Aditya pays tributes:
A relentless crusader for human rights for three decades now, Andhra Pradesh HC lawyer Balagopal has fought cases from extra-judicial killings of political dissenters to atrocities against Dalits and women. And he has often suffered personal attacks for his efforts, by the police and others shamed by his exposes. But he has never [...]
Archive for the 'Policy' Category
R.I.P. Dr.Balagopal
Published by October 10th, 2009 in Adivasi, Capitalism, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Development, Government, Human Rights, India, Justice, Policy, Politics, Poverty and Violence. 0 CommentsIISc and the Slow Death of Innovation
Published by August 23rd, 2009 in Development, Education, India, Internet and Policy. 0 CommentsPrithwiraj is upset with IISc’s plans to restrict internet access to it’s denizens. An interesting read.
In the recent past there has been a flurry of articles (press releases?) in various sections of the media, hailing J.N. Tata’s gift to India on its centennial year, and the high quality of academic research being performed by the [...]
E-Campaign for Patient Rights
Published by June 30th, 2009 in Activism, Democracy, Health, Human Rights, India, Justice, Policy, Recommended Links, Regulation and Society. 1 CommentAditya’s 3 year old son was prescribed a drug overdose by a pediatrician for the recurring fever. This led to very severe consequences and the child needed ICU care for 3 days and a painful process of recovery due to this excessive medication. Aditya wanted to register his complaint against the pediatrician and the hospital [...]
Different schools for different classes
Published by June 26th, 2009 in Business, Children, Education, Policy and Politics. 0 CommentsAvinash thinks Kapil Sibal is progressive:
Kapil Sibal, the new HRD minister of India, seems to have taken a stand completely contrary to that taken by his predecessor, Mr. Arjun Singh – he seems to actually be interested in the development of the human resources in India… ;) I am impressed by the reforms Mr. Sibal [...]
Abi reacts to Kapil Sibal’s plans to make school level Board exams ‘optional’:
Thus, Sibal’s plan, even if it becomes a reality, is likely to benefit only a small number of students who get guaranteed seats in Class XI in their current schools. The alleged benefit of removal of exam-related stress is thus available, ironically, only [...]
Equal Opportunity Commission
Published by June 24th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Policy, Prejudice and Religion. 0 CommentsTarunabh, of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion, writes to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, to further the public debate on equality of opportunities.
Seems to me more like an attempt to start a private, exclusive debate among a select group of elites in the academia, lawmakers and the enforcers, among others.
Ordinary crime
Published by June 22nd, 2009 in Democracy, Human Rights, India, Justice, Media, Policy, Politics, South Asia and Violence. 0 CommentsAjay Govind spends what seem to be ten not-so-ordinary days in Kashmir:
But the words that caught my attention were from the title of that piece. ”I’ve learnt how ordinary crime becomes an issue”. Here were his ‘exact’ words from the interview itself “…It’s a case study for me to understand how if not handled right, an [...]
Child labour- a timeline
Published by June 22nd, 2009 in Children, Education, Human Rights, Policy and Poverty. 0 CommentsKeshaw Bhardwaj has jotted down some interesting notes on child labour in India.
‘Politics will become even less accountable’
Published by June 15th, 2009 in Democracy, Economy, Policy and Politics. 1 CommentVipul Tripathi asks: is there a way of getting more women into politics that will get everyone’s support?
There are voices both in support and opposition.
Those supporting the move just have to point to India’s position on the gender-related development index (GDI) — 138 among 156 countries.
Nearly everyone says more women are needed in the legislatures. [...]
The same little featherheads?
Published by June 15th, 2009 in Caste, Democracy, Policy, Politics and Women. 0 CommentsSneha Krishnan finds the debate on women’s reservations ‘immensely entertaining to watch’:
The debate on reservation for women, as most constitutional debates in India, is as old as the tome itself. In 1949, however, the Assembly’s female members rallied against this move, saying that women in India had never demanded special privileges. Ironically, the only voice [...]
Many objections to quota for women
Published by June 14th, 2009 in Democracy, Policy, Politics and Women. 0 CommentsSubramanyam lists out a string of objections to the Women’s reservations bill:
3. This bill assumes that all women are underprivileged and all men are privileged which is exactly not the case. This is a gross generalization and is extremely discriminatory. The very concept that “a women representative in parliament/state assembly represents the women of the [...]
‘Mistaken Macroeconomics’
Published by June 13th, 2009 in Development, Economy, Government, India and Policy. 0 CommentsDr.Subroto Roy writes an open letter to the Prime Minister:
What, at the outset, is supposed to be measured when we speak of “growth”? Indian businessmen and their media friends seem to think “growth” refers to something like nominal earnings before tax for the organised corporate sector, or any unspecified number that can be sold to [...]
‘New Governance’
Published by June 12th, 2009 in Development, Education, Government, Health and Policy. 0 CommentsVikranth thinks the government’s agenda of inclusive growth would be meaningless if it isn’t backed up by reforms in governance:
In a recent survey conducted by an Hong-Kong based consultancy ranked Indian bureaucracy as least efficient in Asia and termed as “slow and painful and a power center in their own right”. After the economic reforms [...]
More MPs from St.Stephens?
