Online teaching was perhaps the most preferred mode (of the policymakers) for imparting education to school children in the last two years when schools faced closures thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was promoted by both the Central and State Governments when mobility almost came to a standstill (or got restricted in comparison to normal times) during the last two years. However, various studies (a list of those studies is...

-Scroll.in There is an entangled web of issues related to caste, class and religion that defines disparate land imaginaries in the state. In Uttarakhand, land is a political flashpoint. A controversial 2018 law introduced by state legislature now allows outsiders to buy land in the Himalayan state. In 2018, as these laws were coming into force, I asked Bhim, an elderly man from a backward caste, what he thought about it all....

-India Spend/ Scroll.in These programmes should look at skilling the workforce for paid jobs rather than unpaid, part-time volunteers. Central government programmes on water emphasise groundwater management by the community in a decentralised manner but, by and large, these schemes are silent on the availability, training and deployment of a skilled workforce for this task, especially in rural areas. Water management at the most decentralised, local levels is often a part-time, volunteer or...

-Hindustan Times These plantations will include riverfront development programmes, afforestation, and agroforestry schemes, according to a report on the overview of detailed project reports for rejuvenation of major rivers through forestry interventions prepared by the environment ministry. New Delhi: India intends to grow plantations over 4,68,222 sq km, an area larger than the entire state of Rajasthan, by 2027 in 13 major river basins to meet its international commitment to sequester carbon...

-Scroll.in India saw an unprecendented economic upheaval in the last two years. With it came a mental health crisis – and a wave of suicides. Trigger warning: This article contains references to suicide and some people might find it disturbing. In December 2020, in response to the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai decided to set up a dedicated mental-health helpline for slum residents of...