SPRF
INTRODUCTION The second wave of COVID-19 ruptured families across India. Despite widespread media coverage, the conversation overlooked a demographic worst affected by it, namely children. According to a Lancet study by Bachman et al. (2021), last year saw 11,34,000 children lose their primary caregivers to COVID-19 globally. This figure includes at least one parent or […]
Context Since its introduction in 2010, the Aadhaar card has served as the primary source of identification and the means to access public and welfare services — such as ration, KYC, bank accounts, etc. — provided by the government. Publicised as the most reliable authentication of someone’s identity, the Aadhaar card is the most extensive […]
INTRODUCTION India’s 2011 Census recorded 453 million internal migrants in India, forming a significant 37% of the total population. One out of every five migrants is a child, resulting in an estimated 92.95 million migrant children. However, the Census and National Sample Survey’s [NSS] short-term circular migration estimates are believed to be low and misleading […]
CATALYST In September 2019, Tapir Gao, the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] MP of Arunachal Pradesh, cautioned the Lok Sabha that China had moved 60-70 kilometres beyond the McMahon Line, also called the Line of Actual Control [LAC], to construct a bridge within Indian territory. Gao warned that “if another Doklam were to happen anywhere, it […]
The global discourse on sustainability has revolved around the need to transition towards “Sustainable Consumption” ever since it was introduced during the 1992 Earth Summit chaired by Maurice Strong, a Canadian businessman who made his wealth from the oil and gas industry. A couple of years later, the 1994 Oslo Symposium on “Sustainable Consumption” sought […]
ABSTRACT India has seen a significant rise in attacks against and killings of journalists in recent years, making it an increasingly hostile place to practice journalism. In the last two decades, India’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index dropped from 80th to 142nd. This issue brief discusses the shortcomings in the Indian legal framework […]
CONTEXT Every year, during the months of November and December, people living along India’s Arabian Sea coast witness beautiful sparkling blue tides at night. In December 2020, for instance, such sightings were recorded in Mumbai’s Juhu and other places across Maharashtra like Devgad and Murud (Bhalerao 2020). Blue tides were also recorded in November last […]
Let us hypothesise that it is the year 2030. A farmer living in a remote village in India, instead of having to travel many hours to reach a hospital in the city that is equipped to diagnose and provide treatments, only needs to visit his nearest health facility. His doctors readily access his medical records […]
CONTEXT The enactment of the Right to Education Act 2010 (RTE) and the introduction of the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP) can be considered two important milestones in India’s education policy landscape over the last two decades. The RTE describes the modalities of free and compulsory education for children in the age group of 6-14 […]
CONTEXT With the roll-out of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, vocational education has garnered the required spotlight. The NEP 2020 is a comprehensive policy document that extensively discusses the revamping of vocational education. The policy focuses on bringing vocational education into mainstream education, as recommended by successive commissions on education over the years. The […]
CONTEXT Street vendors are an integral, and yet, an overlooked part of India’s urban landscape. Constituting one of the largest segments of self-employed workers, India is estimated to have over four crore people carrying out a diverse range of street vending activities [1]. The Street Vendors Act 2014 identifies urban street vendors as constituting up […]
Authored By – Anushka Negi and Jitendra Bisht Edited By – Kavita Majumdar CONTEXT With just 4% of the world’s freshwater resources and 17% of its population, India is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world [1]. Water supply is becoming scarce due to reasons including, but not limited to, drastically falling water […]
Authored by: Nikita Seth with inputs from Diksha Pandey and Neha Simlai Edited by: Kausumi Saha In the wake of the global pandemic, markets all over the world are looking to make their supply chains stable, sustainable, and locally stronger. Companies are now, more than ever, focused on adopting sustainable business practices. Even as their […]
CONTEXT Section 14A of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 mandated the government of India to “compulsorily register every citizen of India and issue national identity card to him” and “maintain a National Register of Indian Citizens” (NRC, hereafter) [1]. Almost two decades after the 2003 amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955, the abbreviation ‘NRC’ […]