The policy direction should have been towards addressing the root cause rather than focusing on short-term measures. The budgetary provisions towards agriculture and allied sectors should be directed towards bringing sector-wide improvement by addressing the need for community-based infrastructure development.

While discussions around online education have focused on the digital divide, there is also a need to emphasise the role of teachers. This piece presents findings from a CBGA survey of government school students in Delhi, highlighting gaps in teacher availability and the systemic issues behind it.

As schools are reopening after a prolonged closure due to the pandemic, what are the emerging lessons and what could be done for an equitable and sustainable recovery.  Some of these aspects are discussed in this article.

The article argues that for a dependent population group like children, services like running care homes, adoption centres, counselling etc. under the existing schemes are both necessary and important and cater to a large beneficiary base. Hence, while the cash transfer initiative by the government is a welcome move as a supplementary channel of funds, the established schemes in this domain must be rejuvenated with higher funds and more judicious utilisation of the same so that they can continue to provide these crucial services to children.

During the pandemic, with closure of institutions and adoption of online education,we have seen a multi-fold growth of Edtech industries in India. Does this drive for technology in education is a solution for universal quality learning? 

While India is committed to ‘leaving no one behind’, the digital delivery of school education has left many students out of the loop as initial communication could not be established with them.

The article talks about the ongoing developments in the international taxation system, capped off by the new American government’s push for a global minimum corporate tax. It explores what this tax entails, both in the international and Indian contexts. It also talks about how this move represents a quantum leap for international tax justice and financial transparency.

In the Episode 20 of Research Radio, Protiva Kundu of CBGA talks about the state of Indian public education and the National Education Policy, 2020.

While the COVID-19 underscores the importance of public health,  the article talks about one of the best medical inventions of the 20th century in the arena of public health – the Oral Rehydration Salt (ORS) and  the person who discovered and revolutionised the use of ORS worldwide – Dr.  Dilip Mahalanabis, a Kolkatta based physician.

The Nirbhaya Fund continues to see underutilisation across states. Important schemes under the fund have seen cuts in Union Budget 2021-22. The Fund is also limited by design, and needs more resources to effectively address growing violence against women.

Nutrition schemes have been clubbed together and jointly allocated funds lower than previous years. Saksham Anganwadi which subsumes four schemes- AnganwadiServices, Poshan Abhiyan, SAG and National Crèche Scheme has an allocation of Rs 20,105 crore, less than the 2020-’21 budget for ICDS alone.

Women constituted only 18.6 per cent of the population working or looking for work, whereas the number is 55.6 per cent for men, according to PLFS 2018-19. The pandemic and the economic crisis that followed only made the situation worse with a larger number of women dropping out of the workforce. To bridge this gender gap, the government needs to focus on both employment generation programmes and other provide maternity benefits, and creche facilities.