In this reflective and perceptive talk, Navsharan Singh provides an in-depth analysis of the effect conflict situations like wars, pogroms, and riots have on women’s lives, an effect that is hardly spoken about. She draws on her own experiences of conducting...
This documentary provides a comprehensive narrative of the violence that gripped Muzaffarnagar in 2013. Nuanced in its depiction, it examines the role played by political parties in UP, the general elections that were coming up, threats of sexual harassment...
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 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...
Final Solution chronicles the politics of hate in Gujarat from Feb/March 2002- July 2003. It is made in two parts: Part one, titled ‘Pride and Genocide’ begins by looking at the Gaurav Yatra (Honour Journey) and then goes back to look at the...
This film is based on the true story of a Parsi family who lose their son during the horrendous violence that gripped Gujarat in 2002. A story that runs parallel to this is that of an American student who has come to Gujarat to learn more about Gandhi...
This film shows the touching story of Amu, a young woman who has come from America to understand her roots. Little did she know that her roots were tangled in a murky past of state violence against a community she thought she was far removed from. Language...
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 .