As part of the conference Urban Health in India: Equity, Financing & Governance, CSEP researchers presented new work examining the political economy of urban health & education at the state level. In the panel "Urban Health: Selected Political Economy Aspects,"
@AnoushkaGupta delivered a presentation titled, "Unpacking Drivers for State-Level Initiatives for Urban Primary Care & Elementary Education in Karnataka, Rajasthan & Odisha (2014–2024)" co-developed with
@psingh_2016, Fellow at CSEP. Drawing on evidence from the three states over the past decade, the presentation explored various drivers of state-level initiatives, bureaucratic leadership, political interest, CSO engagement. It argued that urban primary care has received limited state-level priority (though variation exists between the states) & that the initiatives undertaken have often been shaped more by the incentives of senior bureaucrats & considerations of political visibility & branding at the state level rather than the everyday needs & ground-level dynamics around health centres at the ground level. The channels that could translate between the two – civil society mobilisation, social movements, internal bureaucratic feedback loops have been weak.