-ThePrint.in UGC Wednesday asked institutions to make courses available via govt platform SWAYAM. Academics question move, citing issues like need for classroom instruction & lack of infrastructure. New Delhi: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked universities to offer up to 40 per cent of the courses in any programme online on SWAYAM, the central government’s Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform.  Academics have questioned this move, citing issues such as the need...

-TheWire.in Methods of transitional justice, such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in South Africa after apartheid ended, can help address collective trauma and restore the psychological health of society. When the Khairlanji Massacre took place in 2006, I was in a boarding school, in class 8. When I heard about it, I asked a friend who, like me, belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, what exactly had happened. He told...

-Down to Earth With sustainable development goals in place, increasing democratisation and connectivity of the world, ecologisation of politics and vice-versa will become the new norm Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai wrote: In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may  seem so obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and  peace. Decreasing resource base and the  struggle for control and power leads to politicising ecological issues...

-Newsclick.in Major budgetary allocation cuts in crucial schemes for women, children and vulnerable sections are indicative of the government’s lopsided priorities. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget has helped reinforce one home truth -- that India is divided into the salaried section and a vast underbelly, including the middle class who have been edged into poverty due to job losses suffered during the COVID pandemic. Coming out of the pandemic’s ‘third wave’, issues of...

-The Hindu Redistribution measures have been ineffective and there are no policies discouraging accumulation of income and wealth The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the stark divide between the rich and the poor. At this juncture, evaluating the state of inequality serves as an eye-opener on the income/wealth divides prevailing across regions. Such divides are represented in terms of the share of income/wealth among the top 10% of the population against the bottom...