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The Transfer Raj

When Chief Ministers come to power in India, they extensively reshuffle civil servants postings. This column asks why state politicians transfer bureaucrats, whether they favour loyalty over competenc...

  • Articles

How do Indian voters respond to candidates with criminal charges: Evidence from Lok Sabha elections

An alarming number of India’s politicians have criminal records or some charges against them. This column asks how they manage to get away with it. It looks at evidence from parliamentary elections in...

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Manufacturing, management and mysteries

The private sector is crucial to India’s development. This column asks how it can be more effective. Looking at a large sample of Indian manufacturers it suggests that what many firms may be missing i...

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Right to Food: Let's get it right

The proposed inter-state resource allocation in the upcoming National Food Security Bill is anti-poor. It will result in unequal treatment of equally poor individuals across rich and poor states. This...

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A national shame: Hunger and malnutrition in India

One area where India’s development falls desperately short is nutrition. Child malnutrition rates are higher in India than in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This column argues that there can be no ...

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Walking the poverty line

As India’s Planning Commission seeks to review its measurement of poverty, the issue has become a hot topic for public debate. This column argues that while poverty lines should be used as benchmarks ...

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Understanding the differing fortunes of poor people in India and China

It is no secret that India and China have both been growing impressively and that the incidence of extreme poverty has been falling. But this column shows that if India’s economic growth had been as i...

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A new voice

It is with some trepidation, but with huge excitement, that I present to you Ideas for India – a new voice in the cacophony of conversations on Indian growth and development. Hopefully, this will be a...

  • Perspectives

Financial Intermediation and Economic Growth in Bihar: A District-Level Analysis

The aim of the project was to assess the effectiveness of the banking sector's contribution to the overall development in Bihar. In a nutshell, the study tries to understand the efficiency of the bank...

  • IGC Research on India

Corruption and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Corruption continues to strangle India’s public finances. This column presents evidence of embezzlement in India’s flagship rural employment programme and suggests new ways policymakers can test what ...

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The persistence of caste in India: An economic explanation

Despite many efforts by the government and by civic institutions, the caste system continues to have a firm hold on Indian society. This column presents an economic explanation for this persistence an...

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Land acquisition: Is there a way out?

India is hungry for space to grow into a developed economy. Yet this hunger is increasingly raiding farmland and threatening traditional livelihoods. For some, this is a necessary evil, for others it ...

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