Does being local matter? Administrative decentralisation and human development
In this post, Chaudhary and Iyer discuss the administrative decentralisation reforms brought about by the Panchayati Raj Act, and measure the effect of decentralisation on the provision of public serv...
- Latika Chaudhary Lakshmi Iyer
- 13 January, 2023
- Articles
The panchayat asset register: An instrument to conserve India’s commons
With common lands making up nearly a quarter of Indian territory, the State has taken steps to protect them from encroachment. The Indian Constitution grants panchayats custodial rights to protect vil...
- Pooja Chandran Subrata Singh
- 07 December, 2022
- Perspectives
DUET: Decentralise employment generation to urban local bodies
Dilip Mookherjee supports Drèze’s suggestion to decentralise employment generation to urban local bodies, and contends that the moribund nature of urban local government is a key reason for the neg...
- Dilip Mookherjee
- 14 September, 2020
- Perspectives
How leader identity impacts group coordination
In principle, leaders can facilitate group coordination towards a common goal but in diverse societies, their effectiveness may depend upon their social identity, and how citizens react to leader iden...
- Sonia Bhalotra Irma Clots-Figueras Lakshmi Iyer Joseph Vecci
- 22 October, 2018
- Articles
Heart of darkness: Misplaced priorities of Jharkhand’s District Mineral Foundation
In 2015, the central government launched District Mineral Foundations in the districts affected by mining, which are mandated to collect royalty from all mining activities and use the funds for the we...
- Arindam Banerjee Aditya Ranjan
- 08 October, 2018
- Notes from the Field
The Impact of Community-Driven Accountability on Land Rights Governance: Evidence from a Homestead Land Titling Initiative
How and under what circumstances can civic mobilization improve local governance and service delivery? This project seeks to contribute to debates on this question through a multi-method analysis of a...
- Sanjay Kumar Andre Nickow
- 30 September, 2018
- IGC Research on India
Judicial Institutions and Economic Development: Examining Micro-evidence from India
This project examines the relationship between a country’s legal environment and its economic outcomes. This project will be constructing relevant measures of friction from trial level data at subor...
- Aprajit Mahajan
- 30 September, 2018
- IGC Research on India
Do Indian voters mind their representatives getting rich in office?
Asset declarations, requiring politicians to disclose their financial information, are becoming increasingly common across the world. In India, financial declarations are part of public affidavits fil...
- Simon Chauchard S.P. Harish Marko Klašnja
- 10 August, 2018
- Articles
How governance and public expenditure impact human development
The state of Madhya Pradesh displays wide variance in human development outcomes across its districts. This article examines the link between public expenditure, quality of governance, and human devel...
- N. R. Bhanumurthy Richa Jain Manish Kumar Prasad
- 01 August, 2018
- Articles
Do dishonest people gravitate towards the public sector in India?
The corruption level in the public sector may not only depend on punishments and systems put in place to deter corruption, but also on who chooses to enter the sector. This article finds that people w...
- Rema Hanna Shing-Yi Wang
- 30 July, 2018
- Articles
The strategic logic of money flows in Indian elections
Why do political candidates give voters handouts during election campaigns, even when they are unable to monitor voter behaviour? Based on a qualitative study in Mumbai, this article argues that compe...
- Simon Chauchard
- 16 July, 2018
- Articles
Protecting data privacy: Authorisation and access control
The B.N. Srikrishna Committee, which was constituted in August 2017 to draft India’s data protection laws, is expected to submit its final recommendations this month. In this post, Banerjee and Shar...
- Subhashis Banerjee Subodh V. Sharma
- 04 July, 2018
- Perspectives
Sunlight as disinfectant: Disclosure requirements and corruption in India
It is believed that transparency and free access to information can root out corruption and malfeasance in government. This article finds that the introduction of asset disclosure rules for candidates...
- Raymond Fisman
- 22 June, 2018
- Articles
Enfranchising your own? Polling officer identity and electoral outcomes
The provision of free and fair elections is a public service critical to maintaining accountability and responsiveness of elected officials. This article examines the administration of polling station...
- Yusuf Neggers
- 20 June, 2018
- Articles
Election by community consensus: Effects on political selection and governance
Multiple states in India incentivise village communities to elect their political representatives by community consensus, doing away with the need for state governments to organise official secret bal...
- Ashna Arora
- 21 May, 2018
- Articles
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Unique Health Identification and Aadhaar: A case for mandatory linkage
As part of the Digital India initiative, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) issues a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number to each patient, which documents their entire journey in th...
- Mudit Kapoor
- 23 December, 2016
- Perspectives
Caste dominance in rural India: Cause and effect
Rural India remains a caste-based society. This column explores why caste continues to play such an important role and what the effects are. It argues that trade and agricultural productivity suffer, ...
- Siwan Anderson
- 16 August, 2012
- Articles
Why did the Indian economy stagnate under the colonial rule?
How did the Indian economy fare under the colonial rule? Is the average Indian significantly better off after Independence? This column examines trends in GDP per capita in order to determine the stan...
- Aniruddha Bagchi
- 16 September, 2013
- Articles