Menstrual Hygiene Day 2021: Shifting Norms and Improving Women’s Access to Safe Alternatives

Sujatha Srinivasan | May 28, 2021

The adoption of the human right to water and sanitation by a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in July 2010 helped ensure that a human rights perspective is integrated into the design and delivery of water, sanitation and … Read More

LEAD’s New Website is Live – Marking our Complete Transition to a New Visual Identity

Sharon Buteau, Preethi Rao | April 22, 2021

At LEAD, we believe in the power of communicating knowledge effectively to create impact – at every step in our journey, we have endeavoured to bring out the best possible outcomes for all stakeholders involved. As a leading action-oriented research … Read More

The MSME Budget: Will a Rising Tide Lift All Boats?

Kartikeya Bhatotia, Nilanjana Bargotra | April 13, 2021

The Budget for 2021 raises important questions on scheme-wise allocations in the MSME outlay. Kartikeya Bhatotia and Nilanjana Bargotra delve into the fine-print and explain what this year’s Budget really means for the MSME sector. … Read More

Valuing Water Quality this World Water Day

Sujatha Srinivasan | March 30, 2021

The world achieved the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) drinking water target in 2010, well ahead of the 2015 deadline. Even so, a key lesson from the MDG period for the water sector was that access to drinking water is not … Read More

Behind the Numbers: What is Helping Bangladesh get ahead of India in the wake of COVID-19?

Kartikeya Bhatotia | March 14, 2021

In this piece, Research Associate Kartikeya Bhatotia examines the factors that have contributed to Bangladesh’s incredible economic growth story, and draws lessons for India. … Read More

Social Protection Through a Digital Tool Reaches the Milestone of 100,000 Applications

Anoushaka Chandrashekar, Raka De | January 8, 2021

“Living in a tier-2 city in the state of Rajasthan in India, I had to take half a day off from work to apply for an Aadhaar card. I had to travel to the Aadhaar center, which was about 7kms … Read More

Strategies to Support Women Entrepreneurs: Highlights from #WERISETwitterchat

Diksha Singh | January 8, 2021

A significant majority of enterprises led by women in India operate at a subsistence level, with weak access to formal finance, mentoring and skilling support, and poor market linkages. In the wake of COVID-19, these enterprises have been disproportionately affected … Read More

Can The Farm Bills Promote Agricultural Prosperity?

Sabina Yasmin | January 8, 2021

The recently passed “Farm Bills 2020” are a welcome change as the historic ordinances in agriculture aim to reshape how agricultural produce is stored, marketed and sold in the country. The three bills on agricultural market reforms are:  (i) ‘Farmers’ … Read More

How COVID-19 Could Change Social Protection in India

Raka De, Anjani Balu | January 8, 2021

Ever since the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11th March 2020, the ongoing discussions and debates have centred around scrutinizing the effectiveness and adequacy of government emergency responses.  In this blog post, we explore how … Read More

COVID-19 and the Future of Seafood Markets in Chennai

Rahul Muralidharan | January 8, 2021

While it is still early to fully understand the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on small-scale fisheries, rapid insights from the ground are important to shape policy actions and programs. This article is based on interactions with small-scale fisherfolk, co-operative, … Read More