Latest news with #AbhijitBanerjee
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Time of India
No more drugs, we want education: Bhagwant Mann to introduce new curriculum; tackling drug addiction in focus
Bhagwant Mann (ANI) NEW DELHI: The Punjab government will implement a drug prevention curriculum in all government schools across the state starting August 1, targeting students in grades 9 to 12. The initiative aims to curb drug use through education and is part of a broader strategy to address both the supply and demand sides of drug abuse. The curriculum, developed under the guidance of Nobel laureate Prof Abhijit Banerjee, includes 15 sessions delivered over 27 weeks. Students will attend 35-minute classes every fortnight, focusing on how to resist peer pressure, make informed decisions, and understand the risks associated with drug use. Teaching materials include films, quizzes, posters, worksheets, and interactive activities. The program will cover approximately 800,000 students in 3,658 government schools across Punjab. Over 6,500 teachers have undergone training to deliver the sessions. According to data from a pilot run in 78 schools in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts, the curriculum led to measurable changes in student attitudes. Of the 9,600 students who participated, 90% recognised that trying drugs even once could lead to addiction. The belief that drug addiction could be overcome by willpower alone dropped from 50% to 20% after the sessions. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Mini House for 60 sqm for Seniors with Toilet and Bath (Price May Surprise You) Pre Fabricated Homes | Search Ads Search Now Undo This education-focused approach complements the state's enforcement efforts under the 'War Against Drugs' campaign, which began in March 2025. Since then, over 23,000 alleged drug traffickers have been arrested, more than 1,000 kilograms of heroin seized, and properties linked to drug offences confiscated. The Punjab government has stated that while law enforcement remains a priority, long-term solutions require preventive measures, particularly targeting youth. Officials said the school-based curriculum could serve as a model for other states looking to implement similar preventive strategies.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Shaping India's multidimensional fight against poverty
India's efforts to reduce poverty have produced admirable results. As per the World Bank's revised poverty line, between 2011 and 2023, approximately 270 million people have been able to come out of extreme poverty. That's more than the population of Germany and Russia, combined. The poorest caste and religious groups saw the fastest absolute reduction in this period. It is now widely recognised that poverty is multidimensional, encompassing more than just lack of money. It includes deprivations in health, education, and quality of life. India's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures poverty using multiple indicators. It looks at 12 basic needs across health, education, and standard of living to understand how people are deprived in different parts of their lives. A person is considered poor if they are deprived in at least one-third of the indicators used. Based on this approach, NITI Aayog's discussion paper reminds us that nearly 200 million people in India still face multiple hardships. Poverty remains severe, with the poorest struggling to meet about half of their 12 basic needs. These people often live in mud houses in which piped water and proper sanitation are still considered luxuries. It is not unusual for them to skip meals in a day, and an illness or an unexpected life event can have disastrous consequences. It's important to remember that when people face simultaneous deprivations — especially non-monetary ones — these challenges can reinforce each other, keeping people trapped in poverty. For example, people who are deprived in both nutrition and sanitation are potentially more vulnerable to infectious diseases. These deprivation bundles are a recurring pattern observed among people living in extreme poverty around the world. Quite often, poverty reduction policies are not framed keeping these interlinkages in mind. Graduation Approach This multi-pronged way to measure and study poverty also demands a fresh approach to design anti-poverty programmes. For governments, it means investing in programmes that give people living in extreme poverty the tools to escape the poverty trap. Bangladesh-based NGO BRAC's Graduation Approach offers an effective model to do that. The Graduation Approach provides the poorest of the poor a sequential and complementary package that includes a productive asset such as livestock or small items for trading, training to manage them, some money for up to a year to meet their immediate needs, and mentorship to manage their income and savings. The programme has become a global success. It has reached and improved the standard of living for millions of households across 43 countries following randomised evaluations by researchers affiliated with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), including Nobel Laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. Households around the world receiving the multi-component support package of the Graduation Approach made significant gains in all the key MPI indicators. Let's take a closer look at them. Standard of living: The model increased household spending on food, fuel, and