Main Banner Image
Human Development

To invest in sanitation or not? The role of gender differences in perceptions

Although sanitation is essential for health, many households remain without a toilet due to financial constraints. This article describes the extent to which perceptions of costs and benefits of sanit...

  • Articles

Is open defecation still prevalent in rural north India?

In an attempt to understand open defecation in four focus states in the aftermath of the Swachh Bharat Mission, Vyas and Gupta evaluate the findings of the NFHS-5. They note that the NFHS is likely to...

  • Articles

Assessing the extent and fiscal cost of teacher shortages in India

The New Education Policy has proposed that the one million teacher vacancies in public elementary schools be filled imperatively. Using 2019-20 District Information System for Education (u-DISE) data,...

  • Articles
Refine list by:
--Please Select--
--Please Select--

The precocious period: Impact of early menarche on schooling in India

In socio-cultural contexts onset of menstruation (menarche) adversely affects educational attainments of girls. This article shows that onset of menses before age 12 causes a 13% decrease in school en...

  • Articles

Has the National Rural Health Mission improved utilisation of maternal healthcare services in Bihar?

Bihar is a socioeconomically backward state with a persistently poor record with respect to maternal and child health indicators. Based on data from the National Sample Surveys on healthcare, this art...

  • Articles

Banerjee and Duflo’s journey with Pratham

This year’s economics Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo have worked closely with education NGO Pratham in India for more than 20 years. Over time, this unique partnership of research...

  • Perspectives

Draft National Education Policy: Vision for out-of-school children

The draft National Education Policy released in May 2019 took a step forward by recommending an extension of the scope of the right to education act by including pre-primary and secondary education wi...

  • Perspectives

What the Swachh Bharat Mission did not change

On the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and 5th anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Coffey and Spears discuss findings from a field survey about changes in open defecation in rura...

  • Perspectives

Access to toilets and public safety of women

Launched on 2 October 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission aimed to increase the proportion of rural households with access to a toilet from 38.8% to 100% by 2019. In the run-up to Gandhi Jayanti and the 5th a...

  • Articles

What will determine the costs of Prime Minister’s Jan Arogya Yojana?

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana was launched in 2018 with the aim of covering hospitalisation expenses of the vulnerable 40% of the population, to protect them against financial risk arising out ...

  • Articles

Is trade with India changing Africa’s healthcare landscape?

After China, India has become the second largest trading partner with sub-Saharan Africa. The southern and western regions of Africa – which have the largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS wo...

  • Perspectives

Understanding school choices under RTE’s 25% mandate

Section 12(1)(c) of the Right To Education Act mandates non-minority status private schools to reserve at least 25% seats for the disadvantaged and weaker sections of the society. This article analyse...

  • Articles

Rural sanitation: A charter of demands

A government survey shows that 93% of rural households in India have access to a toilet and 96% of those having a toilet use them. However, critics point out contradictions between these data and micr...

  • Notes from the Field

Why do parents invest in girls’ education? Evidence from rural India

Adolescent girls in rural Rajasthan frequently leave education early and marry young. This article develops a novel methodology to elicit average parental preferences over a daughter's education and a...

  • Articles

Sustained health benefits of ICDS: Later life evidence

Child malnutrition is a serious concern for India where more than half of the children under age five are moderately or severely malnourished. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) launched...

  • Articles

Recent Contributors

Nikita

Nikita Sharma

Economics Editor, IGC

Sheetal

Sheetal Sekhri

University of Virginia

Md. Amzad

Md. Amzad Hossain

University of Arkansas

Saswata

Saswata Ghosh

Institute of Development Studies Kolkata

Zakir

Zakir Husain

Presidency University, Kolkota

Mousumi

Mousumi Dutta

Presidency University

View all Contributors

Most Popular Human Development Posts

Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: District-level estimates from Census 2011

The 2011 Indian Census data show a higher growth rate of Muslim population compared to the Hindu population. This article provides an in-depth picture of Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials at the di...

  • Articles

Ten steps to transform the quality of education in India

In this article, Sridhar Rajagopalan, Managing Director of Educational Initiatives, suggests 10 initiatives that can help transform the quality of education in India.

  • Perspectives

Understanding India’s mental health crisis

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, several reports have indicated a worsening of mental health issues among individuals across age groups. In this post, Michele Mary Bernadine examines the stat...

  • Perspectives