Published by June 9th, 2009 in Caste, Dalit, Democracy, Policy, Politics and Women. 0 CommentsFrom social point of view, from the view of representativeness this is the worst parliament in the last few decades (it is a painful realization. There are 20 odd MPs who have passed out from St Stephen, delhi!. Surely we are back to 1960s). Frankly this blogger saw it coming, when they were making hullabaloo [...]
Different perspectives on the quota
Published by June 8th, 2009 in Dalit, Democracy, India, Patriarchy, Policy, Politics, Prejudice and Women. 1 CommentAbantika Ghosh on the proposed quota for women: Let’s at least have the good sense to feel ashamed of it.
Because in the end the need for women’s reservation arises in the mindset and after all the promises of universal education and compulsory primary education, somehow women, as young girls, always seem to miss out on [...]
Women’s reservations bill
Published by June 7th, 2009 in Democracy, India, Patriarchy, Policy, Politics, Prejudice and Women. 3 CommentsRaghav Parthasarathy thinks this is the right time for the bill:
We recently heard Sharad Yadav saying that he would kill himself if the bill was passed. The BJP has indicated that it is willing to support the bill. Its leader , Shri Advani has clearly indicated that the 15th Lok Sabha will see a new [...]
Quota for women
Published by June 5th, 2009 in Caste, Democracy, Patriarchy, Policy, Politics and Women. 0 CommentsThe debate has just started, and I hope it picks up.
Sunny likes the idea of reservations for women in parliament. Churumuri offers a nice picture of poison to Sharad Yadav. The blogger seems, like Mr.Yadav, ‘unwilling to concede, comprehend or come to terms’ with what those who hold opposing points of view are talking about. [...]
‘Council of Sons-in-law and Relatives’ and other dream teams
Published by June 3rd, 2009 in Corruption, Education, Environment, Government, Media, NDTV, Policy and Science & Technology. 1 CommentAnu fisks an NDTV article that sees bright days ahead for India science because a ‘dream team’ has now assumed office at the top of the ministry:
If there is to be team that dares to dream science for India, it will first question the way we raise our children, the way families answer their questions, [...]
Women’s representation in parliament
Published by May 26th, 2009 in Caste, Democracy, Gender & Sexuality, General Elections 2009, Human Rights, Justice, Patriarchy, Policy, Politics, Prejudice, Society and Women. 0 CommentsDeepali Gaur Singh writes on the unfinished business of women’s representation in parliament:
India ranks 115th of 162 countries in terms of gender development. Lack of representation directly translates into a de-sensitized political leadership that is completely cut-off from the issues facing half the population of the country. It also results in disproportionately less legislation empowering [...]
Obama and outsourcing
Published by May 25th, 2009 in Business, Economy, Globalisation, IT, Policy, Politics, Regulation and World. 0 CommentsJoyeeta Biswas looks at Obama’s new policy initiatives on curbing outsourcing:
And even at one fifth of the salary of the American workers, Indian workers in the IT and BPO services still account for 5-7% of India’s GDP, bringing about a huge impact on cities such as Bangalore, the centre of the industry. Needless to say, [...]
Have Dalits rejected Mayawati’s sarvajan formula?
Published by May 23rd, 2009 in Caste, Corruption, Dalit, General Elections 2009, Policy and Politics. 0 CommentsSR Darapuri analyses why Dalits ‘have slammed Mayawati’s sarvajan formula’:
This alliance with BJP not only confused the dalits but Muslims also moved away from BSP as they consider BJP as their bitterest enemy. During the first tenure of BSP rule in 1995 some land was distributed to empower the dalits because till then the party [...]
Wish List
Published by May 19th, 2009 in Business, Caste, Education, Government, Health, Human Rights and Policy. 0 CommentsHarini writes a letter to the new Government, listing out a few basic expectations:
a) Education – If you haven’t noticed – there is a caste system been created in education. The way the system is moving there are one set of institutes for the middle class and one set for the poor. The former delivers [...]
Children and Indian elections
Published by May 13th, 2009 in Activism, Children, Democracy, Education, Food, General Elections 2009, Human Rights, India, Policy, Politics and Poverty. 0 CommentsRuby Nakka ponders on the question: how to make children count in elections?
Children need our attention because they are defenseless. Recently I also read a profound statement on the status of India’s children (to describe why they need our attention) published in the Hindu newspaper on May 3rd, 2009 which states the following: “If you [...]
Is this really a ‘reform’?
Published by April 13th, 2009 in Education, India, Policy, Science & Technology and Spotlight Series. 2 Comments[ This is Essay No. 36 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
Is this really a ‘reform’?
by T.A.Abinandanan
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Hemali Chhapia reports that the hub-and-spoke system of colleges being affiliated to universities may come to an end soon, at least in some Indian states. Under this move, universities will not have colleges affiliated to them; [...]
The Big School Admission Travails
Published by April 8th, 2009 in Children, Education, Humour, India, Policy, Society, Spotlight Series and Women. 4 Comments[ This is Essay No. 35 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
The Big School Admission Travails
by The Mad Momma
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Three and a half years ago when I moved to Delhi, I had people asking me which school I planned to put the 6 month old Brat into. I was a little surprised because [...]
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