This article examines rural transformation in India through a review of longitudinal village studies conducted over the past three decades. It argues that rural India is not undergoing structural transformation in the classical sense. While labour is steadily moving out of agriculture, this shift has not led to higher productivity in agriculture or the development of a robust rural nonfarm economy. Instead, what unfolds is a process of deagrarianisation, driven by out-migration of male workers to cities where they engage in informal nonfarm employment. This transition is uneven and remains deeply embedded in existing hierarchies of caste, class, and gender, which shape both access to opportunities and outcomes. By identifying common patterns across diverse regional contexts, the article shows how village studies provides a grounded perspective on the nature of rural change.

Author: 
C.R. Yadu

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर का दिसम्बर अंक केन्द्रित है ​‘प्रारम्भिक बाल्यावस्था और शिक्षा’ पर। इस अंक में प्रारम्भिक बाल्यावस्था और शिक्षा पर केन्द्रित विविध अनुभव-आधारित आलेख, एक सैद्धान्तिक लेख, शिक्षकों की डायरी में दर्ज उनके अनुभव उन्हीं की कलम से, कुछ रोचक तथा आसानी से की जा सकने वाली गतिविधियाँ और ऐसी किताबें, जिनका उपयोग प्रारम्भिक बाल्यावस्था के लिए किया जा सके, शामिल हैं। साथ ही ​‘उम्मीद जगाते शिक्षक’ के अन्तर्गत एक आँगनवाड़ी कार्यकर्त्री, जिन्होंने अपने केन्द्र को बदलाव के नए स्तर दिए, की यात्रा के अनुभव, उनकी कहानी भी है। 

Urban blue spaces, such as lakes and rivers, are increasingly recognised for their ecological and social roles, yet their contributions to sustainable food systems remain understudied. Here, the researchers examine the extent and benefits of foraging in urban blue spaces across four major Indian cities through a survey of 1,200 users. We identify three forager groups, that is, ​‘rare’, ​‘occasional’ and ​‘frequent’ foragers, whose behaviours differ in frequency and practice. Women, the elderly and marginalised communities most frequently collect, share, cook and sell edibles. Access to home or community gardens strongly motivates occasional foragers. Frequent foragers emphasise benefits relating to nutrition and income, as well as culture and social capital, whereas occasional foragers appreciate nature- and culture-related benefits. The findings challenge conventional perspectives on urban food provisioning, highlighting urban blue spaces as vital yet overlooked spaces for food access and resilience. Integrating foraging into urban planning can enhance equitable food systems, fostering transformative change toward sustainable urban landscapes.

Authors: Sukanya Basu, Brenda Maria Zoderer, Harini Nagendra, Peter H Verburg, Tobias Plieninger 

Energy poverty related to a reliance on traditional biomass for cooking has a strong association with environmental degradation, gender inequity and human health. Reduction of energy poverty is a growing concern in public policy agenda globally. In India, the last decade has seen concerted efforts to provide clean cooking fuel to the population. Despite this, wide regional disparities in energy poverty exist in India, indicating differential regional impacts of policies. A shift to universal access to clean modern cooking fuel requires the redesign of policies, with insights from a decentralized understanding of actual drivers of household cooking energy choices across diverse regions. The paper attempts to explain household cooking fuel choices under multiple fuel use (fuel stacking) scenarios in two states of India, differentiated by their socio-economic status and development trajectories. The paper employs multinomial logistic (MNL) regression on household level data from the Indian Human Development Survey 2015 to identify factors determining fuel choices. Urbanization, per capita income, the educational attainment of the household head and women in the household, having a separate kitchen for cooking and not living in one’s own house were observed to be positively influencing a switch to clean cooking energy in both the states. The results of the study indicate that shifting out of energy poverty and achieving the goal of universal clean cooking energy would require combining ongoing welfare policies with policies on provisioning clean cooking energy in India.

Authors:  M Manjula

How can the experience of making a simple pinhole camera with inexpensive materials help our students think more creatively and critically about light? 

