Poverty & Inequality

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...

Krishna Priya Choragudi
21 March, 2022

Notes from the Field

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...

S. Chandrasekhar Karthikeya Naraparaju Ajay Sharma
18 August, 2021

Articles

Fatal oblivion: India's National Family Benefit Scheme

The National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) – which provides financial assistance to families in the event of the death of a breadwinner – has been plagued by low budget allocations, restricted cove...

Jasmin Naur Hafiz
03 January, 2022

Perspectives

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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...

Arjun Kumar Balwant Singh Mehta Simi Mehta
07 April, 2020

Perspectives

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

Populism: Why in rich countries and in good times

Economic anxiety and insecurity are often cited as drivers of populism, so why has populism emerged over the past few years in rich countries and in good times? This article argues that when the econo...

Lubos Pastor Pietro Veronesi
26 February, 2020

Articles

What is happening to rural welfare, poverty, and inequality in India?

An analysis of the draft National Statistical Office report that the Government has decided not to put out shows a deterioration in 2017-18 in consumption and poverty levels in rural India. The reason...

S. Subramanian
10 January, 2020

Articles

Economic mobility in India: Estimation using ‘noisy’ data

There has been a dramatic rise in inequality in India post-liberalisation. This article finds economic mobility to be markedly low, with at least seven out of 10 poor households remaining poor or at-r...

Hao Li Daniel L. Millimet Punarjit Roychowdhury
18 September, 2019

Articles

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

Household-level effects of affordable housing: Evidence from Mumbai

Programmes involving sale of subsidised houses to lower-middle class households have been spearheaded in all major Indian cities. This article studies the effects of one such programme implemented thr...

Tanu Kumar
04 September, 2019

Articles

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 ...

Martin Ravallion
09 August, 2019

Articles

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...

Nitin Kumar Bharti
28 June, 2019

Articles

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...

James Habyarimana Stuti Khemani Irfan Nooruddin
06 June, 2019

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...

Ashwini Kulkarni
03 May, 2019

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...