Tag Search: “public service delivery”
Workfare as an effective way to fight poverty: The case of India's MNREGA
The fundamental appeal of a workfare programme, vis-à-vis a welfare programme, is that it helps in targeting the beneficiaries. This column assesses the welfare impact of MNREGA on poor rural househo...
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Shamika Ravi
11 December, 2014
- Articles
Assessing the quality and usefulness of MNREGA assets in Maharashtra
Questions have been raised regarding the quality and usefulness of assets created under MNREGA. To examine the validity of the scepticism, this column reports results from a study of MNREGA assets in...
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Upasak Das
Ashwini Kulkarni
Sudha Narayanan
Krushna Ranavare
05 December, 2014
- Articles
Building state capacity for better programme implementation: Lessons from the Andhra Pradesh Smartcard Programme
Biometric payment systems are posited to reduce leakages in public welfare programmes but there is limited evidence on their effectiveness. This column presents evidence on the impact of the Andhra P...
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Karthik Muralidharan
Paul Niehaus
Sandip Sukhtankar
03 December, 2014
- Articles
What's the plan for MNREGA?
The new government’s plans to scale back MNREGA have elicited a mixed response. In this article, Abhijit Banerjee contends that both supporters and critics, and indeed the entire nation, deserve to be...
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Abhijit Banerjee
02 December, 2014
- Articles
Politics and MNREGA: A limited Link in Andhra Pradesh
The Ministry of Rural Development claims that MNREGA needs to be changed in order to reduce politics and corruption in the scheme. One of the studies cited by the Ministry is an analysis of the exten...
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Christopher B. Barrett
Yanyan Liu
Sudha Narayanan
Megan Sheahan
19 November, 2014
- Articles
MNREGA's swan song: Not everyone's idea of achche din
Over the last few months, the central government announced a set of measures to restrict MNREGA. The rationale essentially revolves around corruption in the scheme and lack of economic viability. In ...
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Amitava Gupta
14 November, 2014
- Perspectives
(Mis)Leading attack on MNREGA
Bhagwati and Panagariya have argued for phasing out MNREGA in favour of cash transfers. In this article, Abreu et al. contend that the argument is based on inflating the costs of the programme and de...
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Dilip Abreu
Pranab Bardhan
Maitreesh Ghatak
Ashok Kotwal
Dilip Mookherjee
Debraj Ray
12 November, 2014
- Perspectives
Slow and steady: Lessons from MNREGA
As the new government in India is considering changes to MNREGA, it is timely to reflect on its implementation trajectory so far. In this note, Adhikari and Sabhikhi discuss five aspects of programme...
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Anindita Adhikari
Inayat Sabhikhi
10 November, 2014
- Notes from the Field
A conversation on Bihar
I4I Guest Editor Karthik Muralidharan (Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego) speaks with Anjani Kumar Singh (Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar) during the IGC Grow...
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Karthik Muralidharan
Anjani Singh
03 November, 2014
- Perspectives
Impact of direct benefit transfer on leakage in cooking fuel subsidy
In many developing countries, pervasive corruption and evasion often undermine the provision of public programmes. This project focusses on India where a large universal programme provides US$ 8 billi...
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Prabhat Barnwal
31 October, 2014
- IGC Research on India
Rural infrastructure provision in India: mapping the Bharat Nirman programme
This project introduces a unique, integrated dataset on Maoist activity, three flagship programmes for rural infrastructure development (PMGSY,RGGVY, and USOF), and a dedicated programme targeted at I...
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Oliver Eynde
Jacob Shapiro
31 October, 2014
- IGC Research on India
Saving people's livelihoods
The new government is seeking to alter the essence of MNREGA based on the premise that it is not useful in its current form. In this article, Sudha Narayanan criticises the move and argues that despi...
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Sudha Narayanan
28 October, 2014
- Perspectives