The Indian demographic scenario is characterized by large regional variations in population trends, uneven human development, adverse sex ratios, growing urbanization, and internal rural-to-urban migration. This handbook provides a comprehensive understanding of the population-development...

In 2008, the Government of India initiated the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to provide inpatient insurance coverage to all below-poverty-line (BPL) households in India. It is one of the most ambitious social protection programmes in the country. Using household level panel data from...

This paper reports on two voluntary, contributory, contextualised, community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes, launched in Dhading and Banke (Nepal) in 2011. The implementation followed a four-stage process: initiating (baseline survey), involving (awareness generation and engaging...

Freedom is a key concept in Amartya Sen's definitions of capabilities and development. This paper focuses on a serious and neglected form of unfreedom — domestic violence — and argues that freedom from such violence must be integral to evaluating developmental progress. Conceptually, it...

Background Microinsurance or Community-Based Health Insurance is a promising healthcare financing mechanism, which is increasingly applied to aid rural poor persons in low-income countries. Robust empirical evidence on the causal relations between Community-Based Health Insurance and healthcare...

This paper assesses insurance uptake in three community based health insurance (CBHI) schemes located in rural parts of two of India’s poorest states and offered through women’s self-help groups (SHGs). We examine what drives uptake, the degree of inclusive practices of the schemes, and the...