 2024
- Articles
Why political competition matters when inequality is high
In a high-inequality setting, local politicians with secure positions may favour the rich by diverting resources towards them, at the cost of the poor. To test this hypothesis, this article analyses d...
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Anders Kjelsrud Kalle Moene Lore Vandewalle
- 13 September, 2024
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The ‘Odisha model’ for disaster resilience
From its management of the devastating Super Cyclone in 1999 to the more recent challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state of Odisha has been a testament to the power of adaptive governance....
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Souryabrata Mohapatra
- 16 August, 2024
- Perspectives
Cash Transfer versus In-Kind Transfers: A conceptual framework and preliminary evidence
This project studied the performance of a conditional cash transfer scheme called Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana, which provides money to purchase a bicycle to every student who is enrolled in standard nin...
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Maitreesh Ghatak Sandip Mitra
- 01 June, 2013
- IGC Research on India
Bihar's malnutrition crisis and potential solutions
The prevalence of underweight children in Bihar is higher than in any country in the world, and the provision of public services to address malnutrition is poor. Based on an assessment of the governm...
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Ronald Abraham Andrew Fraker
- 24 May, 2013
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The role of informal caste networks in public service delivery
Large public programmes designed at the national level are often undermined by corruption at the local level. This column proposes local level monitoring and enforcement through informal networks as ...
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Sriniketh Nagavarapu Sheetal Sekhri
- 06 May, 2013
- Articles
IAP improving lives in Maoist-affected areas
In this Note from the Field, a PMRDF working in the Left Wing Extremism affected Purulia district in West Bengal, narrates how the Maoist movement disrupted livelihoods, revenue generation and public...
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Animesh Ghosh
- 05 April, 2013
- Notes from the Field
Adoption of Water-Saving Infrastructure in Agriculture: The Case of Laser Levellers
Water tables are falling rapidly, in large part due to the fact that individuals do not bear the social marginal cost of the water they use; free water extraction is a property right attached to land ...
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Nathan Larson Sheetal Sekhri Rajinder Sidhu
- 31 March, 2013
- IGC Research on India
Should bribe-givers be let off?
In 2011, Economist Kaushik Basu argued that for a class of bribes, the law should not punish the bribe-giver. This column presents results of experiments conducted to test this idea and provides insi...
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Tarun Jain
- 28 March, 2013
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Two questions about the 2G scandal
The scandal involving corruption in the allocation of 2G licenses left the nation stunned. This column presents estimates of the revenue loss to the government, and says that while the common man was...
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Sandip Sukhtankar
- 25 March, 2013
- Articles
Is the District Innovation Fund being utilised?
The 13th Finance Commission has recommended the creation of a District Innovation Fund in each district. The objective of the fund is to increase the efficiency of existing capital assets by filling v...
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Ajit Nayak
- 08 February, 2013
- Notes from the Field
Use of technology to improve public service delivery
How is technology being used to improve public service delivery at the grass root level? In this Note from the Field, the Prime Minister’s Rural Development Fellows that are working with district ad...
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Chandrasekhar Bhuyan Animesh Ghosh Kshovan Guha Dipti Paridhi Kindo Priyanka Kumari Ankush Singh Sushma Taywade Sweta Trayambak
- 06 February, 2013
- Notes from the Field
Role of Information Provision in Improving Public Service Delivery
Informal monitoring and enforcement can increase the efficiency of public service delivery. This project studies the Targeted Public Distribution System of India and finds that Scheduled Castes (SC) h...
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Sriniketh Nagavarapu Sheetal Sekhri
- 01 February, 2013
- IGC Research on India
Does political reservation for women improve programme delivery?
This column outlines results of a study that assesses the impact of women leaders on corruption and other aspects of the quality of delivery of MNREGA. It argues that administrative experience, traini...
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Farzana Afridi
- 17 January, 2013
- Articles
Economic policy agenda for India in 2013
What should the priorities be for economic policymakers in India in the coming year? This column emphasises the need for greater transparency, and improved governance and regulation for reviving econo...
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Dilip Mookherjee
- 02 January, 2013
- 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
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