India’s Dangerous New Curriculum

first posted @ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/12/06/indias-dangerous-new-curriculum/ From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, the Mughal Empire did much to create modern-day India. It consolidated the country into a sovereign political unit, established a secular tradition in law and administration, and built monuments such as the Taj Mahal. The Mughals were originally from Uzbekistan, but over time they...

Electoral Reform: NOTA in local body elections

Maharashtra has boldly expanded NOTA, with Haryana following suit. If the ‘none of the above’ option receives the most votes in local body elections in December, a re-poll will be held, the state election commissions have said. Read the full article here:  https://scroll.in/article/902716/maharashtra-has-boldly-taken-the-nota-idea-further-but-will-the-move-withstand-legal-scrutiny

What does the desert have?

Anurag Behar First posted @ https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/LLblLHMDci5ZQC4VVGiQkN/Opinion--Life-lessons-from-the-school-of-hard-knocks.html The crimson sun set on the sand dunes of Chohthan. All its hues yesterday were the same as five years ago. I had never seen the sun set in the sand dunes before. The temperature dropped by 10 degrees in 30 minutes. The colour of the sand changed every...

दंड देकर बच्चों को सिखाने की जिद्दी धारणाएं

दिलीप रांजेकर सीईओ, अजीम प्रेमजी फाउंडेशन …..बाल-सभा (बच्चों की संसद) के ढांचे, परिकल्पना और कामकाज…..शिक्षक-शिक्षिकाओं ने सिद्धांतत: यह माना कि बच्चों को किसी भी तरह से डराना-धमकाना सिखाने की प्रक्रिया के लिए नुकसानदेह…..यह मत कि बच्चों के लिए सजा जरूरी है, सिर्फ शिक्षक-शिक्षिकाओं के बीच नहीं, बल्कि अभिभावकोंसमेत पूरे समाज में गहरी जड़ें जमाए हुए है…..यह कैसा स्कूल है, जो बच्चों को मारता-पीटता नहीं है?…..वजह, ताकत के प्रति हमारा यह नजरिया है कियह एक ऐसी चीज है, जिसका इस्तेमाल किसी कमजोर व्यक्ति को दबाने और अपनी आज्ञा मनवाने…. https://www.livehindustan.com/blog/nazariya/story-najariya-hindustan-column-on-14-november-2265302.html

The Inclusion of People with Disabilities

Lessons from the Association of People with Disability By: V Santhakumar, Ankur Madan, Subrat Mishra 1. Introduction According to official statistics, People with Disabilities (PWDs) constitute 2.21% of the Indian population. Professionals who work in this domain may consider this figure as an underestimate. The total number of PWDs, even that based on official figures...

Care, Trust and Respect – Domestic Workers and their Employers

Rajesh Joseph, Roshni Lobo, Balmurli Natrajan Recently, Deepika Mhatre, domestic help and a stand-up comedian, gave a glimpse of how things have changed for her: “Appearing on stage has added to my confidence…some madams who bumped into me near the lifts spoke politely to me for the first time. Earlier, I had been invisible.” Read...

A Modest Proposal for Wealthy Countries to Reforest Their Land for the Common Good

By Erik Meijaard and Douglas Sheil ABSTRACT We discuss a recent press release calling on wealthy countries to do more to combat climate change and protect their biodiversity. We examine some further examples of how questionable views are imposed unilaterally on conservation problems. Until we better engage with local perspectives we shall be less credible...

Where are the missing boys?

Economics in action

Rema Devi and I have visited a set of schools and villages in the Samastipur district of Bihar very recently. There are interesting developments in education there.

First, there is a significant increase in the readiness to admit children in schools. Hence the enrolment has gone up substantially. This may be due to the limited improvement in, and investments for, human development that are happening in Bihar during the last 1-2 decades. These could be facilitated by the political mobilization of non-elites and the emergence of a competitive democracy there. Though some of the people who became literates through the Total Literacy Campaign might have relapsed to illiteracy (an issue that is noted here), there could be a substantial increase in the demand for schooling as an outcome of the campaign. That too may be reflecting in Bihar.

Currently, there are no major issues that work against sending girls…

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Social Actions That Followed the Total Literacy Campaign

Lessons from Malar (Kanyakumari District) By V Santhakumar, Anant Gangola, K K Krishna Kumar First posted @ http://practiceconnect.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/2018/10/25/social-actions-that-followed-the-total-literacy-campaign/ 1. Introduction The Total Literacy Campaign (TLC) of the early 1990s was a major mass literacy initiative in India which brought governmental and non-governmental stakeholders together. It was the first time that a nationwide campaign was launched for...

Opinion | A fraying lifeline for India’s deprived children

Anurag Behar first posted @ https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/e2RSJjRWziEioCwUSFh6QK/Opinion--A-fraying-lifeline-for-Indias-deprived-children.html Tombstones for the young, without graves. Each a foot tall, clustered closely together. About half carved with black cobras, for the boys who died young. The other half colourful, for the girls who died young. Every phala has such a shrine. Phalas are hamlets of the Bhil in south...