How can conversations around an athlete’s record-breaking sprint actively engage our students in learning concepts around linear motion?

What do our students learn about the practice of science when we encourage them to write the biographies of scientists who appear in their textbook? 

How do we provide spaces for our students to make and manipulate new materials from old discarded or inexpensive material? 

Read this issue to explore these and many other such teaching-learning experiences in middle-stage science and preparatory stage EVS. 

Science education literature states that fostering students’ and teachers’ knowledge of NOS has shifted from being a desirable goal to an essential one. This article focuses on the development of NOS conceptions among MA Education students. To develop those conceptions, the researcher designed various learning activities in the context of ​‘research of history on DNA’. Seven students were observed and audiotaped while working in groups in this classroom qualitative study. Before the intervention, pre-test on ​‘views on science’- Chen (2006) and group discussions held with participants indicated that their NOS conceptions were basic. After 7 sessions, a post-test was administered to students asking to justify NOS conceptions. These conceptions: scientifc knowledge is tentative, laws are generalisations or universal relationships, theories are inferred explanations of nature; and that science is empirically based, socio-culturally embedded, and creative. Classroom discourses and responses to a post-test indicated that participants justifed some NOS conceptions very well and some not so very well. It also argues that HOS ofers potential for improved learning of NOS.

The fourth edition of the Mountains of Life newsletter celebrates International Mountain Day, focussing on sustainable mountain solutions through innovation, adaptation, and youth engagement. The newsletter includes the highlights of the Mountains of Life festival, held at our Bengaluru campus from 13 – 26 November 2024. We also feature inspiring stories from interns, and acknowledge the efforts of mountain enthusiasts, especially the youth, alongside select contributions from readers. Thank you for your continued support — happy reading!

The Rushikulya beach in eastern India is considered to be an important rookery (nesting site) for a species of migratory marine turtle, the olive ridleys Lepidochelys olivacea, because it is one of a handful of sites around the world where an arribada or mass-nesting event occurs. During an arribada, thousands of ridleys nest simultaneously over a small section of the beach, and several weeks later, millions of hatchlings emerge from these nests and crawl into the sea. Given the uniqueness of this phenomenon, conservation programmes have emphasised the monitoring and protection of ridleys during an arribada. In Rushikulya, this involves an assemblage of multiple actors, including biologists, their local assistants, and staff of the Odisha Forest Department. In this article, I use the concept of ontological choreography, drawn from multispecies scholarship, to focus attention on how members of this assemblage bring together different ontological orders, mainly nature and the individual self, to protect the ridleys. Further, I use this concept to direct attention to the hybrid nature of conservation practice — that it can simultaneously be affective, embodied, performative, sensory and technical. Overall, this article demonstrates how multispecies approaches can enrich social studies of conservation.

Authors:

Madhuri Ramesh

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर का 22वाँ अंक ​‘समावेशी शिक्षा विशेषांक’ है। समावेशन शब्द एकबारगी विशेष दक्षता वाले बच्चों के बारे में ध्वनित होता मालूम होता है। लेकिन इसकी परतों को खोलने पर समझ में आता है कि इसमें विशेष दक्षता वाले बच्चों की बात तो निश्चित तौर पर है ही, साथ ही बात है अलग-अलग सामाजिक‑आर्थिक और सांस्कृतिक परिवेश के विविध मनोभावों वाले वंचित समुदाय के बच्चों की शिक्षा और संसाधनों के बारे में भी। संवैधानिक मूल्यों में रचे बसे स्नेह और सम्मान जैसे मानवीय मूल्य हर बच्चे के लिए ज़रूरी हैं। 

इस अंक में आप पढ़ेंगे कि शिक्षक शिक्षा में समावेशन को लेकर किस तरह की योजनाएँ हैं; किस तरह एक विशेष विद्यालय को समावेशी विद्यालय बनाया जा सका; और कलाओं, खेलों, संगीत, आदि के ज़रिए किस तरह समावेशन को दस्तावेज़ों से निकालकर हक़ीक़त में उतारा गया। 

