Is loan waiver a panacea for rural distress?

Loan waivers adversely affect marginal farmers due to a reduction of formal credit channels given to them.

Poverty: The direct approach isn’t always best

Sometimes in life, it is clear that the direct approach isn’t the best one. This is true in many areas, even when it comes to policymaking. Take, as an example, the area of extreme poverty.

The cost of easing access to electricity

Access to electricity is critical for a modern economy, and a key driver of social and economic development.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: The arithmetics of housing for all

In 2014, GoI set out to improve housing conditions for the urban poor, and launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), a housing for all (HFA) by 2022 scheme.

Why expenditure on 'Swachh Bharat' is worthy and needs to be increased

Clean drinking water is essential since its scarcity is to blame for more than 500,000 deaths each year.

Nilanjan Banik Interview

Professor Nilanjan Banik discusses his three-fold approach to policy interventions that can truly benefit the farming community with Dr. Anurag Narayan Banerjee (Durham University Business School) and Dr. Buddhadeb ...

Andhra Jyothy reports on the findings from our research on Farmer Distress.

Poverty

New research by Munshi Sulaiman, Research Director of Save the Children International, with Michael Murigi of the University of Sydney, analytically weighs up the costs and benefits of two poverty alleviation interventions: subsidised crop insurance for farmers, and graduation schemes for the ultra-poor.

Farmer Distress

Research by Professor Nilanjan Banik from Bennett University, Greater Noida examined three of the most relevant policy interventions in Rajasthan: farm loan waiver programme; improving cold storage infrastructure; and introducing e-mandis.

Social Housing

New research on costs and benefits from housing policies is written by Amitabh Kundu, Distinguished Fellow at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries and Arjun Kumar, Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Development. Kundu examines three important policy interventions: Beneficiary-led Construction (BLC); the Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) scheme; and In-Situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR).

Energy Last Mile

Research by Gaurav Bhatiani and Harsha Meenawat of IL&FS reviews three important interventions which could contribute to rural household electrification in Rajasthan: grid electrification; solar micro grids; and diesel micro grids.

Water and Sanitation

Nearly half of global deaths from diarrhoea occur in India – and most of these 800,000 annual deaths are due to a lack of clean drinking water and sanitation, according to a comprehensive global study. But what policies will do the most to help? New research by Bjorn Larsen, Environmental Economist, and Independent Consultant points the way.

Sector Expert Consultation

On 21st November, the sector expert consultation on poverty was organized at Amar Clark, Jaipur. The consultation was aimed to identify the most important interventions and ideas for alleviating poverty and improving the socio-economic sector of Rajasthan State. A total of 32 sector experts participated in the consultation.

Ranking Solutions in Terms of Social Value for Money

Learn how the interventions to improve poverty in Rajasthan compare to policy options across other social sectors in terms of social, economic and environmental benefits per rupee spent.