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Tag Search: “caste”

Measuring caste inequality across Indian states

Although recent research on inequality shows that upper castes have the highest levels of material well-being, there is a wide variation in caste inequality across India. Measuring three forms of cast...

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Do quotas in public sector employment for disadvantaged groups enhance their welfare?

Affirmative action policies remain controversial with many arguing that benefits come at the expense of those excluded, and accrue disproportionately to the elite in disadvantaged groups. Analysing na...

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Covid-19: Addressing stigma and misconceptions

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in India, there has been stigmatisation of patients and their families, and discriminatory attitudes towards marginalised groups as well as frontline workers. Based on...

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Social identity, health networks, and health knowledge

Health knowledge, driven by education, is a critical factor for the achievement of good health outcomes. Analysing data from the Indian Human Development Survey 2004-05, this article examines how know...

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How wide is the ‘sink of localism’ in India?

While spatial segregation based on caste or religion is a constitutive feature of social life in India, there have been very few systematic studies of it. This article presents central findings from t...

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Covid-19 spread: Does social and economic diversity matter?

Arresting the spread of Covid-19 requires collective action by communities, which is likely to be more challenging in settings with high diversity. Using district-level data from India, this article e...

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Caste gaps in behaviour and personality traits: A study of university students

While numerous studies have examined gaps in health and educational outcomes across castes, there is little evidence on caste gaps in behavioural preferences and personality traits. Based on incentivi...

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Diversity and public goods: Why the geographical unit of analysis matters

Research has shown that regions with higher caste diversity have lower share of villages with essential public goods. This article challenges this finding and shows that empirical models estimated at ...

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Mental health disparities in India

While a large, multidisciplinary literature focusses on disparities in physical health across social groups, the mental health dimension remains invisible. Analysing data from a WHO survey conducted i...

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A permanent cordon-sanitaire: Dalits and Muslims in urban India

Near-perfect segregation and hierarchical ordering of residential space, based on caste or religious identity, is a well-known feature of rural India. Studies have also documented the persistence of s...

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Atrocities, murders, and untouchability: Measuring caste-based discrimination

How can we best measure inter-caste tension and discrimination in India? In this post, Victoire Girard highlights the limitations of using statistics compiled under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, w...

  • Perspectives

Does political reservation work, and for whom?

Does political reservation undermine or promote development, and for whom? This article presents an analysis of India’s Scheduled Areas, which reserve political office for the historically disadvantag...

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