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Poverty & Inequality

Why are canteens important when 800 million people get free grains?

  • Notes from the Field

The problem of India’s stagnant real wages

New data from the Labour Bureau and the National Sample Survey Office point to a virtual stagnation of real wages in India over the past decade. In this post, Das and Drèze argue that this trend poin...

  • Perspectives

Rethinking social safety nets in a changing society

This paper was coauthored by Debasis Barik, Pallavi Choudhuri, Bijay Chouhan, Om Prakash Sharma, Dinesh Kumar Tiwari (NCAER) and Sharan Sharma (University of Maryland College Park and NCAER). Histori...

  • Articles

Determining how many Indians are poor today

Poverty debates in India have seen a revival since the release of a fact sheet from the 2022-23 household consumption expenditure survey. In this post, Ghatak and Kumar note that the general consensus...

  • Perspectives
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DUET: Some practical concerns

Providing her perspective on Jean Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Ashwini Kulkarni raises pertinent questions about the implementation process. She outlines the role of ‘labour...

  • Perspectives

DUET: The industrial policy angle

Providing her perspective on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Swati Dhingra contends that addressing the immediate, monumental problem of joblessness arising from the Covid-19 pan...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Flexible implementation is key

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Yamini Aiyar contends that it is a welcome opportunity to reclaim the importance of robust social protection for urban India, while ...

  • Perspectives

Why are MNREGA wages so low?

The widespread disruption of economic activity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many to turn to MNREGA work in rural India. In this post, Agarwal and Paikrashow that current wages under thee...

  • Perspectives

CPR-I4I webinar video: A new economic imagination?

Centre for Policy Research and Ideas for India jointly held a webinar on 16 September 2020, to discuss domestic demand specifically in rural India. It built on a recent I4I post by three of the speake...

  • Videos

Balancing corruption and exclusion: A rejoinder

The role of Aadhaar in reducing corruption in the PDS has been highly controversial. In a recent I4I article, Muralidharan et al. summarised the insights of their study of Aadhaar-based biometric auth...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Need to keep open mind, pilot cautiously

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Sandip Sukhtankar contends that given the potential promise but obvious issues that need to be addressed, the proposal is indeed rip...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Weighing the costs and benefits

Presenting her perspective on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Farzana Afridi contends that in the net, we need to evaluate the relative cost and benefit of having a potentially administratively complex urb...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Learning from the experiences of other countries

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Martin Ravallion suggests that three steps are needed: learning from other countries’ experiences with similar policies, conducting trials in various contexts...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Addressing ‘why’ before ‘how’

Commenting on Drèze's DUET proposal and related views, Ashok Kotwal argues that we need to consider the rationale for such an urban work programme, before diving into the design details.

  • Perspectives

DUET: Employment programme in public works in small towns

Given the severe problems of unemployment and under-employment in urban India, particularly among the country’s burgeoning youth population, Pranab Bardhan emphasises the need for an employment prog...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Towards employment as a universal right

Debraj Ray contends that we should push forward with the agenda of employment as a universal right, and DUET would move that needle. He discusses two aspects of the proposal – keeping track of worke...

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Recent Contributors

Reetika

Reetika Khera

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Ali

Ali Aouad

MIT Sloan School of Management

Kamalini

Kamalini Ramdas

London Business School

Alp

Alp Sungu

Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Jean

Jean Drèze

Ranchi University; Delhi School of Economics

Arindam

Arindam Das

Foundation for Agrarian Studies, Bangalore

Sonalde

Sonalde Desai

University of Maryland

Maitreesh

Maitreesh Ghatak

London School of Economics

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Most Popular Poverty & Inequality Posts

Wealth inequality, class, and caste in India: 1961-2012

The level of wealth inequality in India is close to that of some highly unequal countries in the world. This article assesses the long-term evolution of wealth inequality in the country for the period...

  • Articles

Covid-19: What can be done immediately to help vulnerable population

With over 80% of India’s workforce employed in the informal sector and one-third working as casual labour, Covid-19's spread and subsequent unplanned lockdowns, have created economic havoc in the li...

  • Perspectives

EWS reservation in higher education: Affirmative action or vote bank politics?

The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, provides for 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in higher educational institutions within the general category. In this post, Devi...

  • Perspectives