Why India needs unemployment insurance
The central government is contemplating reform of labour laws, including those that restrict the ability of firms to fire workers. This column contends that social protection needs to be kept in mind while designing these reforms. It makes a case for publicly-provided unemployment insurance in Indi...
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Priya Ranjan 
11 March, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Harnessing India's wind power potential
While India’s wind power sector has progressed significantly in the past decade, only about 22% of its potential has been harnessed so far. In this article, Deepthi Swamy - who was part of a team that worked with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to develop a framework for the National Win...
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Deepthi Swamy
- 09 March, 2015
- Notes from the Field
Content Type: Notes from the Field
Topic: Environment
Year: 2015
The 2015-16 Union budget and India's growth
The 2015-16 Union budget – the first full-year budget of the new government – was presented last week. In this article, Nirvikar Singh, Professor of Economics at the University of California Santa Cruz, contends that the budget is a welcome return to transparency and sanity, and has a host of s...
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Nirvikar Singh
- 04 March, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Evaluating the risks of inflation targeting in India
The adoption of flexible inflation targeting by the Indian government and RBI is a landmark change in the country’s monetary policy. In this article, Renu Kohli - a macroeconomic policy specialist - discusses the risks associated with the move. She reasons that the national and global macroeconom...
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Renu Kohli
- 03 March, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Impact of the two-child limit for local politicians
Some Indian states debar individuals with more than two children from contesting local elections. This column finds that while the law has significantly reduced fertility among the general population in those states, it has worsened the sex ratio at birth among upper-caste families. It suggests tha...
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Abhishek Chakravarty S Anukriti
- 02 March, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Social Identity
Year: 2015
Modi's economic reforms: Foundation laid but time running out
Anticipation is running high that the Modi government will announce sweeping economic reforms in their first full-year budget, especially since their tenure so far has been bereft of any dramatic changes. In this article, Eswar Prasad, Senior Professor of Trade Policy, Cornell University, contends ...
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Eswar Prasad
- 27 February, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Enhancing women's participation in water governance
Women’s participation has become a key theme in water and sanitation projects. However, projects that have made provisions for women’s participation have yielded mixed results in terms of the quality of their participation. This column analyses community-managed urban water supply projects in M...
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Priyam Das
- 25 February, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Social Identity
Year: 2015
Should the less educated be barred from village council elections?
In December 2014, the state government of Rajasthan issued an executive order barring citizens with less than eight years of formal education from running for village council chief elections in all but tribal areas. In this article, Rohini Pande, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, co...
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Rohini Pande
- 23 February, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Governance
Year: 2015
Why the World Bank's International Comparison Program has limited use for India
Preliminary results from the World Bank’s International Comparison Program, which seeks to compare the economies of 199 countries across the globe, were released recently. In this article, Ranjan Ray, Professor of Economics, Monash University, highlights several features of the exercise that limi...
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Ranjan Ray
- 20 February, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Macroeconomics
Year: 2015
Three concerns about AAP's promise
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come to power in Delhi with a historic mandate. In this article, V Ramani, Partner at Access Advisory and former bureaucrat, flags three key concerns around their approach towards tackling corruption, public finance, and economic growth.
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V. Ramani
- 18 February, 2015
- Perspectives
Content Type: Perspectives
Topic: Governance
Year: 2015
Assessing teacher quality in India
Research in the US has pointed out that the most important determinant of the quality of education is the quality of teachers but that students’ achievement is not linked to observable teacher characteristics such as qualification or experience. Using data from selected private schools in Uttar P...
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Geeta Gandhi Kingdon Mehtabul Azam
- 16 February, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Human Development
Year: 2015
Public spending on health coverage: Are we raising the right questions?
The National Health Assurance Mission – India’s first move towards Universal Health Coverage – is expected to be launched soon. In this context, this column analyses the extent, distribution and quality of current public spending on healthcare. It suggests that the planning for a national pro...
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Indrani Gupta Samik Chowdhury
- 13 February, 2015
- Articles
Content Type: Articles
Topic: Human Development
Year: 2015