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
Economics and the environment
Published in February 2021 by the UK government, the ‘Dasgupta Review’ calls for changes in how we think, act and measure economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity and the natural wor...
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Partha Dasgupta
E. Somanathan
21 December, 2021
- Podcasts
Economics and the environment
Published in February 2021 by the UK government, the ‘Dasgupta Review’ calls for changes in how we think, act and measure economic success to protect and enhance our prosperity and the natural wo...
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Partha Dasgupta
E. Somanathan
20 December, 2021
- Videos
On the economic geography of climate change
Climate change is a defining challenge of our times. In this post, Peri and Robert-Nicoud introduce a special issue of the ‘Journal of Economic Geography’ on climate change, which provides foundat...
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Giovanni Peri
Frédéric Robert-Nicoud
12 November, 2021
- Perspectives
Balancing economic development and climate goals
Although India is on track to meet its target under the Paris Climate Agreement, the fast pace of urbanisation could worsen the problem of climate change. In this post, Ejaz Ghani outlines the policy ...
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Ejaz Ghani
31 August, 2021
- Perspectives
Inducing water conservation in affluent urban households
Reducing the demand for water – particularly in affluent, urban households – can lower the burden of increasing supply to ensure universal access, and sustaining it at an affordable price. Based o...
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Vivek
Deepak Malghan
Kanchan Mukherjee
23 August, 2021
- Articles
Sustainable livelihoods and resilience through community forest management
The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006 adopts a rights-based approach to forest conservation and seeks to place local communities at the centre of...
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Santosh Gedam
06 August, 2021
- Notes from the Field
The importance of a climate stimulus in India
The Covid-19 pandemic has plunged India into recession, and substantial stimulus from the government is required to jump-start the economy. In this post, Ingmar Schumacher contends that while systemic...
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Ingmar Schumacher
04 June, 2021
- Perspectives
Environmental relocation and firm outcomes
Industrial relocation policies have become increasingly popular as a policy tool to combat pollution in the developing world. Using Economic Census data from 2005 and 2013, this article examines the i...
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Michael Gechter
Namrata Kala
26 April, 2021
- Articles
India’s progress in meeting its climate goals
India’s target under the Paris Agreement on climate change, is to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity by 33-35% by 2030, from the 2005 level. In a previous I4I post, Manisha Jain showed that th...
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Manisha Jain
22 April, 2021
- Perspectives
Reducing the flow of plastic to oceans in India
Growing consumer demands are causing the generation of colossal amounts of plastic waste, and the poor state of waste management implies that large proportions of this litter is making its way into th...
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Ravinder Kumar
Shiv Kumar
Siddhi Mankad
Poornima Sheelanere
18 December, 2020
- Notes from the Field
Tracking India’s greenhouse gas emission intensity target
One of the targets in India’s ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, is to reduce the greenhouse gas emission intensity of GDP by ...
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Manisha Jain
21 August, 2020
- Perspectives
Implementing Forest Rights Act: Story of two villages in Maharashtra
The Forest Rights Act, 2006 was a landmark forest legislation in India, which recognised individual and community rights over forest resources. However, as of November 2018, only 44.83% of titles have...
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Sayak Sinha
15 July, 2020
- Notes from the Field
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






