Promoting the use of a novel water-saving agricultural technology among Indian farmers
The Met Department has forecasted a below-normal monsoon in India this year. This column analyses the demand for a water-saving agricultural technology — laser land levelling — among farmers in Uttar Pradesh. It also discusses how such information can feed into the design of a novel approach to...
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Anil Bhargava David J. Spielman Kajal Gulati Nicholas Magnan Travis J. Lybbert 
28 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Agriculture
Year: 2015
14th Finance Commission: A trust-based approach towards local governments
The 14th Finance Commission has been hailed as ‘path-breaking’ for recommending larger fund allocations to state governments and giving them more autonomy in spending these funds. In this article, Meera Mehta and Dinesh Mehta highlight that the Commission has also recognised the need to trust a...
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Dinesh Mehta Meera Mehta
- 27 April, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Governance
Year: 2015
Analysing net foreign earnings of India's corporate sector
The corporate sector is the linchpin of the ‘Make in India’ campaign. This column finds that the sector is increasingly relying on imported inputs and its net foreign earnings are on the decline, thus contributing to the country’s current account deficit. It suggests that ‘Make in India’ ...
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J. Dennis Rajakumar
- 22 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Making the best out of waste
Given rapid urbanisation and the increasing amounts of solid waste generated in India cities, there is a pressing need for effective waste management processes. In this article, Sourabh Bhattacharjee and Ujjwal Sinha, who have been associated with a successful waste management project in Saharanpur...
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Sourabh Bhattacharjee Ujjwal Kumar Sinha
- 22 April, 2015
- Notes from the Field
Content Type: Notes from the Field
Topic: Environment
Year: 2015
The Chhattisgarh experience and the National Food Security Act
Many of the reforms introduced under the National Food Security Act are modeled on PDS reforms implemented in Chhattisgarh. These reforms are widely believed to be responsible for the state’s success in improving the distribution of food grains through PDS. However, this column shows that Chhatti...
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Prasad Krishnamurthy Sharad Tandon Vikram Pathania
- 20 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Governance
Year: 2015
Can solar micro-grids deliver basic electricity access in Indian villages?
About one-third of India´s population remains without access to basic electricity services. This column discusses preliminary lessons from an experiment in rural Uttar Pradesh that seeks to set up solar micro-grids in unelectrified habitations. It finds that while the cost of solar power is a pote...
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Johannes Urpelainen Michaёl Aklin Patrick Bayer S.P. Harish
- 17 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Environment
Year: 2015
Maoist violence and MNREGA
The spate of Maoist attacks on security personnel in Chhattisgarh this week serves as a reminder that Moaist insurgency is the single biggest internal security threat faced by India. This column analyses the impact of MNREGA on Maoist violence and finds a spike in police-initiated attacks on Maoist...
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Gaurav Khanna Laura Zimmermann
- 15 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Governance
Year: 2015
How serious are India's manufacturing skill gaps?
It is widely believed that skill gaps are constraining Indian manufacturing, and closing these gaps has become a national priority. This column argues that the public debate on India’s skill gaps rests on weak conceptual foundations. While some industries do suffer from real skill gaps, others ar...
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Aashish Mehta
- 13 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Getting more out of India's 'Tourist Visa on Arrival' scheme
The Government of India has extended the ‘Tourist Visa on Arrival’ scheme - now expected to be renamed ´Visa Online (ETA)´ scheme - from five countries in 2010 to 44 countries in 2014. In this article, Natasha Agarwal and Magnus Lodefalk highlight some of the limitations in the design and imp...
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Magnus Lodefalk Natasha Agarwal
- 10 April, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Trade
Year: 2015
Bovine Economics
About a month ago, the state government of Maharashtra instituted a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, in addition to the existing ban on the slaughter of cows. In this article, Shanta Gokhale discusses the economic consequences of the move on farmers.
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Shanta Gokhale
- 08 April, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Agriculture
Year: 2015
Can bank account-based payments boost savings?
?The Finance Ministry plans to focus on mobilising savings in the next phase of PMJDY, the financial inclusion scheme. This column presents results from an experiment in Chhattisgarh, which tests whether the method of payment of wages and other transfers affects household finances. It finds that pe...
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Lore Vandewalle Vincent Somville
- 06 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Money & Finance
Year: 2015
Boosting Indo-Pak agricultural trade
Despite close geographical proximity of India and Pakistan and implementation of SAFTA almost a decade ago, trade potential between the two countries remains largely unexploited. This column analyses trends in Indo-Pak trade in agriculture, which constitutes 43.6% of total Indo-Pak trade, and highl...
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Raka Saxena Ramesh Chand
- 02 April, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Trade
Year: 2015