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Poverty & Inequality

What do poor people think about direct cash transfers?

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Lockdown, life, and livelihood in the times of Corona

After around 36 hours of the lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in India, the Finance Minister announced a slew of welfare measures amounting to Rs. 1.7 trillion to support the vulnerable popu...

  • Perspectives

Balancing corruption and exclusion: Incorporating Aadhaar into PDS

How should recipients of publicly provided goods and services prove their identity in order to access these benefits? This article reports findings from a large-scale experiment across 15 million bene...

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How has Covid-19 crisis affected urban poor? Findings from a phone survey - II

While several commentators have highlighted the plight of migrants due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, less is known about how low-income families living in urban shanty towns are faring. Afridi et al...

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Challenges in decentralised implementation of centrally mandated anti-poverty programmes

Even when the central government is committed to a jobs guarantee, rationing of work opportunities can arise under decentralised implementation in poor places. This article examines India’s efforts ...

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Wealth inequality, class, and caste in India: 1961-2012

The level of wealth inequality in India is close to that of some highly unequal countries in the world. This article assesses the long-term evolution of wealth inequality in the country for the period...

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What do poor people think about direct cash transfers?

Based on a survey conducted over November-December 2018 with 3,800 respondents in rural Bihar, Khemani, Habyarimana, and Nooruddin present descriptive evidence on what the poor citizens of India think...

  • Perspectives

NYAY e-symposium: Tool for addressing multidimensional poverty

Ashwini Kulkarni (Director, Pragati Abhiyan) puts forth the view that an unconditional income transfer programme like NYAY can help address multidimensional poverty and enable the most vulnerable amon...

  • Perspectives

NYAY e-Symposium: Prioritise expansion of National Social Assistance Programme

Dr Pronab Sen (Country Director, IGC India) argues that the first priority should be to expand existing social security, which covers the elderly, the handicapped, and widows – given the fact that m...

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NYAY e-Symposium: Crucial to look into taxes for financing

Prof. S. Subramanian (National Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research) emphasises the importance of dealing directly with the question of enhanced taxation and some estimate of the likely o...

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NYAY e-Symposium: The potential macroeconomic impact of NYAY

Niranjan Rajadhyaksha (Research Director and Senior Fellow at IDFC Institute) contends that the estimated cost of NYAY is substantial and there is ample reason to worry about the fiscal burden of the ...

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NYAY e-Symposium: Getting targeting right

Karthik Muralidharan (Tata Chancellor's Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego) recommends targeting the 20% of poorest blocks in the country under NYAY, and making the cash trans...

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NYAY e-Symposium: Not long-term solution to poverty but useful ‘first-aid’

Maitreesh Ghatak (Professor of Economics, London School of Economics) contends that a cash transfer, as envisaged by NYAY, will provide some relief and a safety net to the poor living on the margins o...

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Introduction to e-Symposium: Decoding Congress’ NYAY

A major announcement in the Congress manifesto, in the ongoing parliamentary election, is the minimum income guarantee proposal – Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY). In this symposium, Bharat Ramaswami (Asho...

  • Symposium

NYAY e-Symposium: Four concerns around cash transfer policies

Bharat Ramswami (Professor of Economics, Ashoka University) discusses four sets of caveats in implementing NYAY as an add-on cash transfer. He contends that the emergence of cash transfers as a sustai...

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NYAY e-Symposium: Doing justice to NYAY

Jean Drèze (Visiting Professor, Ranchi University) discusses the role of NYAY in the larger context of social security in India, and proposes some tentative principles for the scheme

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Debraj

Debraj Ray

New York University

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S. Subramanian

Independent Researcher

Minu

Minu Philip

New York University

Farzana

Farzana Afridi

Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi Centre

Achyuta

Achyuta Adhvaryu

University of Michigan

Anant

Anant Nyshadham

University of Michigan

Jorge

Jorge Tamayo

Harvard University

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Vittorio Bassi

University of Southern California

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With over 80% of India’s workforce employed in the informal sector and one-third working as casual labour, Covid-19's spread and subsequent unplanned lockdowns, have created economic havoc in the li...

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Lockdown, life, and livelihood in the times of Corona

After around 36 hours of the lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in India, the Finance Minister announced a slew of welfare measures amounting to Rs. 1.7 trillion to support the vulnerable popu...

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