This moving poem by Ashok Vajpeyi almost has a confessional tone where he slowly opens up and draws parallels with the genocide of Jews in Germany. Saying that he wasn’t there when those violent crimes against humanity were being committed, he nevertheless...
A cover story published on December 30, 2013 in The Outlook Magazine. This well researched article brings to light the large scale of sexual violence that manifests itself during communal violence. Language – English Access Location(s) – Outlook...
This interesting and informative book gives a comprehensive account of the history of Communalism in India. It is easy to read and relate to the book since the approach it uses is that of ‘myth’ and ‘fact’ and as the title suggests,...
This moving poem is a chronicle of all the injustice committed against various communities by countires and institutions that held power over them. The poem holds the perpetrators accountable and tells them in strong words “Let your silence...
This is a fictionalised account of a real life incident in Ahmedabad. It is narrated in the voice of Qutubuddin Ansari, a survivor of the 2002 riots who was made famous due to his picture that was published in Indian newspapers. This account describes...
This is the story of Ishwar Singh who has just returned from the pillage that he took part in as riots ravage the village during the period of the Partition of the country. He is very triumphant about his participation and he extols his deeds infront...
This story which was written in June 2002 as a response to the violence in Gujarat is the story of different spirits who come to visit Shah-e-Alam, a dargah that was turned into a refugee camp. The spirits include those of parents who have come to visit...
Jarnail Singh describes the painfully scarring days he and his family had to face after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. He describes how they had to hide like criminals in their own house, in a colony that they had lived in all their lives, surrounded...
This is an episodic novel that describes the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 which is pieced together from first person accounts of victims and newspaper reports. The story follows a young Assamese woman who teaches at Delhi University and is also a writer. She...
The study provides a succinct and very useful overview of the theory and practice of Life Skills development globally. The first section discusses the history and definitions of life skills and the evolution of Life Skills programs in various parts of...
The Centre is named to honour the memory and pioneering work of the warm and wonderful Ferdinand Van Koolvijk, who, inspired by Sister Cyril’s work at Loreto Sealdah, Kolkata, established the Partnership Foundation to ensure education for girls on and of the streets of India. With a vision of establishing 50 model homes for girls in India’s Government schools, Ferd joined hands with Aman Biradari to pilot the program in Delhi in 2005. He was able to see the initiative extend to 45 homes in 7 States under the banner of the Rainbow Foundation of India (RFI). In Ferd’s passing in October 2013, many of us in RFI, CES and Aman Biradari lost a dear friend and a profound inspiration, and the street-children of India lost a stalwart advocate, who put all his energies into promoting their well-being.
CREATE
The CREATE study provides evidence that 33% of children achieve grade level competencies in Grade 3 and hence qualify as achieving “meaningful learning”, the percentage goes down to 25% in Grade 5, to 20% by Grade 8, and to 10% in Grade 12 and that these averages mask great variation between and within states. The evidence suggests high age-in-grade, an associated increased risk of dropout, and continued exclusion of girls, Muslims, scheduled castes and tribes, and that “participation and progression remain strongly associated with household wealth despite commitments to pro-poor policies and investment of resources” (p. 24) and “poorer underdeveloped areas have the worst facilities and teachers” (Lewin, 2011, p. 49)4
Starfish model of decentralized knowledge
In The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, Brafman and Beckstrom (2006)2distinguish between spider-like organizations with a clearly discernible head controlling the body, from starfish-like organizations, that have no central command, but rather carry the entire nervous system encoded in every part. They propose a model for decentralized organizations that thrive and grow, replicate and mutate as real or virtual communities organized around a central ideology that fills an urgent need: to overcome addiction (e.g Alcoholics Anonymous), for low-cost long-distance communication (e.g. Skype), to share knowledge and information (e.g. Wikipedia).They argue that such organizations are catalyzed by a powerful idea and characterized by groups that function as communities, providing autonomy and freedom from hierarchy, governed by common norms rather than rules, and often self- policing (Brafman & Beckstrom, 2006)2 .