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Statistical Invisibility and the Plight of India’s Sanitation Workers: A Policy Perspective

03.3.24

Amidst the vast societal machinery that sustains India, sanitation workers operate as the unrecognized cogs essential to the public health system, yet they remain largely invisible within policy frameworks and legislative agendas.

Social Policy

Co-owning Care Work: Policy for Parity

06.20.22

For every 5 hours the average Indian woman spends on unpaid care work in a day, a man spends half an hour—a ratio over three times the global average.[i] Changing this ratio can dismantle entrenched gender roles and arrest the declining participation of women in India’s paid workforce. Alarmingly, between 2006 and 2021, India’s female […]

Close-up of a Diya lamp burning

Caught in the web of inequalities: The Devadasis’ isolation

05.23.22

Trained in literature, dance, and music, Devdasis, or servants of God, are women and girls dedicated to temples in South India. A traditional religious practice among Hindus dating back to the 6th century, girls as young as seven are “married” to a temple deity and dedicate their lives to the performance of sacred rituals and […]

The Peaceful Rising of the Silent Dragon in the Middle East

12.17.21

Arman Mahmoudian examines the return of great power competition in the Middle East and China’s role within the region.

Technology’s impingement on the urban female sanitation worker in India

07.29.20

While three-fourths of the world’s population has access to a basic sanitation service, only about half of the world’s population uses a safely managed sanitation service. Over the last decade, the Government of India has strived to increase access to sanitation, building 100 million additional toilets in rural India over the last five years under […]

The Indian Ban on Commercial Surrogacy

06.19.20

  Introduction The usage of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has grown immensely around the world, and future increases are expected.[i] The global market is expected to grow at the compound annual growth rate of 10 percent until 2025.[ii] Surrogacy, the process of a surrogate mother carrying and delivering a child on someone else’s behalf, is […]

Coercion and Enticement: How the Indian Media Lost Its Soul to the BJP

02.6.20

Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the general elections in 2014, India’s media has precipitously fallen from grace. The media’s depreciation is intertwined with the rise of the BJP’s controversial Hindutva agenda. Hindutva, an ideology of the BJP and other right-wing groups in India, aims to establish Hindu hegemony in India. Under BJP rule, […]

For Good Food, Head South

11.22.19

This is the first piece in our series, “The Food Project”, a collection of stories, essays, and opinion pieces on the food cultures from our diverse student body.  Students submit pieces expressing broadly their relationship with food and cuisine from their families and countries. These writings can range from a personal connection to a dish, […]

Why India Should Invest in Pakistan’s Development

10.24.19

From 2003 to 2004, in an initiative to promote India both as a production and investment destination, reduce foreign dependencies, and support its strategic economic interests abroad, India dramatically changed its international development assistance policy[i]. It began transitioning from being not only a recipient but also a donor of foreign aid. Then Finance Minister Jaswant […]

The Fault Lines in India’s Entrepreneurship Policy: Examining Startup India

10.17.19

BY ANISH TIWARI   On the brisk morning of August 15, 2015, as India celebrated its 69th Independence Day, prime minister Modi introduced “Start-up India, Stand-up India,” to the country for the first time. Five months later, Modi officially launched the initiative amidst much fanfare, with a vision of creating a supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurs […]

India’s Cricket Frenzy is Not All About Sports

08.29.19

BY ROSHNI MEHTA   On the evening of July 9th, 1.3 billion people took a collective gasp as India was knocked out of the Cricket World Cup 2019.  An event that takes place once in four years, the Cricket World Cup is the most anticipated sporting event in India, where cricket is a religion. During […]

When Parity Is Not Enough: Sexual Violence in India’s Armed Conflict

08.22.19

  In October 2018, the Supreme Court of India turned down a plea by the Central and Chhattisgarh governments to adjourn a case challenging the retention of members of a banned tribal[1] militia in official state forces. The governments justified their appeal on the grounds that the matter was “sensitive” and could affect the results […]

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