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AI-powered social scoring systems assign numerical ratings to people based on their financial, social, or digital behaviour and those ratings can then affect access to services, opportunities, or public benefits. The EU AI Act prohibits social scoring by public authorities when it leads to harmful or disproportionate treatment, while China’s Social Credit System is better… Continue reading AI Social Scoring: What Should India Permit, Restrict and Ban?
According to the 73rd Round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), the MSME sector has generated 11.1 crore (111 million) employment opportunities in India, making it the largest provider of jobs after agriculture. More recently, government data from 2025 indicates that the MSME sector now employs over 30 crore people across 7 crore registered units,… Continue reading Regulating Right: What India’s MSME Sector Really Need
Air pollution in India is frequently viewed through an environmental or meteorological lens. It is often characterized by smog-filled winter skylines and hazardous Air Quality Index (AQI) readings. However, this perspective risks obscuring the most critical consequence: it’s devastating impact on human health. To effectively address this crisis, it must be reframed as a leading… Continue reading Breathing Risk: A Health-Centred Approach to India’s Air Pollution Crisis
A guest lecture recap Indian cities are growing faster than systems can keep up. Congested roads, overflowing drains, crumbling footpaths, and understaffed municipal offices. These are not anomalies but symptoms of a structural problem: Urban Local Governments (ULGs) have long been burdened with enormous responsibilities and starved of the resources to meet them. Against this… Continue reading Financing India’s Urban Future: A Review of the XVI Finance Commission’s Municipal Grants
In Delhi, air pollution has been a major, documented problem since the 1990s. Delhi’s toxic air has become a full-blown public health emergency, with local emissions and the winter air trapping pollutants driving the worst Air Quality Index (AQI) levels in years. The winter spike in the AQI is caused by a variety of factors.… Continue reading From Sarkaar to Bazaar: Can Market-Based Solutions Solve Delhi’s Air Pollution Crisis?
In the autumn of 2021, a research team working in Ajmer quietly packed up their equipment and left the field. Their work was not complete, but worsening law and order conditions had made it unsafe to continue. The team waited, sought formal permission from the District Collector, and only then returned to resume their research.… Continue reading What Urban Research in India Really Takes
India’s healthcare discourse has, for good reason, focused on expanding insurance coverage, improving service availability and strengthening health outcomes. One critical dimension remains underexamined: forgone care. Forgone care refers to situations in which individuals who need healthcare delay, avoid or do not seek it at all. This gap between health need and healthcare utilisation is… Continue reading Forgone Care: The Missing Metric in India’s Health System
Universalising access to and attainment of the highest levels of health standards has been a long-cherished goal. This “right to health” (RtH) was defined in the constitution of the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. It was further reinforced by Article 12 of the… Continue reading From UHC to UHA: Re-imagining the Right to Health
India is no longer battling only infectious diseases. A muted, more complex crisis is unfolding, one where millions are living not with a single illness, but with several chronic conditions at the same time. Diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory illnesses, and metabolic disorders are ascending sharply across the country, notably after the age of… Continue reading Multimorbidity in India: Why Chronic Care Needs Urgent Reform
India’s cities are projected to contribute nearly 70% of national GDP by 2036, according to a World Bank estimate. This number is striking, but India’s metropolitan tier 1 cities still contribute the most and receive the most policy attention. Public investment, grants, and schemes often follow the same pattern. Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata,… Continue reading India’s Urban Growth Is Moving Beyond Metro Cities
Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards
Celebrating ethical behavioural innovations improving lives across India.
