From “Noise” to “Voice”

Posted on:March 13 2008 | Author:megha | Comments: 0

Meena Nair and Poonam Kaur recently attended a workshop run by HIVOS on driving and catalyzing change within civil society organizations. As part of the workshop, participants wrote and took part in small skits to demonstate change and empowerment through informed community engagement. Here is the skit that Meena and Poonam came up with.

India Bribing! In Search of Anti Corruption’s Holy Grail

Posted on:January 28 2008 | Author:Gopathampi | Comments: 0

In an era where buzzwords and mantras have a shockingly short shelf life, Corruption has shown a remarkable longevity in hogging the spotlights for well over a decade now. Thanks to the never ending cascade of scams and exposes, the C-word has monopolized our lexicon on politics and governance. The long arm of corruption has left virtually no institution untouched – right from the obvious (politics) to the sublime (religion) and from Bollywood to Cricket.

On the SSA Beat – Some vignettes from the field

Posted on:January 24 2008 | Author:bass | Comments: 0

During my weekend visit to my native place near Harihara, I decided to visit a few schools (including the one that I studied in!) to understand the grassroots level activities of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme in Karnataka.

What's Wrong with Democracy in India

Posted on:December 26 2007 | Author:megha | Comments: 2

The list of casualties of India’s enviable democratic system include, ironically some “non negotiable” cornerstones of democracy: idealism, integrity, egalitarianism, justice and, of course, governance. However, even more vexing is the widely prevalent lack of common sense; very often, we hear (with a hint of derision) that common sense is not so common in ‘common’ people! Will this continue to be the mantra for the upwardly mobile Generation X in India?