assets — all key elements of the MPI's standard of living dimension. In Bangladesh, researchers observed that participants were more likely to own land and a shop just two years after the programme — activities which the rural middle class partakes in. Even in Yemen, among the poorest countries in the world, people spent more on refurbishing their houses, suggesting they had money to spare after meeting their essential needs. Families also reported better financial security and higher spending on children. In India, households held more assets and reduced their dependence on informal credit. Health: Graduation Approach's focus on improving food security and access to healthcare can directly contribute to better health outcomes. In Afghanistan, the programme helped reduce diarrhoea among children under five years of age by eight percentage points. A study in Pakistan, India, Honduras, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Peru found people reported better health and happiness. In India too, some emerging lessons from studies show significant and sustained improvement in food security with 99% of participant households not skipping meals. Education: Researchers found that certain adaptations of the Graduation Approach also increased school enrolment rates among children. A study in Afghanistan conducted over 2016-2018 found that school enrolment rose by 7 percentage points for boys and 5 for girls. The Graduation Approach's close alignment with the national MPI indicators gives Indian States as well as the federal government a useful blueprint to design anti-poverty programmes effective in handling its multidimensional nature. Common deprivations It helps policymakers to identify the key areas that need urgent attention. For instance, the most common deprivation bundle in India is across four categories: nutrition, housing, sanitation, and clean cooking fuel. More than 34 million people lack access to these in India. Policies that target these areas in tandem are likely to have a much greater impact on poverty reduction. Over the past few years, India has introduced a slew of policies to improve children's nutrition, health and well-being of mothers, and financial inclusion for people living in poverty. And it has been successful too. Initiatives such as Poshan Abhiyan have been instrumental in improving health outcomes, particularly in reducing malnutrition, and PM Awas Yojana has reached millions through affordable housing. But these actions are often led by different Ministries. A multifaceted programme such as the Graduation Approach makes it easier for policy planners to achieve these different goals through one concerted strategy. In 2024, the Ministry of Rural Development took an important step in this direction by piloting the Samaveshi Aajeevika Initiative (Inclusive Development Programme) initiative across 11 States with a consortium of partners including BRAC, The Nudge Institute and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab ( J-PAL) South Asia. The programme — based on the Graduation Approach model — is designed to help rural women become entrepreneurs and put them on the path to self-sufficiency. Using this as a platform and in the spirit of cooperative federalism, States can identify vulnerability hotspots through MPI and target them through integrated proven solutions such as the Samaveshi Aajeevika to fight poverty and its multiple facets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid down an ambitious vision for inclusive development with a singular objective: leave no one behind. And as India marches towards becoming a high-income country by 2047, States must embrace evidence-based, innovative models such as Samaveshi Aajevika that can set people free from the poverty trap. Parikrama Chowdhry is the Lead - Policy (Scale-ups) at J-PAL South Asia; views are personal
Mid East Info
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Mid East Info
J-PAL MENA AT AUC CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS OF EVIDENCE POLICYMAKING IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA - Middle East Business News and Information
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Middle East and North Africa J-PAL MENA at The American University in Cairo (AUC) marked its fifth anniversary this week, celebrating five years of harnessing the power of evidence to design cost-effective and large-scale policies that address poverty and enhance lives across the region. Held at AUC's Malak Gabr Theater, the event brought together policymakers, researchers, donors, and community leaders to celebrate J-PAL MENA's achievements using data and rigorous research to inform policies addressing some of the region's most pressing challenges. The event featured a keynote speech by Nobel Laureate and J-PAL co-founder Abhijit Banerjee and opening remarks by Egypt's Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania Al Mashat. Engaging panel discussions explored the future of evidence-based policymaking in Egypt and the MENA region and showcased success stories from J-PAL's partners, including government officials and NGOs. Since its launch in 2020, J-PAL MENA, hosted at the Onsi Sawiris School of Business, has built a strong foundation of success, partnering with governments, NGOs, and donors to generate and disseminate evidence that improves policies and transforms lives. 