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Baroque

Baroque

By vijayalakshmi balakrishnan

Baroque is shorthand for a pause in our journey as fellow travellers, a pause which marks not a break from the past, but a time to look back and then look ahead. This time, with greater clarity. Conversations with influential companions, their stories, and through their individual journeys, insights about the art and craft of public policy-making. To Get in touch, baroquepodcast@gmail.com

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the Work/Labour Faultline:

BaroqueFeb 18, 2023

00:00
08:46
the Work/Labour Faultline:

the Work/Labour Faultline:

We are moving towards a brief hiatus. Our recall of the kaam versus shram debate, which would begin a long silence on the issue of child labour, is a good place to mark a pause on this journey. 

Will be back soon....

Feb 18, 202308:46
Questioning Claims or Questioning Intentions? Backstory of the term advocacy statistics

Questioning Claims or Questioning Intentions? Backstory of the term advocacy statistics

Making the argument, that children out of school are working, required the presentation of information to back the claim. These statistics, use a range of definitions, some more liberal than others. Reason and evidence, are used to support a claim. Reason and evidence can also be used to challenge an argument presented. When argument is challenged, not through evidence, but by the questioning of intention, a new battleground is created. The backstory of advocacy statistics. 

Sep 07, 202106:35
Intertwined Tales: Foundation of a public argument

Intertwined Tales: Foundation of a public argument

When writing the story of education, it becomes impossible, to not address the issue of child labour. Just as when telling the story of child labour, it is not feasible, to not engage with the education system. The two tales are linked, one blends into the other, measuring one, provides the framework for success on another. This insight, would lead to the framing of the important public argument, All Children out of school are child labourers. 

Aug 31, 202108:07
August 24, 1789 and 1991: When The World Changed Quietly.

August 24, 1789 and 1991: When The World Changed Quietly.

August 24, is one of those days, when the world changes, quietly. 

In 1789, the French Assembly, proclaimed freedom of speech on August 24th.  And three days later on August 27th, the Assembly, finally accepted, the Lafayette version of the Rights of Man and Citizens.  

In 1985, Gorbachev, began the process of recognizing the market as a civilisational entity. A shift from the Soviet understanding of the market as an invention of capitalism. On August 24, 1991, Gorbachev, after surviving a failed coup and spending two days under house arrest, resigned as General Secretary of the Party, and by the end of the year the USSR ceased to exist. 

For teachers the vanguard of the education process, teaching from pages that were different from the world changing was a challenge, then as it is now. 

Aug 24, 202108:56
Veiled Future: What awaits girls and women who want education and their place in the sun

Veiled Future: What awaits girls and women who want education and their place in the sun

The replacement of the democratically elected government with a faith-led autocracy, in Afghanistan has been met with shock and awe. Mainstream media conversations have raised the possibility of the return to the dark days of the 20th century, when girls were denied access to education. 

The reality is likely to be an expansion of what has been happening in the provinces, during the past decade, where the Taliban has been de facto control. In these places, the official educators, administrators and providers, have negotiated on ground compromises. What this has meant, is the giving up, of final decision-making power, in key areas, recruitment, and curriculum. In turn, the Taliban have provided support in on-ground monitoring of teachers, assuring lowering of absenteeism. And when faced with determination, they have shown to have been willing to compromise. So co-education has been allowed to continue, albeit with a curtain separating girls and boys. It is this restricted future that awaits children going forward. 

Further Readings

1. Allen, John R and Felbab-Brown, Vanda (2020) The Fate of Women's Rights in Afghanistan https://www.brookings.edu/essay/the-fate-of-womens-rights-in-afghanistan/

2. Afghanistan Study Group (2021) Afghanistan Study Group Final Report https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/afghanistan_study_group_final_report_a_pathway_for_peace_in_afghanistan.pdf

3. Rubin, Barnett and Rudeforth, Clancy (2016) Enhancing Access to Education: Challenges and Opportunities in Afghanistan https://cic.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/enhancing_access_education_may23_final.pdf

Aug 17, 202111:21
Blended Financing & Anticipating the State's Response

Blended Financing & Anticipating the State's Response

Here, we take a look at the last years of educational financing, with the integration of new private sector sources, through the lens of State responsibility. 

