The distributional consequences of political reservations
This article identifies and attempts to fill in the gaps in understanding the effects of reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) in Panchayats. Using data from a state-wide census, multiple administra...
- Chinmaya Kumar M.R. Sharan
- 28 November, 2023
- Articles
Caste-based differences in self-help groups: Evidence from a rural livelihood programme
The National Rural Livelihood Mission aims to increase income and improve wellbeing for rural households. Using survey data from nine states in India, this article analyses the existence of caste-base...
- Chandan Jain Krishna Kejriwal Ritwik Sarkar Pooja Sengupta
- 05 August, 2022
- Articles
India’s Women’s Reservation Act: A big win for governance and beyond
Amidst debates about the recently passed women's reservation act and whether it will reduce gender disparities on the ground, Wattal and Gopalan summarise evidence from a number of randomised evaluati...
- Akshara Gopalan Urvashi Wattal
- 15 December, 2023
- Perspectives
International day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
25 November is observed by the United Nations as the International day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. This year, there is a particular focus on the alarming increase in domestic violen...
- I4I Team
- 25 November, 2020
- Perspectives
Gender norms and competitiveness: Evidence from the tribes of Northeast India
The under-representation of women in leadership positions is often attributed to systematic gender differences in the inclination to compete. Do gender-balanced social norms have the potential to clos...
- Stefan Klonner Sumantra Pal Christiane Schwieren
- 24 November, 2020
- Articles
Mental health disparities in India
While a large, multidisciplinary literature focusses on disparities in physical health across social groups, the mental health dimension remains invisible. Analysing data from a WHO survey conducted i...
- Diane Coffey Aashish Gupta Meghana Mungikar
- 13 November, 2020
- Articles
A road map for closing gender gaps in Bihar: Gender Responsive Budgeting
The state of Bihar was one of the early starters on Gender Responsive Budgeting in India, having published its first ‘Gender Budget Statement’ in 2008-09. Based on a review of the literature on th...
- Shrijna Dixon Yamini Mishra
- 03 November, 2020
- Perspectives
A permanent cordon-sanitaire: Dalits and Muslims in urban India
Near-perfect segregation and hierarchical ordering of residential space, based on caste or religious identity, is a well-known feature of rural India. Studies have also documented the persistence of s...
- Naveen Bharathi Deepak Malghan Andaleeb Rahman
- 09 October, 2020
- Articles
Does the gender of your co-worker matter? Evidence from call centres
Several theories suggest that gender integration in the workplace may have negative effects in gender-segregated societies. Based on an experiment conducted with 765 employees in call centres located ...
- Deepshikha Batheja
- 05 October, 2020
- Articles
Nakusha: Son preference, ‘unwanted’ girls, and gender gaps in schooling
Indian society is commonly associated with a strong cultural preference for sons. Using nationally representative data from 1986-2017, this article examines parental investment in the education of son...
- Ashwini Deshpande Apoorva Gupta
- 25 September, 2020
- Articles
Atrocities, murders, and untouchability: Measuring caste-based discrimination
How can we best measure inter-caste tension and discrimination in India? In this post, Victoire Girard highlights the limitations of using statistics compiled under the Prevention of Atrocities Act, w...
- Victoire Girard
- 23 September, 2020
- Perspectives
Covid-19: ‘Shadow pandemic’ and violence against women
Violence against women is a problem worldwide, with economic costs ranging from 1% to 4% of global GDP. This article investigates if the magnitudes and types of violence against women have changed dur...
- Saravana Ravindran Manisha Shah
- 17 September, 2020
- Articles
Demographic shocks and female labour force participation: Evidence from 1918 flu pandemic
The Influenza pandemic of 1918 killed about 5% of India’s population. This article finds that districts most adversely affected by influenza mortality saw a temporary increase in the country’s fem...
- James Fenske Bishnupriya Gupta Song Yuan
- 17 August, 2020
- Articles
How mothers-in-law influence women’s social networks and reproductive health
Restrictive social norms and strategic constraints imposed by family members can limit women’s access to and benefit from social networks. Based on a survey in rural Uttar Pradesh, this article show...
- S Anukriti Catalina Herrera-Almanza Mahesh Karra
- 03 August, 2020
- Articles
Does caste identity still matter for occupational choice?
In today’s India, to what extent do people avoid jobs solely due to their sense of caste identity? This article discusses an experiment in rural Odisha that involves offering one-day jobs to workers...
- Suanna Oh
- 29 July, 2020
- Articles
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A division of labourers: Caste identity and efficiency in India
Castes in India are closely associated with certain occupations and determine the jobs done by millions. This study uses a new dataset to show that a large proportion of workers still work in their ca...
- Guilhem Cassan Daniel Keniston Tatjana Kleineberg
- 18 November, 2022
- Articles
Sex ratios and religion in India and South Asia
In South Asia, low child sex ratios are increasingly an isolated Indian phenomenon. Within India, child sex ratios are ‘normal’ among Christians and Muslims but much lower among Hindus, Sikhs, and...
- Swati Narayan
- 03 April, 2019
- Articles
Hindu-Muslim fertility differentials in India: An update
Building on past research, Saswata Ghosh and Pallabi Das estimate the state- and district-level fertility differentials between Hindus and Muslims using data from the latest round of the NFHS. They sh...
- Pallabi Das Saswata Ghosh
- 18 April, 2023
- Articles