From numbers to impact: Learning from effective data management in Rajasthan
Access to good data is critical for evidence-based decision-making in policy. In this note, Santhosh and Kapur discuss insights from a study of Rajasthan’s experience with collecting, sharing and us...
- Avani Kapur Sidharth Santhosh
- 31 May, 2024
- Notes from the Field
Reshaping social protection in India
As India has undergone a transformation in recent decades in terms of trends such as poverty reduction, food security and urbanisation, there is a need to also revamp the traditional social protection...
- Ejaz Ghani
- 12 April, 2024
- Perspectives
The growing wave of decentralisation: Comparative evidence from developing countries
Over the last few decades, decentralisation has been rapidly spreading in developing countries across the world, with around 35 countries announcing new or deepening decentralisation reforms in recent...
- Jean-Paul Faguet Lakshmi Iyer Sarmistha Pal
- 16 November, 2023
- Videos
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
Do Gram Panchayat leaders favour their own constituencies in MNREGA fund allocation?
Political incentives are known to play a role in the allocation of public resources from upper- to lower-tier governments. This column seeks to examine whether ruling parties in local governments favo...
- Subhasish Dey Kunal Sen
- 19 December, 2016
- Articles
Governance performance of Indian states: 2001-02 and 2011-12
Defining governance as service delivery, this column develops a measure of the quality of governance – also adjusting for the impact of the level of development - and provides a ranking of major Ind...
- Samik Chowdhury Sudipto Mundle Satadru Sikdar
- 13 December, 2016
- Articles
The devil is in the details: Successes and limitations of bureaucratic reform
To address absenteeism among staff at public healthcare facilities, the government of Karnataka introduced an innovative biometric device to monitor and enforce attendance rules. This column presents ...
- Iqbal Dhaliwal Rema Hanna Rebecca Toole
- 09 December, 2016
- Articles
Politician's pain is poor man's gain: Income distribution in close-election constituencies
Studies have highlighted the role of electoral competition in directing the flow of public funds. Analysing data from India, this column finds lower income inequality and polarisation in tightly conte...
- Anirban Mitra Shabana Mitra
- 09 November, 2016
- Articles
Surrogacy bill: Implications and way forward
Contributing to the ongoing debate on India’s surrogacy bill, Dutta and Sarkar discuss the potential implications of the bill on the country’s billion-dollar surrogacy industry. They contend that ...
- Souvik Dutta Subhasree Sarkar
- 06 November, 2016
- Perspectives
Improving School Governance at Scale: A Randomised Evaluation of the Madhya Pradesh School Quality Assessment Programme
Weak governance is a critical constraint in delivering quality education in developing countries. This project conducts a randomised evaluation of one of the most ambitious recent attempts by a develo...
- Karthik Muralidharan Abhijeet Singh
- 31 October, 2016
- IGC Research on India
Can the female sarpanch deliver? Evidence from Maharashtra
One-third of all seats in village councils are reserved for women. The government has proposed an increase in quota to 50%, and in the period of reservation from five to 10 years. Based on a survey co...
- Mithila Biniwale Stephan Klasen Jan Priebe Dhanmanjiri Sathe
- 23 October, 2016
- Articles
Banning commercial surrogacy in India
In an attempt to protect the welfare of surrogate mothers, the Indian government has proposed to introduce legislation that will ban commercial surrogacy in the country. In this article, Ajit Karnik, ...
- Ajit Karnik
- 05 October, 2016
- Perspectives
The Political Effects of Programmatic Development Policy: Can Bihar Break the Clientelist Trap?
This project aims to understand the conditions of supporting the continuation and expansion of programmatic governance in Bihar state. Bihar’s "clientelism trap" (incentives to return to clientelist...
- Jonathan Phillips
- 30 September, 2016
- IGC Research on India
Modi and his challenges: Leading India on its march to prosperity
Despite Narendra Modi’s successful leadership as Chief Minister of Gujarat, some question his ability to achieve the same progress at the national level as India’s Prime Minister. In this article,...
- Rajiv Kumar
- 21 September, 2016
- Perspectives
Building connections: Political corruption and road construction in India
Rural infrastructure programmes of the government create new opportunities for growth but also for corruption. This column studies India’s flagship rural road construction programme and finds eviden...
- Oliver Eynde Jonathan Lehne Jacob Shapiro
- 13 September, 2016
- Articles
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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
Why did the Indian economy stagnate under the colonial rule?
How did the Indian economy fare under the colonial rule? Is the average Indian significantly better off after Independence? This column examines trends in GDP per capita in order to determine the stan...
- Aniruddha Bagchi
- 16 September, 2013
- Articles