This book looks at the institutional and governance issues faced by India during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and its adverse impact on the vulnerable sectors and groups. The book is split into four parts, with preceding chapters informing later ones. Part One outlines the approach of the study, in particular their examination of policy responses and the effect of the pandemic. Part Two delves into the governance challenges in containing the pandemic while giving the theoretical rationale for institutional responses. Part Three looks at how the pandemic affected economically vulnerable households, workers, and small industries. The effect of pandemic on the informal sector is also detailed. Lastly, Part Four examines the impacts and responses of Indian public infrastructure and services to the pandemic, in particular the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care and schooling. It also explores the challenges caused by infrastructure inadequacies in Indian cities. The book closes by looking at how businesses in the private sector have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on Corporate Social Responsibility. The book will be a useful reference to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners who are interested in institutions and development, especially in the context of India.

Using rich ethnographic data and first-hand experience, Ball presents a detailed account of Australia’s attempts to incorporate behavioural insights into its public policy. Ball identifies three competing interpretations of behavioural public policy, and how these interpretations have influenced the use of this approach in practice. The first sees the process as an opportunity to introduce more rigorous evidence. The second interpretation focuses on increasing compliance, cost savings and cutting red tape. The last focuses on the opportunity to better involve citizens in policy design. These interpretations demonstrate different ‘solutions’ to a series of dilemmas that the Australian Public Service, and others, have confronted in the last 50 years, including growing politicisation, technocracy and a disconnect from the needs of citizens. Ball offers a detailed account of how these priorities have shaped how behavioural insights have been implemented in policy-making, as well as reflecting on the challenges facing policy work more broadly. An essential read for practitioners and scholars of policy-making, especially in Australia.

After the COVID-19 disaster, ‘old’ frailties and inadequacies in agriculture and industrial productive capacities, in public health and transport systems have evinced sharply in the open, reopening the debates over public policy reforms as never before. This volume: Studies the likely impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on future policy making in India and other democracies. Critically looks at the available theoretical frameworks, models and approaches used in the policy making process and studies their contemporary relevance. Balances theoretical approaches with concrete case studies. Examines India’s policies on education, health, e-governance, gender and work, and also provides recommendations for the future. An important and timely contribution, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researches of public administration, public policy, political theory, globalization and global democracy.

Sustainable development has emerged as an overarching concern globally. Given the challenges of climate change, national economies, especially in the developing world, face unsustainable levels and patterns of growth and development. This volume looks at how India’s sustainable development has progressed through institutional changes and public policy discourse. It studies the three pillars of sustainability – technology, governance, and finance. The authors examine whether institutions have been able to work towards becoming inclusive and participatory and whether public policy can remain relevant and agile in a fast-changing world to ensure sustainable development. Written in honour of Professor Vinod Vyasulu, an erudite economist with wide-ranging interests, this volume will be of interest to academics and practitioners engaged with issues of development, policy, institutions, and technology in the fields of Economics, Sociology, Development Studies, Public Policy, and South Asian Studies.

The e-book titled “Mukul Asher on Economic Reasoning and Public Policy: Case Studies from India", edited by V.K. Ahuja & Ajay B. Sonawane is a collection of recent columns authored or co-authored by Professor Mukul Asher on applying economic reasoning to public policies in India. As India progresses towards USD 5 trillion economy, and as it addresses its socio-economic challenges, public policy discussions which are based on appropriate context-specific analytical frameworks and concepts, using empirical evidence in a judicious manner to advance public interest, have become vital. The book also helps fill a gap in the literature as analysis of India’s Post-2014 public policies and initiatives have not received deserved interest from the academics, think tanks, and researchers. This e-book represents a small step towards redressing this imbalance. The DSPPG plans to publish a series of books on a diverse set of public policy issues India, with a view to improve the quality of public policy education and dialogue in India. The present e-book is first in the series. All books are to be uploaded on the Website of Delhi School of Public Policy and Governance (DSPPG), University of Delhi and made freely available to all. To download the book please click here- http://dsppg.du.ac.in/EBooks/E-book%20-%20Economic%20Reasoning%20and%20Public%20Policy%20Case%20Studies%20from%20India.pdf

