Caste and class are two major markers of social and economic stratification in India. They play a crucial role in sustaining and strengthening the process of social exclusion. It has been often expected that the process of economic growth and modernization may weaken the congruence between caste and class structures and induce social and economic mobility, thereby bringing about a change in the socio-economic environment. In this paper, we focus on the celebrated period of high economic growth in India during the previous decade to study the evolution of caste-class dynamics, to analyse the pattern of association between caste and class positions, and examine whether this association/​congruence has weakened during this period. The analysis is based on four rounds of employment-unemployment surveys of the National Sample Survey Organization covering the period 1999 – 2012. We construct a matrix of caste and class positions of repeated cross-sections of individuals that shows whether different caste groups are over- or under-represented in different class positions and how these representations have changed over time. We then use a multinomial logistic regression framework to capture the role of caste in explaining the conditional probability of an individual to belong to a particular class position, after controlling for other critical explanatory variables. We further examine how the explanatory role of caste has changed over time. Additionally, we explore the role of education, a crucial channel for socioeconomic mobility, in explaining the class positions of individuals belonging to different caste groups over time. Finally, we examine the impact of high economic growth in determining the class position of an individual in general, as well as for different caste groups over time. The analysis shows that caste has continued to remain an important factor in explaining class locations of individuals during the period of high economic growth. Further, the caste-class associations have continued to persist across different categories of education over time. While there has been a partial weakening of certain associations during the period, particularly for the Other Backward Castes and in some parts of the rural sector, the overall picture is more of continuity than change, with further strengthening and reinforcement of caste-class congruence along several axes. This calls into question the expectations about social mobility with economic growth as well as the nature of economic growth in India.

Author:

Vaishali Kohli

Economic Policy in Independent India provides an immersive, accessible yet rigorous understanding of the Indian economy through a political economy analysis of economic policies. It provides a birds-eye view of the politics, context, and ideas that shaped major economic policies in independent India and argues that they are the product of crisis, coalitions, and contingency — not necessarily choice. Each chapter focuses on specific political regimes: Colonial Rule, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, liberalisation under coalition governments, the UPA Government, and the NDA Government. The book evaluates how well a government executed its policies based on the economic and political constraints it faced, rather than economic outcomes. Using theories to make sense of the economy, political ideology, historical conditions, and international context, the book’s framework provides multiple perspectives and analyses economic policies as an outcome of interactions between dynamics in the economy.

Author:

• Vijayshree Jayaraman

The last few years have seen an upheaval in practices of data collection and survey methods. Even before the pandemic, several data collection endeavors had begun the transition to digital, computer-assisted, and tablet-based surveys. India’s labor force surveys themselves had moved away from traditional paper- based surveys to computer-assisted PI techniques. The Covid-19 pandemic imposed a massive shock to these practices. Across several countries, ongoing surveys had to be prematurely terminated or put on hold in the interest of the safety of enumerators and interviewers.

Authors:

• Rosa Abraham
• Mridhula Mohan

“We stay in an apartment, and there is very little space around. What trees can we plant?”

“I live in an independent house, and we would like to have trees. But we are worried the roots will damage our walls and underground sump.”

These are questions we have often been asked by residents of Bengaluru. What it tells us is that while there is an interest in planting trees, there are also concerns about what kind of trees are most suited owing to constraints of space and potential damage to infrastructure. 

This guide is aimed at addressing some of these concerns. We have included 26 species of trees that can be grown in independent houses or apartment complexes in Bengaluru. We have included a basic description of each of the species, how to plant and care for the trees, the different kinds of uses and a fun fact or information nugget. The guide also contains information on installing root barriers to protect infrastructure from being damaged by tree roots. We have also included how diseased or damaged trees can be treated.

In developing countries, a precise approach to measuring women’s employment remains elu- sive. Emerging evidence underscores the pivotal role of survey methodology, encompassing respondent selection and question framing, in shaping the assessment of women’s employ- ment. Drawing from two labor market experiments in rural India, this study offers insights on the influence of survey design on the measurement of women’s employment. The first ex- periment contrasts self-reported women’s and men’s employment figures with proxy-reported data from spouses. Women’s self-reported workforce participation surpasses proxy-reported estimates by six percentage points, while men’s estimates exhibit negligible differences. There are significant differences in the type of employment activities reported by self and proxy for both women and men. These divergences emanate from asymmetric measurement errors, stemming from gender-based norm disparities between spouses, and divergent interpretations of employment. Additionally, information asymmetry between spouses concerning women’s marginal activities and disparities in spousal characteristics contribute to these self-proxy differences. The second experiment investigates if framing of questions and recall period has an impact on reporting of labor market outcomes. We find that employing multiple ques- tions to capture weekly employment status yields a 10-percentage-point increase in reported women’s workforce participation, but men’s participation rate decreases by six percentage points. Furthermore, when a distinct employment query is directed at each day of the pre- ceding week as opposed to a single query for the entire week, reported women’s workforce participation increases by seven percentage points, and men’s by four percentage points.

