Insights, a blog published by IMPRI.
Policies are often described as gender neutral. In reality, they are rarely neutral. Women, men, and different social groups experience policies differently because they do not have equal access to resources, opportunities, or decision-making power. Social norms, unequal asset ownership, unpaid care responsibilities, mobility constraints, access to finance, education, and institutional power all shape how people engage with public programs.
India is witnessing one of the major demographic transitions in the world, marked by ongoing rapid urbanization and an upward trajectory. This transformation places a significant pressure on the country's existing infrastructure systems. India’s urban population saw a rapid rise between 2001 to 2011, surging from 286.1 million to 377.1 million. It is estimated that by 2031, India will have approximately 600 million urban residents.
Healthcare is one of the most fundamental and crucial industries of the economy of any country, including ours. However, it is confronted by a huge problem. Its markets don't offer an equitable and efficient distribution of resources. This inefficiency is a critical concern for public policy. The healthcare sector represents an example of "market failure" where allocation of resources is inefficient.
Indian cities are often celebrated as engines of growth and opportunity, driven by expanding infrastructure and ambitious urban development projects. However, it can be noticed that access to public spaces and essential services is not experienced uniformly across social groups in such urban dwellings. This article reflects on a research journey that examines gendered inequalities in urban public spaces and services.
Indian urban policy increasingly frames cities as inclusive, liveable, and gender-sensitive. Yet, this narrative collapses under scrutiny. Women’s everyday engagement with cities reveals a fundamental contradiction: while urban infrastructure is publicly funded and collectively justified, its design failures are privately absorbed by women’s bodies, time, safety, and unpaid labour. The Indian city does not merely exclude women incidentally; it is structured around assumptions that systematically marginalize them as legitimate users of public space.
The election of Donald Trump and the emergence of his "America First" ideology represents a significant challenge to the Post world war II liberal international order and its underlying premise that a rules-based global system benefits U.S. interests in the long run. Trump's "America First" approach, characterized by a mix of economic isolationism and an interventionist military and political strategy under constrained resources, created significant strategic unpredictability in global affairs.
If winter comes, can spring be far behind? Given the 23.5 degree tilt of the earth’s axis, which produces the seasons during the course of the planet’s steady rotation around the sun, such poetic expectation of inevitable good tidings is pretty realistic. But the hope that if you build giant data centres, a boom in artificial intelligence capability and its applications would follow rests on shakier ground.