-TheWire.in A survey of mazdoor mandis in Surat, Lucknow and Pune shows that even many months after the lockdown ended, workers are struggling to make ends meet. “Since the time of COVID-19 lockdown, there has been a severe crisis of employment opportunities in local labour markets. Getting work for even two days a week is difficult for us. Daily wages too, for any work possible, have dipped by half,” says Rajesh Singh,...
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Experts slam move for approving new Bt brinjal variety, cite regulatory lapses -Meenakshi Sushma
-Down to Earth The Event 142 variety of genetically modified brinjal was quietly given approval without any data in the public domain, claim experts Experts have slammed a recent move of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) — a government-appointed committee responsible for appraisal of proposals of genetically engineered organisms — giving its greenlight for biosafety research-level-II (BRL-II) Field Trials for Event 142, a new variety of genetically modified brinjal (Bt brinjal)...
More »Randomized control trials may not suit India's social schemes -Indira Rajaraman
-Livemint.com What works for a small-scale NGO-style intervention may not help the state’s implementation of it without elaborate checks The Nobel Prize for economics this year has gone to three scholars, two American citizens and one French-American. It has generated much excitement in India because one of the Americans, Abhijit Banerjee, is of Indian descent, and all three have worked on India. This has happened before. Angus Deaton, the 2015 recipient, and...
More »Why RCTs aren't the simple answer to solving India's learning crisis -Martin Haus and Rakesh K Rajak
-TheWire.in The problem with the domination of RCTs in development is the depreciation of other, more relevant findings using different methodologies. This year’s Nobel prize in economics has been awarded to the three researchers Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, who are well-known for their field experiments in the form of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). But can that methodology make meaningful contributions to solving the problem of our schools failing our...
More »More women is good economics -- economists -Shamika Ravi
-The Indian Express It is crucial for young girls to have female mentors because research shows that it encourages them to persevere ahead, despite difficulties. The person who convinced me to do a PhD in economics was Abhijit Banerjee of MIT, when I worked with him on one of the first randomised controlled trials in the field of economics in the late 1990s. During my PhD, I had the good fortune...
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