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the pre-Covid-19 and post-Covid-19 situation and public policy measures needed to revive the economy in the light of the recent initiatives by the state government, including a committee to suggest post-Covid-19 revival strategy. This collection of essays by specialized author/s in her/his/their area of research examines the impact of Covid-19 in the larger context of economic and developmental context of Punjab, ranging from basic developmental transformation analysis to the specific policy issues in each sector and policy domain, including the larger developmental crisis in the context of the regional economy and society of Punjab. The sectors analysed include: agriculture including dairy sector and agricultural markets, industry, services, education, health, besides fiscal, banking, diaspora, gender, governance, and sustainability challenges the state economy faces. It dwells on sector specific issues as well as ways forward for betterment of livelihoods of those engaged, especially farmers and industrial and service sector informal workers.

This book analyses the economic and social impact of the Covid-19 crisis with special focus on India. It examines the economic disruption caused by the pandemic, policy responses to it and the prospect of a severe global recession. It also covers how the pandemic has contributed to considerable suffering among the masses and affected socio-cultural relationships, behavioural patterns and psychological attitudes governing human interaction. A topical and timely collection on the pandemic, the essays in the volume discuss several key themes which include, · The Corona pandemic and the changing global economy; growth, trade and macroeconomic recovery; · Public health and policy failures; appropriate policy response; · Impact on education; guidelines for the future; · Idea of economic herd immunity; impact of India’s lockdown, crisis of the migrant labourers; · Impact on agriculture, industry, firms, households and the informal sector; · Implications of digital technology for production, labour and labour relations; · Violence amidst the virus; Covid 19 and Hindu- Muslim conflict in India, domestic violence, questions of occupation, identity, gender and vulnerability; · De-globalisation and environmental challenges in the post-Covid era. Engagingly written, this comprehensive volume compiles original research by leading economists from India and abroad. It will be useful for scholars and researchers of economics, of the Indian economy, development economics, development studies, labour studies, public policy, public administration, governance, sociology and political economy.

This insightful Handbook is an essential guide to educational policy around the world. As shifting geopolitics, intensified climate change, and widening economic inequalities persist, the need for informed educational policy is critical.

This timely volume throws light on the challenges faced by the higher education industry during the disruption from the pandemic and offers solutions for the future of higher education. It discusses methodological approaches that look at how the pandemic fostered the rise of e-learning, blended and virtual learning, and teachers’ changing roles. The book examines the role of teaching-learning practices in the era of COVID-19, the impact of digital learning on students, and the psychological and emotional impact on students from digital learning and blended learning during the pandemic.

This book is an outcome of the interdisciplinary conference held at OP Jindal Global University (Quantum Decision-making and Complexity modeling, and their possible applications in social sciences- economics, finance and public policy). The volume builds upon the emerging fields of Econophysics, Complexity theory and Quantum like modelling in cognition and social sciences, and their plausible applications in economics and public policy. There can be deep linkages between the micro, meso and macro scales at which these paradigms operate. In this data-driven age, greater amounts of information, along with the facility to harvest, sort and process said information, have permitted an expansion of the capability to study a society’s various factors to a degree of detail and inclusiveness that has never before been available to researchers. As a result, an increasing number of throughlines is being discovered, revealing heretofore unknown connections between various disciplines and enhancing the study of such societal tropes as finance, language, shared behavior, and many others. As the reader will see, with clearer understanding of the interconnectedness of society’s assorted parts comes a clearer understanding of the society as a whole. We have received critical thoughts from noted experts in social and natural sciences to explore possible interconnections. The editors of this book earnestly hope that the critical reviews presented in this volume will stimulate further scholarly interest, but also interest among policy practitioners for the purpose of exploring possibilities for creating a new paradigm for comprehending pressing issues of deep uncertainty and emergence in social dynamics.