Publications & Resources
Explore key scholarship, reports, resources and work from our community.
Our faculty, students and researchers work together everyday to contribute to a better world by grappling with urgent problems we are facing in India. We conduct rigorous work to produce high quality learning resources and publications to contribute to public discourse and social change. Here, we feature a sample from our work for everyone to access. You can explore featured resources, policies, and the latest publications from the University.
To explore all the work of our University, please visit our publications repository.
Working Paper Series
Loss, recovery and the long road ahead: Tracking India’s informal workers through the pandemic
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Drawing on results from a panel of 2778 workers interviewed during and after the 68-day hard lockdown imposed in India, the following study examines the livelihood impact of the pandemic and the extent of subsequent recovery or lack thereof. Focussing specifically on workers located in the informal economy, the study is a useful addition to the burgeoning body of work on the economic impacts of Covid-19 by providing an insight into the employment and earnings recovery of those located at the margins. These findings are spliced across socio-economic groups to showcase the differential impact of the pandemic on different demographics within the informal sector.
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Article
The Social Contract and India’s Right to Education
in International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague; Wiley
Article
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
India’s 2009 Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act presents an idealised social contract which assigns roles to multiple actors to uphold a mutual duty, or collective responsibility, to secure children’s access to a quality school education. This article explores how the social contract assumed by the RTE Act misrepresents the conditions required to enact mutual responsibilities as well as actors’ agreement to do so. Qualitative data from Bihar and Rajasthan show how state actors, parents, community groups and teachers negotiate and contest the RTE Act norms. The analysis illuminates the unequal conditions and ever-present politics of accountability relations in education. It problematises the idealisation of the social contract in education reform: it proposes that if the relations of power and domination through which ‘contracts’ are entered into remain unaddressed, then expressions of ‘mutual’ responsibility are unlikely to do other than reproduce injustice. It argues that policy discourses need to recognise and attend to the socially situated contingencies of accountability relations and that doing so would offer an alternative pathway toward addressing structural inequalities and their manifestations in education.
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Working Paper Series
Lessons from Dharnai, “India’s First Fully Solar Powered Village”: A Case Study
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
This case study is of “India’s First Fully Solar Powered Village”2 — Dharnai. It is a case of the promises of and challenges facing the realisation of “energy democracy” — the idea that distributed renewable energy systems have the potential to democratise the economy and society.
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- Authors
- School of Development
Abstract
Modern India has a history of a vibrant and active social sector. Many local development organisations, community organisations, social movements and non-governmental organisations populate the space of social action. Such organisations imagine a different future and plan and implement social interventions at different scales, many of which have lasting impact on the lives of people and society. However, their efforts and, more importantly, the learning from these initiatives remains largely unknown not only in the public sphere but also in the worlds of ‘development practice’ and ‘development education’. This shortfall impedes the process of learning and growth across interventions, organisations and time.
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- Authors
Abstract
What does evolution by natural selection mean? How does ‘survival of the fittest’ explain the transformation of male clownfish into females? Or the many non-combative, non-competitive, and seemingly friendly interactions observed between ants and plants? Does it provide clues to the identity of the mysterious descendants of dinosaurs in today’s world? These are some of the questions we explore in our theme section ‘Evolution revisited’. In Annals of History, relive unsung surprises in the process of discovery of penicillin with interactive resources designed for the science classroom. How do we use pendulums to illustrate fundamental concepts in mechanics? How do we recognize and clarify incorrect student conceptions of the science of everyday phenomena? Find out with the detachable activity sheets & concept builders in ‘The Science Lab’.
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- Published
- Authors
Abstract
The problems of India’s development and governance are routinely linked to the logic of India’s electoral democracy. As a result, a great deal is known about elections, but paradoxically our knowledge of politics and society between elections is relatively underdeveloped. As much as anything else, development and governance outcomes are shaped by how the government functions between elections; including how it relates to citizens on a regular basis, how it provides routine public services to them, and how public order is maintained. Further, governance processes are nested in the social and political relationships between citizens and government functionaries.
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