By Anand Chakravarti Retd. Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
On 12 March 2019 (Tuesday) at 5.30 PM
Venue: Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Hall, Council for Social Development 53, Sangha Rachna, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003
Panelists: K B Saxena, Distinguished Professor, CSD
Imrana Qadeer, Distinguished Professor, CSD
Ujjawal Kumar Singh, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi
Badri Narayan Professor, GB Pant Social Science Institute, Prayagraj
Chair: Prof Manoranjan Mohanty, CSD, New Delhi
About the Book: Has independence (azaadi) from colonial rule made a qualitative difference to the lives of landless agricultural labourers in Bihar, who constitute the poorest segment of the agrarian population in the state? This question, generated by the call of the author’s conscience more than the requirements of the discipline (Sociology) to which he belongs, informs the present monograph. Based on the testimonies of several Dalit labourers in a Bihar village, it highlights the betrayal of the promise of social, economic and political justice that underlay the struggle for independence- a promise that us at the heart of the Indian constitution. It describes the everyday problems faced by the labourers in accessing the basic necessities of existence, including food, clothing, shelter, health care and education. Their testimonies highlighting their tribulations, though confined to a single village, also reflect the dismal living conditions of their counterparts elsewhere in Bihar. The author argues that forces based on caste and class in the wider political economy of the state are antithetical to ameliorating the plight of those living in poverty.
About the Author: Anand Chakravarti retired as Professor of Sociology at the University of Delhi in 2006. He held the S.K. Dey chair in local Government at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi, from July 2013 to June 2015. His publications include Contradiction and Change: Emerging Patterns of Authority in a Rajasthan Village (1975) and Social Power and Everyday Class Relations: Agrarian Transformation in North Bihar (2001).
The film, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) is part of a series organised by the Council of Social Development to mark International Women’s Day on March 8. The critically acclaimed documentary film, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, shines a light on the heinous practice of honour killings in Pakistan and succeeds in bringing global attention to the issue. Films like this mark a paradigm shift by advocating stronger laws to end the impunity of relatives who murder women, seen as a source of family ‘dishonor’. A discussion in CSD following the 45-minute film questioned the very concept of honour and why it is assumed to be gender specific. Discussants asked whether the rise the religious fervor on the domestic and international stage has lead to the rise of such regressive practices. But the subjugation of women takes many forms, and not in the most obvious ways such as honour killings. To address this phenomenon, it was felt, one needed a deeper understanding of gender dynamics and changing structures of patriarchy which could be done both at a collective and individual level.
Prof. Gopal Guru, Editor, Economic & Political Weekly will speak on Migration: A Moral Protest
Chair: Prof Muchkund Dubey, President, Council for Social Development
Speaker: Dr Akhil Alha, Council for Social Development, New Delhi
Chair: Dr T Haque, Distinguished Professor, CSD and Former Chairman, Commission on Agricultural Cost and Prices
Date: January 31, 2019 (Thursday) Time: 3.00-4.30 PM Venue: Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture Hall, CSD, Sangha Rachna, 53 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003
Abstract of the Talk
The presentation chronicles a farmers’ struggle being carried out by the farmers of the two villages in Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan for the last six decades for getting irrigation water from the Gang Canal which passes through the middle of the village since 1927. The farmers have attempted all possible measures ranging from meeting chief ministers of successive state governments to sitting on fast-unto death but witnessed no success so far. All they have received is assurances from the public representatives. The failure in bringing their village lands in the command area of the canal can largely be attributed to the socio-economic clout of the large farmers of the region, reluctance of public representatives of the region who himself own large landholdings, and the limited support that the struggling farmers have received from farmers’ organizations.
Brief Introduction of the Presenter
Dr Akhil Alha, a PhD from Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University is assistant professor at Council for Social Development, New Delhi since June 2014. His areas of research are Political Economy of Development, Labour and Migration, Discrimination in Labour market, and agricultural economics. He has a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals in the above areas.
Chair: Professor Manoranjan Mohanty, Vice-President and Distinguished Professor, CSD, New Delhi.
Venue: Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Hall, CSD, 53, Sangha Rachna, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi-110003.
