Research Radio

India is highly vulnerable to the effects of the global climate crises, and is simultaneously now the third largest contributor of greenhouse gases in the world. To address a crisis as complex and long-standing as climate change requires effective institutions. Shibani Ghosh and Navroz Dubash join us this week to share their research examining the effectiveness of Indian institutions and...

Colleges and universities hold the potential to transform society by raising social consciousness and enabling social and economic mobility. Historically and today, however, this potential has been constrained by accessibility barriers, deficiencies in curriculums, skewed funding allocations, among other factors. Ankit Kawade, who is an MPhil candidate at the Centre for Political Studies at the Ja...

Our second season features a refreshed format, new graphics, and an exciting line-up of scholars. We’ll focus on five themes for this season: education, healthcare, the environment, food, and social movements. The first episode will be released on Monday, 11 January. And new episodes will be out every Monday so subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. 

How did Bangladesh come to be known as the land of NGOs, given it hosts the largest NGO, BRAC, and the largest microfinance institution (Grameen Bank)? Anu Muhammad joins us to discuss the role of NGOs in making Bangladesh more marketised and globalised since its independence in 1971. The insights he will share are based on an article he published in Economic and Political Weekly on 29 September 2...

Who owns waste? How does waste become valuable? Rohini Sahni and V Kalyan Shankar will answer these complex questions based on ethnographic research they conducted in Pune between 2013 and 2016. They will also tell us what led people to choose waste-picking as a profession, and why these workers later collectivised for better working conditions. The insights they will share are based on their arti...

Which castes and religions practice untouchability the most? Can factors such as education and urbanisation potentially reduce the practice? Do those who practice untouchability know members outside their own caste? Researchers Amit Thorat and Omkar Joshi, who have analysed the findings of a nationally representative survey of over  42,000 households, aim to address these questions. The insig...

Pakistan’s Aurat March takes place every year across the country to mark Women’s Day. Past demonstrations have called for accountability for violence against women by men, resources for affected women, the reclamation of public spaces for women, and much more. The March received severe backlash from both conservative and liberal groups, and researcher Afiya Sheherbano Zia examines the criticism. S...

Waking up and brewing a cup of tea, according to your preference of ginger, cardamom, amongst other spices, or stopping by your regular chai stall are a few of the ways Indians drink tea every day. Across regions, religions, caste, class and gender, Indians love to drink tea.  India is the second-largest producer of tea in the world, and most of it is consumed domestically. Researcher Virginu...

Doctors are seen as having a high degree of knowledge and expertise about diagnosing and treating ailments. The Hippocratic Oath requires them to provide fair and equal healthcare to all. Researcher Sobin George investigates how caste impacts doctor-patient interactions in Meenkara, a village in Karnataka, with heightened Dalit consciousness. He shares with us how India’s caste-based social order...

How do Indians prefer accessing foodgrains under food security programmes— through direct cash transfers, the existing public distribution system or food coupons? Researchers Mamata Pradhan and Devesh Roy investigate how local power relations impact people's preferences for delivery mechanisms by surveying 1,600 households across three states. Their findings offer ways in which the current model c...

In December 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government radically altered Indian citizenship law, introducing religion as a basis for providing citizenship. How has the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government justified making this change? Author of the groundbreaking book, "Mapping Citizenship in India," Anupama Roy, shares her findings based on an examination of a parliamentary report on the bi...

A 2018 Supreme Court ruling that decriminalised queer sex was widely celebrated. Judges and petitioners framed the move as India  “decolonising itself” of British legislation and beliefs. Based on an examination of the 495-pages long judgement, researcher Jason Fernandes shares with us that the court’s framing is simplistic and limited.  Rather than rupture the Brahmanical nationalist pr...

Do crises centers, that are located in every district in the country, cater to the needs of women who have experienced domestic violence? Two researchers, Shireen J Jejeebhoy and K G Santhya, aim to understand not just whether violence has reduced after women reach out to crises centers, but also if women's overall well being has improved. We'll learn about why institutional methods largely fail w...