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Governance

Are independent candidates unimportant for political representation?

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Does political reservation for women improve programme delivery?

This column outlines results of a study that assesses the impact of women leaders on corruption and other aspects of the quality of delivery of MNREGA. It argues that administrative experience, traini...

  • Articles

Indian economy: High performer or Potemkin village?

The recent schizophrenic commentary on the health of the Indian economy raises questions on the true state: Is India doing really well or are we just seeing an impressive facade? In this post, Amartya...

  • Perspectives

Food subsidy – PDS, cash, or both?

Should food subsidies – currently availed in the form of subsidised cereals – be given out in the form of cash instead? In this post, Krishna and Agrawal contend that rather than asking this binar...

  • Perspectives
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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...

  • Notes

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...

  • 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 –...

  • 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,...

  • 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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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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • IGC Research on India

Rural development programmes: Implementation challenges and solutions

With a majority of the population living in rural areas in India, rural development is key to the development of the country. Based on his experience of working closely with the district administratio...

  • Perspectives

Deconstructing the global wave of right-wing populism

At present, there seems to be palpable reaction against ideas of tolerance, minority rights, freedom of expression, and respect for individual autonomy and dignity, in many parts of the world. In thi...

  • Perspectives

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Maulik Jagnani

Cornell University

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Aditya Dasgupta

University of California, Merced

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Sandip Sukhtankar

University of Virginia

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Karthik Muralidharan

University of California, San Diego

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Paul Niehaus

University of California, San Diego

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Diane Coffey

University of Texas

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Payal Hathi

University of California, Berkeley

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Nazar Khalid

research institute for compassionate economics

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Most Popular Governance Posts

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, ...

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Charting a course for the Indian economy

Karthik Muralidharan (Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego) speaks with Arvind Subramanian (Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India) on a broad set of issues rang...

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Rural development programmes: Implementation challenges and solutions

With a majority of the population living in rural areas in India, rural development is key to the development of the country. Based on his experience of working closely with the district administratio...

  • Perspectives