Further Reading 

Convergence Blog Post: Unlocking Financing for Investment into Education https://www.convergence.finance/news-and-events/news/2j6ZqZWOFCdDRLyI2bfOQm/view

Arvind Panagriya (2004): India in the 1980s and 1990s: A triumph of Reforms. IMF Working Paper https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2004/wp0443.pdf (last accessed August 10, 2021)

Vijay Joshi (2017), India's Economic Reforms: Reflections on the Unfinished Agenda, 15th L.K.Jha Memorial Lecture., December 11, 2017

https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/PDFs/LKJHA235F92F8EBFB4E119129D18BA579628C.PDF (last accessed August 10, 2021)


Aug 10, 202110:04
Anticipating State Behaviour: What the first year of the New Education Policy tells us about the Future

Anticipating State Behaviour: What the first year of the New Education Policy tells us about the Future

Context is a powerful predictor of State Behaviour. What Context does not do however, is help us identify which areas, will receive more state attention. 


Further Readings

Keynes, J.M. (1919) The Economic Consequences of the Peace https://openlibrary.org/works/OL35914W (last accessed August 1, 2022)

Thucydides History_of_the_Peloponnesian_War_done_into_English_by_Richard_Crawley (1914) http://openlibrary.org/books/OL22889422M/ (last accessed August 1, 2022)

https://www.policycircle.org/life/off-the-yellow-brick-road-the-five-futures-that-the-new-education-policy-promises/ (last accessed, August 2, 2021).

Aug 03, 202108:50
One chart that tells the convoluted story of progress

One chart that tells the convoluted story of progress

The National Family Health Survey began life in 1991. It would soon gain credibility and acceptance. What makes the NFHS particularly valuable, has been its ability to shed light on difficult to measure facets of state-society-family-individual interaction. One such area, is child labour. 

Click on the chart below to get a better understanding of the narrative of progress.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/incidence-of-child-labour-in-india


In 2000, the NSSO survey, had already shown that 5.2 per cent of children were working.

That there were reasons, why the government was reluctant to collect disaggregated information on child labour would emerge when the National Family Health Survey, in 2005 would show that the child labour figure, was 15.2 per cent. This was substantially higher than the NSSO figure, which had just a year, earlier shown, that there had been a drop in the percentage of child labour, from 5.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent. This fall is a figure that the government could use to claim success in the struggle to end child labour. 



Jul 27, 202114:41
Recalling a day of reckoning in India's Parliament
Jul 21, 202114:40
Importance of Strategic Autonomy for Data Credibility: NSSO & Census

Importance of Strategic Autonomy for Data Credibility: NSSO & Census

The Census and NSSO are pillars of the Indian Statistical system. Though the system has colonial roots, the establishment of the National Sample Survey Organisation, in 1950 with strategic autonomy, coded into its DNA gave the professionals, the ability to develop and share with the public analytical reports without fear. In 1953, with the passing of the Indian Statistical Act, the process of democratisation, the importance of accountability to the people, was built into the system. Willingness to share information was kept voluntary, which meant the refusal to share information, was lower than 10 per cent giving the system's data gathering ability, much heft.

This strategic autonomy, and the related valuation of the statistical system, would be important to lend credibility to the 2001 census, which reported, that for the first time, in recorded history, the number of total illiterates, had declined. Statement 25, of the census, was closely scrutinised. Statement 25 gives the number of literates and illiterates among the population aged seven years and above in absolute figures for India for the 1991 and 2001 Censuses. The significant milestone reached in Census of India, 2001, is that the total number of illiterates has come down from 328,167,288 in 1991 to 296,208,952. With that, Borrowing a few words from Nehru, the reason for the struggle for freedom, had been achieved, not wholly but in some measure.  

Decisions taken in this millennium, have eroded that strategic autonomy, that story will be taken up in the next episode.

Further Reading 

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319292092_ORIGIN_AND_ACTIVITIES_OF_NSSO_GOVERNMENT_OF_INDIA (accessed on july 7, 2021)

2. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/what-does-the-merger-of-national-sample-survey-office-and-central-statistics-office-entail/article27401039.ece

3. (https://censusindia.gov.in/Data_Products/Library/Provisional_Population_Total_link/PDF_Links/chapter7.pdf)

Jul 14, 202110:47
Measuring Change: Why correlations, are not always causation

Measuring Change: Why correlations, are not always causation

The census is a credible record of change and progress, a benchmark that allows trends to be highlighted, and correlations drawn. Only correlations, can be misunderstood as causation.  

