Image

Ending Child Marriage in India: Between National Promise and Local Reality

December 29, 2025

India has committed itself to an ambitious and morally compelling goal: ending child marriage by 2030 under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. On paper, the country appears to be moving in the right direction. Official data shows a steady decline in the prevalence of child marriage over the past two decades. Yet beneath this encouraging national trend lies a stubborn reality — the practice remains deeply entrenched in specific regions, communities, and socio-economic groups. The persistence of child marriage exposes a critical gap between policy intent and lived experience, raising questions about enforcement, social norms, and the limits of law-driven reform.

Month: 

Category: 

Medical Education, PPPs and Public Health: Evaluating Andhra Pradesh’s New Experiment

December 29, 2025

The Andhra Pradesh government’s proposal to expand medical education through public–private partnerships (PPPs) has ignited a wider debate on the purpose of public policy in health, the future of subsidised medical education, and the risks involved in transferring public health assets to private control. At stake is not merely financing, but the State’s long-term capacity to regulate healthcare delivery, protect equity, and ensure an adequate medical workforce for public service.

Month: 

Category: 

Israel’s Recognition of Somaliland: A Test for Sovereignty, Secession and Regional Stability

December 28, 2025

Israel’s decision to formally recognise Somaliland as an independent state marks a significant rupture in long-standing international consensus and has triggered diplomatic shockwaves across Africa and the Middle East. While recognition may appear symbolic, its implications are deeply geopolitical, raising questions about sovereignty, regional balance, and the future norms governing secession in the international system—particularly in fragile regions like the Horn of Africa.

Month: 

Category: 

Free Food or Direct Income Support? Rethinking India’s Food Security Model

December 28, 2025

India’s food security programme is often celebrated as a triumph of scale. Under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), more than 800 million people receive free rice and wheat, making it one of the largest welfare interventions in the world. Yet behind this achievement lies a sobering fiscal and administrative reality: foodgrains are never truly free. As India rethinks welfare delivery for the next phase of development, a fundamental question arises — is distributing grain the most effective way to ensure food security, or would direct income support deliver better outcomes?

Month: 

Category: 

Tax Cuts or Targeted Spending? Rethinking Growth Strategy in India

December 28, 2025

Few economic ideas have travelled as widely—and contentiously—as the Laffer Curve. Popularised during the era of supply-side economics, the argument that lower taxes can stimulate growth and ultimately raise revenues has influenced policymaking across countries and decades. In contemporary India, echoes of this thinking are visible in recent income tax relief measures and GST rate rationalisation. Yet, evidence from household behaviour, labour markets and past policy experiments suggests that tax cuts alone are an uncertain instrument for reviving growth—especially in an economy where demand recovery and job creation remain uneven.

Month: 

Category: 

1 2 3 4 Next