This documentary by Jan Madhyam Productions gives a very good introduction to the right to information campaign in India and on how RTI is used with social audits to combat corruption. In case you have trouble viewing it, please go to the permanalink by clicking the title above, or here http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3238128636848285898
Academic Themes
Many talks and interviews with well known people are now available online. I’ve put together a series of them that I have specially enjoyed. To see the rest, click here This is a wonderful lecture by Edward Said on Samuel Huntington’s idea about “Clash of civilizations”. In this lecture Edward Said analyses in detail the arguments of Samuel Huntington in his paper on Clash of civilizations (with a question mark) that ultimately became his book (this time without a question mark!). Edward Said incisively analyzes Huntington’s notion that differences in culture between the ‘West’ and ‘Islam’ will lead to conflicts […]
Edward Said’s talk on ‘Clash of Civilizations’ by Samuel Huntington
Visualising ones ideas is a great way to think through complex issues or arguments. Here are three free utilities to put our ideas into neat pictures Last year I used a mind-mapping software called FreeMind productively. Mind maps start with a simple core from which one can have multiple nodes that lead to multiple nodes and so on. Free mind allows the user to link different nodes, make comments on certain nodes, link them to files, insert a number of images, etc. Last year I did a course on Social Movement Theory. Towards the end of the semester a friend […]
Visualise ideas with Mind Maps, Concept Maps and Diagraming tools
It’s easy to import citations from Google Scholar into Refworks. In order to do this go to “scholar preferences”, a link you will find next to the search box and at the bottom of that page you will find an entry called “Bibliography Manager”. In this, select Refworks (I often end-up choosing a similar sounding thing called “Refman”, take care). Once you save the perferences, you will find a link called “import to refworks” below each search result. The rest is one click away. This though is not entirely trouble free since logging into Refworks should be done only through […]
Using Refworks with Google Scholar
Refworks Rating: 4 out of 5 Manage citations, create bibliographies quick & easy in any format you want (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) and keep references organised Note: There is an easier way to cite and it’s free. Check out my note on Zotero citation tool. I have been using Refworks since six months with great satisfaction. It is perhaps one of the most useful and time saving utilities for graduate students working on research papers. The software has two broad components: (1) Database of our references to organise and manage references (2) Utility for easily adding citations to papers that […]
Manage citations and bibliography with Refworks
The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics Rating: 3 out of 5 Author: William Easterly Year: 2002 Category: Economics, Development, Growth theories, Institutional Economics Publisher: MIT Press The review has been shifted to my academic blog. Sorry for the inconvenience, please click here to read the review.
Review of Easterly’s Elusive quest for growth
I had a prolonged debate on school feeding with a friend recently. I pointed out that India’s school feeding does not have any ‘means testing’ and covers all children. If India with its resource base and a large school population can do it, most other countries afford it. He on the other hand pointed out that USA (read the richest nation in the world) uses means testing to filter children out since it would be infeasible to feed all children (read no other country can then afford it). Is it feasible since India does it? Or is it not feasible […]
Resource Constraint
Currently the bibliography is primarily around ethnography. In a few weeks I should be adding texts on other methods including case studies, discourse analysis, etc. I’ve included some reviews in the book review section. My other bibliographies can be seen under the bibliography category. Atkinson, Robert. “Life Story Interviewing.” in Handbook of Interview Research : Context & Method., Edited by Jaber F. Gubrium, James A. Holstein. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2002. Charmaz, Kathy. “Grounded Theory.” in Contemporary Field Research : Perspectives and Formulations., Edited by Robert M. Emerson. 2nd ed. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press, 2001. Dey, Ian. Grounding […]
Bibliography: Qualitative research
This is a reasonably good list of books and articles by my favourite economist – Jean Dreze. These works are ‘academic’ and do not include some of his most interesting works including his diary as a squatter in London, and a set of essays edited by him, Bela Bhatia and Kathy Kelly on the Iraq peace camp. Agarwal, Bina, S. L. Rao, Jean Drèze, Patricia Uberoi, and National Council of Applied Economic Research. The Family in Public Policy : Fallacious Assumptions and Gender Implications. Golden Jubilee Seminar Series. Vol. 9th lecture. New Delhi: National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2000. […]
Books and articles by Jean Dreze: A detailed bibliography (downloadable)
The books and articles here cover many of the key debates on the right to food. I’ve included some reviews in the book review section. My other bibliographies can be seen under the bibliography category. Alston, Philip, and K. Tomaševski. The Right to Food. International Studies in Human Rights. Boston; Utrecht: M. Nijhoff; Stichting Studie- en Informatiecentrum Mensenrechten, 1984. Boerma, Addeke Hendrik, and Colin Mackenzie. A Right to Food : A Selection from Speeches. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 1976. Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International […]
