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Showing posts from February, 2020

Women panchayat leaders aren’t mouthpiece for politically-savvy husbands

By Moin Qazi* In the last two decades, the gender landscape in rural India has been slowly greening and women are now on the cusp of a powerful social and political revolution. The harbinger of this change is a unique policy experiment in village-level governance that has brought transformative results for the weakest of the weak and the poorest of the poor: The village women. In 1993, India introduced the Panchayati Raj Act, mandating a three-tiered structure of local governance at the village, block and district levels with reservation of one-third of all posts in gram panchayats (village councils) at the bottom tier of India’s decentralised governance system, for women. The vision was that these women-headed councils would bring greater transparency and better governance in their villages. It revitalised an age-old system of rural local Government whose name “panchayat” is drawn from Sanskrit, meaning the council of five wise men. This new law was a step towards the fruition of Maha

A silent crusader for empowerment in rural India: Prema Gopalan

By Moin Qazi* Over 26 years ago, on September 30, 1993, Latur district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra was jolted by an earthquake that left a trail of mass destruction. It was India’s most devastating earthquake of the 20th century that left nearly 10,000 dead. It ravaged and obliterated vast swathes of villages and uprooted multitudes of people. Today, several thousand women among those severely affected by the tragedy are recognised as transformational leaders. The aftermath of a natural calamity disrupts the entire community’s well-being, from physical infrastructure and economic growth, to mental and social health. How these semi-literate and impoverished women converted adversity into opportunity is a saga of grit and tenacity. The glue that bonded them and provided the necessary impetus for driving a revolution was a passionate and indefatigable social entrepreneur, Prema Gopalan. Schooled and trained in disaster management, she began reconstruction and rehabilitation wo

Police, judiciary, prisons, legal aid: Areas of improvement, concern in Gujarat

Sponsored by India’s oldest philanthropic organization, founded in 1892 by Jamsetji Tata, the 146-page study , “India Justice Report”, carried out by well-known civil society experts from the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS-Prayas and the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, has sought to rank 18 major states on police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid. A note on Gujarat ranking: Caste reservation in police According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BP&RD), there should be reservation among police officers in Gujarat to the tune of 7% for SCs, 15% for STs and 27% for OBCs. Data for the last two years shows that it’s meeting its SC benchmark, but not its ST and OBC benchmarks. Further, while it has improved in filling ST vacancies, it has regressed in filing OBC vacancies. Increasing the share of women in police force In 2016 and 2017, Gujarat has taken significant strides in improving the representation of women

Constitutional right to primary education in a dark Kolkata slum

By Moin Qazi* The present-day education reformers believe that schools are broken and market solutions are the only remedy. Many of them embrace disruptive innovations, primarily through online learning. There is a strong belief that real breakthroughs can come only through the transformative power of technology or the invisible hand of the market. However, this strategy has not lived up to its hype and with valid reason. The youngsters need to believe that they have a stake in the future, a goal worth struggling for if they are going to make it in school. They need a champion, someone who believes in them, and this is where teachers enter the picture. The most effective approaches are those that foster bonds of caring between teachers and their students. School dropout to educationist Tikiapara, a sprawling slum in Howrah, is a witness and a willing participant in a quiet revolution led by Mamoon Akhtar that has the potential to turn around the lives of its residents, especially of it