Archives: Event

Lessons from the Global Advocacy for Gender Justice in the Population Field: 1975-2025

National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Feminist Economics Saturday Discussion Group (FESDIG) jointly organized a cconversation with Ms. Judith Bruce, The Population Council, on Lessons from the Global Advocacy for Gender Justice in the Population Field: 1975-2025 on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at NCAER Campus, 1st Floor Seminar Hall. 

Since the first world conference on the status of women held in 1975 in Mexico City, feminist advocates have struggled to place gender justice at the center of population discourse. Ms. Judith Bruce, a senior advisor based in the Population Council’s New York office, reflected on lessons learned over the past fifty years.

Judith Bruce served as co-chair of the UN Expert Group Meeting on the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl-child. She has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and received the Association for Women in Development’s bi-annual award for outstanding contributions to the field. A graduate of Harvard University, Bruce has written and lectured extensively on population policy, the quality of reproductive health services, the status of adolescent girls in the developing world, family and partnership dynamics, and women’s access to and control over resources inside and outside the household.

Through policy analysis, evidence-based intervention design, advocacy, and capacity-building, she has changed the way the world thinks about quality of care from the client’s perspective and about the power and potential of the poorest, most excluded girls. This seminar will draw on her five decades of experience in this field to reflect on the challenges facing it in the coming years and on how lessons learned may energize research and advocacy to overcome new obstacles.

Roundtable Discussion: Translating Research on Women’s Economic Empowerment into Policy: Progress and Prospects

On 30th January 2025, the National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC) at NCAER collaborated with The Quantum Hub (TQH) to organize a roundtable discussion titled “Translating Research on Women’s Economic Empowerment into Policy: Progress and Prospects”, held at the NCAER campus in Delhi The event explored how policymaking can be driven by evidence and how research can be made relevant to policy. Over thirty intellectuals from research, academia, development, and policy sectors lent their voices to the discussion, contributing data, insights, and experiences and thus eliciting a myriad of pathways to answering a complex two-fold question. The event featured a keynote speech by Dr. Sonalde Desai, special remarks by Dr. Devaki Jain, and two moderated sessions led by Dr. Pallavi Choudhuri and Ms. Aparajita Bharti respectively.

Ms. Bharti delivered the introductory remarks highlighting the relevance, application, and impact of contemporary research on women’s economic power in India.  Dr Sonalde Desai traced the historical interactions between social science research and policy in India, urging scholars to collaborate and integrate feminist perspectives into decision-making. Dr Desai highlighted critical emerging areas, including the changing nature of work, the dynamics of platform and gig work, and evolving family structures in India.   In her special remarks, Padma Bhushan Ms. Jain highlighted the need to recognize women’s economic contributions, stressing collective efforts for meaningful change. Ms. Jain shared the journey of feminist economics research in India, drawing from her extensive experience with the Planning Commission and the South Commission.

The session on “Evolving Research Landscape on Women’s Economic Empowerment”, moderated by Dr. Choudhuri, examined the role of data in policymaking, particularly in recognizing unpaid family work and expanding definitions of labor.  The session on “Pathways to Translating Research into Action”, moderated by Ms. Bharti, explored strategies for integrating research into policy interventions. Speakers emphasized the importance of women’s education, progressive curriculum reforms, and collaboration at all levels.

The roundtable discussion provided valuable insights into the complex relationship between research and policymaking on women’s economic empowerment in India. The event underscored the need for evidence-driven policies and greater recognition of women’s economic contributions. Key discussions underscored the need for fair compensation, data-driven policy linkages, and cross-sector collaboration. The discussions emphasized that a collective, unified approach is essential for translating research into impactful policy interventions that can drive real, systemic change for women in the workforce.

NDIC Early Career Fellows (Cohort of 2023-24): Concluding Presentations

Last year NDIC initiated a non-resident early career fellows programme to help enhance the data ecosystem. These fellows received training in diverse aspects of research, including engagement with policymakers and the development of grant proposals. However, their main activity focused on research on methodological challenges using secondary data. The fellows presented their final research on September 27 in the NCAER auditorium. Details of their work is listed below:

  • Looking beyond employment-unemployment: Labour utilisation and Time related underemployment, evidence from labour market experiments in India.

