This study makes an attempt to analyse the transformation of common property resources (the lakes) into private property. [WP No. 60].

The argument in this paper is in four parts: First, the author suggests that we can no longer treat cities apart from the regions surrounding them with which they are intensively entwined. Second, the paper critically examines the current policy consensus that a city’s future rests...

One of the greatest dangers to the growth of developing countries is the middle income trap, where crony capitalism creates oligarchies that slow down growth. If the debate during the elections is any pointer, this is a very real concern of the public in India today. To avoid this trap, and to...

This paper reviews the key aspects of general strikes and analyses the economic cost of such strikes in Nepal. Data analysis shows that average direct cost of general strikes stood at NRs. 1.8 billion per strike day and NRs. 27 billion per year at current prices during 2008-2013. [NRB Working...

India is a stable democratic political system with rising economic fortunes and global ambitions make it a potential power that could play a very important role in world affairs. But India has to tackle many issues to emerge as a global leader.

Persistence and breakdowns of democracy are the dominant features of Nepali politics.Democracy continues to be attractive amidst setbacks and discontinuity. So it remains perennially elusive, despite having undergone democratic upheavals. Some significant variables such as ideology, essence of...

This paper examines the larger issue of how a ‘free’ media performs during times of war with particular reference to US and India using case studies. It focuses on ‘national security’ becoming a major pivot around which the media discourse is shaped. How the media...

A new survey finds that only 17 drugs are under active development for maternal health indications, which is less than 3% of the pipeline in cardiovascular health (660 drugs). The international agencies have forgotten pregnant women. Given the unacceptably high number of maternal and perinatal...

This paper, exploring primary data collected from 1510 women domestic workers in Mumbai, evidently brings out that domestic work as a feminine occupation in a global city like Mumbai is a epitome of critical deficits in human development, a vicious situation of lack of core entitlements which...

Inflation management is one of the hardest tasks an economic policymaker has to undertake. It appears, at first sight, that one can rely entirely on commonsense to carry out this task. But that will be a cardinal mistake. While inflation policy does require judgment and intuition, it is...