Back in 2013, when I was still a dreamy eyed development worker in Mandla, I had a crazy brainwave for transforming rural livelihoods in the tribal districts that I was working in. I got into trouble for that because in the Indian aid sector, one is supposed to be Gandhian and not Bacchanalian. We had... Continue Reading →
How the police sabotages justice
My colleague recieved a call from a beleaguered tribal woman of the Paraswada block of Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh. This lady reported that she had been beaten up by her husband and in-laws in her marital home. She had reported the matter to the police. The police booked her husband and in-laws under section... Continue Reading →
Access to ICT4Ag in India
An advantage of having a peer coach is that you may never know what they might lead you to in your own sector. My WhyDev peer coach Eric Couper introduced me to the budding ICT4Ag industry in India when he was in Ethiopia! ICT4Ag means Information & Communication Technology for Agriculture. This introduction is for readers... Continue Reading →
My Tryst with Organic Farming…on the farm.
The Ministry of Rural Development has taken it upon itself to promote organic farming across the length and breadth of India. Well that's precisely what've decided to do in the National Action Plan for Climate Change and in the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture. Many NGOs have dutifully followed suit. This is especially true in... Continue Reading →
The Futility of Penalizing the 3rd child
Here is a reproduction of a blog post I had written back in 2008. There are talks in the Kerala government circles these days regarding the imposition of the ‘two-child’ norm for couples failing which they will be penalized Rs. 10000 per ‘extra’ child and disqualification of the 3rd child for of free healthcare and education. This rule... Continue Reading →
Getting India subtitled
If I were to be given the choice to do just one thing for India's development, then I would make it compulsory for every TV channel in India adopt same-language subtitling (SLS) for their shows. Live TV can be spared. This idea has compulsively played itself on a loop in my cranial development jukebox for the... Continue Reading →
The pros and cons of being a development professional in India
This could also have been titled: Things no one told you during your development studies degree' or because you didn't know other dev workers before you started working. THE CONS. 1. Corruption More often than not, you are surrounded by people who are out to make a quick buck. Most NGOs are created to siphon... Continue Reading →
How caste interfered with Organic Farming
The Indian government, more precisely the NMSA, is very gung-ho at the moment to ensure that every farmer (well everyone who is willing to listen and experiment at least) takes to organic farming methods. Right now, most smallholder farmers are organic by default (lack of money and/or access to resources). The grand plan is to... Continue Reading →
Hurdles for climate change mitigation in Indian agriculture. Do we know them?
India is a major contributor to climate change and at the same time is highly vulnerable to climate change. To put the latter in the words of Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister, Rural Development, "there is no country more vulnerable to climate change than India, on so many fronts." (Ramesh, 2011) More precisely, India's long coastline, high dependence... Continue Reading →
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Buleria 