TIF Collection

The Vulnerable Himalayas

Can the Indus Waters Treaty Defeat Terrorism?

Weaponizing the Indus Waters Treaty will undermine the efforts to help South Asia overcome its flawed & troubled colonial resource and river control legacies. Recovering the idea of the…
▶25-Jun-2025
Rohan D’Souza

Joshimath: An Avoidable Disaster

Joshimath has been sinking slowly for years due to various reasons, but the recent accelerated sinking may be due to the execution of major projects. Little has ever been done to mitigate the causes…
▶07-Mar-2023
Ravi Chopra

Char Dham Pariyojana: A High Risk Engineering Exercise

The prestigious Char Dham Pariyojana to widen roads to Uttarakhand’s pilgrimage sites is being rapidly pushed forward without heed to the environmental and social consequences. Several laws have been…
▶23-Sep-2020
Mallika Bhanot

Does a Data Deficit Discourse Surround Fears over China's Brahmaputra Hydro Project?

Available data does not establish that China’s mega-dam project on the Brahmaputra could divert water, alter flows, or trap sediments . The real risk is dam failure due to high seismic activity and…
▶18-Feb-2025
Nilanjan Ghosh, Sayanangshu Modak

Demography

Implications of India’s Regional Demographic Diversity

The striking regional diversity in India’s demography which is expected to widen during this century calls for a multifaceted and nuanced approach to ensure the well-being of people in all regions,…
▶25-Aug-2024
K. S. James, Shubhra Kriti

Has the Demography of the Border Districts in Eastern India Changed?

District-level data from West Bengal and Assam show only modest and uneven growth in Muslim populations in border districts between 2001 and 2019. The evidence does not support political claims that…
▶24-Jun-2026
Abhishek Shaw, C. Rammanohar Reddy

Women’s Autonomy in an Era of Pro-Natalist Policies

Pro-natalist policies, now acquiring traction in India, are tools of social control reinforcing gender norms. These agendas undermine reproductive justice by prioritising demographic goals over…
▶19-Nov-2025
Souvik Pyne, Alka Barua

Prospective Changes in the Age Structure of India’s Population: The Regional Dimension

Rapid population growth is no longer a major issue in India as it was in the 1970s. Current challenges include harnessing the demographic dividend, developing elderly care systems, addressing inter-…
▶15-Jul-2024
Purushottam M. Kulkarni

Fragile Citizenship

When the State Always Doubts Your Identity

Exercises like the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls presage a state of affairs where documents and IDs can never prove sound identification and where citizenship of the ordinary resident…
▶04-Sep-2025
Nayanika Mathur, Tarangini Sriraman

Faith-based Citizenship

The Citizenship Amendment Bill and the pan-Indian National Register of Citizens mark a foundational shift in the Indian conception of citizenship, providing paths to citizenship for some and driving…
▶31-Oct-2019
Niraja Gopal Jayal

The SIR, A Long Road to Exile?

There is a lack of legal clarity on what happens to those excluded from the Special Intensive Revisions of electoral rolls across the country. If Assam is any indication, it will be the beginning of…
▶30-Apr-2026
Darshana Mitra
Essay

Datafication and the Erosion of Citizenship Rights

India’s digital welfare state recasts citizenship by translating complex social identities into data categories. Driven by efficiency and targeting, this shift has entrenched opaque systems that…
▶01-Apr-2026
Rajendran Narayanan, Padmini Ramesh

Caste Census

Can a Caste Census Cause Attrition of Caste?

At a pragmatic level, support for caste enumeration may be conceded. But it should not be burdened with the untenable claim that it will generate attrition and lead to the abolition of caste.
▶11-May-2026
Anand Teltumbde

Can a Caste Census Reverse the BJP's Advantage in Wooing Lower Castes?

A caste census may not transform the course of electoral politics. But bringing caste contradictions to the fore could give the social justice parties a strategy to woo lower castes that have drifted…
▶27-Nov-2023
Pankaj Kumar

Making the Bihar Caste Census Better

Bihar's caste census can offer new insights into the endurance of caste's links with occupation and economic status. Conducted properly, it has the potential to empower residents and deepen…
▶25-Apr-2023
M.R. Sharan

What Telangana’s Census-Scale Survey Reveals About Caste in Modern India

Telangana’s caste survey maps multidimensional deprivation across 242 castes, revealing a steep and persistent hierarchy. Growth and urbanisation improve averages but leave the caste gradient…
▶11-May-2026
Srinivas Goli