-Frontline The Living and Learning Design Centre in a Kutch village is about dialogue between contemporary designers and traditional artisans and about keeping crafts relevant. Kutch: “WHY here? Why a design centre of such sophistication in a small village off a highway?” The answer flashes in one’s mind at the same time: “Because that’s the most logical and relevant place for it.” The answer is validated a while later in a...

-The Hindu Business Line The Budget outlay apart, an ambience of autonomy and a focus on soft skills are just as important The Budget identifies education as one of the key pillars of its agenda. It offers support on three dimensions — reach, infrastructure, and quality in higher education. Extend reach: The Budget aims to extend the reach of education. At the post-secondary level, it focuses on expanding skill development (by scaling up...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi's statement in the Lok Sabha that 60 per cent JNU students are from marginalised sections has drawn attention to the unique deprivation weightage offered by the university. Highlighting the inclusive character of the university, the Congress vice-president said the parents of 40 per cent of JNU students earned less than Rs 6,000 a month. JNU Students' Union general secretary Rama Naga, who hails from Baipariguda in Odisha's...

-TheWire.in This year’s Union Budget markets itself as a pro-poor and pro-farmer budget. To take a closer and harder look at this, The Wire spoke to Ashok Gulati, chair professor for agriculture at ICRIER. Gulati tells The Wire why this budget is insignificant for reducing farmers’ distress, in spite of all the talk. Edited excerpts from the interview follow: * How much is the actual increase in the total allocation to agriculture...

-Scroll.in The reservation protest wasn't a spur-of-the-moment agitation. It was a cynical political build-up that spilled over into the streets. Footprints of violence were everywhere in Chhavni Mohalla. A tractor trolley lay overturned right at the entrance of the residential colony in Jhajjar. A little inside, in the middle of the road, there was a gutted tractor. Small shops in a corner of the colony had been ransacked and burnt. The twisted...