आप इस अंक में कुछ स्थाई स्तम्भ भी पढ़ेंगे जिनमें ​‘उम्मीद जगाते शिक्षक’ की कहानी है, ​‘किताबों से दोस्ती’ में जानेंगे 3 सुन्दर किताबों के बारे में, और ​‘आइए, करके देखें’ में समावेशन पर आधारित ऐसी गतिविधियाँ जिन्हें आसानी से कराया जा सकता है। इनके साथ ​‘शिक्षकों की डायरी’ स्तम्भ में आप पढ़ेंगे शिक्षकों के काम,  उनकी बातें,  उनके अनुभव।

Employment projection, particularly at the micro or sectoral level, is considered as a useful tool for economic planners and policymakers to have a better understanding of future trends and growth, and accordingly, the policies and planning could be designed for the supply side of the labour market. 

This study finds that there is a lack of literature in the recent past on the above issue in the context of India, hence in this paper, we have tried to estimate employment numbers for seven broad economic sectors for the period 2024 – 25 to 2030 – 31. The study uses the ​“Top-down” approach to estimate and project the employment numbers by using the employment-output elasticities and forecasted values of growth rates of gross value added (GVA) at the sectoral level. 

Three broad conclusions have been drawn from the employment estimates. First, the agriculture and allied sector continued to be the dominant force in creating employment opportunities till 2030 – 31, however, a surge of employment in the sector in recent years may unlikely continue in the future. Second, the slowing down of economic activities in services sector is expected to dent high employment growth prospects in the sector. Third, a phenomenal rise of employment in industry particularly in manufacturing sector in recent years augurs well for the economy which is expected to remain buoyant in the medium term as well

The Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) in 2018 to mitigate catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure. This government-sponsored health insurance scheme is implemented through six digital portals, including a grievance redressal system, with the involvement of multiple stakeholders. The grievance redressal mechanisms in PMJAY are aimed at ensuring access to information, contribute to the responsiveness of the scheme and safeguard it against any fraudulent practices. 

As a pioneering effort, this research explores the role and experiences of grievance redressal systems by exploring the following research questions: 1) What are the processes of collecting and responding to grievances in PMJAY? 2) How is the awareness about the Grievance Redressal System among the beneficiaries?, and 3) What is the experience of beneficiaries of interaction with the Grievance Redressal System of PMJAY? 

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from January 2022 to August 2023 in Gujarat, using a mixed-method approach to data collection from various primary and secondary sources. The findings from the study show that multiple formal and informal channels are active with varying accessibility among the beneficiaries. A significant proportion of beneficiaries were unaware of their entitlements and grievance redressal mechanisms. Awareness was low regarding internet-based formal channels and communication through letters or emails. 

The findings underscore the necessity for enhanced outreach efforts, using detailed information dissemination via print and outdoor media. Building trust in the grievance redressal system is essential to increase its use and demand among the beneficiaries. Insights from this study will be useful to strengthen the grievance redressal system of the PMJAY scheme or similar government schemes.

This article explores the birth of multiple shipbreaking yards in India, such as Darukhana, Mumbai (1912); Sachana, Jamnagar (1977); and Alang, Gujarat (1983). It tells a story of how, specifically, the inception of the Alang shipbreaking yards is intricately linked to the changing geographies of ship disposal facilities in the 1970s and 1980s. This article demonstrates how India’s domestic policies on importing obsolete vessels for scrapping were in tandem with the shift in global waste flows. As major ship scrapping facilities closed in Western countries followed by Southeast Asian countries, shipbreaking yards mushroomed in different parts of South Asia, primarily in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. This article scrutinises the convoluted image of the Alang shipbreaking yards as a passive recipient of ​“waste” in the form of end-of-life vessels from the Global North.

