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Social Policy Archive
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Asset creation in private lands using NREGA: Problems & opportunities
Posted on September 24, 2009 | No CommentsNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is primarily a programme aimed at creating public assets that would be useful for the society at large. When NREGA was created, it relaxed this principle by allowing projects in private lands of selected marginalised communities including SCs and STs. The Minister for Rural Development is now trying to extend this by permitting works in private lands owned by small and marginal farmers who are not SCs and STs. This proposal has been welcomed by some like Mihir Shah and has been sharply criticised by Aruna Roy and Jean Drèze among others. I believe... -
NREGA for the disabled
Posted on August 15, 2009 | No CommentsNREGA presents an unprecedented opportunity for disabled persons across India to earn a living and to showcase their talents. But as things stand, NREGA is not designed for disabled people to participate in it, but we can change it all with some tweaking. -
Will trained workers in Panchayats improve the quality of NREGA?
Posted on August 15, 2009 | 3 CommentsMihir Shah argued in a recent article that trained workers should be appointed in each Panchayat if NREGA has to fulfill its promises. While Panchayats need personnel to implement NREGA, I argue that for the purpose of planning it would be better to create nodal agencies that take up planning sound works in a campaign mode. -
Politics, technology & accountability II
Posted on July 27, 2009 | No Comments“To be ruled is to be kept an eye on, inspected, spied on, regulated, indoctrinated, sermonized, listed and checked off, estimated, appraised, censured, ordered about…to be ruled is at every operation, transaction, movement, to be noted, registered, counted, priced, admonished, prevented, reformed, redressed, corrected”. Proudhon quoted by James Scott in Seeing like a state. The power of information is often used by those in powerful positions to control others. The right to information movement inverts this principle and turns the gaze on those in positions of power by making their actions visible and thus amenable to democratic control. Sharing information... -
Politics, technology & accountability I
Posted on July 26, 2009 | No CommentsIs accountability a political problem on which technology cannot have an impact? Some thoughts. -
India: Union & State budgets search engine
Posted on February 21, 2008 | No CommentsA search engine to search India’s Union budgets and State budgets (available) in one click A wealth of materials is available online today about budgets in India. Unfortunately they are dispersed across dozens of websites that take time to find. This search engine will enable to to search official budget websites of Government of India and most state governments in one click. It is periodically updated. The results are not perfect, but it is the best that I was able to produce given the clutter and the constant changes in the budget websites of various states. Loading -
India: Parliament & Legislative Assemblies search engine
Posted on February 21, 2008 | No CommentsSearch websites of Indian Parliament and most legislative assemblies in one go About the search engine This is a special search engine that searches websites of Indian Parliament, most state assemblies and other government sites that offer content on debates and other proceedings in legislative bodies. It also includes a few non-governmental sites. It enables us to check if something is going on relating to a specific issue (e.g. VAT) in various assemblies in one click. Google is not very useful in doing this since it would cover all websites that include “VAT” in its pages and often it pushes... -
Food policy and social movements: Reflection on India’s Right to Food Campaign
Posted on December 1, 2007 | No CommentsThis paper was written for a book of case studies for a course on food policy in developing countries, and was meant for students interested in a career in food policy administration. Executive summary The Right to Food Campaign in India began in 2001. It was a time of absurd paradox. Even as the foodgrain stocks held by the government rose to 50 million metric tons, several parts of the country were reeling from a third consecutive year of drought. The threat of severe hunger loomed large, yet efforts to address this threat were insufficient. In April 2001 the People’s... -
‘India Building’ advertisement campaign: 100 crore rupees for nothing?
Posted on October 9, 2007 | 1 CommentThe disastrous 'India Shining' campaign of the NDA government now has a sequel in 'India Building' campaign planned by the UPA government It looks like the UPA government is planning an ad blitz in a campaign named "India Building" with a budget of 100 crores. The lack of imagination in the campaign is stunning - specially after the disaster that its predecessor turned out to be. A grotesque amount was spent by the previous NDA government on an ad campaign named "India Shining" in early 2004. Like any advertisement campaign is supposed to, India Shining campaign caught people's attention. Everywhere... -
The will to learn
Posted on September 25, 2007 | No CommentsStark naked, next to a pool of urine, in the background of Chennai's smelliest river, on the pedestrian walk in a noisy smoke-filled road was this child of three. He was completely engaged, almost oblivious to the world around. He held in his hand a slate and was practicing the letter "aa" in Tamil. Someone, possibly his mother, must have made neat squares in the slate for the child to practice writing. The family was homeless or were living by the shores of the unbearably smelly covam river. Amidst this harsh life she was teaching the child to learn. Since...