Authors:

• Rosa Abraham
• Nishat Anjum
• Rahul Lahoti
• Hema Swaminathan

The Indian story of economic growth and structural transformation has been one of significant achievements as well as continuing challenges. On the one hand, the economy has grown rapidly since the 1980s, drawing millions of workers out of agriculture. And the proportion of salaried or regular wage workers has risen while that of casual workers has fallen. On the other hand, manufacturing has failed to expand its share of GDP or employment significantly. Instead, construction and informal services have been the main job creators. Further, the connection between growth and good jobs continues to be weak.

Report Files

• Full report – download revised pdf file, see corrections sheet for changes made to earlier version.
• Executive Summary (pdf)
• Results Appendix (spreadsheet)
• Figure data (spreadsheet)
• All figures (pdf)
• Tables (spreadsheet)
• Press Release (English | Hindi | Kannada)
• Media Coverage (spreadsheet)

गणना करना सीखना और संक्रियाएँ सीखना ही गणित सीखना नहीं है। गणित सीखने में बहुत कुछ है। इसके लिए गणित की भाषा सीखना और स्वयं गणित करना अहम है। ऐसा गणित, जो आपके दिमाग की क्षमता को खींचे व कर पाने की खुशी भी दे । इस अंक में गणित के लेख इन बातों को बखूबी दिखा रहे हैं। बच्चों को लिखना सिखाने पर भी इस अंक के लेखों में विस्तृत बात हुई है। संवाद व अन्य लेख लिखने के आयामों यथा लिखना और पुस्तकें पढ़ना-लिखना और मौखिक अभिव्यक्ति आदि को उभारते हैं। सीखने में अर्थ की भूमिका अहम है। जो भी सीखा जाना है, सीखने वाला अपने लिए उसका अर्थ खुद गढ़ता है और जब वह यह अर्थ गढ़ पाता है, तभी सीख पाता है। बच्चों को कविता का अर्थ खुद गढ़ने देने की बात करता एक लेख, कविता ही नहीं बल्कि कुछ भी सीखने में अर्थ की भूमिका क्या हो सकती है, रेखांकित करता है। शामिल पुस्तक चर्चा भी बच्चों के सीखने के बारे में बहुत से महत्त्वपूर्ण बिन्दु रखती है।

This is a monthly newsletter published by Azim Premji University, as a part of Forests of Life, a climate awareness festival celebrating forests — a quest and yatra of young people from across different parts to engage with the youth of this country. In this edition, we celebrate National Forest Martyrs Day which is commemorated on September 11 each year to pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives to protect forests and wildlife. The day is aimed at creating awareness about protecting forests and the environment at large.

Authors:

• Zico Dasgupta
• Amit Basole

Alongside rapid economic growth, India also saw steady de-agrarianisation of its economy in terms of contribution to GDP. In terms of employment, however, the movement out of agriculture was slower, and when they did exit, it was often a withdrawal from the workforce entirely. In general, more of the workforce are in salaried employment, however, these have filtered differently by gender, caste and religion. While cross-sectional data gives us a sense of how these structural changes affect workers at any given point in time, it cannot tell us how these play out for workers over their lifetime as well as how different generations or cohorts of workers have been affected. Here, we use seven rounds of nationally representative official data to construct cohorts who are tracked over these periods to observe employment participation and the patterns over time. We find that younger generations of women systematically less likely to be in paid employment whereas for men, after a certain age, generations look similar in terms of employment rate. Similarly, when examined from the perspective of cohorts, we find that access to salaried employment has changed by gender and caste, and increase in earnings over time over their lifecycle has slowed for certain groups.

Author:

• Rosa Abraham

In a homogenised imagination of human aspirations, development interventions replicate popular models, including intensive farming in Adivasi landscapes. In the process, they try to sedentarise and individualise Adivasi communities living in the forest peripheries. Even as modernisation remains an elusive target in most of the tribal belts, ethnic socio-ecological institutions become redundant, leaving the community deskilled — ecologically, socially, and economically. Adivasi’s concerns about this conventional development process entailing detribalisation are seldom deliberated in literature and among the community. 