Documents mentioned in the podcast 

Padmanabha, P. "Census of India, 1981: Salient Features." India International Centre Quarterly 8, no. 3/4 (1981): 207-18. Accessed July 3, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23001895.

https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-142/leading-churchill-myths-1/ Accessed July 3, 2021

Challenge of Education, A Policy Perspective http://14.139.60.153/bitstream/123456789/1592/1/CHALLENGE%20OF%20EDUCATION%20-a%20policy%20perspective_D-5070.pdf, Accessed, July 3, 2021

Jul 03, 202108:19
Understanding State Behaviour through School Text Books

Understanding State Behaviour through School Text Books

How do text books, present and re-present the darker side of a nation's past? The National Curriculum Framework, provides a guideline, " A (Text Book) guide to construct understanding through active engagement with text, ideas, things, environment and people, rather than transferring knowledge as finished product."

Yet how does that guideline, translate through a process of decision-making, into text books, that present, both successes and failures. 

Further reading 

Yogendra Yadav's Recalls what it took to get a chapter on the Emergency included in political science textbooks. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/how-emergency-entered-school-textbooks-273107

Jun 26, 202109:06
Making of the Global Citizen

Making of the Global Citizen

In 1976, India adopted Article 51 A(h), making the development of a scientific temper, a duty of every citizen. Inclusion of that Article, put India, into a club of one, the only country, which requires, of its citizens, the development of a scientific temper, a shorthand for temperament promoted by Jawaharlal Nehru. Like some other Emergency  period changes in the Constitution, those who opposed the abandonment of democracy, retained this provision, when they came to power. 

That Fundamental Duty  would be the basis of an advance in thinking, of the purpose of education, best articulated in the National Curriculum Framework in 2005 and most recently in the National Education Policy 2020: The Indian as Global Citizen

Further Reading 

1. https://doj.gov.in/sites/default/files/Fundamental-duties_0.pdf

2. https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/nc-framework/nf2005-english.pdf

3. https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf




  

Jun 19, 202107:29
Shining the light on Kumar's Corridor of Darkness
Jun 12, 202107:33
Recalling the village of Sohagi

Recalling the village of Sohagi

The village of Sohagi, is at the heart of the Mirzapur-Badhoi Belt and the prime minister's visit, in 1975, was a significant signal of support to the carpet trade, and to the weaving industry. Her visit to launch, a programme for training of children to become weavers, would trigger, a series of events, that would lead Dr. Myron Weiner, to conclude, that Inda's children are not in school and learning, because the elites of the country want it to be so, 


Jun 05, 202114:49
Legacy of The 42nd Amendment: Tale of Two Books
May 28, 202113:45
Tales from three schools
May 22, 202111:01
Ideas and Ideals-- The Tale of Two Books Continues

Ideas and Ideals-- The Tale of Two Books Continues

Myron Weiner's work has profoundly affected, public policy discussion on education and child labour. Child and the State in India achieved cult status. In a country, known to be prickly, and wearing its nationalism as a badge of honour, his central thesis, that the reason, child labour is rampant and children are not in school, is because India’s elite want it like that is cited by everyone ---- those who want to change the system and equally by those who want to maintain the status quo. 

Weiner advocated for compulsion on families to send children to school, a push for legislative action, with India following of the same path, as the east Asian countries. His ideas gained political and public attention. And yet, it was the ideal of education as a fundamental right, valued in and of itself, which would drive the inclusion of the Right to Education. The coercive element, was kept out. Years later, as schooling children became the norm not the exception, his thesis on the role of elites, continues to influence policy dialogues. The distance between ideas and ideals is shorter and at once longer, depending on which path one chooses to take. 


May 14, 202120:50
Dimensions of Equality Experienced: Tale of Two Books

Dimensions of Equality Experienced: Tale of Two Books

In his analysis of In the post-independence period, Kumar would point to both dramatic changes, such as the inclusion of all children within schools, while also pointing to ways in which the changes, were accompanied by subtle continuities. It was in the second edition of the book, that his analysis of the past would be nuanced with what he was witnessing all around him. Where earlier, the struggle was access to school, now the struggle, was to somehow, manage, even mitigate the prejudices, which had entered the classroom and were working to push select children, out of school. In his analysis, there is a central role of caste and gender. (https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/pol-agenda-kk.pdf)

To understand the impact of his analysis on the wider community of academics, practitioners and policy-debates, it is useful to shift gaze to an earlier century. David Ricardo, published his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, in 1817 and it created ripples. It would be in 1821, when the third edition of the book was published, that the book would achieve the status of a timeless classic. It was in this third edition, that he would include Chapter 31, titled On Machinery. In this chapter, he would share ideas, on what the new technologies, then transforming production processes, would have on economy and society. A textual analysis of the chapter by the Munich School is an useful start  (  https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/73427/)

Vimala Ramachandran speaks about operationalising the ideals of equality, through the State system, in episode 2 of Baroque Conversations ...

