Making it happen: Transforming school education in Andhra Pradesh

December 22, 2020

Andhra Pradesh, like any states in the country was faced with several challenges in school education. Apart from scale, fragmented approach to delivering public education, frequent change of leadership, changing programme directives and reduction of funding resulted in inconsistent and poor focus on quality aspects. Low learning levels among students,...

Making things happen: Appreciating the constraints

December 15, 2020

The agitation against the Farm Bills has set me thinking. I had so far been of the view that for anything to happen and sustain in the Government it had to be politically acceptable, socially desirable, technologically feasible, financially viable, administratively doable and judicially tenable. This in itself was quite...

Making things happen: Tackling corruption

December 8, 2020

It took the government more than four years to put Lokpal in place. Only time will tell whether this institution will have the desired impact or will it also become an institution for “rewarding” retired civil servants and judges. Though without commenting on the quality of judges (for obvious reasons),...

Nava Raipur: Birth of a new capital

December 1, 2020

When Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November, 2000, the issue of a capital was high on the minds of leaders. Chattisgarh was the richest segment of MP, rich in natural resources, water, minerals and forests; yet it had received scant attention and remained ‘backward’. The newfound statehood...

Making it happen: Mission Kayakalp

November 24, 2020

Illicit liquor is a massive social, economic and law enforcement nightmare across India. It has been known to destroy innumerable lives by death, criminal conviction, disability and addiction apart from ruining livelihoods, families and health. The brunt of this evil is most intensely felt by the poor and illiterate classes....

Making it Happen: Coal block auction

November 17, 2020

It is heartening to note that the auctions of the coal bocks for commercial mining are currently going on smoothly. However, it was not so in 2014. There was a crisis at hand. The coal blocks that had been allotted during the past decade and a half came under the...

Making it happen: The alternative model of health financing in Kerala

November 10, 2020

The good news is that Prime Minister Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) is happening despite some teething troubles. It is happening on account of a committed team led by the redoubtable Dr Indu Bhushan. PMJAY rides on the positives of Rashtriya Swathya Bima Yojana (RSBY) that was at some point in...

Making it happen: Vande Bharat Express

November 3, 2020

Indian Railways has a long history and legacy of close to 170 years and it is a subject of a great deal of romance apart from being the lifeline of the nation. However, anyone associated with the Indian Railways (IR) has always wondered why all its thousands of trains hardly...

Making things happen: India loses a Covid warrior who made it happen

October 27, 2020

He was young. He was committed. But Covid got the better of him. Sudhakar Shinde was yet another officer who demonstrated that despite a variety of constraints, if a civil servant so desired, he could make-it-happen. Born in a poor family in a remote District Parbhani, Maharashtra, he had four...

Making things happen: Scarcity management, the Solapur way

October 20, 2020

The district administration focused on the issue of development and strengthening of existing water sources. The main strategy being recharging of wells/ borewells. Of the 6,400 drinking water sources, recharging was undertaken before the monsoon of 2015-16. Solapur has been a perennially water-scarce district. It lies in the rain shadow...