News Articles & Blogs
2021
Budget 2021-22: Healthcare takes centre stage, again. Ideas for India. February 24, 2021. with Dean Spears.
What can we learn about Swacch Bharat Mission from the NFHS-5 factsheets? Ideas for India. February 2, 2021. with Dean Spears.
2020
Mental Health Disparities in India. Ideas for India. November 13, 2020. with Aashish Gupta and Meghana Mungikar.
Gender and Mental Health in Bihar and India. Ideas for India. November 12, 2020. with Payal Hathi, Nazar Khalid, and Amit Thorat.
Phone Survey Methodology for social and economic research in India. Ideas for India. November 11, 2020. with Payal Hathi, Nazar Khalid, Nidhi Khurana, and Amit Thorat.
2019
Human development in India’s Economic Survey, 2019. Ideas for India. February 21, 2020. with Dean Spears.
In rural India, segregation can make you taller. Works in Progress, American Sociological Association blog. October 30, 2019.
What the Swacch Bharat Mission did not change. Ideas for India. October 2, 2019. with Dean Spears.
Where, in India, is hospital birth safer for babies than home birth? N-IUSSP, IUSSP's online news magazine. April 29, 2019.
Child height in India: New data, familiar challenges. Ideas for India. February 11, 2019. with Dean Spears. reprinted in LiveMint.
Using mobile phones to measure discrimination. Ideas for India. January 9, 2019. with Payal Hathi, Nazar Khalid, Nidhi Khurana, and Amit Thorat.
2018
Despite improvements in child health, why do so many newborns still die? Ideas for India. January 2, 2018.
2017
Caste is stunting all of India's children. Foreign Policy. with Dean Spears. September 15, 2017.
Why doesn't anybody know if Swachh Bharat Mission is succeeding? Ideas for India. with Dean Spears. July 10, 2017. reprinted in Live Mint.
Population density interacts with sanitation to predict child health. N-IUSSP, IUSSP's online news magazine. with Payal Hathi. May 22, 2017.
A pit stop to change attitudes. The Hindu. with Sangita Vyas. Februray 23, 2017.
When women eat last. The Hindu. January 3, 2017.
2016
Talking to children about untouchability. The Hindu. with Amit Thorat. December 30, 2016.
Still frowning upon intermarriages. The Hindu. with Amit Thorat. December 29, 2016.
Maternity entitlements for healthier babies. Ideas for India. with Payal Hathi. July, 2016.
Why just focus on Delhi? It’s high time that the government took air pollution in the rest of India seriously. Scroll. with Sangita Vyas. March, 2016.
The case for going universal. The Hindu. with Payal Hathi. January, 2016.
2015
Angus Deaton's ideas for India. Ideas for India. with Dean Spears. October, 2015.
Measuring well-being. Indian Express. with Dean Spears. October, 2015.
Social hierarchy, maternal health & development. India in Transition. October, 2015. reprinted in Hindu Businessline.
Is maternal health in India worse than we thought? Ideas for India. August, 2015.
2014
To end open defecation, make Indians want to. India Today. with Dean Spears. October 2, 2014.
Open defecation: Busting a few myths. Live Mint. August 14, 2014.
Culture, religion, and open defecation in rural north India. Ideas for India. August, 2014.
To stop open defecation, go the Pulse Polio way. Hindustan Times. with Dean Spears. June 22, 2014.
Toilets are urgently needed in rural India, but don’t imagine they’ll reduce rape. Scroll. with Aashish Gupta, Payal Hathi, Dean Spears, & Sangita Vyas. June, 2014.
2013
Open defecation. The Hindu. with r.i.c.e. December, 2013.
Short term migration and child welfare. Ideas for India. October, 2013.
Does mother’s status affect the child’s stature? Ideas for India. February, 2013.
Selected News Coverage of my Work
2023
Nagarajan, Rema. March, 2023. Babies born in private hospitals in rural UP more likely to die in a month. The Times of India.
2019
January, 2019. Open defecation continues unabated. The Hindu.
2018
S, Rukmini. December, 2018. Why the Swacch Bharat Mission matters for India's children. LiveMint.
2015
Kristof, Nicholas. October, 2015. Half the kids in this part of India are stunted. The New York Times.
Harris, Gardiner. March, 2015. Study says pregnant women in India are gravely underweight. The New York Times.
Bhattacharaya, Pramit. March, 2015. Gender inequality and the Asian enigma of malnutrition. LiveMint.
2014
July, 2014. Sanitation in India: The final frontier. The Economist.