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Examining Himachal’s urban employment guarantee

Despite proposals by economists on the need for an urban work programme in India, a national-level policy seems some time away from coming to fruition. However, some states have implemented such progr...

  • Notes from the Field

The implications of India’s spatial development

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “poverty is the worst form of violence”. In this piece, Ejaz Ghani highlights India’s poverty burden, its regional disparities and convergence thereof. He highlights ho...

  • Articles

Spatial disparities in household earnings in India

The per-capita state domestic product of Haryana (India’s richest state) was 5.6 times that of Bihar (poorest state) in 2017-18, up from 3.8 in 1996-97. Differences in urbanisation levels and inabil...

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DUET: Some practical concerns

Providing her perspective on Jean Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Ashwini Kulkarni raises pertinent questions about the implementation process. She outlines the role of ‘labour...

  • Perspectives

DUET: The industrial policy angle

Providing her perspective on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Swati Dhingra contends that addressing the immediate, monumental problem of joblessness arising from the Covid-19 pan...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Flexible implementation is key

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Yamini Aiyar contends that it is a welcome opportunity to reclaim the importance of robust social protection for urban India, while ...

  • Perspectives

Why are MNREGA wages so low?

The widespread disruption of economic activity caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many to turn to MNREGA work in rural India. In this post, Agarwal and Paikrashow that current wages under thee...

  • Perspectives

CPR-I4I webinar video: A new economic imagination?

Centre for Policy Research and Ideas for India jointly held a webinar on 16 September 2020, to discuss domestic demand specifically in rural India. It built on a recent I4I post by three of the speake...

  • Videos

Balancing corruption and exclusion: A rejoinder

The role of Aadhaar in reducing corruption in the PDS has been highly controversial. In a recent I4I article, Muralidharan et al. summarised the insights of their study of Aadhaar-based biometric auth...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Need to keep open mind, pilot cautiously

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal for an urban work programme, Sandip Sukhtankar contends that given the potential promise but obvious issues that need to be addressed, the proposal is indeed rip...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Weighing the costs and benefits

Presenting her perspective on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Farzana Afridi contends that in the net, we need to evaluate the relative cost and benefit of having a potentially administratively complex urb...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Learning from the experiences of other countries

Commenting on Drèze’s DUET proposal, Martin Ravallion suggests that three steps are needed: learning from other countries’ experiences with similar policies, conducting trials in various contexts...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Addressing ‘why’ before ‘how’

Commenting on Drèze's DUET proposal and related views, Ashok Kotwal argues that we need to consider the rationale for such an urban work programme, before diving into the design details.

  • Perspectives

DUET: Employment programme in public works in small towns

Given the severe problems of unemployment and under-employment in urban India, particularly among the country’s burgeoning youth population, Pranab Bardhan emphasises the need for an employment prog...

  • Perspectives

DUET: Towards employment as a universal right

Debraj Ray contends that we should push forward with the agenda of employment as a universal right, and DUET would move that needle. He discusses two aspects of the proposal – keeping track of worke...

  • Perspectives

Recent Contributors

Himanshu

Himanshu .

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Martin

Martin Ravallion

Georgetown University

Justin

Justin Sandefur

Center for Global Development

Maitreesh

Maitreesh Ghatak

London School of Economics

Karan

Karan Bhasin

University at Albany, SUNY

Surjit

Surjit Bhalla

International Monetary Fund

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