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Key lessons from Kaushik Deb’s Harris Lecture on energy transition, energy security, and evidence-based public policy for India. The global conversation on climate change often centres on ambitious targets – net zero by 2070, renewable energy expansion, decarbonisation. Yet, as Prof. Kaushik Deb reminded us during his talk in the Harris Lecture Series at the… Continue reading What Kaushik Deb’s Harris Lecture Revealed About India’s Energy Future
This year’s El Niño is shaping up to be one of the strongest on record, and India sits close to its centre. The India Meteorological Department has already cut its monsoon forecast to 90% of the long-period average, with a 60% probability of a deficient season. It has also flagged above-normal heatwave days across Uttar… Continue reading Weathering the Storm: Why India’s Health Systems Must Brace for a Super El Niño
When we picture the threats that could undo the world, our minds reach for the catastrophic. A great war, a big tsunami or even worse, an economic crash, and now the latest, a rogue AI. These are the threats that fill our minds. And precisely because they are so loud, they tend to drown out… Continue reading Fragility, Conflict and Violence: What Everyday Resilience Teaches Us About Policy
India’s urban transport crisis is no longer limited to congestion alone. Rising pollution, increasing fuel consumption, unsafe roads and declining quality of life are now visible across cities of every size. Yet our transport planning remains focused on metros, flyovers and road widening. One of the most vital mobility systems continues to remain neglected: Intermediate… Continue reading Strengthening Intermediate Public Transport in Urban India
India entered 2026 carrying a demographic credential it has long sought: a Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 1.9, confirmed by both the Sample Registration System 2024 and the National Family Health Survey-6 (NFHS-6, 2023–24), well below the replacement threshold of 2.1. This means the country now has fewer than two children per woman, on average.… Continue reading Fewer but Frailer: Understanding Fertility and Child Nutrition through NFHS-6
There is a question that sits quietly behind most debates on professional regulation in India, rarely voiced directly: when a user cannot assess the quality of a service, who should stand in their place, and on what institutional logic? A few months back, I participated in an Indian School of Public Policy guest session on… Continue reading Why Professional Regulation in India Fails
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
Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards
Celebrating ethical behavioural innovations improving lives across India.