'Since 2020, when Community Jameel supported the establishment of J-PAL MENA, we have been in awe of the speed and scale of its impact in improving the lives of people across the region – from Morocco to Saudi Arabia and, of course, here in Egypt. Today, marking J-PAL MENA's fifth anniversary, we remain committed to supporting J-PAL MENA in driving forward the use of rigorous evidence in tackling grave challenges, from poverty and hunger to air pollution and water scarcity,' said George Richards, director of Community Jameel. In 2022, J-PAL MENA launched the Egypt Impact Lab, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and with support from Community Jameel, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, and additional support from UNICEF Egypt. The aim was to strengthen the effectiveness of Egypt's poverty reduction policies by rigorously evaluating promising and innovative government programs and using results to inform scale decisions. The Egypt Impact Lab was officially integrated into the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development's training arm, in 2024. 'As we celebrate our fifth anniversary, we reflect on the incredible journey of building a culture of evidence-informed policymaking in Egypt and the Middle East. Over the past five years, J-PAL MENA has collaborated closely with governments, NGOs, and donors to generate research that directly improves people's lives,' said Ahmed Elsayed, executive director of J-PAL MENA. 'This milestone is not just a celebration of our achievements but a moment to look ahead—to deepen our partnerships, expand our impact, and continue tackling the region's most pressing challenges with rigorous evidence and actionable solutions,' Elsayed added. In 2025, J-PAL MENA announced the launch of the Hub of Advanced Policy Innovation for the Environment HAPIE, as part of the global network of J-PAL Air and Water Labs with Community Jameel, which aims to tackle critical air and water issues through evidence-based policymaking. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003, J-PAL has seven regional offices at host universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. J-PAL MENA was launched in 2020, in partnership with Community Jameel, and is based at AUC. It currently has more than 60 completed and ongoing evaluations across eight sectors in seven countries in the MENA region: Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Founded in 1919, The American University in Cairo (AUC) is a leading English-language, American-accredited institution of higher education and center of the intellectual, social, and cultural life of the Arab world. It is a vital bridge between East and West, linking Egypt and the region to the world through scholarly research, partnerships with academic and research institutions, and study abroad programs. The University offers 39 undergraduate, 52 master's, and two PhD programs rooted in a liberal arts education that encourages students to think critically and find creative solutions to conflicts and challenges facing both the region and the world. An independent, nonprofit, politically nonpartisan, nonsectarian, and equal opportunity institution, AUC is fully accredited in Egypt and the United States.
Al Bawaba
11-07-2025
- Business
- Al Bawaba
J-pal Mena at AUC Celebrates Five Years of Evidence Policymaking in the Middle East and North Africa
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Middle East and North Africa (J-PAL MENA) at The American University in Cairo (AUC) marked its fifth anniversary this week, celebrating five years of harnessing the power of evidence to design cost-effective and large-scale policies that address poverty and enhance lives across the region. Held at AUC's Malak Gabr Theater, the event brought together policymakers, researchers, donors, and community leaders to celebrate J-PAL MENA's achievements using data and rigorous research to inform policies addressing some of the region's most pressing challenges. The event featured a keynote speech by Nobel Laureate and J-PAL co-founder Abhijit Banerjee and opening remarks by Egypt's Minister of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation Rania Al Mashat. Engaging panel discussions explored the future of evidence-based policymaking in Egypt and the MENA region and showcased success stories from J-PAL's partners, including government officials and its launch in 2020, J-PAL MENA, hosted at the Onsi Sawiris School of Business, has built a strong foundation of success, partnering with governments, NGOs, and donors to generate and disseminate evidence that improves policies and transforms lives.'Since 2020, when Community Jameel supported the establishment of J-PAL MENA, we have been in awe of the speed and scale of its impact in improving the lives of people across the region – from Morocco to Saudi Arabia and, of course, here in Egypt. Today, marking J-PAL MENA's fifth anniversary, we remain committed to supporting J-PAL MENA in driving forward the use of rigorous evidence in tackling grave challenges, from poverty and hunger to air pollution and water scarcity,' said George Richards, director of Community 2022, J-PAL MENA launched the Egypt Impact Lab, in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and with support from Community Jameel, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, and additional support from UNICEF Egypt. The aim was to strengthen the effectiveness of Egypt's poverty reduction policies by rigorously evaluating promising and innovative government programs and using results to inform scale decisions. The Egypt Impact Lab was officially integrated into the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development's training arm, in 2024.'As we celebrate our fifth anniversary, we reflect on the incredible journey of building a culture of evidence-informed policymaking in Egypt and the Middle East. Over the past five years, J-PAL MENA has collaborated closely with governments, NGOs, and donors to generate research that directly improves people's lives,' said Ahmed Elsayed, executive director of J-PAL MENA. 