Centrally Sponsored Schemes and India’s Shifting Federal Balance
The State governments across India are increasingly facing backlash when it comes to welfare provisioning, with the most criticism centered on finances and fiscal stress on individual States. While concerns about shrinking fiscal space are often raised, these are not unusual. In fact, this is how States are meant to function. In our fiscal federalism, […]
Positive Externalities: Lessons from a Participatory Workshop on Heat and Mental Health
Anecdotes can spark new research Our interest in heat and its impact on mental health has been shaped by our belief in the power of storytelling and collaborative inquiry as part of evidence-building. This interest partly emerged from our previous project that focused on the lives of women who work in public spaces. During the […]
‘Power’ According to Me
I thought I was being headstrong and obstinate, but not powerful Life has unravelled the many meanings of power to me. I have come to understand that power is not always with others, but with us as well. Being myself, expressing myself in the way I like, is also an act of power. I got […]
The Dailiness of Violence
There is a specific way in which we react to a gruesome sexual assault in India. From Nirbhaya to the recent Kolkata case, we come out in protest against the victimization of women, and our outrage, anger, and arguments are about justice, crime, and punishment. We want a solution from the State. We want to […]
A Bus Journey
Travelling by public transport, especially BMTC buses is something that I have been doing for a long time – about 8 years now. I take one of the traditional bus routes in Bangalore (Mysore Road) which has cultural and historical significance [1] and thus embarking on this bus journey is an adventure that encloses a […]
Fighting the Good Fight: My Journey as a Feminist Researcher
“The heart of justice is truth telling, seeing ourselves and the world the way it is rather than the way we want it to be. More than ever before we, as a society, need to renew a commitment to truth telling.” bell hooks This month of March is quite significant for many of us in […]
How has Beti Bachao Beti Padhao fared in five years?
One of the flagship programmes of the Narendra Modi Government that has created a lot of buzz is Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao. However, the scheme has fared well neither in its design nor in its implementation. The scheme majorly runs in two components; mass media communication and multi-sectoral intervention. I will be commenting critically on […]
Education Cess and its Neglect of Education
Towards the end of March, we all rush to complete our investments in the Tax Saving instruments and also furnish our declarations to save tax. There would be many of you who despite all the exemptions end up paying taxes to the government. Ever wondered what happens to the different taxes collected from you? All […]
Towards responsive models of early childhood care and education in India
India has a significant child population, with 158 million children between the ages of 0-6 years. The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), India’s flagship child welfare programme, which includes the provision of early childhood care and education (ECCE), reaches 48% of children of preschool age. Despite the growth of private and non-government ECCE providers, 20% […]
The Many Faces of Participatory Methodologies
At our recently concluded annual seminar, Prof. Rajagopalan, of the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), mentioned that the idea of “participative approaches” has gained currency within development work and literature. Stating this, he pointed to how participatory approaches are seen as the panacea for all ills that plague development-related work. A significant point […]
The Problem of Researchers’ Discretion in Propensity Score Matching
In an impact evaluation study, researchers attempt to estimate the average treatment effects due to exposure to a programme or treatment, by comparing outcomes for treatment and control (non-treated) groups which are randomly assigned (Randomised Controlled Trials – RCT). Average Treatment Effect (ATE) is the difference between the average outcomes between the individuals/units assigned to […]
Fitting into My Own Shoes: Reflections from the Field
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 […]
Reflections on Fieldwork
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 […]
Do Women in India Require Empowerment?
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 […]
Women’s Empowerment: Still a Long Way to Go! (Dilli Abhi Bahut Door Hai)
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, […]