Do value-added taxes benefit firms? Evidence from the adoption of state-specific value-added taxes
Value-added tax (VAT) systems have grown popular in the last 30 years, especially among developing countries looking for ways to raise tax revenue efficiently. Using 2000-2012 data on product, state-s...
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David Agrawal
Laura Zimmermann
25 May, 2022
- Articles
Does going cashless make you tax-rich? Evidence from India’s demonetisation
During 2014-2017, the share of adults using electronic payments in the developing world increased by over a third, and policymakers have expressed optimism regarding the role of this trend in promotin...
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Lucie Gadenne
Tushar Nandi
Ross Warwick
28 March, 2022
- Articles
Fixing incentives for power plants to reduce outages
Consumers in India face frequent power outages despite relatively high-quality infrastructure and ample supply of power plants. This article identifies a novel explanation for India’s blackouts: whe...
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Fiona Burlig
Akshaya Jha
Louis Preonas
08 April, 2022
- Articles
Elucidating avenues for corruption: Micronutrient fortification strategies in India’s Midday Meals Programme
Globally, iron deficiency is a leading cause of anaemia, a condition that is particularly harmful during early childhood, causing fatigue and slower physical and cognitive development with potentially...
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James Berry
Saurabh Mehta
Priya Mukherjee
Gauri Kartini Shastry
30 July, 2015
- IGC Research on India
Why numbers matter
The delayed and partial release of data from the ‘Rapid Survey on Children’ by the Indian government has given rise to questions and speculation. In this article, former bureaucrat V. Ramani disc...
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V. Ramani
23 July, 2015
- Perspectives
PDS computerisation: What other states can learn from Kerala
Given the leakage in the Public Distribution System, Indian states are being encouraged to computerise their PDS. This column analyses Kerala’s experience with PDS computerisation and highlights me...
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Silvia Masiero
06 July, 2015
- Articles
Do ruling coalition-affiliated MLAs bring more development to their constituencies?
Despite the dismantling of the License Raj in the 1990s, interaction with government officials remains an important impediment to doing business in India. This column analyses the role of politics in...
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Samuel Asher
Paul Novosad
22 June, 2015
- Articles
Citizens' trust in local politicians and implications for good governance
The new state of Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014, after a prolonged movement by the people of Telangana region for a separate state. Based on field experiments among citizens ...
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Lata Gangadharan
Tarun Jain
Pushkar Maitra
Joseph Vecci
10 June, 2015
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How effective are gram sabhas?
Village panchayats across India are mandated to organise local public meetings called gram sabhas several times a year, wherein villagers discuss issues such as local public good provision. This colu...
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Sabyasachi Das
06 May, 2015
- Articles
14th Finance Commission: A trust-based approach towards local governments
The 14th Finance Commission has been hailed as ‘path-breaking’ for recommending larger fund allocations to state governments and giving them more autonomy in spending these funds. In this article...
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Meera Mehta
Dinesh Mehta
27 April, 2015
- Perspectives
The Chhattisgarh experience and the National Food Security Act
Many of the reforms introduced under the National Food Security Act are modeled on PDS reforms implemented in Chhattisgarh. These reforms are widely believed to be responsible for the state’s succe...
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Prasad Krishnamurthy
Vikram Pathania
Sharad Tandon
20 April, 2015
- Articles
Maoist violence and MNREGA
The spate of Maoist attacks on security personnel in Chhattisgarh this week serves as a reminder that Moaist insurgency is the single biggest internal security threat faced by India. This column anal...
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Gaurav Khanna
Laura Zimmermann
15 April, 2015
- Articles
Strategically greasing the wheels: The political economy of India’s rural employment guarantee scheme
Inefficient and capacity-constrained bureaucracies often pose a significant hurdle to the effective implementation of anti-poverty programmes in developing countries.
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Aditya Dasgupta
James Robinson
31 March, 2015
- IGC Research on India
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...
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Rohini Pande
23 February, 2015
- Perspectives
Three concerns about AAP's promise
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has come to power in Delhi with a historic mandate. In this article, V Ramani, Partner at Access Advisory and former bureaucrat, flags three key concerns around their approa...
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V. Ramani
18 February, 2015
- Perspectives
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Governance Posts
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
Rethinking cadre allocation procedures in civil services
The allocation procedure of All-India Services’ officers to states is an important aspect of personnel administration in the public sector. This article shows that a change in allocation policy in 2...
Ashutosh Thakur
18 March, 2019
- Articles