Category Insights

Insights, a blog published by IMPRI.

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Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme (2022): Tamil Nadu’s Journey from Breakfast to Better Learning

J Jeyaranjan, economist and vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission, answers the charge that Tamil Nadu hands out “free stuff” with data. He credits decades of welfare policy for the fall in the state’s poverty rate from 35 to 4 per cent, and he points to a gross enrolment ratio of 51 per cent against a national 27 per cent (South First, 2022). The Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme (CMBS) carries that argument into the school morning.

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National and District Mental Health Programmes (1982 and 1996): Expanding Community Based Mental Healthcare in India

The National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) was launched by the Government of India in 1982 to address the heavy burden of mental disorders and the severe inadequacy of specialised mental health infrastructure and professionals in the country. At the time, an estimated 6–7% of the population suffered from mental disorders, with most remaining untreated due to limited services concentrated in a few institutions, widespread stigma, myths, and poor awareness (National Health Mission, 1982 onwards). The programme marked a deliberate shift from custodial, hospital centric care toward community based mental healthcare integrated with the general health system.

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Credit Guarantee Scheme for Subordinate Debt (2020): Supporting Stressed Micro and Small Enterprises

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) serve as the backbone of India's economic structure, contributing to employment generation, industrial production, exports, and regional development. But limited access to institutional credit has remained a persistent challenge for many small enterprises. Inadequate collateral, delayed payments, and financial vulnerabilities have historically constrained their growth. These challenges became particularly severe during the COVID-19 pandemic, when disruptions in economic activity led to declining revenues and weakened the repayment capacity of small enterprises.

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IT (Intermediary Guidelines) Amendment Rules, 2026: Deepfake Labelling and Synthetic Content Regulation

The advent of generative artificial intelligence has fundamentally altered the digital information ecosystem, giving rise to sophisticated synthetic media commonly referred to as deepfakes. While such technologies offer creative potential, their malicious deployment for impersonation, electoral manipulation, and creation of non-consensual intimate content has posed unprecedented threats to privacy, public order, and democratic discourse. The regulatory architecture under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, primarily based on a reactive notice-and-takedown model, was found to be insufficient to generation driven content generation.

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Digital Postal Index Number Initiative (DIGIPIN), 2024

Traditional postal addresses often do not adequately represent exact geographic locations, and can be especially problematic in areas such as rural settlements, rapidly urbanizing areas, and locations with unstructured numbering. To find solutions for addressing limitations, the Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications (Department of Posts, n.d.), developed the Digital Postal Index Number (DIGIPIN) system. Spanning the entire country, the system divides geographical space into a precise grid of approximately 4×4 square meters. Furthermore, this initiative aligns closely with India’s broader national geospatial data policies and guidelines aimed at democratizing location data. DIGIPIN is a geo-referenced digital address system that aims to provide a standard geographic reference for all locations in India.

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Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exporters (CGSE), 2025: 2026 Implementation and Export Credit Support

Exporters finance shipments before they are paid, so access to working capital shapes how much they can produce and sell abroad. The Credit Guarantee Scheme for Exporters (CGSE) was approved by the Union Cabinet on 12 November 2025 to provide collateral-free credit support to exporters, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Its stated aims are to strengthen liquidity, support diversification into new and emerging markets and improve global competitiveness. The Department of Financial Services (DFS) in the Ministry of Finance implements it through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC), which gives a 100 per cent guarantee to member lending institutions (MLIs) on additional credit of up to Rs 20,000 crore (Press Information Bureau, 2025a).

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Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (2011): From Subsidised Napkin Packs to Free Supply in Schools

Menstruation is a natural biological process, but for many girls in India it arrives with “confusion, fear, anxiety and embarrassment” (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare [MoHFW], n.d.). A lot of that comes from silence. Periods have long been treated as something to hide, so girls often reach menarche without accurate information, and the taboos around menstruation can shape what they are told, what they are allowed to do and where they can go while they are menstruating. [ADD: one pre-2011 source or figure that backs the taboo and information-gap point, for example NFHS-3 (2005-06) or a published study, with its citation]

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