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Human Development

Lighting the path to learning: Can electricity boost children’s test scores?

  • Articles

Reflections on how the New Education Policy plays out in the classroom

The National Education Policy, 2020 emphasises the acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy by Standard 2. Yet, little is known about how the related initiatives have translated into changes ...

  • Notes from the Field

The wide-ranging benefits of India’s Public Distribution System

India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) is the world’s largest food transfer programme and India’s most far-reaching social safety net, accounting for 60% of the country’s social assistance b...

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Network membership and demand for health insurance

Despite being free and having liberal eligibility criteria, the adoption of public health insurance in India remains low. This article examines how informal networks influence adoption behaviour, in t...

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Covid-19 and other diseases: An ‘Animal Farm’ perspective

Debraj Ray and S Subramanian contend that despite the apparent sentiment of ‘we are all in this together’, the global burdens of Covid-19 and the global benefits of anti-Covid-19 policy have been ...

  • Perspectives

What can we learn about Swachh Bharat Mission from NFHS-5 factsheets?

Swachh Bharat Mission was introduced by Government of India in 2014 to eliminate open defecation. Based on data from the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS)-5 factsheets, this article shows that ...

  • Articles

Covid-19 and schooling: 2020 experience and way forward

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic brought with it significant challenges for the education sector. On the one hand, closing schools meant imposing a heavy cost on a whole generation of students, and ...

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International Day of Education

24 January is observed by the United Nations as the International Day of Education, to highlight the importance of education for sustainable development and to promote universal, equitable, and inclus...

  • Perspectives

Covid-19: Debunking fake news among slum-dwellers

Urban slum-dwellers are among the groups that are most at-risk of Covid-19, and their precarious situation is further compounded by rampant misinformation regarding the Virus. Based on a survey of abo...

  • Articles

Rising obesity in rural India, under the growing urban shadow

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2015-16, nearly 20% of India’s population is obese. This article shows that the country’s obesity trends have followed the nature of its econ...

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Collective action for environmental health: Evidence from sanitation in rural India

Access to and sustained use of improved household latrines have long been both a challenge as well as a policy priority in India, particularly in rural areas. Recognising the importance of social mech...

  • Articles

Does non-farm growth in rural areas reduce intergenerational educational mobility?

While the growth of the non-farm sector in a rural economy is known to reduce poverty, it may also exacerbate inequality. Comparing rural India and rural China the study finds that there is lower inte...

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Pollution from coal-based power units and anaemic status of children and women

An extensive literature has considered the impact of air pollution on health. While studies have mainly focussed on outcomes such as general morbidity and mortality, this article evaluates the impact ...

  • Articles

Designing incentives for mid-level officials in India's public sector

In the Indian public education system, block/cluster resource persons are mid-level officials who are responsible for monitoring the performance of teachers. In this note, Vivek et al. discuss their e...

  • Notes from the Field

Using phone surveys to measure mental health

The public health and humanitarian crises caused by Covid-19 have led to greater recognition of the issue of poor mental health. Although mental health can affect work and quality of life much like ph...

  • Articles

Does early motherhood impact the development of children?

According to a new UNFPA report, the Covid-19 pandemic might cause 13 million additional child marriages – a key driver of early motherhood. Using panel data from South India, this article shows tha...

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Deepak Kumar

ASER Centre

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Shweta Bhutada

ASER Centre

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Somdeep Chatterjee

Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

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Shiv Hastawala

State University of New York at Binghamton

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Indian Institute of Management Jammu

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ASER Centre

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Akanksha Bisht

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Jawaharlal Nehru University

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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

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

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