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर के तेरहवें अंक में भाषा और गणित शिक्षण के कक्षा अनुभवों पर कई लेख हैं। संवाद में, कोविड के दौरान स्कूलबन्दी से विभिन्न स्तरों पर हुई सीखने की क्षति के प्रभावों व भरपाई के लिए सम्भव उपायों पर, शिक्षक प्रशिक्षकों के विचार शामिल हैं। अंक में ऐसे लेख हैं जो बच्चों की विविधता को दर्शाते हैं। विशेष रूप से एक लेख वन क्षेत्र के बच्चों बारे में बताता है कि स्कूल के लिए समय निकालने में कठिनाइयों के बावजूद, उनमें पर्यावरणीय अध्ययन और गणित विषय की अपनी समझ को लेकर बहुत आत्मविश्वास और क्षमता है। एक और दिलचस्प लेख, विज्ञान, वैज्ञानिक सोच और विज्ञान शिक्षण पर है, जो इस मसले पर हमारे सामने आने वाली चुनौती की गम्भीरता को सामने लाता है।

The 13^th issue of Pathshala Bheetar aur Baahar carries many articles on classroom experiences of teaching language and mathematics. It carries a dialogue among educators on the after effects, programs initiated for and lessons for education arising from the COVID episode. There are articles that reflect on diversity of children and in particular an article on children of forest areas points out that in spite of difficulties in finding time for school, they have a lot of confidence and competence in EVS and even in Mathematics. Another interesting piece is on Science, Scientific temper and Science education which brings out the seriousness of the challenge we face.

Bas saaru, Uppina saaru and massoppu are curries made of mixed greens, and are staples in the homes of Bengaluru residents. But these greens are not always bought in the market. They are also gathered from sidewalks, little strips of soil beside the road, drains, and around lakes. The act of gathering such edible plant species from private or public spaces in the city is called urban foraging, and it is a common practice across the globe.

In Bengaluru, it is mainly middle-aged or older women from low-income backgrounds who forage. These women are vital knowledge holders and experts on the local wild plants around them. They know what parts of the plants are used for food, medicine, or cultural uses, and which is the best season to forage. They also have delicious recipes, of curries, chutneys, and pickles that have been passed down through the generations.

Sadly, as the city has developed and urbanised, these foragers are losing access to the spaces where these greens were found. 

Yet, so many people still forage for wild plants across the city. It is a dying art, one which needs to be repopularised.

Chasing Soppu is a guide to wild edible plants of Bengaluru. In this book, we provide an introduction to 53 forageable species in the city. For each, we provide a guide for identification. We also share a collection of local recipes, shared by women foragers we spoke to, which can be used to cook these plants. In addition, we share some home remedies as well. 

We investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on income levels, poverty, and inequality in both the immediate aftermath and during the long uneven recovery till December 2021 using high-frequency household survey data from India. We find that the average all-India household income dropped between 30 to 38 percent during the months of the nationwide lockdown of April and May 2020. The subsequent recovery remained incomplete and was unevenly spread over the population even twenty-one months after the start of the pandemic. Households, on average, continued to make 16 to 19 percent lower cumulative income in the post-lockdown period, but have mostly recovered after the second wave in the second half of 2021. Poverty more than doubled during the lockdown and was 50 to 80 percent higher in the post-lockdown period in comparison to the pre-pandemic levels. In the post-second-wave phase, poverty was still slightly higher than in the pre-pandemic period, and any progress in poverty reduction that would have been achieved under normal circumstances over the two years was lost. Inequality too spiked during the lockdown, but returned back to the pre-pandemic levels. Using an event study model we find that the initial shock of the lockdown was more severe for the bottom of the income distribution, but the bottom also experienced a faster recovery. On the other hand, the top end of the distribution experienced smaller declines during the lockdown but they have been slow to recover. The bottom deciles in any period typically constituted households working in contact-intensive, informal, less secure occupations that were hit the hardest during the lockdown, but were quick to recover when the economy opened up. The upper end of the distribution constituted households working in less contact-intensive, formal, secure occupations that were shielded from the sudden shock but were slow to recover.