May 07, 202114:07
What place does labour and /or work have in a child's school day? : Tale of Two Books

What place does labour and /or work have in a child's school day? : Tale of Two Books


The struggle to abolish child labour, is viewed as a good fight. But what if the work done by children is not considered labour?. What if children work, while also going to school? Can labour and school-going education co-exist, and if they do, what does it mean for the life experience of a child? 

These questions have no easy answers.   Prof G K Lieten has studied the phenomenon of children, doing the work of adults, extensively had explained, the distinction, between child labour (unacceptable) and child work, (acceptable in many if not most scenarios) as “(all) kaam (work) is not shram (labour)”. argues that the concept of work should be used as the generic term, and would refer to ”any type of work being done in any mode of employment relationship and for any purpose; it should serve as a description of the physical (or mental) involvement in a job”, while the concept of (child) labour should be ”restricted to the production of goods and services, including work in the household, that interfere with the normative development of children as defined in 1989 the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child”. 

Most  professionals, who work with children, disagree.  The understanding of how children should spend their childhood years, what experiences they should be introduced to, encouraged towards, through policy interventions, is at the heart of the two books faultline.  

For those interested, here's the study, during the course of which, I observed, that children were complementing schooling with labour http://www.negfire.org/images/reports/Maharajganj_Report_FinalDraft.pdf

Apr 30, 202113:05
1991 Revisited-- Tale of Two Books

1991 Revisited-- Tale of Two Books

1991 is known and celebrated as the year when economic reforms, were introduced in India. Cloaked within the story of the 1991 economic reforms, is the story of decisions taken that would decisively transform the policy and programming landscape of education delivery in India.  From 1992, there is a visible shifting of gears, and a policy commitment to universalise education for every child.  

The story of provision of education to every child, everywhere in India, is the story of State commitment, and public pressure. One of the key organisers, of that public pressure, national convenor of the Right to Education Forum, Ambarish Rai passed away this week. This episode is dedicated to our fellow traveller, Ambarish Rai. RIP. 


Apr 24, 202118:12
Tale of Two Books -- Prequel

Tale of Two Books -- Prequel

1991, is known in the public policy community, as the year, when India took a decisive turn right, on governance and especially economic policy-making. That same year two books were published, both by scholars, with a deep and abiding faith in the transformative, power of education in the lives of children and nations; both were to be successful, yet the two books could not be more different.

This Tale of Two Books audio series will examine the interplay of ideas and interests that were catalysed by these two very different books and the impact they had on India's education planning and the lives of children and their families.

Krishna Kumar, The political Agenda of Education, A Study of Nationalist and Colonial Ideas, 1991  (https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/pol-agenda-kk.pdf)

Myron Weiner, The Child and the State in India, 1991 

(https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/stateandchild.doc)

Apr 15, 202113:13
How to Build The University: The lived journey from idea to institution: The story of JNU

How to Build The University: The lived journey from idea to institution: The story of JNU

Mar 30, 202102:54:55
Talking About What Matters: The White, The Black and the Lighter Shades of Grey
Mar 14, 202102:09:11
Choosing the road less travelled
Feb 21, 202101:36:52
Bridging the Gender Gap in Education: Backstory of a Policy Success, that has gone unremarked
Feb 11, 202102:22:35
Amplifying Dreams: A Lateral View of Fundraising

Amplifying Dreams: A Lateral View of Fundraising

Listening, the singular experience on which this podcast is anchored, is taken for granted until we no longer have the ability to hear. Unlike other forms of disability,  deafness the disability is invisible, what is visible are the related educational and social widening gaps.

Arun Shah, the Director, Development of the All India Federation of the Deaf, shares with Baroque his engagement with visibilising the invisible disability. He has been supporting non-profits, in marketing, communications raising resources, both material and human for nearly four decades. 

In the course of the conversation, he discusses growing up as the younger brother, of one of India’s most talented artists, the painter, Prabha Shah, and the journey from being a supportive family member to becoming an advocate for the rights of the deaf, working full time, to bridge the divide between the deafness of those who are reluctant to hear and the difficulties of the hearing impaired who want to live lives of meaning and self-respect.

Jan 28, 202154:05