14 November, 2024Is it better to be governed by an elected leader or appointed bureaucrat?
The division of governance functions and responsibilities between politicians and bureaucrats varies, both across and within political regimes. Based on an experiment in Karnataka, this article examin...
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Abhishek Arora Siddharth George Nivedita Mantha Vijayendra Rao M.R. Sharan 
25 September, 2024
- Articles
Why political competition matters when inequality is high
In a high-inequality setting, local politicians with secure positions may favour the rich by diverting resources towards them, at the cost of the poor. To test this hypothesis, this article analyses d...
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Anders Kjelsrud Kalle Moene Lore Vandewalle
- 13 September, 2024
- Articles
The ‘Odisha model’ for disaster resilience
From its management of the devastating Super Cyclone in 1999 to the more recent challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the state of Odisha has been a testament to the power of adaptive governance....
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Souryabrata Mohapatra
- 16 August, 2024
- Perspectives
Why 'free' speech is not always 'costless'
A recent CBI raid at the premises of the owners of NDTV has sparked off yet another round of debates about freedom of the media, the spectre of authoritarianism, and freedom of expression in India. In...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
- 19 July, 2017
- Perspectives
Juvenile delinquency and income disparity across Indian states
The gravity and frequency of juvenile crime incidents in recent years point towards the urgent need for rigorous analysis of the issue. Based on data from Indian states, this column shows that juvenil...
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Nabamita Dutta Dipparna Jana Saibal Kar
- 05 June, 2017
- Articles
The development disconnect: MNREGA in Bihar's Jamui district
In this note, Amrita Dhiman describes her team’s visit to Jamui district in Bihar – the district that is supposed to have generated the highest number of person-days under MNREGA in its division i...
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Amrita Dhiman
- 02 June, 2017
- Notes from the Field
Aadhaar: It's not black and white
Amidst the emerging privacy concerns surrounding the success of Aadhaar and its integration in our day-to-day lives, Outline India conducted a survey in Delhi to understand people's reception of Aadh...
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Anindita Adhikari
- 31 May, 2017
- Perspectives
The state of the economy and mass perception
In this article, Ashwini Kulkarni of NGO Pragati Abhiyan contends that the media should tap into the knowledge of practitioners that are familiar with the ground realities of social sector schemes –...
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Ashwini Kulkarni
- 19 May, 2017
- Perspectives
A proposal for public funding of elections and political parties in India
The Finance Minister of India recently introduced measures aimed at cleaning up political party funding in the country. In this article, Gowda and Santhosh highlight the limitations of these measures,...
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M.V. Rajeev Gowda Varun Santhosh
- 21 April, 2017
- Perspectives
Consumption spikes and election delays
There is ample anecdotal evidence on political parties bribing voters with cash or consumption goods prior to elections, in India and other developing countries. However, there is an expected lack of ...
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Anirban Mitra Shabana Mitra Arnab Mukherji
- 20 April, 2017
- Articles
Free speech and the rule of law
In this article, Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics, argues that the fight over freedom of expression in India is a shadow fight; the real fight is about preser...
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Maitreesh Ghatak
- 07 April, 2017
- Perspectives
Tax, lies, and red tape
Weak institutional environments in poor countries may lead to lower tax compliance by firms. This may be especially true for family firms, whose owners have higher stakes in the firm and longer horizo...
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Megha Patnaik
- 31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
Bidding for roads
This project aims to understand how to make it harder for local politicians to capture small-scale infrastructure projects. In the context of the bidding process for contracts under India’s flagship...
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Oliver Eynde Jacob Shapiro
- 31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
The Impact of Community Mobilization on Land Rights Governance: Evidence from a Homestead Land Entitlement Initiative in Gaya District of Bihar, India
This project evaluates the impact of a community level program in Gaya district that seeks to establish, train, and mobilize village-level community-based organizations to assist Scheduled Caste house...
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Sanjay Kumar Andre Nickow
- 31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
Bidding for Roads
The project looks into the mechanisms of political influence by analyzing whether contractors without political connections are deterred from applying, or whether the evaluation process is biased in f...
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Oliver Eynde Jonathan Lehne Jacob Shapiro
- 31 March, 2017
- IGC Research on India
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Unique Health Identification and Aadhaar: A case for mandatory linkage
As part of the Digital India initiative, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issues a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number to each patient, which documents their entire journey in th...
- Mudit Kapoor
- 23 December, 2016
- Perspectives
Caste dominance in rural India: Cause and effect
Rural India remains a caste-based society. This column explores why caste continues to play such an important role and what the effects are. It argues that trade and agricultural productivity suffer, ...
- Siwan Anderson
- 16 August, 2012
- Articles
The digital dream: Upskilling India for the future
While the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace at which technology is becoming commonplace in our lives, it has also exposed a stark digital divide, leaving a large proportion of India’s popul...
- Venugopal Mothkoor Fatima Mumtaz
- 23 March, 2021
- Perspectives