Category Center for Human Dignity and Development

Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) Loan Schemes across Indian States

Policy Update, Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Gender Impact Studies Center, Insights

Self-Help Groups (SHGs) emerged in India during the early 1980s as a response to the persistent exclusion of rural poor, particularly women, from formal financial systems. Traditional banking institutions required collateral and formal documentation that marginalized communities lacked, forcing them to depend on informal moneylenders who charged exorbitant interest rates. The SHG model drew inspiration from Muhammad Yunus's Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which demonstrated that group-based lending without collateral could achieve high repayment rates through peer monitoring and social pressure. Self-Help Groups have, therefore, emerged as one of India's most transformative instruments for women's financial inclusion and economic empowerment. This represents one of the world's largest community-based financial inclusion initiatives.

IMPRI Desk
October 5, 2026

BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre (2022): Assessing India’s Health Diplomacy with Emerging Powers in the Post-Pandemic Era (2022–2026)

Policy Update, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies, Insights

The BRICS Vaccine Research and Development (R&D) Centre is an almost imperceptible entity, as it took a long time to establish the institution. Its concept was first introduced during the 2018 Johannesburg Summit, where South Africa offered a proposal for a joint vaccine centre, which was reiterated in the 2020 Moscow Declaration

IMPRI Desk
October 5, 2026

Necessary Step Towards Agricultural Prosperity: The Significance of the Rabi MSP Revision

Insights, Agriculture, Food, Nutrition Security and Rural Development, Center for Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Center for the Study for Finance and Economics, Public Policies, Programs and Schemes

ndia’s agricultural price policy serves a purpose beyond supporting individual farmers: it helps manage the economic uncertainty inherent in food production.

IMPRI Desk
October 4, 2026

e-Jagriti: The Digital Transformation of Consumer Dispute Resolution in India

Policy Update, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Center for ICT for Development, Center for Work and Welfare, Entrepreneurship, ICT and Innovation, Governance and Law, Insights, Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being

India's consumer market has expanded rapidly with the growth of e-commerce, digital payments, online services and platform-based transactions. As the volume and complexity of consumer transactions increase, effective mechanisms for resolving disputes over defective goods, deficient services, refunds, unfair practices and other consumer grievances become increasingly important.

IMPRI Desk
October 4, 2026

Girl Child Promotion & Welfare Schemes: A State wise Analysis

Insights, Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Gender Impact Studies Center, Gender, Pluralism and Social Inclusion, Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being, Policy Update, Social Sector

India has introduced a wide range of schemes to support the education, safety, health and economic development of girls across different states and union territories. Despite significant progress in female education and social development, girls in India continue to face structural barriers linked to poverty, early marriage, school dropout, inadequate healthcare and limited economic opportunities. These challenges are not uniform across the country and often vary by state, region, caste, income and rural or urban location. Government schemes for girls have therefore evolved as targeted policy responses to address different dimensions of disadvantage, from educational access and financial support to health, protection and skill development. A state wise comparison is therefore important to assess whether differences in programme design, coverage and delivery are reflected in measurable outcomes such as school retention, delayed marriage, financial autonomy and gender related indicators.

IMPRI Desk
October 2, 2026

Ease of Living Index (2018): Assessing Urban Governance and Quality of Life in Indian Cities

Policy Update, Center for Habitat, Urban and Regional Studies, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Center for ICT for Development, Economy and Infrastructure, Insights

The Ease of Living Index (EoLI) is a Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) assessment tool designed to help Indian cities evaluate themselves against global and national benchmarks and to encourage a shift toward outcome-based urban planning and management. MoHUA launched the first edition on August 13, 2018, describing it at the time as more than just a ranking exercise, an open and participatory assessment combining self-reported data with physical audits of urban metrics, intended to create a baseline for evidence-based urban policy debate (PIB, 2018).

IMPRI Desk
October 1, 2026

Sewa Mitra: Assessing the Uttar Pradesh’s Digital Response to Migrant Employment

Policy Update, Center for Human Dignity and Development, Livelihoods, Employment and Well-being

The COVID-19 lockdown exposed a fundamental weakness in India's labour-market architecture: millions of workers possessed valuable skills and extensive work experience but remained largely invisible to formal systems of employment matching. Uttar Pradesh experienced this challenge at an exceptional scale.

IMPRI Desk
October 1, 2026