Date & Time:3.30 pm on December 13 (Thursday), 2018
Abstract of the Lecture
The Supreme Court of India, in an important decision in the case of Navtej Singh Johar and Others vs. Union of India (2018), read down Section 377 Indian Penal Code (hereafter S.377), decriminalizing sexual relations between consenting adults, irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity. A process that began with the 2009 judgment of the Delhi High Court in Naz Foundation vs. NCT Delhi, this decision marked the culmination of the judicial twists and turns in the matter of homosexuality and the rights of LGBTQI+ persons and Gender Nonconforming persons (GNC). In the author’s view, this judgment does not lend itself to a plain and linear reading of “the law” or “the constitution” or “rights” in Blackstonian terms, and she engages a different method (or anti-method) in the reading that is presented in this lecture. She hopes that this will help us excavate the constitutional archive and the languages of justice, which like the constitution are spatially rooted and understand better the shards and fragments of historical memory (including constitutional memory) in relation to the constitution and its specific, analogic and generic possibilities.
About the Author
Kalpana Kannabiran is Professor of Sociology and Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad, an autonomous research institute supported by the Indian Council of Social Science Research. Recipient of the Amartya Sen Award for Distinguished Social Scientists for her work in the discipline of Law in its inaugural year, 2012, Kalpana was awarded the VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research in the field of Social Aspects of Law by the ICSSR in 2003.
She was part of the founding faculty of NALSAR University of Law where she taught sociology and law for a decade, 1999-2009; is co-founder of Asmita Resource Centre for Women set up in 1991, where she designed and coordinated the legal services and outreach programme. Her work has focused on understanding the social foundations of non-discrimination, structural violence, and questions of constitutionalism and social justice in India – with a specific focus on gender, sexual minorities, caste, adivasi/indigenous rights and disability rights.
A frequent contributor to the Economic and Political Weekly and member of its editorial advisory group for the Review of Women’s Studies, she writes for The Hindu and The Wire.
Kalpana Kannabiran was a Member of the Expert Group on the Equal Opportunity Commission, Government of India, 2007-2008 and the General Secretary of the Indian Association for Women’s Studies, 1998-2000. She was Member of the Executive Committee of the International Sociological Association, 2014-2018.
Venue& Dates: India International Centre, New Delhi (14-15 July 2018)
Concept Note
During the post-independence period, while primary education and to some extent higher education have received some priority in India, relatively secondary education has been subject to severe neglect. It was assumed that secondary education has no particular role in the development of a poor agrarian country.
It is only recently it is realised that secondary education plays a crucial role in development of the society – in raising economic growth, improving income distribution, reducing poverty, and improving human development. While primary education gives the basic three r’s, rarely does it provide skills necessary for employment – self employment or otherwise that can ensure some wages and economic living. Moreover, most of the literacy and primary education programmes are also found to be not imparting literacy that is sustainable, so that children do not relapse into illiteracy. Secondly, primary and even elementary education rarely serves as a terminal level of education. Thirdly, even if primary education imparts some valuable attributes, in terms of attitudes and skills and if primary education is able to take the people from below the poverty line to above the poverty line, it is possible that this could be just above the poverty line, but not much above; and more importantly the danger of their falling below poverty line at any time could be high; the skills and attributes may not sustain. On the other hand, it is secondary education that consolidates the gains received from primary education; as secondary education helps in innovating technology and in sustaining growth; it is secondary (and higher education) that provides skills that could be useful in the labour market; it is secondary and higher education that can keep the people above poverty line without such a danger of falling back into poverty trap — educational poverty or income poverty; and in fact, it is secondary education that can ensure a higher quality of life, by increasing the social, occupational and economic levels of the households.
Today, there are 62 million students in secondary (including senior secondary) education in the country. The gross enrolment ratio at lower secondary level was 78.5 per cent and in senior secondary level it was 54.2 per cent in 2016-17. These gross figures underline how far away we are from universal secondary education. More worrisome aspect is high rate of dropout in secondary education: 35 per cent of the students enrolled in grade IX dropout before completing grade X and 38 per cent before completing grade XII. The quality of secondary education, reflected in poor employability of secondary school graduates and or their unsuitability for admission in higher education, is a matter of serious concern. Secondary education is also associated with a high degree of inequalities – regional, and inter-state, between different social groups and economic classes. In short, secondary education is associated with the elusive triangle of low of levels of quantitative expansion, poor quality and a high degree of inequalities.
An important feature of secondary education in India is a high proportion of private schools – government supported private institutions and more importantly private unaided institutions as a proportion of all schools. The latter have increased in large numbers in the recent past. It is increasingly being noted that the latter are associated with several maladies and unfair practices.