Bibliography: Right to food (downloadable)
This is a small but growing list on social movements. I’ve included some reviews in the book review section. My other bibliographies can be seen under the bibliography category. Eyerman, Ron, and Andrew Jamison. Music and Social Movements : Mobilizing Traditions in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge Cultural Social Studies. Cambridge, England ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. French, John D. Drowning in Laws : Labor Law and Brazilian Political Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0411/2003025753.html; http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/unc041/2003025753.html. ———. The Brazilian Workers’ ABC : Class Conflict and Alliances in Modern São Paulo. Chapel Hill: University of North […]
Bibliography: Social Movements (downloadable)
The reading list started with a course I did with Chandra Mohanty at Syracuse University. Consequently, most of these are of transnational feminist perspective. I am working on a fuller list now, and will be updating it in the months to come. I’ve included some reviews in the book review section. My other bibliographies can be seen under the bibliography category. Bhattacharjee, Anannya. “Private Fists and Public Force: Race, Gender, and Surveillance.” in Policing the National Body : Sex, Race and Criminalization ; a Project of the Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment., Edited by Jael Silliman, Anannya Bhattacharjee […]
Bibliography: Transnational Feminism (downloadable)
This is an evolving collection of books and articles that approach hunger from different perspectives. As of now, it contains some interesting approaches from economic, cultural, geographical, anthropological, gender and other perspectives. There are a few on hunger in developed countries, specially USA. Agarwal, Bina, S. L. Rao, Jean Drèze, Patricia Uberoi, and National Council of Applied Economic Research. The Family in Public Policy : Fallacious Assumptions and Gender Implications. Golden Jubilee Seminar Series. Vol. 9th lecture. New Delhi: National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2000. America’s Second Harvest. “Hunger in America 2001.” (2001). Ann Nichols-Casebolt. “Making Ends Meet: Food […]
Bibliography on Hunger (downloadable)
In this note I have tried to put together some lessons that I learned from the Right to Food Campaign. I have drawn these notes from the activities of the campaign, the discussions we have had, the materials we have prepared for the public interest litigation and for the campaign. The campaign deals with questions that are similar to what we are going to deal with in the seminar viz. ensuring a hunger free India. I have drawn extensively on the materials we have prepared in the campaign, and specially on discussions with the ‘support group’. I would like to […]
Notes from the Right to Food Campaign
I wish to share with you a message of hope in this anniversary issue of Humanscape. As a recent entrant in the world of social action, I have been asking myself whether people’s campaigns are effective at all. Are they capable of bringing the concerns of people into the political centre-stage and affect the way government works? In two short years of my association with such campaigns, I have gained hope that a well-organised and sustained campaign can indeed bring meaningful changes to the lives of poor and marginalized people. I have drawn inspiration from campaigns on several issues; but […]
A Message of Hope
“God bless mummy, god bless daddy, god bless teacher who will teach us, and make them happy”. Standing in a perfect circle, at 10 am sharp, children chanted this prayer to start their activities of the day at the anganwadi. In the next five hours they would learn through play, have one nourishing meal, take a noon nap, and return home to their mother, who had the comfort of having her child taken care of for a significant part of her working day. Immediately after the prayer was a round of physical exercises, accompanied by poems created for the purpose. […]
An anganwadi in Tamil Nadu
I wrote this article in 2003 when mid-day meal scheme was resisted by most states despite a direction from the Supreme Court of India directing them to implement it. Sir Humphrey of ‘Yes Minister’ fame would be proud of our babus. Once they are determined to do or not to do something, they act creatively steer history their way. Recently, the Supreme Court ordered all the states and UTs to implement the mid-day meal scheme in all government and government aided primary schools and thus unleashed their creativity again. Saying, “Yes your honour” on one hand most States continue to […]
Yes your honour
This article was written after a visit to Karnataka with Muthappa and Saraswathi. The mid-day meal scheme had recently started in the State following Supreme Court directions and public pressure. I wrote this article with Jean Dreze and it was published in Hindustan Times. Ten months have passed since the Supreme Court directed the state governments to introduce cooked mid-day meals in all primary schools within six months. Some state governments are implementing the order, but many others are trying to buy time, plead for central funding, or even reverse the order. The court seems determined to enforce the order, […]
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