'This milestone is not just a celebration of our achievements but a moment to look ahead—to deepen our partnerships, expand our impact, and continue tackling the region's most pressing challenges with rigorous evidence and actionable solutions,' Elsayed 2025, J-PAL MENA announced the launch of the Hub of Advanced Policy Innovation for the Environment (HAPIE), as part of the global network of J-PAL Air and Water Labs with Community Jameel, which aims to tackle critical air and water issues through evidence-based Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2003, J-PAL has seven regional offices at host universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. J-PAL MENA was launched in 2020, in partnership with Community Jameel, and is based at AUC. It currently has more than 60 completed and ongoing evaluations across eight sectors in seven countries in the MENA region: Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
Time of India
01-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Trade wars and chocolate bars, what India of the 1970s can teach Trump
Cooking, and eating, are often on Abhijit Banerjee's mind. But for the Nobel-winning economist, what starts with planning the night's dinner usually ends up in questions about the consumption, production, distribution of food, and their intimate relation to the broader economic issues of our times. His new monthly column for The Sunday Times, is about eating and thinking, about pleasure and responsibility, about global food and the Indian palate. Illustrated by Cheyenne Olivier, it offers recipes for life and lunch LESS ... MORE One advantage/disadvantage of being old is that I lived through what is history to so many others. President Trump adores William McKinley, the 25th US president, for his tariffs, but at 78, he is way too young to have lived behind a properly high tariff wall. I, on the other hand, lived in the India of the 1970s, when we had managed to kill almost all international trade through a combination of tariffs and other rules for importing (non-tariff barriers in trade parlance). I mostly experienced trade barriers through the important lens of chocolate. India, for reasons I do not claim to understand, did not grow much cocoa in those days, despite having many areas that seem suitable for that crop based on where else it grows. So, all the cocoa was imported and the exorbitant duties made it expensive. To keep the chocolate affordable for ordinary middle-class kids like me, Cadbury's used minimal amounts of cocoa. Illustration credit: Cheyenne Olivier (France) The net result was something milky and intensely sweet, not unlike most Indian confections, but chocolate mostly only in name. The trouble was that I had tasted the real deal, courtesy some of my parents' kind friends who either lived abroad or had gone on a visit. And it tasted very different — there was a bitterness and depth to them that was unmistakable. On our occasional trip to Kolkata's crumbling 'New Market', or to movie theaters in its vicinity, I would notice men in tight pants who were clearly trying to attract my mother's attention (and failing). Fairly soon, I figured out that they were selling various smuggled items, mostly watches, perfumes and CHOCOLATE. I could see from the print on the wrapper that though it said Cadbury's, this was a different breed. My instincts told me that my mother would not take kindly to the idea of buying contraband Cadbury's, but it was hard to shake off the desire to try it out. As I grew into teenage, my understanding of the gains from trade became less one-dimensional. For one, I was more aware of how people around me dressed, and it became clear that there were jeans and jeans. Those that flopped a bit, like mine, and the ones exuded a steely foreign firmness. I remember admiring the new pair that a neighbour was wearing and his telling me, very proudly, 'impotted', which to me sounded like impotent. I started giggling, at which point he got very huffy and commented on my apparent tendency to be jealous, which to be fair, I was a bit. All that has changed now. According to some industry estimates, India is the third largest exporter of denim in the world. Unfortunately, we still don't have our global brand of jeans, but there is no doubt about the quality of the denim. For one, I am biased but I think my friend Suket Dhir makes some of the most stylish denim products I see anywhere. There are two more or less standard theories of what changed. One that we heard a lot in India before the opening of the economy in 1991 is that we need the pressure from imports to force our producers to get to global quality. My colleague David Atkins, with Amit Khandelwal from Columbia University and Adam Osman from the University of Illinois, participated in a randomised experiment in which some carpet manufacturers in Egypt that had previously produced only for the domestic market, were connected to potential importers abroad. It took some time for them to get going, but eventually, they