India Development Review

19/05/2026

Nanavu, by Athulya Pillai, is a silent comic that traces everyday life along Kerala's tidal edges narrated through the eyes of a girl and her small ritual of keeping her slippers above water. Across Kerala's coastline, tidal flooding slowly erodes homes, health, and stability. For communities living here, the water never quite recedes. The Kerala government has now recognised tidal flooding as a state-specific natural disaster, following years of advocacy from panchayats in the region.

19/05/2026

Many gig workers spend long hours on the road without insurance, paid leave, or fair dispute systems — while platforms continue classifying them as “partners” instead of workers. In this edition of , we unpack why gig workers across India are demanding basic labour protections and safer working conditions.

➡️What changes do you think platform companies should be held accountable for? Comment below and share this post to continue the conversation.

👉🏾Swipe to learn more about the realities of gig work in India and the protections workers are fighting for.

🔗Visit the links below to read the articles this post is based on:

-‘Too hot to deliver’ by Ashali Bhandari and Charu Pragya: https://idronline.org/article/climate-emergency/rising-temperatures-pose-a-huge-risk-for-gig-workers/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sm

-‘Do gig workers’ voices count?’ by Damni Kain and Asiya Islam: https://idronline.org/article/livelihoods/do-gig-workers-voices-count/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sm

-‘What the data reveals about India’s gig workers’ by the IDR team: https://idronline.org/article/livelihoods/what-the-data-reveals-about-indias-gig-workers/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sm
For a more in-depth understanding, read more articles on idronline.org, because social impact deserves more than just a headline.

18/05/2026

For months, we at IDR have been receiving scam emails from someone pretending to be our CEO. Here’s an exaggerated version of what that experience feels like.

Story link:

Based on true events.

18/05/2026

India’s heatwaves are lasting longer, arriving earlier, and killing more people than before. But rising temperatures are only part of the story.

Underreported deaths, outdated heat definitions, reactive planning, and missing funding all shape who survives extreme heat — and who doesn’t. In this edition of , we unpack the systems making heatwaves more lethal in India.

➡️What do you think is missing from India’s heatwave response? Comment below and share this post to continue the conversation.

👉🏾Swipe to learn more about the gaps in how India counts, plans for, and responds to extreme heat.

🔗Visit the links below to read the articles this post is based on:

‘Extreme heat in India needs funds to fix’ by Tamanna Dalal: https://idronline.org/article/climate-emergency/extreme-heat-in-india-needs-funds-to-fix/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=sm

‘No respite in sight: India’s heatwaves are here to stay’ by Chandra Bhushan: https://idronline.org/article/climate-emergency/it-is-time-the-government-acknowledges-heatwaves-as-a-real-threat/?utm_source=facebookinstagram&utm_medium=sm

For a more in-depth understanding, read more articles on idronline.org, because social impact deserves more than just a headline.

15/05/2026

Delhi has nearly 18,000 parks and gardens, but for many children living in bastis, play is still out of reach. Locked school grounds, park restrictions imposed by RWAs, and unaffordable private facilities mean that something as fundamental as play becomes a privilege rather than a right. As open spaces shrink and privatisation expands, children from informal settlements are increasingly excluded from the spaces meant for everyone.

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Delhi has thousands of parks, but children from informal settlements face locked gates, privatisation, and exclusion. Play becomes a privilege.

14/05/2026

Srivathsan Ramaswamy has written something a lot of people in this sector are thinking but not saying out loud.

Which is itself part of the problem.

India's nonprofit ecosystem is more capable and influential than ever. And yet the question surfacing quietly across the sector is: are nonprofits becoming less willing to critique the very systems they work within?

Srivathsan examines the three pressures shaping this: the imperative of scale, the constraint of funding, and the acceleration through technology. And asks what civil society risks losing when maintaining access starts to outweigh speaking truth.

Read and share if you work in the sector, fund it, or care about what it is supposed to be for.

Nonprofits are scaling rapidly, but are they losing the independence and critical voice that once defined civil society?

14/05/2026

Data-driven decision-making is not just about bringing in a “data person”.

This article argues that becoming data-driven is not merely a hiring problem. It is an organisational one.

👉🏾 Manije Kelkar (Founder & Director at Goalkeep) explains why nonprofits struggle to attract and retain data talent, what organisations are actually hiring for, and the five shifts needed to build a stronger data culture beyond recruitment.

Many nonprofits are hiring for data-driven decision-making, but hiring talent alone may not be enough.

13/05/2026

The social change sector is burning out. But what if we’re measuring burnout incorrectly in the first place?

👉🏾 In this article, Naghma Mulla and Shruti Shibulal unpack the gaps in how burnout and well-being are currently measured in the social sector, and why better data is essential for building meaningful responses.

The data on well-being in civil society is riddled with problems: vague definitions, Western bias, and a near-total absence of grassroots voices.

13/05/2026

What do you go to ChatGPT for, and what do you go to IDR Answers for?

Most of us already use AI tools as assistants: to write, summarise, or organise information.

But when it comes to the social sector, the questions are different.

-Why is a programme not scaling?
-What actually drives impact?
-What are others in the sector learning from similar challenges?

These aren’t just information problems. They’re questions shaped by context, experience, and years of work.

That’s where IDR Answers plays a different role.

👉Before you ask the web—ask differently.

🔗Link: https://idranswers.idronline.org/

12/05/2026

India has the world’s largest youth population, but for millions of young people, the path from education to meaningful employment remains uncertain. More youth are staying in school and earning degrees, yet unemployment among graduates is rising. Access to professional courses is still shaped by household income, and stable, well-paying jobs remain out of reach for many.

Story link:

The State of Working India 2026 report charts a young worker's transition from education into employment, and how this has evolved over the last four decades.

11/05/2026

Every year, the social sector gathers in air-conditioned rooms to solve problems that exist outside them. The plastic bottles, to their credit, are the only ones in the room who fully grasp the irony.

Read the full article by Salman Faheem here:

Find out what happens when a conference on heatwaves happens in a five-star hotel.