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Vacancy – Receptionist

Council for Social Development, New Delhi is looking for a suitable candidate for appointment as Receptionist.

The person should have the following qualifications

Education and other Qualifications :
B.A (Hon) / B com or M.A / M Com from a recognized University

Experience :
One year experience of working in a government dept or in an autonomous body in govt or private orgs is desirable

Knowledge of MS Office, Tally, EPBAX, etc. Capacity to work on Computer; good command over spoken English and Hindi.

Term of Contract :
1 year with a probation of 6  months. The contract is renewable based on performance

Applications with CV may be submitted to the Administrative Officer, Council for Social Development, Sangha Rachana, 53 Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003 or electronically to ao@csdindia.org.

Last date for the Receipt of application is January 10, 2022

On-line SDF Talk 28th September, 2021

Topic: Living Together but Seperately – Everyday Lived Experiences of Foothill Villages and Towns in Assam – Nagaland Border

Date:
 28th September, 2021
Time : 3.30 pm

COVID-19 and Climate Change induced Disasters: Impacts, challenges and prospects for Indian women farmers

Proceedings of SDF Webinar on 27th May, 2021

The Council for Social Development (CSD), New Delhi, organized a webinar on COVID-19 and Climate Change induced Disasters: Impacts, challenges and prospects for Indian women farmers on 27th May 2021 as a part of Social Development Forum (SDF) Discussion. Over 30 participants including more than 10 experts on climate change and allied areas from across India participated in the event. The deliberations mainly focussed on multi-layered impacts of COVID 19 and climate change induced disasters on women farmers of India.

The panel discussion was chaired by Prof. Nitya Nanda, Director, CSD, whereas the panellists included – Dr. Vivek Kumar Singh, Consultant, Centre of Excellence in Disaster Management (CoEDM) at the Development Management Institute (DMI), Patna; Dr. Geetanjali Kumari, Consultant, CoEDM, DMI, Patna; Prof. Kanchan Kumar Bhowmik, National Expert on Sustainable Agriculture, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), The Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), Government of India (GOI); and Dr. Susmita Mitra, Assistant Professor, CSD. The key points highlighted in the webinar have been presented under the following sub themes:

Climate change vulnerability of women farmers in India

  • According to the 5th IPCC Report South Asia is the most venerable region in terms of climate impacts in the world. The nature of disasters can be categorised as natural, biological, technological and societal disasters. Climate change has either direct or indirect impact on natural and biological disasters.
  • Indian agriculture is highly dependent on irrigation and for irrigation we either need river flow or ground-water. But, climate change has heavily impacted our natural water resources which indirectly impacts the agricultural sectors of India.
  • The worst sufferers of climate change are marginal and small farmers who lack social and financial capital. Women farmers are heavily impacted by climate change in various ways, due to lack of capital for adaptation and other social constraints. In India, around 85% farmers are either small or marginal and in rural areas, 73% women workforce is engaged in agriculture sector. Many empirical studies highlight that woman are among the vulnerable communities and only 13% women have own land for farming. Primary data from 1200 women farmers from eastern Uttar Pradesh show that adaptation practices for rainfall changes are higher compared to that of the temperature increase. Increasing cost of farming and poverty are the major constraints in adaptation, whereas lack of support during pregnancy and lack of non-farm opportunities are the major challenges faced as women farmers.

The added problem of COVID-19

  • The current COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability context of the Indian agriculture sector. COVID-19 has serious impact on entire value chain of the agricultural system in India. The backward and forward linkages of farming activities have been seriously impacted due to nationwide lockdown. The agricultural inputs availability, farming activities, aggregation, storage and logistics, processing and ancillary services and consumer demands have all been negatively impacted the production and productivity which lead towards livelihood, food and nutrition insecurity among the smallholder farmers and particularly among women farmers.
  • COVID-19 had a significant impact on gender inequality as well. Many families have lost their sole bread earners due to COVID-19 and entire economic as well as social responsibility of the families shifted to the women. Furthermore, the domestic violence has increased due to losses of livelihood and male members are mostly staying at home due to lockdown. With COVID-19, unpaid care work has increased for women, with children out-of-school, heightened care needs of older persons and overwhelmed health services.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the accessibility of basic health need. Health wise, already there are various challenges of woman in different phases of life: adolescent girls suffer from anaemia and calcium deficiency, adolescent pregnancy; during pregnancy most of the women do not get adequate health care services and COVID-19 worsened the situation. Routine vaccination and other health care services also affected during pandemic and proper nutritional need of lactating women are not catered properly during the pandemic. The women are also engaged in daily household chores and cooking even during they are COVID positive.

Suggested solutions

  • In the light of the present problems, interventions are required after understanding the causes and consequences of COVID-19 on women smallholder farmers. There is a need to identify the vulnerability context, asset portfolio, institutions, policies and process access and influence, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes. The situation analysis and response analysis can pave the way for response planning and implementation. The present situation calls for implementing three phases of women centric plan – building understanding and evidence, designing the action plan, and preparing for implementation. In order to address some of these complex issues, multi-stakeholders approach at community level should be planned. To tackle the post pandemic mental and psychological health of women and other vulnerable communities, government must start psychological counselling centres at the Panchayat level.
  • Sustainable / organic agriculture is the way out of this problem. If we can assure our day-to-day meal of each time to be poison-free, all problems i.e. soil health, environmental health, water health, social family bonding, climate change, natural calamity, animal-human health hazards etc. will be solved automatically. Women Federation may play a vital role to combat this challenge through Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) which is a sub component of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) announced by Government of India.
  • There are various government provisions for the farmers at the national, state and district levels. However, most of the policies do not focus on the need of the women farmers particularly. NGOs can play a major role regarding awareness building and grass root level implementation of these policies.
  • The scope of Community Based disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) for sustainable development can be expanding by including everyone in the community. We need to keep the goal of resilient woman and family at the core and follow a multi stakeholder approach to achieve a 360-degree impact. Mapping of local resources, engagement of local governance are crucial to reach out our target population. The utilization of local governance/ structured platforms of health workers, self-help groups, local governance, multimedia and counsellors of COVID-care centres can be useful.

