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A place qualifies to be urban only if it crosses three thresholds simultaneously: a population above 5,000, a density above 400 people per square kilometre, and at least 75% of its male workforce outside agriculture. India’s Census still asks a settlement to prove it is urban before it is allowed to be treated as one.… Continue reading India’s Rural-Urban Binary, Is Already Broken & the Policy Hasn’t Caught Up
Geopolitics moves faster than the boardroom’s quarterly cycle can follow. A tariff announced on Monday can trigger a port disruption by Wednesday, and a sanctions update before the next board pack is even printed. This speed matters because the stakes are rising: geoeconomic confrontation now ranks as the top global risk, with state-based armed conflict… Continue reading From Alerts to Action: Building AI-Enabled Geopolitical Risk Capability
For decades, India’s health system was largely shaped around tackling infectious diseases, malnutrition and maternal and child health emergencies. These challenges remain important. But alongside them, India is facing another growing health challenge: non-communicable diseases (NCDs). According to the WHO NCD Country Profile 2018, NCDs accounted for an estimated 63% of all deaths in India.… Continue reading Beyond Screening – India’s NCD Challenge Is Continuity of Care
India is still known as a predominantly rural economy. While that may be statistically true, the trajectory India has followed reflects a shift in its realities. The latest Census, conducted in 2011, states that around 31.16% of India’s population, accounting for nearly 377 million people, lived in urban areas (Census of India, 2011). According to… Continue reading Before the Curve Bends: India’s Narrowing Window on Urban Planning
India’s higher education system has expanded faster than its labour market has been able to absorb it, and the geography of that mismatch is now visible at the city level. The share of graduates among India’s unemployed 20–29 age group rose from 46 percent in 2017 to 67 percent in 2023.0020These are not marginal statistics.… Continue reading Cities With High-Quality Colleges Are Not the Ones Creating the Jobs
What if the price you pay for everyday goods is incomplete? That was the central question explored during a guest lecture by Yash Kothari on carbon credits and carbon markets at ISPP. Consider something as routine as the price of steel. It accounts for labour, raw materials, energy, and manufacturing costs. But what about the… Continue reading Carbon Credits, Climate Costs, and the Price We Often Overlook
Every Independence Day, we commemorate the generation that secured India’s freedom. But nearly eight decades later, perhaps the more arduous question is this: what does freedom mean today? The Green Revolution transformed a food-deficit nation into one that could feed itself, helping ensure that millions would no longer sleep on an empty stomach. It remains… Continue reading The Independence We Still Owe Every Indian
On April 9th, 2026, the Harris Lecture Series brought Professor John Mark Hansen of the University of Chicago to the Indian School of Public Policy. His subject was the Manhattan Project, the wartime effort that built the first atomic bomb. He did not come to recount the physics. He came to ask how a society… Continue reading Manhattan Project: Lessons for Public Policy and Emerging Technologies
Imagine a future where every Indian child is encouraged to think critically, solve real-world problems, and innovate rather than simply memorise facts. This is the vision behind the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, India’s first comprehensive education reform in over three decades. With nearly 25 crore school students, the policy aims to transform education by… Continue reading Understanding The New Education Policy In India
Forests have been inseparable from imaginations of this country’s landscape. Forest dwelling communities across India held what may be called customary rights over forests. These were rooted in long-standing traditions, community norms, and traditional systems of governance rather than formalised legal titles. They encompassed cultivation, habitation, grazing, collection of forest produce, and most importantly, the… Continue reading Understanding the Forest Rights Act: Why Community Forest Resource Rights Matter
Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards
Celebrating ethical behavioural innovations improving lives across India.
