23 April, 2025Reflections on how the New Education Policy plays out in the classroom
The National Education Policy, 2020 emphasises the acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy by Standard 2. Yet, little is known about how the related initiatives have translated into changes ...
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Suman Bhattacharjea Shweta Bhutada Akanksha Bisht 
26 March, 2025
- Notes from the Field
The wide-ranging benefits of India’s Public Distribution System
India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) is the world’s largest food transfer programme and India’s most far-reaching social safety net, accounting for 60% of the country’s social assistance b...
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Kathy Baylis Ben Crost Aditya Shrinivas
- 17 February, 2025
- Articles
Network membership and demand for health insurance
Despite being free and having liberal eligibility criteria, the adoption of public health insurance in India remains low. This article examines how informal networks influence adoption behaviour, in t...
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Titir Bhattacharya Tanika Chakraborty Anirban Mukherjee
- 17 January, 2025
- Articles
Education for all: Fixing classroom processes
While India has achieved near universal enrolment in schools, the quality of education is far from satisfactory. There is an urgent need to change classroom processes to ensure that those who go to s...
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Amarjeet Sinha
- 11 June, 2014
- Notes from the Field
The nutrition puzzles: Need for more holistic solutions
In this column, the author critiques the approach of only focusing on nutrition and health sector-related solutions for achieving food security. She calls for more holistic approaches that take into a...
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Uma Lele
- 28 April, 2014
- Articles
Giving up too early on malnourished children? Catch-up growth and Midday Meals
It is widely believed that malnourishment in the first few years of childhood adversely affects cognition and adult economic outcomes. This column presents new research which shows that full recovery...
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Abhijeet Singh
- 14 April, 2014
- Articles
Study of the Regulatory and Operational Structure of the Higher Education Sector in India
Recent research has drawn attention to the massive demand for higher education that will be seen in the next decade in India. This underscores the need for capacity building, the need for private part...
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Parth J. Shah
- 23 February, 2014
- IGC Research on India
Restoring dignity to the teaching profession in India
It is unfortunate that the teaching profession in India is no longer considered an attractive career option by young, bright people. This article outlines a plan to make teaching a more viable profes...
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Ashish Dhawan
- 07 February, 2014
- Perspectives
Building an inclusive and high-performing school system
Clause 12 of the Right to Education Act aims to reduce social stratification in education by requiring private schools to reserve one-fourth of their seats for economically weaker students, with the ...
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Karthik Muralidharan
- 29 January, 2014
- Articles
Sanitation in India: First things first
Recent research points towards the role of poor sanitation in ill health and stunting. This column demonstrates the negative impact of open defecation habits and poor nutritional status on the height...
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Jeffrey Hammer
- 27 January, 2014
- Articles
Understanding the relative effectiveness of government and private schools in India
Data suggests a steady increase in the share of students attending private schools in rural India. This column analyses data from the largest and longest evaluation of a school choice programme in In...
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Karthik Muralidharan
- 22 January, 2014
- Articles
Searching for the 'silver bullet': What works in improving children's learning outcomes?
Children’s learning outcomes in primary schools in India are far from satisfactory. In this article, Rukmini Banerji explores the various theories of change and associated implementation strategies...
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Rukmini Banerji
- 06 January, 2014
- Notes from the Field
An evidence-based proposal to achieve universal quality primary education in India
It is well established that learning levels in Indian primary schools are unacceptably low. This column proposes a strategy for achieving universal functional literacy and numeracy for all primary sch...
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Karthik Muralidharan
- 25 November, 2013
- Articles
How labels influence the decision to buy genetically modified food
A regulation mandating labelling for all packaged products has been in effect in India since the beginning of this year. This column examines the role of information provided by labels in the decision...
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Sangeeta Bansal Sujoy Chakravarty Bharat Ramaswami
- 28 October, 2013
- Articles
Translating the 'Right to Education': Assumptions and reality
The Right to Education Act focuses on inputs in the schooling process and teaching the prescribed curriculum, but has little to say about learning outcomes of children. This article argues that educat...
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Suman Bhattacharjea Wilima Wadhwa
- 18 October, 2013
- Articles
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Human Development Posts
Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: District-level estimates from Census 2011
The 2011 Indian Census data show a higher growth rate of Muslim population compared to the Hindu population. This article provides an in-depth picture of Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials at the di...
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- 27 March, 2019
- Articles
Understanding India’s mental health crisis
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, several reports have indicated a worsening of mental health issues among individuals across age groups. In this post, Michele Mary Bernadine examines the stat...
- Michele Mary Bernadine
- 06 April, 2021
- Perspectives
Ten steps to transform the quality of education in India
In this article, Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing Director of Educational Initiatives, suggests 10 initiatives that can help transform the quality of education in India.
- Sridhar Rajagopalan
- 19 November, 2015
- Perspectives