Newspaper Opinion Articles

Fall and rise in women’s work participation (with Pallavi Choudhuri). The Hindu. March 8, 2024.

The Piquant Case of Successful Maternity Benefit Scheme. (with Debasis Barik) Hindu Businessline. February 24, 2024.

Demography and Destiny. Indian Express. February 6, 2024.

A Safe House for Dissent. Indian Express. January 13, 2024.

Closing the Gender Wage Gap. The Hindu. October 16, 2023.

India needs to rebuild once-vaunted statistical system. Times of India. July 30, 2023.

Demographic Transition and Changes in Women’s Lives. The Hindu. July 12, 2023.

India’s Employment Problem and Bad Statistics. Indian Express. May 26, 2023.

Different faces of Indian women’s movement. The Hindu, March 8, 2023.

Measuring women’s work participation: Why it is important to get it right. (with Pallavi Choudhuri) The Hindu, February 11, 2023.

Learning to Live Together, All 8 Billion of Us. The Hindu, Novermber 15, 2022.

Global Hunger Index: A Lesson in How Not to Measure Hunger. Indian Express, October 21, 2022.

Beyond the statistical soundbites: why data matter. The Hindu, September 21, 2022.

India in 2023: The challenge and opportunity of being the most populous country. Indian Express, July 12, 2022.

Should we have been surprised by the Agnipath protests? The Hindu, June 22, 2022.

Why the battle over Roe vs Wade signifies a struggle for America’s future. The Hindu. June 7, 2022.

The Hijab Hurdle. Indian Express, February 26, 2022.

With India’s Demographic Transition, Come Challenges. Indian Express, December 2, 2021.

Why India’s Experience is nothing like the `Great American Resignation, Economic Times, October 23, 2021.

Lessons from the Death of Ease of Doing Business Index. Indian Express, October 5, 2021.

Why China’s About Turn Shows Restrictive Population Policies don’t Work. Indian Express. June 5, 2021.

World is Her Stage. Indian Express, March 9, 2021.

Class Struggle for Students. Economic Times, February 20, 2021.

Between Vaccine and Victory. Indian Express. January 28, 2021.

Addressing the last-mile challenge in vaccine distribution. Economic Times. December 11, 2020. 

A social registry linking Aadhaar to residence info can target aid to the vulnerable during a pandemic. Indian Express. November 28, 2020. 

An Urban Safety Net. Indian Express, October 20, 2020.

India’s population data and a tale of two projections. The Hindu. August 12, 2020. 

PM-KISAN is not reaching all farmer households as intended. Indian Express. August 3, 2020. 

Virus fear and logistical challenges curtailing economic activity in Delhi-NCR, new survey shows. The Mint. July 5, 2020.

Urban poor need better relief measures. Hindu Businessline. May 24, 2020.

View: Beyond the lockdown bend. Economic Times. April 29, 2020. 

Telephone survey shows high understanding of social distancing, support for lockdown. Indian Express, April 20, 2020. 

Decline in women work participation rates can be traced to poor quality of data collection processes. Indian Express, March 17, 2020.

With 2 weeks to prepare, how to tackle coronavirus outbreak the Indian way. Business Standard, March 14, 2020.

Is NSS Right on Consumption Fall? The Mint. January 23, 2020.

Minding the Gaps in India’s Data Infrastructure. The Hindu. October 24, 2019. 

A demographic window of opportunity: on population and policy. The Hindu, July 11, 2019.

Squandering the gender dividend. The Hindu, June 12, 2019

The sum and substance of jobs data. The Hindu, June 4, 2019

A strange paradox for Indian women. The Hindu. March 7, 2019

Everyone is Afraid of Data. The Hindu. February 12, 2019.

Solution in Search of a Problem: On 10% Reservations. The Hindu. January 11, 2019. 

Make it the Indian Way (with Hemant Kanakia). The Hindu. November 21, 2018.

A Strange New World. The Hindu. September 8, 2018. 

The Tools for Counting. The Hindu. June 25, 2018.

Data in a Post-Truth Age. The Hindu. May 30, 2018.

Power of Numbers. The Hindu. March 8, 2018.

Reimagining the OBC Quota. The Hindu, September 17, 2017.

The Deep Divide within White America. The Hindu, August 23, 2017.

Reclaiming Public Spaces. The Hindu, March 28, 2017.

 No Economy for Women. The Hindu, March 8, 2017 (With Anupma Mehta).

Drawing up a Diet Plan. The Hindu. February 1, 2017. 

The politics of perceptions. The Hindu. November 8, 2016.

The Dynamic Nature of Poverty.  The Hindu. August 2, 2016. (With Amit Thorat)

Tackling poverty in India: Jobs, not transfers, the big poverty-buster. June 17, 2016 (With Balcazar, Murgai and Narayan)

Everyone Loves a Good Quota. The Hindu, May 3, 2016. 

Quantifying the Caste Quotas. The Hindu, February 26, 2016.

Don’t Dismantle, Reform. Indian Express, November 12, 2015. 

An Unjustified Pay Hike.  The Hindu, October 30, 2015.

Smoking Kills in India Too. The Hindu, May 4, 2015.

The New Young. The Indian Express, August 28, 2014.

Cereal indiscretions. The Indian Express: June 23, 2014.

Poorly Performing Public Services. The Hindu: April 2, 2014.

Food Security in the Time of Inflation. The Hindu, March 28, 2014.

Employer of the Last Resort?  The Hindu, March 21, 2014.

Declining Sex Ratios Seen in the Gender Score Card. The Hindu, March 18, 2014. 

When Incomes Grow, but Jobs Elude. Indian Express, July 3, 2013. 

Like Flowers and Chocolates. Indian Express, March 11, 2013.

From Schooling to Learning. Business Standard, Septembr 16, 2012.

Getting Out of the Quota Quagmire. Business Standard, June 16, 2012. 

Health care needs a booster does. Business Standard, May 11, 2012. 

The Great Indian Poverty Game. Business Standard, March 29, 2012. 

Sons of the Soil. Business Standard, February 17, 2012. 

Indian Think Tanks - Time to Look Within. Business Standard, February 7, 2012. 

After the Demographic Dividend. Business Standard, December 29, 2011. 

India’s Hidden Transformation. Business Standard, November 29, 2011. 

Indian Education, Employment Sector: A Study in Contrasts. Economic Times, November 26, 2011.

Universal PDS Can Fix the Problem of Malnutrition. Economic Times, September 29, 2011. 

Jobless Growth is Focused Largely in the Female Half of the Population. Economic Times, June 28, 2011. 

For Growth Focus on Remote Villages.  Economic Times August 3, 2010. 

Recasting Census 2011. Economic Times (New Delhi) May 14, 2010. 

Women’s Share in Demographic Dividend. Economic Times (New Delhi) February 25, 2010.

Challenges for Sixth Pay Commission. Economic Times (New Delhi) March 19, 2008

AIDS Education: Beyond Sound Bites. Economic Times (New Delhi) January 9, 2008.

Language of Division, Economic Times (New Delhi) October 30, 2007.

Baniya, Babu and Borrowing: Household Debt is Concerning, Economic Times (New Delhi), October 3, 2007. 

Myths about Private Schooling in India, Economic Times (New Delhi), June 27, 2007.