Central control of health care; the size of union government procurement; gender inequality in the Hindu Succession Act

Covid-19 and vaccination is back as a policy problem with the need for `booster shots’. My column in the Business Standard today looks back at the Central control of health care which was done for the first time with Covid-19 vaccines in India.

Government contracting is one important component in the field of state capacity. Anjali Sharma and Susan Thomas have estimates of one important fact of this field: the magnitude of purchases by the union government. This is in the new xKDR Forum working paper, The footprint of union government procurement in India.

Devendra Damle and I were intrigued by a new case which has appeared in the Supreme Court. We discuss this case, and its larger context, in Bringing gender equality in the Hindu Succession Act: An overdue reform which appeared on 14 December on The Leap Blog.