started exporting and making more money, and perhaps more interestingly, weaving higher-quality carpets in the same amount of time. The authors called this learning-by-exporting. The alternative view is sometimes described, confusingly, as learning-by-doing. It is better described as learning-by-not-importing. The idea is that it takes some time to learn how to produce quality, and if you are new to the business, there is an apprenticeship period where the competition from abroad might make it impossible to sell profitably. Knowing that they are in for a prolonged period of loss before things turn around, firms may not take on certain products that would otherwise be natural for their country to produce. This argues for temporarily shielding domestic firms from foreign competition to allow them to find their feet. The idea goes back at least to Alexander Hamilton, author of the Federalist papers and now a subject of a great musical, and is often referred to as the 'infant industry argument'. A recent paper in the American Economic Review by Reka Juhasz finds support for this theory in France during the Napoleonic wars. Before the war, France was slow to adopt mechanised cotton spinning technology developed in Britain. Instead, they imported British cotton yarn. A war-time blockade of British manufacturers changed that, especially in the north of France. This was where trade was particularly effectively blocked, unlike in the south, where exports from Britain continued to seep in. Juhasz shows that this difference in access to British cotton leads to an interesting reversal. The south, the part of France which had more mechanised spinning before the war, fell behind the north during the blockade. After the war ended and trade resumed, the north kept its lead and managed to compete successfully with the cotton from across the Channel. The infant industry grew up. It didn't need protection anymore. The timing of take-off in the Indian denim industry is consistent with a learning-by-exporting view, since it mostly happened after liberalisation in 1991. However, given that the industry actually started in the 1980s behind the tariff wall, it is possible to argue that the trade barriers helped the infant industry to get prepared to meet global competition. The take-off still happened after the economy opened up, perhaps because importing the machines and other inputs for making denim became much easier after 1991. I remember working with locally available inputs in the 1970s, the goal in my case being to replicate the Black Forest cake that I had loved at the then-famous Kolkata restaurant called Skyroom. I had my prized can of Himachali cherries for the filling, but the chocolate batter made from several slabs of domestic chocolate refused to look anything like the rich brown viscous liquid that they showed in the photo, and I eventually gave up. Perhaps it was a bit the same for the denim-makers. Whether it is helping the exporters or stopping the imports, the intervention is meant to be temporary, just long enough that the industry can get going. The traditional position of economists is that if a country needs permanent refuge behind a high tariff wall to keep a particular sector going, it is probably better to shut down and focus on whatever the country is good at. Exports of successful products can pay for the imports of the ones that don't do well. Politicians, including President Trump, often have a very different view on this. The problem is that trade has winners and losers, and they are not the same people. In the US, the big winners are relatively well-educated people who live on the coast; the losers are less educated residents of the middle of the country. The winners win more than the losers lose, economists would say, so why not tax the former to compensate the latter? The catch is that the US, unlike many European countries, has no tradition of large-scale redistribution through taxes and transfers. Instead, Trump wants to permanently block the imports of a wide range of products in the hope that it 'reshores' the industries that were lost due to trade and brings back the associated jobs to the mid-Western workers. At one level, this is not very different from what we do in India to protect the livelihoods of farmers: we have essentially permanent tariffs of 35% or more on things like corn, which is what annoys the US. At another level, however, it is vastly more audacious. We are merely trying to keep the farmers in business: Trump wants firms to start new businesses, businesses that have been gone for a generation or more, and create jobs. They will need fresh, large investments and newly trained workers. Buyers will need to be willing to pay the premium and swallow the lowered quality, like we did in India in my youth. Retailers will need to not look for alternatives, if not from China, from Brazil or Rwanda. Managers will need to hire workers rather than deploy robots to do all the work. The investors will need to believe that this new regime will last, and they won't fall victim to some new deal that the President (or the next President) likes better. The reshoring probably won't happen. But in its name, the world economy is being upended; no one knows where it will land. In the meanwhile, I remain on the lookout for shifty men on Boston streets selling illicit bags of the wonderful Chinese black walnuts and sweet salty candied plums. This is part of a monthly column by Nobel-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
