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Reporting of gender-based violence: Why public activism and dialogue matter

The recent case of an on-duty female doctor being brutally raped and murdered in a Kolkata hospital, has sparked nation-wide protests and yet again raised serious questions and concerns around women...

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Digital gender divide amidst India’s service-led growth

While India’s growth in recent decades has been services-led, entering high-productivity business services requires an adequate supply of high-skilled workers. In this context, Isha Gupta discusses ...

  • Perspectives

Paternalistic discrimination against women in the labour market

Women in many low-income countries are often excluded from the labour market. This article proposes a new explanation in the form of paternalistic discrimination – the preferential hiring of men to ...

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Entrepreneurship or survival? Caste and gender of small business in India

Can entrepreneurship be a vehicle for social mobility in India? This column analyses data from micro, small and medium enterprises, and finds clear and persistent caste and gender disparities in virtu...

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Caste and entrepreneurship in India

It is now widely accepted that the lower castes have risen in Indian politics. Has there been a corresponding change in their entrepreneurial activity? This column seeks to answer this question by ana...

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Combating gender imbalance through legislation

The rapid decline in the sex ratio in India over the past few decades is an artefact of the historically strong preference for sons over daughters. To address the problem, the Indian government passed...

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The power of women's political voice

With more women in power, can India’s women expect to see a fall in violent crime committed against them? This column looks at the effect of a law to mandate minimum numbers for women in public offi...

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Does caste influence access to agricultural loans in rural India?

Increasing access to agricultural credit in rural India is a major policy priority. This column examines whether farmers’ access to formal agricultural loans depends on their caste. It is found that...

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Casteism and corruption: Beyond political correctness

Sociologist Ashis Nandy’s recent remark that most corrupt people belong to lower castes drew a lot of flak. In this column, Pranab Bardhan shares his views on what he considers to be the two substan...

  • Perspectives

Saving Behaviour in India: Understanding the differences across castes

The past three decades in India have witnessed a sharp reduction in the historically large gaps in the education levels, occupation choices and wages of the backward castes relative to the rest of the...

  • IGC Research on India

Does mother's status affect the child's stature?

Both women’s status and children’s health in South Asia are abysmal. Can a well-defined link be established from women’s status to child health? This column presents results of a study that uses...

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Violence against married women in India: Can the data tell us anything?

Violence against women in India has recently been brought to the world’s attention. But for too long the problem has been under reported. This column looks at what the data can tell us.

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Infant mortality in times of recession

Can recessions have permanent effects on people’s health in developing countries? This column looks at infant mortality in India and finds that recessions make things worse. The paradox is that this...

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Looking for icons to transform social norms

What can be done to reduce the incidence of rape? This article proposes that messages from role models such as cricketers and film stars can change outlooks. It outlines a strategy for measuring the e...

  • Perspectives

India's missing women by age and state

This column presents results of a study that breaks down “missing women” by age across the Indian states. It illustrates that Indian women face the risk of excess mortality at every stage of their...

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Poulomi Chakrabarti

Harvard University

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Melani Cammett

Harvard University

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David Romney

Brigham Young University

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Abhilasha Sahay

World Bank

Isha

Isha Gupta

Ramanujan College

Manini

Manini Ojha

Jindal School of Government and Public Policy

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Karan Babbar

Jindal Global Business School

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Shreya Biswas

BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

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Most Popular Social Identity Posts

Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: An update

Building on past research, Saswata Ghosh and Pallabi Das estimate the state- and district-level fertility differentials between Hindus and Muslims using data from the latest round of the NFHS. They sh...

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A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India

Castes in India are closely associated with certain occupations and determine the jobs done by millions. This study uses a new dataset to show that a large proportion of workers still work in their ca...

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Sex ratios and religion in India and South Asia

In South Asia, low child sex ratios are increasingly an isolated Indian phenomenon. Within India, child sex ratios are ‘normal’ among Christians and Muslims but much lower among Hindus, Sikhs, and...

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