SDG Webinar: 15th April 2021

CSD through its SDF is organising a Webinar titled “India’s Performance on the SDG 6 Index: Addressing the data gaps”, to be held on 15th April 2021 from 3 PM-5PM.

The aim of this webinar is to bring together policy makers, planners, academicians, researchers as well as NGOs working towards achieving the targets under the SDG 6 of Clean Water and Sanitation and discuss the implementation challenges, the data gaps and the path ahead.

You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Apr 15, 2021 03:00 PM India

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYucO6hrTwsGtCJIjeNcqzGUNKgrHty_5ri

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

SDG Concept Note >>

Webinar Poster >>

SDF Webinar International Women’s Day 2021

Date: 08th March 2021
Time:
03.00 – 4.30 PM

Women in Leadership: Perspectives, Problems and Pathways

Women have been occupying a place of prominence in various sectors. There are many women leaders who have led the country and the government in diverse political and socio-economic contexts. Women have also exhibited their abilities in leading corporate organisations, social groups, self-help groups, and other community based organisations, reflecting the magnitude of liberality among people in accepting the leadership role of women in public life. However, in spite of the achievements made and the various measures taken to promote empowerment and emancipation of women, numerous fault lines still exists in our society.

In the domestic sphere, women of the household not only have fewer resources, but also face disproportionate burden of unpaid house-work. In the political sphere too, participation of women is limited, both in terms of active involvement as representatives and also as a group to be represented. Such underrepresentation of women in various spaces and in leadership positions is a global phenomenon, which extends across public and private sector industries and professions. In addition, gender stereo types and presence of invisible barriers, questions the fitness of women in leadership roles and prevents a woman from executing her choice and enjoying the freedom that she values. Further, patterns of social hierarchies, dominance of patriarchal systems, religious and cultural norms, deny the right of women in making strategic choices. It is thus argued that women empowerment in the real sense is hindered in various visible and invisible ways.

Nevertheless, despite the hurdles, women have emerged as effective leaders in different set up surmounting social and cultural barriers. They have not only reached top positions breaking the grass-ceiling, but have also pursued the role of leadership with success in diverse fields. For instance, women leaders who have led the government in countries such as Taiwan, New Zealand, Germany, etc. seem to have played a significant role in effectively managing the current pandemic situation. Significant differences are also brought about by women leaders at the grassroots level, in comparison to the male counterparts. A study carried out by Chattopadhyay and Nobel Laurette Duflo highlights that while male panchayat leaders invest more in infrastructure related aspects, the focus of female leaders have been on ensuring easy access to drinking water.
Given this setting, where there are trails of both problems and prospects in women leadership, there is a need to make a revisit and deliberate on the connotations surrounding women’s leadership, their negotiating power, experiences and challenges. It is in this context, that the commemoration of the International Women’s Day 2021 organised by the Council for Social Development under the banner of the Social Development Forum (SDF), would like to deliberate on the way women lead, through a panel discussion on the related theme.

The outline of the Panel Discussion is as follows:
8 March 2021
3.00 p.m. – 4.30 p.m.

Webinar through Zoom

Registration Link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkd-uvqzsqE9TL06YJyp5NjkroHNDZhgUB

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting

Welcome Note: Prof. Nitya Nanda, Director, Council for Social Development, New Delhi
Chair: Prof. Govind Kelkar, Visiting Professor, CSD, New Delhi

Speakers:
Dr. Venkatanarayanan. S, Assistant Professor, Christ University, Bangalore
Patriarchy and Hurdles to Women Empowerment in India
Dr. N. Mythili, Assistant Professor, National Centre for School Leadership, NIEPA, New Delhi
Women in School Leadership
Prof. Nitya Rao, University of East Anglia, UK
Rural Women’s Leadership for Food Security

Vote of Thanks:
Dr. Poornima M, Assistant Professor, CSD, New Delhi





Panel Discussion on the Union Budget 2021-22

Date: 04th February 2021
Time:
11.00 AM to 1.30 PM

Dr. Akhil Alha
Convenor, Email: akhil@csdindia.org

Report on Panel Discussion on the Union Budget 2021-22 :

Panel discussion on Union Budget is an annual exercise at Council for Social Development, New Delhi. This year, this discussion took place online on 4th February 2021.

Eminent scholars Prof Biswajit Dhar, Prof Praveen Jha, Prof Rama Baru (all three from JNU, New Delhi), Dr Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convenor, Swadesjhi Jagaran Manch, Prof T Haque, former Chairman, Commission on Agricultural Cost and Prices and Distinguished Professor, CSD, and Prof R Govinda, former VC, NUEPA participated as panelists in the discussion. The event was chaired by Prof Muchkund Dubey, President CSD, and the opening remarks were given by Prof Nitya Nanda, Director, CSD New Delhi.
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