Many of these aspects have not received much attention of the educational planners and policy makers for a long time. Now with the rapid progress in universal elementary education — though the deficits particularly in terms of quality, infrastructure and teachers are still very large, partly attributed to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, midday meals and other interventions made at national and state levels, naturally attention of the state as well as the society at large shifts to secondary education. At the same time, the unfinished agenda on universal elementary education cannot be lost sight of. On the lines of SSA, the Government of India has also launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), with an objective of universalizing secondary education. Government has also initiated, among others, special programmes such as Shala Siddhi and School Leadership to improve quality of education and quality of leadership at school level. Recognising the linkages between elementary and secondary education, the Central Advisory Board of Education has also recommended integration of SSA and RMSA. It is also being discussed the need to extend the Right to Education Act to secondary education. These initiatives and discussions are also reflective of the realization of the state that for the development of the modern nation, universal, strong, equitable and quality secondary education is essential.
Thus, The launching of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) a few years ago with an objective to provide universal secondary education, the current discourses on the need to extend the Right to Education Act to secondary education, and the more recent imitative of the Government of India to integrate Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with RMSA and Teacher Training, and thus launch a new “Integrated Scheme for School Education” that aims at administrative, financial and programmatic integration, with a view to improve “school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes” and raise “allocative efficiency and optimal utilisation of budgetary and human resources” — necessitate a serious discussion on theoretical, empirical and practical aspects on universal secondary education, as all these have serious implications not only for secondary education, but also for universal elementary education, rather for the whole education sector.
In this overall background, it is proposed to organize a seminar on “Universal Secondary Education” to discuss some of the critical policy issues and practical problems in the development of secondary education.
Some of the issues meant for discussion in the seminar include
Importance of universal secondary education in development
Growth and inequalities in secondary education
Quality of secondary education
Central versus state government schools
Private schools
Funding secondary education
Grants in Aid in secondary education
Fees in secondary education
Foreign aid for secondary education
Performance of students in board examinations
Shala Sidhi
Development of school leadership
Extension of RTE to secondary Education and its implications
Integration of SSA and RMSA
Curriculum and Development in Secondary Education
Importance of vocational and technical skills in secondary education
Quality of teachers, teacher methods, teacher training
Supervision, Inspection and School administration
Transition to higher Education
Transition to work
This is not an exhaustive list. Papers are invited on any of these or other themes related to secondary education in India.
The Seminar will be organized by the Council for Social Development on14-15July 2018, in the India International Centre, New Delhi. Invited participants in the seminar include researchers, policy planners, administrators and those who are deeply interested in the development of school education in the country.
Important Dates
Acceptance of the invitation: 22 April 2018
Title and Abstract: 1 May 2018
Full paper: 1 July 2018
Seminar Dates 14-15July 2018
The Social Development Forum of CSD, New Delhi invites you to a
Panel discussion on the book
Health beyond Medicine
Authored by
Dr Vikas Bajpai (JNU) and Prof Anoop Saraya (AIIMS)
On
May 17th 2018 (Thursday)
Time: 3.00-4.30 PM
Venue: Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture Hall, CSD,
Sangha Rachna, 53 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003
About the Book: Health is a socially produced phenomenon which expresses itself biologically. This notwithstanding, rather than emphasize provisioning of social conditions that lead to good health, the emphasis of policy makers is on provisioning of health care services as an expedient to ensuring people’s health. As regards social determinants of health the underling presumption seems to be that GDP growth will automatically take care of it in due course of time. However, it seems the fear that addressing the social determinants of health would entail a radical transformation of society itself which has kept the rulers away from taking any meaningful action in this regard.
The health workforce is also trained to conceptualize health problems and their possible solutions from the perspective of ‘haves’ rather than that of the impoverished majority. Caste, class, gender, religion and ethnicity are important determinants of health outcomes which no health services system can afford to ignore. Above all, there is a need to understand the politics that zealously guards the present state of affairs; and the politics that we need to engage with for out redemption.
This book seeks to remove the analytical blinkers put on our minds by the ruling elite such that we can clearly see the links between the social, economic and political structure of our society, the health services system as it has evolved and the health of the people. Doing so is the first step to doing the rest.
