NCAER in the News

River linking challenges January 8, 2025

Opinion: Sanjib Pohit. National body needed for inter-State disputes. One of the lasting symbols of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the Golden Quadrilateral, which was launched to link India’s four major cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. This project transformed India’s connectivity and boosted trade, commerce, and travel, knitting the country closer together....   Read More

Highlights

  • Is South Asia staring at a climate migration crisis?

    Opinion: Amit Mitra. India as a major regional power needs to brace up to the reality of climate refugees. As temperatures soar and monsoons intensify, South Asia stands at the centre of a brewing climate disaster. Recent floods in West Bengal, where rivers breached embankments and displaced thousands, have submerged vast lands. In 2023, rainfall...   Read More

  • The trap of global rankings

    Opinion: Sonalde Desai. Instead of focussing excessively on rankings with well-recognised shortcomings, recognising achievements and refining goals consistent with national priorities will be a more fruitful approach. Developing global indices and rankings has turned into a minor industry. The Global Competitiveness Index, Global Happiness Index, Global Hunger Index, Ease of Doing Business Index, Corruption Perception...   Read More

  • Spatial mapping key to spur renewable power in Odisha

    Opinion: Sanjib Pohit and Pradeep Kumar Panda. Odisha must conduct deep-down power system analysis Among the Indian states, energy intensity of Odisha economy has always been on the higher side due to her higher resource (mineral) base. The proximity of minerals has led to development of extraction based industries in the state. The abundance of...   Read More

  • Household illiteracy: The silent epidemic extracting a heavy human cost

    Opinion: Dhruv Pratap Singh and Jyoti Thakur. Persistent regional disparities in household illiteracy is hampering India's quest for inclusive development. Household illiteracy in India: The fight against illiteracy has long been a priority for policymakers in India. Education, often hailed as the cornerstone of progress and empowerment, remains central to India’s vision of inclusive growth and...   Read More

  • Gender Diversity in Corporate Leadership: Insights from India

    Opinion: Ratna Sahay. The Companies Act (2013) implemented in 2015 marked a turning point for the presence of women directors in corporate India. This Act required all listed firms to have at least one woman on their board. In a recent paper, Mahima Vasishth, Navya Srivastava, and I looked at the trends of female leadership...   Read More

  • Private coaching rise is now a prestige issue for Indian families. That’s a vicious turn

    Opinion: Palash Baruah and DL Wankhar. Households, both rural and urban, spent about 13.53 per cent of their annual education expenditure on coaching and tutoring in 2022-23. This is 1.67 percentage points higher than 2011-12. Dependency on coaching to improve academic performance is now common at all levels of education. There was a time when...   Read More

  • Regulating the regulators in emerging market economies

    Opinion: Udaibir Das. Constitutional independence alone is not enough. It must be bolstered with strong public accountability and transparency. Emerging market regulators face significant challenges in maintaining their credibility when domestic and external entities level allegations against them. The Hindenburg Report's accusations against the Adani Group and India's Securities and Exchange Board (SEBI) have thrust...   Read More

  • Empowering Women: The Keystone of Viksit Bharat’s Economic Ambitions

    Opinion: Souryabrata Mohapatra and Surbhi Mishra. As India sets its sights on Viksit Bharat—a vision of becoming a developed and prosperous nation—one crucial factor could determine the success of this ambitious goal: the full and active participation of women in the workforce. Despite the nation’s significant growth since the economic liberalization reforms of 1991, the...   Read More

  • The Cost of Protectionism Will Be Paid by the World’s Poorest

    Opinion: Shekhar Aiyar. The World Bank’s measure of extreme poverty, at $2.15 a day, represents a level of deprivation that is rarely seen in the West. At this income, hunger or its shadow is an inescapable feature of life. Estimates suggest that over half the children born to poor families are undernourished. One could argue...   Read More

  • Inflation Targeting: Defending the Status Quo

    Opinion: Barry Eichengreen and Poonam Gupta. Expanding the RBI’s mandate or shifting to a discretionary regime could undermine stability and prove counterproductive. India adopted inflation targeting (IT) in September 2016. The government announced a 4 per cent Consumer Price Index (CPI) headline inflation target, within an upper limit of 6 per cent and a lower...   Read More