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर का अठारहवाँ अंक पुस्तकालय पर केन्द्रित है। एक जीवन्त पुस्तकालय के बिना स्कूल की कल्पना अधूरी है। जीवन्त पुस्तकालय की कल्पना को साकार करने के लिए किए जा रहे कई अलग-अलग अनुभव इस अंक में शामिल हैं। इस अंक में शामिल ​‘संवाद’ पुस्तकालय और पढ़ने की संस्कृति पर केन्द्रित है। क्या पुस्तकालय एक शान्त जगह हो या यहाँ बच्चों को बात करने की छूट हो, स्कूली विषय व इतर पुस्तकें, आदि विषय भी इस अंक में शामिल हैं। कुछ लेख पढ़ने और लिखने के सन्दर्भ में नए अनुभवों व दृष्टिकोणों को प्रस्तुत करते हैं। एक लेख सामाजिक विज्ञान की विषयवस्तु और पढ़ाई से विद्यार्थियों में आलोचनात्मक जागरूकता पैदा करने के तौर‑तरीक़ों के बारे में है।

What exactly is reinforcing learning? Reinforcement is nothing other than a reflection of teaching on the one hand and learning on the other. Reinforcement should ideally be an aid to learning the principles that constitute a concept, since the basis of learning is to grasp the fundamental propositions of a topic. This issue includes reinforcement in the most important primary school subjects — so there are experiential articles in maths, language, EVS and science as well as an article on assessing reinforcement which illustrates that assessment, if done holistically, is in itself a reinforcement tool. 

The present study analyses civic and community-based initiatives in conserving urban ecological commons in India, which have been increasingly polluted, encroached upon and degraded because of rapid land-use transformations. Bangalore, a city in south India, has one of the largest networks of manmade lakes, some of which are restored and managed by citizen groups, civil society, environmental activists and voluntary private bodies. The restoration process interfaces with urban policy making, shaping predominant management agendas in association with the State. Community initiatives in conserving the lakes are not only well-organised, but also play a crucial role in making city commons vibrant and integral nodes of cultural and social identification. However, the contemporary management system involving citizen groups in lake conservation is largely at odds with the tradition of community-managed lake systems previously existing in the city, which have eroded as the city became industrialised and increased in size and population, resulting in rapid landscape transformations. Against this background, the present study aims to illustrate that a seemingly representative community management of city ecologies is often embedded in an overwhelming political context. It also discusses the need for an urgent deconstruction to better understand how overtly flexible and dynamic restoration actions interact with inequality, power and conflicts. The results of the present study emphasise that the current participatory and community-driven initiatives of ecological restoration in Indian cities unfortunately accord limited significance to the overarching questions of social justice and relations of power.

यह अंक कक्षा में बच्चों से खुले सवाल पूछने और सोचने के महत्त्व जैसे कुछ प्रमुख मुद्दों की उपयोगिता को सामने लाता है। वैज्ञानिक स्वभाव के मायने क्या है और यह कक्षाओं में कैसे प्रतिबिंबित होता है, कक्षा में विभिन्न पृष्ठभूमियों के बच्चों के बीच संवाद के अवसर कैसे बन सकते हैं, जैसे मुद्दों पर भी इस अंक में लेख हैं। इसी के साथ बहुत सारे लेख कक्षाओं को अच्छे से चलाने के तरीक़े सुझाते हैं, जिनमें बुनियादी गणित शिक्षण से जुड़े उदाहरण / लेख भी शामिल हैं। 

This issue brings out the importance of some key issues like importance of open questioning and thinking by children in classrooms. What does scientific temper mean and how does it get reflected in classrooms? How can diverse backgrounds get to dialogue in classrooms and along with that many articles that suggest ways of conducting meaningful classes including many examples from foundational mathematics.

How was oxygen discovered? When was it first recognised as a chemical element? 

How do we transform the science lab into a space that encourages students to learn about germination by designing and conducting their own experiments? 

How do metaphors, explanations, and illustrations in textbooks and our classroom instruction shape common misconceptions about the atomic theory? 

What role do empathy and care for local places have in addressing the ecological crisis? 

Join us in exploring these and many other questions. 

