Policy Briefs & Reports

The overall vision of Project Nirmal is the demonstration of appropriate, low-cost, decentralized, inclusive and sustainable sanitation service delivery solutions for two small towns (Angul and Dhenkanal) in Odisha leading to improved sanitation access for all households and integration of FSM in...

The regulatory framework for Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) lays down a process to assess possible environmental impacts of industrial, mining and infrastructural projects before approving or rejecting its environmental viability. In India the formal legal framework governing the EIA process...

In May 2020, about 50 residents of a cluster of homeless shelters near the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) hospital tested COVID-19 positive. Officials from the Delhi Shelter Urban Improvement Board (DUSIB), the state nodal agency responsible for the capital’s approximately 220 2...

The disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are consequential for India’s long-term electricity goals. While exacerbating the existing weaknesses in the sector, the pandemic could also affect the trend toward an electricity transition. This report is an attempt to understand the impact of the ...

India should have spent at least ₹38,571 crore in 2019-20, across Union government ministries and State government departments to fully finance a set of core direct nutrition interventions (DNIs), at scale. In this study, you will find information on nutrition costing. It carries forward criti...

Air quality was gradually gaining political salience in India in the last few years, but COVID-19 and the deepening economic recession may now change the speed, and possibly the direction, of progress. The aim of this report is to begin the process, even amidst uncertainties, of understanding the...

The rapid proliferation of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission has necessitated the safe collection, conveyance, and treatment of faecal sludge and septage. Accordingly, the National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM), 2017, sets the imperative for streamlining the citywide...

While India’s largest cities have centralised sewage systems, complete with underground pipes, pumping stations, and treatment plants (Chaturvedi, 2017), the presence of sewer systems in the country has been limited, despite the focus of national programmes like AMRUT on the provision of the same...

Despite precarious working conditions, sanitation workers provide an essential service at the cost of their safety, health, and dignity. With the outbreak of COVID-19, their position is further jeopardised. The situation is likely to become more grave if these invisible frontline workers continue...

This brief discusses desirable strategies and important considerations to implement coronavirus (COVID-19) testing and data analysis. The suggestions are consistent with a modern statistical understanding of how to detect infection and understand where and how much it has spread across each state...

The lock-down in response to COVID-19 has created an unprecedented food crisis in Delhi. While monthly-wage earning households may have a few days food supply on hand, daily wage labourers – now without work - have no income and, therefore, no ability to buy food. Even those with means to buy foo...

This brief lays out a new approach to Indian climate governance. We suggest India’s institutional structure should be aimed at generating and adopting low-carbon development pathways. Doing so implies going beyond energy and emissions policies to also look at deeper economic structures such as pa...

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a flagship scheme of the Government of India (GoI) which aims to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household that demands work. Using government reported data, this b...

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is a flagship scheme of the Government of India (GoI) which aims to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household that demands work. Using government reported data, this b...

The Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban (SBM-U) is the Government of India’s (GoI) flagship programme targeting universal sanitation coverage in urban areas. Using government data, this brief reports on: Allocations, releases, and expenditures, State-wise and component wise trends in releases, P...

This report aims to explore the nuances of the prevalence of on-site sanitation systems in large and dense villages of India. Villages which have a population of 1000 persons or more and a density of greater than or equal to 400 persons per square kilometre were classified as large and dense vill...

Linear projects like highways have the potential to change existing land use of large areas. These changes are not limited only to the stretches made for transportation of vehicles. The effects of construction are also visible on landscapes on both sides of highways. This study presents the find...