Nishat Anjum, Senior Research Fellow, Jawaharlal Nehru University

  • Does Time Use Survey give a Higher Estimate of Women in Economic Activity?

Vijayamba R, Assistant Professor, National Law School of India University

  • Measuring Leisure through Time-use: Concordance of Stylized Questions and Time Diaries?

Ashwani Tripathi, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Social Sciences, FLAME University

  • Timely Truths: Quality of Age Data in Large-scale Surveys; Alternate Title: From Heaps to Insights: Aadhaar’s Role in Enhancing Age Data Quality

Subarna Banerjee, PhD Candidate, Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence

  • Making sense of the slum statistics in National Sample Survey (NSS)

Dibyendu Biswas, PhD Candidate, Institute of Development Studies Kolkata (IDSK)

  • Social Desirability and Interviewer’s Bias on Response to Sensitive Questions in Large-Scale Survey: An Evidence from NFHS-5

Saurabh Singh, Research Scholar, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

  • Measuring Urbanization Using Global Human Settlement Layers and Gridded Population Data

Nawaj Sarif, PhD Candidate, International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS)

  • The Development and Validation of the Comprehensive Measure of Academic Success (CMAS) for School Students: A Construct Validation Approach

Usama Ghayas Syed, PhD Candidate, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT K)

  • Hidden Diabetes in India

Md. Juel Rana, Assistant Professor, G. B. Pant Social Science Institute

Gender Conclave September 2024

On 25th and 26th September 2024, the National Data Innovation Centre (NDIC) at NCAER organised a Gender Conclave with its partners, the Centre for Catalyzing Change, Nous Consultants, Population Foundation of India, Sewa Bharat and The World Bank. Over seventy public intellectuals hailing from sectors transcending policy, academia and development attended the in-person event. Gender Conclave 2024 involved a myriad of conversations cutting across gender and development.

Discussions at the Conclave encompassed a keynote speech by Professor Bina Agarwal about her research on women’s land rights and its use in mobilisation for reforms to the Hindu Succession Act. Professor Agarwal also highlighted a number of innovative measures  that have facilitated women’s empowerment such as group farming. A second keynote speech by Smt. Uma Mahadevan, Additional Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Government of Karnataka drew insights from measures established to facilitate the economic upliftment of women, including  women’s access to public transportation and the transformative role of women self-help groups (SHGs).

The panel discussions closely explored some of the most pressing challenges of gender equity through collaborative conversations which drew upon evidence-based research, with discussions on changes in women’s life course and its implications for public policy.

Through the research-driven approach and rich exchange of ideas, the participants at the Gender Conclave not only highlighted the urgent need to address gender-based disparities but also laid the groundwork for future collaborations and initiatives aimed at creating a more equitable society.

DataTalk: A Conversation about Measuring Learning in India

NCAER’s National Data Innovation Center hosted the 7th edition of DataTalk. The conversation delved into the complexities of measuring children’s learning outcomes in India. With school enrollment rates having increased, the focus had shifted from merely getting children into schools to understanding what they were learning. However, this brought forth a challenging question: How do we accurately assess these learning outcomes?

The panel included experts from diverse backgrounds, including Akashi Kaul from the Central Square Foundation, Sridhar Rajgopalan, an Educational Entrepreneur, Abhijit Singh from the Stockholm School of Economics, and Wilima Wadhwa, the director of the ASER Centre. They discussed different methodologies, from school-based assessments like the National Achievement Survey to citizen-led evaluations such as the ASER Report, highlighting the importance of using data effectively to influence educational practice and policy.

During the discussion, we explored various approaches to educational assessments, the biases and challenges associated with them, and their implications for policy-making. The session aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of educational assessments in India and how they could be improved to ensure all children receive quality education.