This issue is about a term that is very much in the minds of educators today: Socio-emotional Learning (SEL), and which has become an integral part of learning and school life. Schools have ​‘Happiness Curriculums’ to develop self-awareness, enable effective communication, and work collaboratively towards collective goals instead of individual ones to bring equity to the learning process by becoming inclusive and empathetic. Teachers are looking at children as citizens who need to take their place in the larger social setting and learn to contribute to society while themselves leading meaningful and mindful lives.

It is easy to lose hope in the future. The 20^th-century growth model is no longer viable as is evident from the spiralling climate crisis. At the time of writing this paper, the atmospheric carbon dioxide reading is a record high of 417 ppm. The current COVID-19 outbreak (and prediction of more such pandemics) is a grim sign of humanity’s distorted relationship with nature. Scientifc data related to the breaching of four of the nine planetary boundaries puts a dent on the aspirations and chase for unfettered economic growth and increasing material wealth. In reality, it is and always has been a dance of death resulting in several crises that we encounter today – extreme inequality, rising populism, degrading of our natural environments and violence and injustice of various kinds. Mahatma Gandhi warned of such a fate for India and the world when he wrote, “…like the proverbial moth (India) will burn itself eventually in the fame round which it dances more and more furiously”

Why do party balloons rise in air? How high can they go? When do they drift to the ground?

How much water do plants lose? Do they lose it only as water vapour? Can they regulate water-loss? 

Which chemical bonds are stronger — covalent or ionic? How can we tell? 

Can we grow a dense forest of native species in congested urban spaces or degraded land? How long would this take?

Who were the first people to measure the size of the earth? How did they do it? 

Join us in exploring these questions in our new section — Ask a Question. 

Cities are often seen as incubators for enterprise and innovation. However, in this urbanisation era, we seem to suffer from a lack of imagination on how to handle the many environmental problems associated with expanding cities. This is especially true in the case of the peri-urban interface (PUI), a geographical and conceptual landscape with which the city core often has a contentious relationship. In this chapter, we look at the complex linkages between water and waste in the PUIs of two metropolitan cities: Bengaluru and Kolkata. We look at two water systems: Kannuru lake in Bengaluru and Kolkata’s wetlands. Kannuru is a freshwater lake that supported traditional livelihoods and subsistence use by local communities, while Kolkata’s peri-urban wetlands not only served as the city’s natural sewage treatment plant but also enabled agriculture and aquaculture. Urbanization has adversely impacted both these water systems. Kannuru lake is threatened by a landfill on its periphery, while sewage-based farming and fisheries in Kolkata’s wetlands have been impacted by changes in land use and composition of sewage. We unravel the complexity in the waste-water relationship, where waste is seen as a pollutant in one and as a nutrient in the other. We attempt to understand how we can re-envision waste and water linkages in the PUIs of expanding cities if India needs to move towards a sustainable future.

When the life-altering COVID-19 first struck, teachers and students alike had to re-organise themselves; teachers in their pedagogical methodologies, students in their learning capabilities. Overnight, everyone went digital – smartphones, computers and TV screens became the printed page and everyone learned as they went along. 

This issue of the Learning Curve is devoted to the questions everyone had to face during the period of school closures: what can we do to mitigate the difficulties of adjustment that primary school children will undoubtedly face on their return to school? The most heartening aspect of the articles in the issue is the tremendous resilience and innovativeness displayed by everyone concerned in adapting to school closures.

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर का दसवाँ अंक कक्षा शिक्षण की प्रक्रियाओं पर केन्द्रित है। इसमें एक लेख जेण्डर के मुद्दे पर हुई रोचक बातचीत पर आधारित है। एक अन्य लेख, बच्चे कक्षा में अपने विचार स्वतंत्रता के साथ रखें और शिक्षक संवेदना के साथ बच्चों को अपनी भाषा में विचार अभिव्यक्त करने के लिए प्रोत्साहित करें, के मक़सद को सामने लाता है। कुछ लेख बच्चों की किताबों के उपयोग के महत्त्व को उजागर करते हैं और बताते हैं कि ​‘लिखना’ क्यों और कैसे अपने विचारों को अभिव्यक्त करने का ज़रिया है, न कि शब्दों के पुनरुत्पादन का अभ्यास मात्र। विज्ञान की कक्षा में समूह शिक्षण पर लेख उन सम्भावनाओं को उभारता है कि शिक्षक कैसे और क्या समझ बनाए और ध्यान रखे कि पीयर शिक्षण को प्रभावी और सही मायने में सहभागी बनाया जा सके। 