Panelists:
Dr Ritu Priya
Professor, CSMCH, JNU, New Delhi
Prof. Imtiaz Ahmad
Retd Prof, CSSS, JNU
Prof Rama V Baru
CSMCH, JNU, New Delhi
Chair: Prof Manoranjan Mohanty
Distinguished Professor, CSD
The Social Development Forum of CSD, New Delhi invites you to a talk on ‘Agitation to Legislation: Negotiating Equity and Justice in India’
Schedule of the Programme
Agitation to Legislation: Negotiating Equity and Justice in India
Speaker: Prof Zoya Hasan, Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, New Delhi and Professor Emerita, Centre for Political Studies, JNU New Delhi
Chair: Professor K B Saxena, Distinguished Professor, CSD New Delhi
Date: April 26, 2018 (Thursday) Time: 3.00-4.30 PM Venue: Durgabai Deshmukh Memorial Lecture Hall, CSD, Sangha Rachna, 53 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003
A Brief Introduction of the Talk
The past few years have seen the street emerge as one of the most volatile and engaging sites of a politics in flux. Mass protests, widespread networks, and quick mobilization in the age of social media have instilled a new life in protests and agitations, engendering an entirely new brand of rights agenda in India today. Grassroots activism along with organized, collective action has influenced several landmark legislations, often resulting in progressive outcomes and policies.
Agitation to Legislation finds that such a progression is not so sudden. It examines ways in which social mobilizations influence legislative trajectory, opening up modes of direct engagement between the state and its citizens, between the government and the governed. It simultaneously focuses on political actors and processes that help expand rights and accountability and at the same time resist any attempt to increase representation of under-represented groups. Positive outcomes have depended on political responses and party strategies, either appropriating or reinforcing or disregarding the scale and intensity of public protests and collective action.
About the Speaker
Zoya Hasan, is Professor Emerita, Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University and former Dean of the School of Social Sciences, JNU and currently Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, New Delhi. She is a member of the Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, and a member of the Editorial Board of the International Political Science Review, Secular Studies (Brille) and the Journal of Human Development in India. Her recent books include Congress After Indira: Policy, Power, Political Change (1984-2009) and Politics of Inclusion: Caste, Minority. A collection of her essays titled Democracy and the Crisis of Inequality was published in 2014. Apart from her book Agitation to Legislation: Negotiating Equity and Justice, a co-edited book titled Empire of Disgust: Prejudice, Discrimination and Policy in the United States and India will also be published in 2018.
Council for Social Development, India International Centre and Jamia Millia Islamia University on Bandung Vision and Contemporary Global Challenges
Bandung legacy songs by Pratidhwani: 30 Min. 5.30 – 6.00 pm
led by Prof. Subhendu Ghosh
Welcome: Air Marshall Naresh Verma 05 Min. 6.00 – 6.05 pm
Director, IIC
Opening remarks by the Chair: Prof. Muchkund Dubey, 15 Min. 6.05 – 6.20 pm
President, CSD
Speakers: Dr. Syeda Hamid, 15 Min. 6.20 – 6.35 pm
former Member of Planning Commission
Prof. Darwis Khudori, Convener 15 Min. 6.35 – 6.50 pm
Bandung Spirit Network, author of ‘Bandung Legacy and Global Future’
to be released by Dr. Syeda Hamid
Prof. Praveen Singh, 15 Min. 6.50 – 7.05 pm
Professor of Global Studies
Ambedkar University Delhi
Prof. Ajay Darshan Behera 15 Min. 7.05 – 7.20 pm
Academy of International Studies
Jamia Millia Islamia University
Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty 10 Min. 7.20 – 7.30 pm
Distinguished Professor, CSD
Vote of Thanks: Prof. Ashok Pankaj, 05 Min. 7.30 – 735 pm
Director, CSD
Time: 24 April 2018, Tuesday, 5.30 PM Venue: CD Deshmukh Auditorium, IIC Main, New Delhi
Tea: 5.00 PM
The film, A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015) is part of a series organised by the Council of Social Development to mark International Women’s Day on March 8. The critically acclaimed documentary film, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, shines a light on the heinous practice of honour killings in Pakistan and succeeds in bringing global attention to the issue. Films like this mark a paradigm shift by advocating stronger laws to end the impunity of relatives who murder women, seen as a source of family ‘dishonor’. A discussion in CSD following the 45-minute film questioned the very concept of honour and why it is assumed to be gender specific. Discussants asked whether the rise the religious fervor on the domestic and international stage has lead to the rise of such regressive practices. But the subjugation of women takes many forms, and not in the most obvious ways such as honour killings. To address this phenomenon, it was felt, one needed a deeper understanding of gender dynamics and changing structures of patriarchy which could be done both at a collective and individual level.
