Clearing the air: Do India’s crop burning bans really work?
In December 2015, the National Green Tribunal instituted a ban on crop residue burning across five states. Utilising satellite data on crop fires and administrative data on fines levied, this article ...
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Shefali Khanna
Kanika Mahajan
Sudarshan Ramanujam
14 July, 2025
- Articles
Yamuna River pollution: Problem of governance, not infrastructure
Despite decades of efforts to clean Delhi’s Yamuna, the river remains severely polluted. In this post, Naina Sharma contends that the situation is reflective of gaps in governance, rather than techn...
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Naina Sharma
08 July, 2025
- Perspectives
Third Ashok Kotwal Memorial Lecture: Voluntary Carbon Markets: Challenges and Opportunities in Developing Economies
The Ashok Kotwal Memorial Lecture was instituted in 2022, in memory of our founding Editor-in-Chief, as an annual lecture on key issues in development. For the third edition on 11 December 2024, Profe...
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Rohini Pande
I4I Team
27 January, 2025
- Videos
Going green while being in the red
In the third post of a three-part blog series, I4I Editor-in-Chief Parikshit Ghosh advocates for a holistic approach that harmonises India’s environmental policy, social safety nets, and macroeconom...
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Parikshit Ghosh
01 May, 2024
- Perspectives
India’s opportunity for sustainable growth
In the second post of a three-part blog series, Tim Dobermann and Nikita Sharma contend that it is important for India to choose a growth trajectory that prioritises raising living standards while min...
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Tim Dobermann
Nikita Sharma
30 April, 2024
- Perspectives
The why and how of environmental protection: Examining the evidence
In the first post of a three-part blog series, I4I Editorial advisor Nalini Gulati summarises a selection of studies on the adverse impact of environmental degradation on human health as well as econo...
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Nalini Gulati
29 April, 2024
- Perspectives
India Sustainable Growth Conference, 2-4 May 2024
Hosted by the International Growth Centre, LSE STICERD’s Economics of Environment and Energy Programme, University of Warwick and Indian Statistical Institute, the India Sustainable Growth Conferenc...
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I4I Team
22 April, 2024
- Editors Corner
Safeguarding agricultural households against climate shocks
Extreme climate events are taking place more often and for longer, jeopardising the economic stability of agricultural households. This article shows that coping strategies adopted by households in re...
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Sravanthi Choragudi
Anirban Kundu
22 April, 2024
- Articles
Do women leaders improve environmental outcomes? Evidence from crop fires in India
This study looks at how women leadership improves environmental outcomes. Using satellite data from India, it compares incidence of crop fires between constituencies where women narrowly won or lost e...
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Maulik Jagnani
Meera Mahadevan
03 October, 2023
- Articles
Does India’s air pollution impact more than just health?
Air pollution presents a significant risk to human health in India, a fact which is now widely appreciated. Less well-known is a body of evidence suggesting that air pollution harms the day-to-day fun...
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Sandra Aguilar-Gomez
Holt Dwyer
Joshua Graff Zivin
Matthew Neidell
11 September, 2023
- Perspectives
How feasible is it to phase out coal-fired power plants? Evidence from a global attitudes survey
Coal-fired power plants are a highly polluting energy source but people are either unaware or unable to convey their dissatisfaction about living with poor air quality. Using survey data from 51 low- ...
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Timothy Besley
Azhar Hussain
25 August, 2023
- Articles
Effects of climate shocks on sectoral inequality
Over the last three decades, agricultural and industrial sector workers have suffered consumption losses due to temperature rise while those in the services sector saw consumption increases. This arti...
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Raavi Aggarwal
10 August, 2023
- Articles
Designing transfer payments to reduce crop burning in India
Air pollution caused due to crop burning has severe health impacts, particularly in north India. Despite the introduction of a conditional cash transfer programme to adopt environmentally friendly pra...
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Kelsey Jack
Seema Jayachandran
Namrata Kala
Rohini Pande
25 July, 2023
- Articles
Climate change and riverine pollution: The need for high-quality environment data in India
Controlling water pollution and protecting water resources in India requires comprehensive collection and monitoring of data. In this article, Pohit and Mehta describe a project undertaken by NCAER an...
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Anupma Mehta
Sanjib Pohit
28 June, 2023
- Perspectives
Keeping development at the forefront of India’s long-term climate strategy
India’s Long Term Low Emissions Development Strategy (LT-LEDS) sets out multiple low-carbon transitions, highlighting that climate action will be intimately tied to developmental processes. In this ...
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Parth Bhatia
Mandakini Chandra
Navroz K. Dubash
Aman Srivastava
05 June, 2023
- Perspectives
Twitter feed
Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Environment Posts
Happy Seeder: A solution to agricultural fires in north India
It is believed that much of the pollution in Delhi in November every year originates in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana where farmers burn their fields to dispose of crop residue. This ...
Ridhima Gupta
E. Somanathan
12 November, 2016
- Articles
Carbon dioxide emissions from India’s industries: Data sources and discrepancies
Industries are one of the most significant contributors to energy-related carbon-dioxide (energy-CO2) emissions in India – the share of industries in the total emissions was 25%, second only to powe...
Manisha Jain
02 May, 2022
- Perspectives
Has environmental regulation been successful in India?
India has an impressive number of environmental regulations – but have they been a success? This column presents evidence that while initiatives such as catalytic converters for cars have reduced ai...
Michael Greenstone
Rema Hanna
16 May, 2012
- Articles




14 August, 2025