Authors:

• Mrinalini Jha
• Rahul Lahoti

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर के अंक 9 में बच्चों को पढ़ना-लिखना सिखाने की शुरुआत और आगे इसका विस्तार कैसे किया जा सकता है इस पर लेख हैं। कुछ अन्य लेख गणित शिक्षण से जुड़ी मान्यताओं, और ये मान्यताएँ शिक्षण और सीखने को कैसे प्रभावित करती हैं, पर केन्द्रित हैं। सामाजिक अध्ययन की कक्षा में परस्पर विरोधी मुद्दों पर की गई चर्चा कैसे बच्चों में आलोचनात्मक सोच विकसित करती है, से जुड़े लेख भी इस अंक में हैं। एक‑दो लेखों में लॉकडाउन के दौरान बच्चों व शिक्षकों के लिए आयोजित की कई कक्षाओं के अनुभव साझा किए गए हैं।

इस अंक में समावेशन और समानता से सम्बन्धित दो लेख हैं। पहले लेख में शिक्षक‑शिक्षा पाठ्यक्रम के अन्तर्गत ​‘जेण्डर संवेदनशील शिक्षण क्यों व कैसे’ की पड़ताल की गई है। दूसरा लेख जनजातीय बच्चों को शिक्षा के दायरे में लाने और उनके लिए सीखना सम्भव बनाने के बारे में है। इस अंक का साक्षात्कार, अनुराग बेहार से राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति 2020 के मूलभूत तत्त्वों पर टुलटुल बिस्वास द्वारा की गई बातचीत पर आधारित है। पुस्तक चर्चा में जिस किताब की चर्चा है, उसका नाम है- एक स्कूल मैनेजर की डायरी ।

Issue- 9 includes a range of articles on importance of and teaching of reading and writing to children. These explore how reading and writing maybe initiated and then furthered. Other articles touch upon beliefs about teaching of mathematics and how they impact teaching and learning and on how classroom discussion on conflicting issues in Social Science help develop critical thinking. Some other articles focus on the sharing experiences of organizing classes for children and for teachers during the lockdown. 

There are two articles related to issue of inclusion and equity in education. One on of them explores why and how of Gender education in context of teacher education curriculum and the other is about education of Jan Jati children and making learning possible for them. The interview in this issue is with Anurag Behar and focuses on the foundational elements of the National education policy 2020. And the book discussed in the issue is ​‘Ek School Manager kii dairy’.

This working paper studied individual religiosity, trust, and trustworthiness to find that more religious people are more likely to exhibit greater trustworthiness even if religiosity does not predict trust.

The paper attempts to develop arguments around concepts like ​‘Gaze’ and the understanding of ​‘bodies’ within popular culture. In its discussion on the ​‘male gaze’, it raises pertinent questions of ways in which, with the rise of consumerism, the women’s representation, particularly in the popular media, has become more vulnerable. This paper has tried to problematise the existing notion of popular women’s magazines as ​‘best companion for women’, as they are fraught with contradictions of what they claim to be and represent. The paper further explores the changing meanings of representation particularly with the advent of globalisation and the rise of the beauty industry.

The Historical Evolution of the District Officer: From Early Days to 1947, is the first of five volumes written by Dr CK Mathew (Fmr. Former Chief Secretary, Rajasthan). Popularly known as district collector/​deputy commissioner/​district magistrate, the district officer is a critical element in the hierarchy of India’s governance structure. Originally, it was created for revenue collection by the British East India Company and extended in its scope over time. In post-independence India, it mutated to become the administrative head of every district, addressing grievances and implementing public welfare programmes. 

This working paper reflects on the importance of how oppressed and exploited communities look at education, at the relations of power in pedagogy and curricula, how students internalize ways of looking at class life that come from their social location and so on in an Indian context.

Most discussions on the quality of government data overlook the legal framework within which data are collected. This paper examines India’s Census Act, 1948, which provides the legal-administrative framework for conducting human population census. The Act stipulates punishment for interfering with the process of enumeration, but the punitive provisions are rarely used and have not been invoked to deal with cases of mass manipulation of the census. Major instances of manipulation were, in fact, reported in 1951 and 2001 after the government introduced additional punitive measures in 1948 and 1994, respectively. This paper compares the Census Act, 1948 with other Indian laws related to the collection of statistics as well as census laws of other common law countries and identifies the structural flaws of the Indian law vis-à-vis manipulation. It uses simple games to explain why the punitive provisions of the Census Act, 1948 are redundant in the event of mass manipulation and suggests that the problem can be addressed without recourse to law. The insights drawn from the games are examined in light of the experience of Nagaland, a state of India where census statistics were manipulated on a large scale in 2001.

The latest issue of Learning Curve focuses on ​‘arts in school education’. The burthen of the collective message of this issue is: in the life of our children, Art is as essential as any other subject. Art sharpens perceptions of the world around us, it increases awareness and sensitivity. It also enhances human relationships as we discover the similarities of the artistic experience. There is a general recognition of the fact that the word ​‘art’ encapsulates within itself a wealth of meaning, as witness phrases such as the art of writing, of communication, of social and political exchange.