Op-ed pieces
Miscellaneous Short Pieces (2021-present)
Last updated: 12 March 20242024
How Justifiable is the Maratha Claim for Quotas?, Hindustan Times, February 26, 2024
Interim Budget: Are the Poor, Women, Youth and Farmers, highlighted by the FM in her speech, really doing well?, Indian Express, February 1, 2024
Are Social Norms Really the Main Cause of Low Female Employment? Project Syndicate, January 16, 2024
2023
Indian Women are not Dropping Out of Paid Work Voluntarily, VoxEU, December 5, 2023. Reposted in VoxDev (February 29, 2024)
The labour market is tougher on women. This is what the Economics Nobel for 2023 acknowledges, Indian Express, October 12, 2023
Affirmative Action Under Siege, Project Syndicate, September 28, 2023
Ashwini Deshpande responds to Surjit Bhalla: Worry over Unemployent is not unfounded, Indian Express, February 7, 2023
2022
What Perpetuates the Rise in Violence Against Women? Hindustan Times, December 15, 2022
EWS Reservation Is Very Much A Caste-Based Quota, IndiaSpend, November 20, 2022
Sequence of implementation, EWS quota outcomes, The Hindu, November 1, 2022
How to Ensure More Women in the Workforce (with Bhuvana Anand and Shaveta Sharma Kukreja), Hindustan Times, April 29, 2022
Gender Norms Aren't a Monolith in India, Hindustan Times, March 2, 2022
The Budget has ignored the distress caused by the pandemic, Indian Express, February 4, 2022
For the Union Budget, Priorities and Challenges, Hindustan Times, January 24, 2022
Aadhar and My Brush with Digital Exclusion, The Wire, January 3, 2022
2021
Close Reading of the NFHS, the health of India, The Hindu, November 28, 2021
Getting to the Heart of Causality, October 20, 2021
Brahmins at the top in all indicators in states with schemes that benefit only them, The Print, October 10, 2021
How Caste Discrimination Impacts Child Development and Stunting in India, August 4, 2021
Caste Discrimination: An Overlooked Factor in Indian Kids' Stunted Growth, The Print, July 29, 2021
Barking Up the Wrong Tree, Financial Express, July 13, 2021
As India gets vaccinated, women are falling behind. We must mind this gap, Indian Express, June 21, 2021
The Rocky Road to Gender Inequality Amid Covid-19, The India Cable, June 1, 2021 (In The Wire, June 3, 2021)
The Faultline of Poor Health Infrastructure, The Hindu, May 21, 2021
Indian Women and the Workforce, Hindustan Times, March 8, 2021
Face-Off on Should Women be paid for Household Work. My piece: Let's talk of sharing the load, instead of entrenching the idea of male breadwinner, Times of India, February 5, 2021
Budget 2021 Fails to Give Priority to Boosting Jobs, Indian Express, February 2, 2021
Covid-19 Related Writing: 2020
"Teaching in the Time of Isolation", The Wire, March 24, 2020
The Coronavirus Pandemic: Are We Ready for the Long Haul: Part I, The Wire, March 30, 2020; Ideas for India, April 2, 2020
The Coronavirus Pandemic: Are We Ready For the Long Haul: Part II: The Wire, April 1, 2020; Ideas for India, April 3, 2020
The complete brief: The Coronavirus Pandemic: Are We Ready For the Long Haul?
"Protecting Women is Missing from Pandemic Management Measures in India", Quartz, March 28, 2020
"In Locked Down India, Women Fight Coronavirus and Domestic Violence", Quartz, April 16, 2020
"As India Battles a Grave Health and Economic Crisis, It Must Put Humanity Centrestage", Scroll, April 18, 2020
"Gender Gap in Job Losses Caused by the Lockdown", Indian Express, June 6, 2020
"Did Indian Men Do More Housework During Lockdown? It Depends", HuffPost, July 29, 2020
"Pandemics and women’s labour market participation in India: A long view", (with Bishnupriya Gupta), CAGE Research Centre, University of Warwick, November 20, 2020
"A normalisation of WFH is unlikely to raise women’s participation in the labour force", Indian Express, November 6, 2020
Analysis
"What did you do in the last 24 hours? Some reflections on India's first Time Use Survey in historical perspective", The Indian Forum, January 1, 2021
The Neo Caste System: Does an Ancient System Persist in Modern India, iai News, December 2, 2020
"The Visible and Invisible Barriers to Indian Women Working", The India Forum, August 2, 2019
Older
The Wire
“Despite the Rhetoric, the 10% Bill Does Not Aim for a Caste Free System", The Wire, January 10, 2019.
Caste in the UK: Denial of Discrimination is Not the Solution, The Wire, August 5, 2018.
“The More India’s Elite Claims to be Caste Mukt, The Less We Should Believe Them", The Wire, April 13, 2018.
“Links Between Caste and Corruption Aren’t Based on Concrete Evidence", The Wire, January 10, 2018.
“The Ugly Reality of Caste Violence and Discrimination in Urban India", The Wire, December 11, 2017.
“Lessons from Being on a University Anti-Sexual Harassment Committee", The Wire, November 2, 2017.
“Quotas are not a Magic Wand to Resolve Problem of Discrimination in Indian Universities", The Wire, October 15, 2017.
Indian Express
“Buried in the Rankings Din", Indian Express, December 1, 2017.
“Deprivation Tales", Indian Express, February 17, 2017.
“The Quota Rush", Indian Express, February 27, 2016.
“The Primary Trauma", Indian Express, May 3, 2014.
“Because it breaks silences", Indian Express, May 22, 2013.
“Merit Is As Merit Does", Indian Express, October 10, 2008.
“Ensuring Diversity", Indian Express, August 21, 2008.
“Mind This Gap", Indian Express, February 27, 2008.
Others
"Affirmative Action at the Crossroads," The Hindu, October 10, 2019
"Reinforcing Caste Hierarchies: On the Maratha Quota", The Hindu, July 9, 2019
“Quotas in the Times of Achhe Din", India Today, April 29, 2019
“Leading Economists Agree: Closing borders is not the answer to inequality", The Conversation Global, February 9, 2017.
“Reserve but Verify", India Today, April 2, 2015.
“Contours of Caste Disadvantage", The Hindu, September 27, 2014.
“Can Dalit Capitalism be a vehicle for Social Mobility in India?" (with Smriti Sharma), Live Mint, September 23, 2013.
Blog Entries
Backward or Dominant? Political Economy of Demand for Caste-based Quotas (joint with Rajesh Ramachandran), Ideas for India, June 30, 2017.
Adult Education, Knowledge and Confidence, Ideas for India, September 21, 2015.
Does Affirmative Action Reduce Productivity? The Case of Indian Railways, Ideas for India, January 21, 2015.
How Backward Are Other Backward Classes in India? (joint with Rajesh Ramachandran), Ideas for India, December 4, 2013.
Entrepreneurship or Survival? Caste and Gender of Small Business in India (joint with Smriti Sharma), Ideas for India, September 23, 2013.
Obituaries
“Suresh Tendulkar: Goodbye to a Great Teacher and a New Friend", Loksatta, June 27, 2011
“Ashok Mitra: He Was of Another Kind", Economic Times, May 3, 2018