01 February, 2019The early advantage: Learning levels in grade 1
According to ASER 2019, children in grade 1 of government schools in India lag behind private school children in both language and numeracy skills. In this post, Wilima Wadhwa explains that children i...
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Wilima Wadhwa 
24 January, 2020
- Perspectives
A quiet revolution: The case of primary education in Uttar Pradesh
The challenge in India’s school education system today is how to translate years of schooling into learning. While there is reason to lament the learning crisis, a quiet movement is taking place in ...
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Shobhini Mukerji
- 31 May, 2019
- Notes
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...
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Diane Coffey Dean Spears
- 02 October, 2019
- Perspectives
Can India reap the demographic dividend in higher education?
India’s population is going through a ‘demographic bulge’, with an increase in the proportion of the working age group and a decrease in that of dependents. In this article, Shivakumar Jolad com...
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Shivakumar Jolad
- 05 September, 2017
- Perspectives
Gorakhpur's Japanese Encephalitis malady
The recent controversy around multiple child deaths in a public hospital in Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh has brought the focus back on Japanese Encephalitis – the child killer disease. In thi...
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Smriti Mudgal Sharma
- 24 August, 2017
- Perspectives
Health policy and economic growth in India
A new synthesis paper (Menon 2017) produced by the International Growth Centre brings together evidence from various health-related IGC studies on India undertaken over the past seven years, to draw i...
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Nalini Gulati Nidhiya Menon
- 27 July, 2017
- Perspectives
Why doesn’t anybody know if Swachh Bharat Mission is succeeding?
In 2014, the Prime Minister announced a goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019. In this article, Coffey and Spears, contend that now almost two-thirds of the way through the Swachh Bharat Mission...
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Diane Coffey Dean Spears
- 10 July, 2017
- Perspectives
Language and development
Language choice is central to organisation of society, transmission of knowledge, and interpersonal communication, and hence, has implications for socioeconomic inequality. This column examines the co...
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David D. Laitin Rajesh Ramachandran
- 05 July, 2017
- Articles
Building institutional capacity for rural sanitation in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state with about 200 million people, has historically not performed well on sanitation. In this article, Mariappa Kullappa of the World Bank Water Global Practic...
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Mariappa Kullappa
- 29 June, 2017
- Notes
Good monsoon, bad test scores? Substituting away from schooling
Good monsoons in India raise agricultural productivity and hence, bring added work and higher wages. Is this extra work at the expense of schooling for poor children? This column finds that increased ...
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Manisha Shah Bryce Millett Steinberg
- 27 June, 2017
- Articles
Zika virus: Is it a potential threat to India?
The WHO recently reported the first three laboratory-confirmed cases of Zika virus disease in India – all in the state of Gujarat. In this article, public health consultant Kaushik Bharati discusses...
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Kaushik Bharati
- 09 June, 2017
- Perspectives
Assam's Brahmaputra Community Radio Station: Innovation in health communication
River Brahmaputra which flows across the Northeast Indian state of Assam, carves out a network of nearly 2,300 islands, isolating them from the mainland and excluding their inhabitants from access to ...
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Anjali Mariam Paul
- 12 May, 2017
- Articles
Moving towards a principles-based drug retail policy in India?
The health ministry has proposed a new e-platform for tracking the country’s entire drug supply chain, including online sales. In this article, Smriti Sharma and Amey Sapre contend that the e-platfo...
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Amey Sapre Smriti Mudgal Sharma
- 02 May, 2017
- Perspectives
Leaving stunting behind: Evidence from ethnic Indians in England
Despite impressive rates of economic growth in recent decades, India remains one of the worst-performing countries worldwide in terms of height, among children and adults. This column shows that heigh...
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Caterina Alacevich Alessandro Tarozzi
- 27 April, 2017
- Articles
Smart policy for women's economic empowerment in South Asia
In this article, Jennifer Johnson and Nalini Gulati highlight the different trajectories of women’s economic empowerment across South Asia, based on a recent policy dialogue hosted by Evidence for ...
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Nalini Gulati Jennifer Johnson
- 18 April, 2017
- Perspectives
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Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Human Development Posts
Giving up too early on malnourished children? Catch-up growth and Midday Meals
It is widely believed that malnourishment in the first few years of childhood adversely affects cognition and adult economic outcomes. This column presents new research which shows that full recovery...
- Abhijeet Singh
- 14 April, 2014
- Articles
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...
- Saswata Ghosh
- 27 March, 2019
- 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.
- Sridhar Rajagopalan
- 19 November, 2015
- Perspectives