Explore Policy Hub at ISPP, where India’s top minds converge to drive impactful public policy. Stay informed on research, events, and policy insights
Something important has been changing in India’s rural workforce. Women now account for a larger share of the work generated through public employment programmes than they did a decade ago. Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), women accounted for 48% of total person-days in FY 2013-14. By FY 2024-25, that share… Continue reading Women in India’s Rural Workforce: From MGNREGA to VB-G RAM G
The conversation around front-of-pack labelling (FoPL) has moved beyond the question of whether consumers need more information on nutrition. The discussion should focus on designing a regulatory framework that positively influences both consumer behaviour and the food environment. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for a substantial share of mortality in India. Diets high in salt, sugar,… Continue reading Front-of-Pack Labelling: Designing Regulation for a Healthier Food Environment
China had the labs. It had trained virologists. It had built a health emergency response system designed to catch exactly this kind of threat. Yet it took another three weeks for authorities to publicly confirm what mounting evidence was already suggesting: that the virus could spread from person to person. That contradiction sat at the… Continue reading When Silence Is the Rational Choice: What Wuhan Teaches Us About Behaviour and Capacity
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
Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards
Celebrating ethical behavioural innovations improving lives across India.
