Nehru’s death anniversary – May 27. I recall going, like so many others, to Teen Murty. An opportunity to reflect on Nehru’s achievements and failures. Acknowledging several failures, I see his overall contributions as positive, importantly positive. Today, ‘Nehru ke Aulaad’ has become an abuse. This is tragic. He is accused of awarding himself the Bharat Ratna. No one remembers… Read more »
Being in love with tea is the most committed relationship I have ever been in. I have been accused of romanticizing tea by the whole world and I am not shy to admit that I am indeed, guilty as charged. Each cup of tea brings a sense of tranquillity that awakens all my senses together. I admiringly gaze at the… Read more »
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 he drew all our attention… Read more »
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 (Randomized Controlled Trials – RCT). Average Treatment Effect (ATE) is the difference between the average outcomes between the individuals/units assigned to the treatment and control. The… Read more »
…Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise… Maya Angelou. I heard about your death the afternoon before I was to leave for Bihar. I couldn’t believe it. I kept reading the message on my cell phone over and over again, thinking it has to be a mistake. I… Read more »
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 »
