Scroll.in In a recent survey conducted by Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in partnership with the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, King’s India Institute and Royal Holloway, University of London, we set out to examine in greater depth how Indian citizens view health. This five-state survey is the first systematic interrogation of electoral perceptions around health in India. Between March-April 2022, we interviewed 1,500 voters across five Indian states...

The Wire “When the internet is shut down, I have no work, do not get paid, cannot withdraw any money from my account and cannot even get food rations.” This statement by a Dalit woman daily wage worker from Rajasthan begins a joint report by the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) scrutinising India’s record as the world’s internet shutdown capital. In No Internet Means No Work, No Pay,...

Scroll.in Though the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) has refocussed attention on school education in recent years, some fundamental problems continue to plague the system. Despite the constitutional and legal obligations of governments, education budgets have remained modest and woefully inadequate to requirements. While there has been a reasonable expansion of coverage and enrolment in schools, the fundamental issue of poor learning outcomes, especially...

KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

A coalition of civil society activits has criticized the Union Budget 2023-24 for reducing government spending on the social sector by a massive amount. The economic crisis induced by the Covid-19 pandemic was borne disproportionately by those at the bottom of the pyramid and in this context spending on social protection schemes such as the Public Distribution System, anganwadis, pensions and MGNREGA is especially important. But the Government of India has...