The role of regulatory innovation in reversing India’s environmental degradation
In the Yale Environmental Performance Index, India ranked last out of 180 countries. Anant Sudarshan examines the broader economic and developmental costs of environmental degradation. Based on the li...
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Anant Sudarshan
17 June, 2022
- Perspectives
Economic dynamics of natural disasters: Evidence from the Kerala floods
To understand the economic impact of natural disasters, this article uses the 2018 floods in Kerala – a time when it received higher rainfall than the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu...
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Robert C M Beyer
Gogol Mitra Thakur
Abhinav Narayanan
13 February, 2023
- Articles
Reducing information barriers to solar adoption: Experimental evidence from India
A large number of people lack access to reliable and high-quality electricity supply. Off-grid solar technologies can fill this gap, but adoption remains low. This article looks at the role of informa...
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Meera Mahadevan
Robyn Meeks
Takashi Yamano
13 July, 2022
- Articles
Adaptation to persistent drought and groundwater depletion: Evidence from Karnataka
By using a random sample of households from the 2004 KSNDMC study, this project conducts a comparative study of households’ coping capacity to two prolonged, 3-year droughts occurring a decade apart...
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Ram Fishman
V.S. Prakash
K. V. Raju
28 December, 2017
- IGC Research on India
The simple economics of clean air
One of the main reasons why north-western India chokes on smog every November is the burning of residue from the rice crop by farmers. In this article, Somanathan and Gupta contend that public auctio...
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Ridhima Gupta
E. Somanathan
01 December, 2017
- Perspectives
Indoor air pollution and stunting among Indian children
While the conversation on air quality has been focussed largely on outdoor air pollution, millions of deaths occur due to indoor air pollution as well. Based on 2005–2006 National Family Health Surv...
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Anca Balietti
Prateek Mittal
15 November, 2017
- Articles
Why Asian cities should become focal points for climate change mitigation
In this article, Naini Jayaseelan, former Secretary, Environment, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, contends that mega cities in South and South-East Asia offer huge opportunities for...
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Naini Jayaseelan
11 October, 2017
- Perspectives
Electrified transport: Countdown to 2030
The Government of India is aiming to have only electric vehicles operating in the country by 2030. Despite the various policy initiatives that are being undertaken to make progress towards this ambiti...
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Epica Mandal Sarkar
Tanmay Sarkar
04 October, 2017
- Perspectives
Are India's government-subsidised solar shops thriving or barely surviving?
Government of India’s Akshay Urja programme sought to support the establishment of at least one shop per district for the sale of subsidised solar-powered technologies. Based on a survey of shop own...
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Jennifer Richmond
Kartikeya Singh
10 August, 2017
- Articles
Star power: Rating industries in Maharashtra by emission levels
Maharashtra Pollution Control Board recently launched a programme to rate industries based on their emission levels – the first such initiative by a government regulator. An easy and accessible way...
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Michael Greenstone
Rohini Pande
Nicholas Ryan
Anant Sudarshan
25 July, 2017
- Perspectives
Off-grid solar power and the future of rural electrification in India
Off-grid solar power is a potential alternative to grid extension in rural electrification. This column reports results from a recent experiment with an off-grid lighting intervention in Uttar Pradesh...
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Michaёl Aklin
Patrick Bayer
S.P. Harish
Johannes Urpelainen
17 July, 2017
- Articles
Meeting the renewable revolution: A roadmap for electricity market design in India
The Indian power system has transitioned over the last two decades from being solely government-owned, to one characterised by increasing private ownership of assets, independent regulation, and marke...
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Sushanta Chatterjee
30 June, 2017
- IGC Research on India
Sacrificing consumption to mitigate catastrophic risks
Many scientists agree that the probability of a rare environmental disaster increases as the stock of greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. This column asks how much consumption current gene...
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Timothy Besley
Avinash Dixit
26 May, 2017
- Articles
Indian Climate Early Warning System
This project involves the development of a spatially-disaggregated Indian Climate Early Warning System. For any given current weather realisation, the Early Warning System will produce maps that displ...
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Michael Greenstone
Amir Jina
Robert Kopp
Ashwin Rode
31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
Clearing the air
In this article, Naini Jayaseelan, former Secretary, Environment, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, discusses the pitfalls of basing policies to curb air pollution on comparisons of a...
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Naini Jayaseelan
23 February, 2017
- Articles
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Environment Posts
Happy Seeder: A solution to agricultural fires in north India
It is believed that much of the pollution in Delhi in November every year originates in the neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana where farmers burn their fields to dispose of crop residue. This ...
Ridhima Gupta
E. Somanathan
12 November, 2016
- Articles
Has environmental regulation been successful in India?
India has an impressive number of environmental regulations – but have they been a success? This column presents evidence that while initiatives such as catalytic converters for cars have reduced ai...
Michael Greenstone
Rema Hanna
16 May, 2012
- Articles
Learnings from emissions trade in India
India, and many developing nations in other parts of the world take solace in the U-shaped Kuznets curve: a belief in this inverse relationship between income and environmental quality results in not ...
Michael Greenstone
Anant Sudarshan
20 September, 2022
- Podcasts