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Tag Search: “caste”

Social influences and public health insurance utilisation

In developing countries there are often limited formal sources of information about programme benefits or how to access them. Social networks might influence adoption by providing more programme infor...

  • IGC Research on India

Increasing economic divide within backward castes

While the high level of socioeconomic inequality between the forward and backward caste groups in India is well documented, there is little research on inequalities within the backward caste groups. T...

  • Articles

How has land acquisition impacted dalits? A case study from Maharashtra

Land ownership in Indian villages is inextricably linked to caste, with dalits owing little or no land. Based on a survey in Maharashtra, this column assesses the impact of land acquisition and subse...

  • Articles

Bihar verdict: Development, cow politics, and caste

The Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance of JD(U)-RJD-Congress defeated the Modi-led NDA in the recent Bihar assembly elections. In this article, Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at the London Sch...

  • Perspectives

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...

  • Articles

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 b...

  • Perspectives

Does affirmative action reduce productivity? The case of Indian Railways

Critics of job reservations argue that such policies have an adverse effect on work efficiency and productivity. This column analyses the effect of job reservations in the Indian Railways – the world...

  • Articles

Do awareness programmes on TV help change prejudices?

Awareness-based TV programmes, such as Satya Mev Jayate hosted by Bollywood film personality Aamir Khan, aim to change deep-seated prejudices of the society. To what extent do such programmes influenc...

  • Articles

Did caste-based reservation increase schooling of beneficiaries?

Reservation for backward classes in schools has been in place in India since independence. This column uses a unique historical event that took place in the 1970s in India to evaluate the effect of a...

  • Articles

Social Identity and Aspirations

The project is a field experiment in India that investigates whether the norms associated with one’s social identity affect one’s aspirations, beliefs, and eventual outcomes. Project exploits cues wit...

  • IGC Research on India

Quotas and schooling decisions

Affirmative action, as an instrument for bridging inequalities across social groups, has been a contentious issue for decades. This column analyses the impact of reservation in public sector jobs and...

  • Articles

How backward are 'Other Backward Classes' in India?

Since reservations were provided in government bodies for lower castes in the early 90s, ‘Other Backward Classes’ have been an important force in Indian politics at all levels. Has there been a corre...

  • Articles