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Contributor : Profile

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Ashok Kotwal

University of British Columbia

Ashok Kotwal served as the Editor-in-Chief of Ideas for India from 2012 to 2022.

He was Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He served as the Head of the Department from 1995-2000 and as the Director, Centre for India and South Asia Research at the University of British Columbia from 2003 to 2008. His research has focused on development issues such as the process of poverty decline, labour and credit markets in developing countries, the role of agriculture in development, the role of international trade, and rural governance. More recently, he had been engaged in the study of poverty alleviation schemes such as Public Distribution System and MNREGA (Employment Guarantee Act).

Posts by Ashok Kotwal

A suggestion for WTO negotiations

India’s new food security law is likely to breach WTO’s limit on farmer support. India is keen to ask for a temporary exemption from the rule so that the law can be implemented unhindered. But, i...

  • Perspectives

Doing a number on the Food Security Bill

In a recent article, Kotwal, Murugkar and Ramaswami pointed out errors in estimation by Surjit Bhalla that led him to assert that the Food Security Bill will increase cost of food subsidy by 336%, an...

  • Perspectives

Correct costs of the Food Security Bill

In a recent article, Surjit Bhalla has asserted that the Food Security Bill will increase costs of food grain subsidy by 336%. Correcting errors in his calculation brings this figure down to 18%. In t...

  • Perspectives

I4I turns 1!

It has been a year since the voice of ‘Ideas for India’ was first heard. Our mission was to be an outlet for evidence-based arguments on a wide set of issues relevant to Indian growth and developm...

  • Perspectives

I4I Panel Discussion: A conversation on Indian Development

To celebrate the first birthday of I4I, we invited eminent economists Abhijit Banerjee and Raghuram Rajan to have a conversation about vital issues in Indian development.

  • Videos

What explains the steep poverty decline in India from 2004 to 2011?

Ashok Kotwal, Editor-in-Chief, Ideas for India, interviews Pronab Sen on the recent poverty figures that show a steep decline in poverty in India between 2004 and 2011. According to him, the shift in...

  • Perspectives

Food Bill: Neither populist nor unaffordable

Criticism of the National Food Security Bill has led to the government dropping the idea of issuing an Ordinance and instead, saying it would try to get the Bill passed in a special session of Parlia...

  • Perspectives

Why is poverty declining so slowly in India?

Despite two decades of fast growth of per capita GDP, India has experienced a very slow decline in poverty. The column suggests that this disconnect between GDP growth and poverty decline can largely ...

  • Articles

The impacts of linking NREGA payments to UID. A Study of Maharashtra

This project attempts to measure the impact of Universal Identification (UID)-linked wage payments on corruption in public works projects funded under MNREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)....

  • IGC Research on India

For the New Year

Five months ago we launched this portal to start new conversations on issues of vital importance for Indian growth and development. We had hoped that by making serious research accessible to lay peop...

  • Perspectives

On ideology

In recent debates over issues such as the National Food Security Bill or the use of the Unique Identification, we seem to find people with similar values in opposing ideological camps. This editorial ...

  • Perspectives

A new voice

It is with some trepidation, but with huge excitement, that I present to you Ideas for India – a new voice in the cacophony of conversations on Indian growth and development. Hopefully, this will be...

  • Perspectives