06 June, 2019Lockdown, 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...
-
Arjun Kumar Balwant Singh Mehta Simi Mehta 
07 April, 2020
- 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...
-
Karthik Muralidharan Paul Niehaus Sandip Sukhtankar
- 17 April, 2020
- Articles
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...
-
Farzana Afridi Amrita Dhillon Sanchari Roy
- 11 May, 2020
- Notes from the Field
Aadhaar, biometrics, and the PDS in Jharkhand
Aadhaar-based biometric authentication was made mandatory for obtaining rations under the Public Distribution System in Ranchi district in Jharkhand in August 2016. In this article, Nazar Khalid demon...
-
Nazar Khalid
- 10 January, 2018
- Perspectives
Rags to riches? Understanding social mobility in India
To what extent is an individual’s status in society determined by the position of his or her parents? Analysing data from the Indian Human Development Survey, 2011-2012, this column finds that the p...
-
Vegard Iversen Anirudh Krishna Kunal Sen
- 13 November, 2017
- Articles
Universal basic income and the Indian macroeconomy
In this article, Shiv Hastawala discusses how, given the macroeconomic framework of India, a universal basic income could potentially have a positive impact on the economy in terms of output, employme...
-
Shiv Hastawala
- 06 October, 2017
- Perspectives
Draft social security code: Will it help informal workers?
Labour law reform is considered as a key requirement for creation of new jobs as well as greater formalisation of existing jobs in India. In March this year, the Ministry of Labour and Employment brou...
-
Sharmila Kantha
- 21 September, 2017
- Perspectives
Unleashing the forgotten billion of India
About 1.7% of India's 400 million workforce learns skills on their own. In this article, Yuvaraj Galada, former Vice President of National Skill Development Corporation, shares experiences from his tr...
-
Yuvaraj Galada
- 31 August, 2017
- Notes from the Field
Straw men in the debate on basic income versus targeting
A universal basic income as a poverty-reduction policy is often contrasted unfavourably with targeted transfers. In this article, Martin Ravallion argues that five of the common arguments employed ag...
-
Martin Ravallion
- 11 August, 2017
- Perspectives
Estimating intergenerational income mobility in rural India
For developing countries, it is difficult to find income mobility studies that rely on datasets linking parents with their children. Using a panel dataset spanning 1994-2012, this column presents imp...
-
Shariq Mohammed
- 03 July, 2017
- Articles
Understanding livelihood resilience in Bihar
This column develops a livelihood resilience index including three key components – bio-physical, economic, and social resources – and estimates the index for districts in the state of Bihar.
-
Surya Bhushan K. V. Raju
- 16 June, 2017
- Articles
A proposal for universal basic services
In the context of the ongoing debate on the idea of a universal basic income for India, Prof. Himanshu of Jawaharlal Nehru University argues that we first need to ensure that all citizens have access...
-
Himanshu .
- 21 May, 2017
- Perspectives
Price risk and poverty
There is an ongoing policy debate in India on whether grain entitlements under PDS should be converted into cash transfers. This column shows that in the face of high price variability, in-kind trans...
-
Lucie Gadenne Sam Norris Monica Singhal Sandip Sukhtankar
- 15 May, 2017
- Articles
Two views on fighting world poverty
In the previous article, Lant Pritchett critiqued Chris Blattman’s proposal to compare interventions that provide chickens rather than cash, and the view that the answer is the best investment we c...
-
Chris Blattman
- 05 May, 2017
- Perspectives
Inequality and economics: Tony Atkinson's enduring lessons
Sir Tony Atkinson, the doyen of inequality economics, passed away in January. This article, by a longstanding friend and co-author, outlines his contributions to the analysis and measurement of inequ...
-
Andrea Brandolini
- 25 April, 2017
- Articles
Twitter feed
Tweets by Ideas4IndiaMost Popular Poverty & Inequality Posts
Covid-19: What can be done immediately to help vulnerable population
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...
- Reetika Khera
- 25 March, 2020
- Perspectives
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...
- Arjun Kumar Balwant Singh Mehta Simi Mehta
- 07 April, 2020
- Perspectives
EWS reservation in higher education: Affirmative action or vote bank politics?
The Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019, provides for 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in higher educational institutions within the general category. In this post, Devi...
- Devika Malhotra Sharma
- 11 September, 2019
- Perspectives