Blog

Since October 2014, the Government of India has worked towards the goal of eliminating open defecation by 2019 through the Swachh Bharat Mission. In June 2014, the results of a survey of rural sanitation behaviour in North India were first reported....Read More..

In light of India’s continuing efforts to reduce maternal mortality, why government hospitals continue to be dangerously unhygienic, posing serious infection risks to patients, is explored. Through interviews and observations at public hospitals in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh,...Read More..

Prof Amit Thorat, who teaches at JNU and is also a visiting researcher at r.i.c.e., with his colleague Dr. Omkar Joshi, who is a doctoral scholar at the University of Maryland, was interviewed for the Economic and Political Weekly’s podcast...Read More..

Don't miss a review of `The right to sanitation in India: Critical perspectives', edited by Philippe Cullet, Sujith Koonan, and Lovleen Bhullar, in this week's Economic and Political Weekly. The review is available online here....Read More..

Survey evidence from rural North India showing persistent solid fuel use despite increases in liquefied petroleum gas ownership is presented. Although three-quarters of survey households in these states had LPG, almost all also had a stove that uses solid fuels....Read More..

Diane and Dean's book Where India Goes: Abandoned Toilets, Stunted Development and the Costs of Caste has been named among the best non-fiction books the decade by The Hindu. Reviewing for The Hindu, Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta observes, "This is a...Read More..

BMJ Open published "Measuring open defecation in India using survey questions: evidence from a randomized survey experiment"  co-authored by  Sangita, Nikhil, Dean and Diane (with Divya Mary, Neeta Goel, Sujatha Srinivasan, Ajaykumar Tannirkulam and Radu Ban). Reducing open defecation in...Read More..

 Alex Tabarrok, a professor of economics at the George Mason University, recently reviewed Dean’s latest book Air: Pollution, Climate Change and India's Choice Between Policy and Pretence on his blog Marginal Revolution. He lauds Dean’s efforts in ‘accurately explain[g] academic...Read More..

Hindustan Times recently published a review of Dean's new book AIR: Pollution, Climate Change and India's Choice Between Policy and Pretense by Sudhirendar Sharma.  Some excerpts from the review: "Air provides a nuanced understanding on air pollution and the country’s deep...Read More..

Sangita and Aashish's article addresses some popular myths around the use of traditional chulha (earthen/brick stove) and why there is a reluctance to switch over to LPG stoves. This reluctance is observed even when LPG stove protects from several harmful...Read More..

Population and Environment recently published Aashish's new research titled "Where there is smoke: Solid Fuel externalities, gender, and adult respiratory health in India." This paper studies the determination of respiratory health in India using data on lung obstruction from the...Read More..

For the past three years, r.i.c.e. has been collaborating with 3ie on supporting projects that are testing different strategies for promoting the use of simple pit latrines in rural India. Four teams, comprised of researchers and implementation agencies, came up...Read More..

Sangita is among the two winners of the Parker Frisbie Publications Award for this year.  The award committee had following to say about her paper: "Her impressive paper, “The child health impacts of coal: evidence from India’s coal expansion,” examines...Read More..

I am so pleased to announce the release of three new SARI datasets from Maharasthra, Jharkhand, and Bihar! You can download the data here after entering your name, email address, and occupation. Please join me in congratulating Payal, Nazar, and...Read More..

Dean, Diane, Sangita and Nikhil feature in a video project by Chandrakant Agame at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, as part of his work as the Literature Secretary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Anniversary Committee. In this video celebrating the...Read More..

Dean's new book on air pollution and climate change, "Air: Pollution, Climate Change, and India's Choice Between Policy and Pretence," is out!  You can get a Kindle copy here and a print copy here. Please share it widely online and...Read More..