Reflexivity is customary in social anthropology and resultant epistemology. George Herbert Mead defines reflexivity as “turning back of the experience of individual upon (her – or himself)”. Reflexivity is always retrospective and hence this blog post is about what I was looking for in the field, what I found and how I perceived it then and how I am looking… Read more »

The recent referendum in the UK reminds me of this classic Noël Coward song, cheerfully sung also by Danny Kaye ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ [1]. Mad dogs and Englishmen [2] Go out in the midday sun… It’s such a surprise for the Eastern eyes to see That though the English are effete They’re quite impervious to heat On June 23rd,… Read more »

One of the new aspects of my job at CBPS, which I have enjoyed, has been field work.  The GrOW project, in particular, has provided me many opportunities to do field work. Previously, I had either worked on secondary or primary data, which I had played no role in collecting.  This experience led me to write this article; I thought… Read more »

Life imitates art far more than art imitates life – Oscar Wilde In the normal course, it is art that imitates life. The art forms –literature, painting and cinema – for most part depended upon and depicted reality. It was art holding up the mirror to life in the description of pastoral England in the novels of Hardy and Eliot;and… Read more »

A blog post in three parts. Part One: A question. Do women in India require empowerment? This was a question posed to me on a recent trip to Bihar. I said yes. But the answer is actually very simplistic to what we see in the field. This question is attached to a larger group of questions – what is empowerment?… Read more »

Women’s empowerment is an important issue that India needs to deal with on an urgent basis. Women’s position continues to be secondary in the Indian society and the process of change is extremely slow. This is obvious irrespective of what indicator you take and which area you choose: education, health, political and labour market participation, care work or violence against… Read more »

Fiscal Policy measures are a mixed bag There is a sense of relief that the FM resisted the urge to splurge despite low oil prices, and extra money from spectrum auctions, as well as better than expected tax collections in the current year. It is good that fiscal deficit targets have been kept. It will also not add pressure for… Read more »

More than two decades ago, when I made a phone call home using a public booth near Ganga dhaba close to my hostel in JNU, my father casually informed me that the police verification for my passport was over! First I did not understand what he was referring to, as I had not yet applied for the passport. When I… Read more »

While the speculation about the impending Union Budget is rife and the states are busy preparing their own budgets, it is time to take a long term view of budgets, performances and reforms. In Karnataka, this is most opportune moment as Sri S Siddaramaiah, the current Chief Minister of Karnataka, is about to complete 1000 days in office. After assuming… Read more »