23/08/2021 Day 515 Pandemic, schools and children In Karnataka, high schools and pre-university colleges reopen today after eighteen months of remaining shut due to the pandemic. This prompted me to gather articles and reports on the impact of the pandemic on schools and school-going children in India. The setback in education at school-level is unprecedented. … Continue reading Day 515: Pandemic, schools and children
Category: Development
Notes on farming & mechanization
July, 2021. Another kharif season has begun. On the farms three week old saplings of soybean and pigeon pea await a good spell of rain. Here are a couple of observations from this season on our farms. Weather windows are getting considerably shorter. This leads to a very short period in which most cropping activities … Continue reading Notes on farming & mechanization
The many mirages in Indian agriculture
After a week of harvest and another of preparing the farm plots for next sowing season, here are some quick notes. Farm mechanisation is a serious need. The processes in small scale farming are completely manual. These are limiting the ways in which farmers organize farm processes and their ability to extract efficiencies from the … Continue reading The many mirages in Indian agriculture
‘Let me go build a free hospital’: Indian Healthcare and CMC Vellore’s history
In thinking about healthcare systems - capability and capacity, a broad consensus in India is that the Indian state has failed in providing it. This diagnosis is broadly accepted. However, in thinking about responses to address the problems, it might be useful to not be completely led by experiences in the private sector - there … Continue reading ‘Let me go build a free hospital’: Indian Healthcare and CMC Vellore’s history
May Day, 2021: The long road home
May Day of 2021 is unique in its context at least for Indian workers, if not for those around the world. Never in the history of independent India have we had such a large scale pauperisation, destruction of livelihoods and repeated displacement under distress. This was triggered by the two waves of Covid-19 pandemic. But … Continue reading May Day, 2021: The long road home
Day 95: A growing thought
Farm. June 2020 27/06/2020 Day 95 The day began with a reminder of my stupidity. It had rained through the night yesterday. This morning after driving to the farm, I rode down to the waterline of the reservoir shooting down a muddy trail across the road. Over a water soaked bump on the narrow off-trail, … Continue reading Day 95: A growing thought
Day 93: Learning from Ajangaon
July, 2020 25/06/2020 Day 93 The time spent in Wardha has helped in exploring ideas, realities and readings in agriculture. The village we have come to be associated with after buying the farm has become a reference point for knowing and comparing agricultural trends. By the way of reflection here are some observations from the … Continue reading Day 93: Learning from Ajangaon
Day 82: One Straw Revolution in these times
Ajangaon, June 2020 14/06/2020 Day 82 Started early for the farm today. A tractor was arranged to do pre-sowing weed removal from both the plots. After the land is ploughed and made ready for sowing, a few brief spells of rain can lead to a burst of all sorts of weeds. In a near miraculous … Continue reading Day 82: One Straw Revolution in these times
Day 79: Howe and Strauss’ The Fourth Turning
11/06/2020 Day 79 This morning I began early because I have been frustrated about not being able to read and write enough as I sit here in the town. By this morning I was several unfinished posts behind. Though I keep notes on the way a day goes and what I did, I tend to … Continue reading Day 79: Howe and Strauss’ The Fourth Turning
Day 78: Resuming even as pandemic rages
10/06/2020 Day 78 There is not much to write about these days in terms of the direct effect of the pandemic - locked cities, restrictions on movement and a sense of anxiety appear to have faded out. Most countries are busy ‘opening up’. Even as this is happening, infections and deaths continue to happen at … Continue reading Day 78: Resuming even as pandemic rages
Contested Realities 