सामाजिक विज्ञान पर लेख इस विषय की प्रकृति पर चर्चा करता है और कक्षाओं में पढ़ाए जाने वाले सामाजिक अध्ययन और बच्चों के सामने आने वाले मुद्दों के बीच अलगाव को उजागर करता है। कोविड महामारी के दौरान रोजमर्रा की चिंताओं का अभाव और भी अधिक स्पष्ट प्रतीत होता है जब कक्षाएँ, बच्चों और उनके परिवार की चिंताओं की ज़िम्मेदारी नहीं ले पाती हैं।

Issue 10 of Pathshala Bheetar aur Bahar focus on classroom processes. There is an article on an interesting conversation around the issue of Gender, an article on freedom of expression in a classroom, teacher being sensitive and encouraging children expressing their thoughts in their own language. There are articles that bring out the importance of the use of children books, illustrates how writing is about expressing and is not a mere letter reproducing exercise. The article on peer-instruction in a science class brings out the possibilities that the teacher needs to have and the care that must be exercised in making peer-learning effective and truly participative. 

The article on social science discusses its nature and brings out the disconnection between the social studies taught in the classrooms and the issues that confront children. The absence of day-to-day concerns seems even more stark during the COVID pandemic as the classrooms cannot take up the concerns of children and their families.

These are just a few examples of the variety of articles and the issues raised in them. 

पाठशाला भीतर और बाहर के इस 6ठे अंक में शिक्षकों का संवाद ​‘महामारी के दौर में शिक्षा, स्कूल और बच्चे’ शामिल है। साथ ही ​‘तालाबन्दी के दौरान ऑफ़लाइन शिक्षा प्रक्रिया’ और ​‘कक्षा अवलोकन के ज़रिए शिक्षण प्रक्रिया को समझना’, ​‘भाषा शिक्षण में बातचीत क्यों ज़रूरी है’ जैसे आलेख इस अंक में हैं।

COVID-19 made it clearer than ever that the school does not and cannot be looked at in isolation from society. In this issue, there are articles that show not only teachers supporting children’s learning during the closure, but also how parents overwhelmingly supported teachers to continue their work; how, when all other ways of distance learning failed, the unanimous decision of parents was that the education of their children should go on.

Controlling for monetary policy, government transfers are potentially inflationary. This, however, may not be true when the economy is demandconstrained. Using a panel data of 17 Indian states over 30 years, we show that government transfers via welfare programs do not lead to inflation. For identification, we use a narrative shock series of transfer spending that is based on the introduction of new welfare programs. We then look at a specific program, NREGA, which has been shown to increase rural wages, and show that its implementation did not increase inflation.

Authors:

• Girish Bahal
• Anand Shrivastava

Most international development economics and industrial organization literature emphasises the importance of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) as important to output, but especially to employment generation. Countries have different definitions for SMEs. In India the MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are defined in terms of investment in plant and machinery or equipment. The MSME Ministry (Annual Report, Government of India 2017 – 18) stated that the sector accounts for 45% of the manufacturing output and 40% of the total exports of the country; also that MSMEs accounted for 30.74% of GDP in 2014– 15. Not surprising, MSMEs are considered a driving force of the economy.

Authors:

• Santosh Mehrotra
• Tuhinsubhra Giri

In this issue, we have a wide range of articles from writers who have looked at children with disabilities in a variety of ways- but through the same lens: inclusion. There are articles tracing the history of different organizations which have worked for several years to create opportunities for the education of children with disabilities, language acquisition, travel, opportunities for independence and respectful acceptance, among others.