'People-work'

  One year since the SDGs – how committed is the Indian Parliament? Sustainable development goals (SDGs) are proof that the conversation on the intersectionality between economic, social and environmental change has finally come of age and is now hard to ignore. These new set of 17 global goals, along with their 169 targets are not just transformative in their ambition for the last person in the queue. They are in fact inviting us to participate in the tectonic shift in development thinking, to step out of our comfort zones to examine new solutions and new ways of doing business. And lets remember, these goals were generated through four years of participation of millions of people around the world and not by a bunch of experts huddled in a basement.   However, in India, the discussion on pathways to achieve the goals have, over the past year, become the domain of central and state level bureaucrats who haven’t amassed any significant glory for their ability and inclinat...

  India's Warped Idea Of The 'Demographic Dividend': Extracting From The Youth, But Not Investing In Them India is all set to test the assumption that the youth bulge is a source of demographic dividend and an economic advantage. The assumption is that greater the number of people in an economy who work, save and pay taxes, higher will be the economic growth. With 356 million 10-24 year-olds, India has the world’s largest youth population in the world.   Three young girls seem to have tested the assumption with their bodies. Their verdict is that all things remaining the same, demographic dividend may be on life support.     A fifteen year old government school student in Ganjam gave birth in her classroom. She bled in the bathroom, confused, she ran back to her class, but before her class teacher could get help, she delivered a child right there. The infant later died. The young girl went home with her parents. She will now recuperate at the mercy of a qu...