Expected or unexpected? Strategic communication around audits to maximise deterrence
Even with evidence on how audits can be designed to be more effective in deterring corruption by bureaucrats, in practice, budget constraints restrict governments from being able to conduct audits wit...
- Wendy Wong
- 11 September, 2024
- Articles
Reshaping social protection in India
As India has undergone a transformation in recent decades in terms of trends such as poverty reduction, food security and urbanisation, there is a need to also revamp the traditional social protection...
- Ejaz Ghani
- 12 April, 2024
- Perspectives
Impact of Electronic Voting Machines on electoral frauds, democracy, and development
In an attempt to curb electoral malpractices, Electronic Voting Machines were introduced on a national scale by the Election Commission of India in the 1990s. Using data from state assembly elections ...
- Sisir Debnath
- 19 May, 2016
- Articles
India’s new National Water Policy: A paradigm shift
In 2019, the Ministry of Jal Shakti set up a committee of independent experts – led by Dr Mihir Shah – to draft a new National Water Policy. To examine the recommendations made by the Committee, A...
- Ashwini Kulkarni Mihir Shah
- 20 January, 2022
- Podcasts
She wins: Electing women in ethnically divided societies
The Indian Constitution reserves a minimum of 33% of village council head positions for women, and Bihar is among the nine states that have opted for 50% reservation. This note investigates how gender...
- Arindam Banerjee Sayan Banerjee Charles R. Hankla Kunal Singh Anjali Thomas
- 22 July, 2021
- Notes from the Field
Escaping the subsidy-quality trap in India’s retail electricity market
Cross-subsidies in retail electricity tariffs leave distribution utilities with neither the incentive nor the capital to improve reliability, particularly for their most subsidised consumers. Using bi...
- Shefali Khanna Kevin Rowe
- 19 May, 2021
- Articles
2021 West Bengal Assembly election: Did the Covid-19 surge matter?
In the recent Assembly elections in the state of West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress bucked an anti-incumbency headwind to secure victory. Using electoral data from 2016, 2019, and 2021, Ghata...
- Maitreesh Ghatak Pushkar Maitra
- 12 May, 2021
- Perspectives
Rising industrial accidents: Fallout of boosting ‘Ease of Doing Business’?
India has witnessed a surge in severe fire and explosion-related accidents in industrial and commercial establishments, in recent years. In this post, R Nagaraj contends that perhaps the dilution – ...
- R. Nagaraj
- 28 April, 2021
- Perspectives
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
When criminality begets crime: The role of elected politicians
The criminalisation of politics has become a massive threat to society. While the impact of criminally accused leaders on economic outcomes has been studied in the literature, little is known about th...
- Nishith Prakash Soham Sahoo Deepak Saraswat Reetika Sindhi
- 19 March, 2021
- Perspectives
Regionalist party representation and tribal insecurity
Observers have long been ambivalent about regionalism as a principle underlying the organisation of politics. Analysing data from India, this article shows that when regionalist parties win elections,...
- Sacha Kapoor Arvind Magesan
- 19 February, 2021
- Articles
Combating corruption and illicit outflows: A welfare-oriented approach
A discussion of the association between corruption in economies and leakage through illicit outward flows – with important implications for welfare – is missing in the literature. Based on a theor...
- Swapnendu Banerjee Siddhartha Mitra Vivekananda Mukherjee
- 17 December, 2020
- Articles
Land disputes in ‘Santhal Parganas’: Issues and solutions
Four of the six districts in Santhal Parganas division of Jharkhand have been classified as ‘aspirational districts’ by NITI Aayog. In this note, Karn Satyarthi describes the unique manner in whic...
- Karn Satyarthi
- 15 December, 2020
- Notes from the Field
Ethnic identities, public spending, and political regimes
Do democracies discriminate less against minorities as compared to non-democracies? How does the dominance of an ethnic group affect discrimination under various political regimes? Presenting a theore...
- Sugata Ghosh Anirban Mitra
- 07 December, 2020
- Articles
Diversity and public goods: Why the geographical unit of analysis matters
Research has shown that regions with higher caste diversity have lower share of villages with essential public goods. This article challenges this finding and shows that empirical models estimated at ...
- Naveen Bharathi Deepak Malghan Sumit Mishra Andaleeb Rahman
- 23 November, 2020
- Articles
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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
Why did the Indian economy stagnate under the colonial rule?
How did the Indian economy fare under the colonial rule? Is the average Indian significantly better off after Independence? This column examines trends in GDP per capita in order to determine the stan...
- Aniruddha Bagchi
- 16 September, 2013
- Articles