Odisha villagers use wall writing to demand better school infrastructure

By A Representative
In a unique move, Odisha villagers chosen wall-writing to put forth their demand on education in its efforts to urge the state government to build school infrastructure and start remedial classes for weak students of government-run schools. Part of the Mission 3-5-8 programme, which seeks remedial classes for weak students by August 15, more than 6000 wall writings have been put in the walls across 17 rural districts in the state.
Naba Kishor Pujari, a civil society leader, said, the campaign was prompted on finding that “first-generation learners in remote villages, especially in tribal areas, lack online and community resources to learn at home during the lockdown, as mandated by the government. Though the government has started online classes, it has benefited only few, those residing in semi-urban areas and those who have access to electronic gadgets.”
“Despite our efforts, the state government has yet to take any step on our demand. As a parents, we can see the failing state of education in our state as our children are deprived of school education since when the Covid-19 induced lockdown was announced. Therefore, we chose wall-writing to bring the attention of the state government”, added Sudhakar Pradhan, a parent of a government school child from Dakarbadi village of Kandhalam district.
“Wall writing has been an effective means of communication as we reach more number of people through our campaigns than the meetings we do. Covid-19 has created another restriction to hold meetings. Therefore, we chose the medium”, asserted Sabitri Majhi, who works as a Janasathi in Lok Bikash Mancha, a people’s collective which has joined the nationwide campaign Hamari Maang: Achha School, Sudharatmak Siksha.

The farmer's burden: How oil, war, and climate are rewriting the price of food

By Vikas Meshram The scorching flames of the Middle East conflict are now slowly reaching the kitchens of ordinary people. The true price of this war is paid in daily markets, vegetable shops, and in the shattered minds of farmers. Expensive crude oil, skyrocketing fertilizer prices, and rising agricultural costs are together creating the conditions for global food inflation — and this crisis is directly tied to what people eat and drink every day.

India's nuclear euphoria: The hard economics policymakers ignore

By Shankar Sharma* There is a sort of newfound euphoria sweeping India with respect to nuclear power — and in particular, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). In political speeches, policy documents, and newspaper editorials, the word "nuclear" has acquired a fresh, almost romantic glow, as though a technology once synonymous with catastrophe at Chernobyl and Fukushima has been quietly reinvented. To be sure, the challenges of climate change and India's growing electricity demand are real and urgent. But enthusiasm is not a substitute for analysis. A hard look at the global evidence, the domestic cost picture, and the practical hurdles of nuclear deployment raises questions that this national conversation urgently needs to confront.

Beyond the 'silent relocation' narrative in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts

By Dr. Mohammad Asaduzzaman* In recent years, a narrative has emerged from the rugged and forested terrain of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), portraying the region as the site of a “silent relocation” — a mass forced migration of Bangladesh’s non-Muslim ethnic communities into neighboring India and Myanmar.

Counterview

Search This Blog