Education
Taking it to Policy Makers
Carrying forward its Education Choice Campaign, CCS conducted a Role Play and Public Hearing at the India Habitat Centre on February 25.The event called Shiksha Vikalp: Nayee Chah, Nayee Raah” aimed at taking public perception of education to policy makers. The event saw enthusiastic participation from slum dwellers, private schools representatives and policy makers alike. The panelists for the public hearing included Ashok Agarwal (Social Jurist), TK Mathew (Deepalaya), Ashok Pandey (Principal, Ahlcon International School), Amrish Singh Gautam (MLA, Patparganj), Mohit Satyanand.Policy Review
Education Vouchers: Global Experience and India's Promise- This latest paper by CCS describes the experience of eleven countries with education vouchers with their success and failures.
Research Paper
A Prabaharan, Senior Research Associate, Education, wrote a paper on Christian Contribution to Education for submission to Jawaharlal Nehru University & University of Birmingham.Commentary
“Back to school for some, to first principles for others” Parth J Shah, The Indian Express
“A Learning Curve” Gurcharan Das, Newsweek
“Encouraging Edupreneurs” A Prabaharan, Business Standard
“The Mess in Education” Ajay Shah, Business Standard
" Numb and numbers" Parul Sharma, The Hindustan Times
Livelihood
Jeevika Film Festival
With over 85 entries from students and film makers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Serbia, a viewership of over 1300, “Jeevika 2005”, CCS Annual Livelihood Documentary Festival expanded its outreach in South Asia. The 21 best films were premiered at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi from 20-28 January 2006. The Inaugural and Award Ceremonies saw moving speeches from Dr. Kiran Bedi, MP Deepinder Hooda, Magsaysay award winner, Rajendra Singh, columnists Gurcharan Das and Swaminathan Aiyer, and filmmakers Rakesh Sharma and Tareeque Masood. The films reached out to over 25 schools and colleges across various cities of India including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmedabad. Four of the documentaries were also selected for screening at the Silver Lake Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA held in March. For a detailed account of this year’s festival, check out the Jeevika Report.
Commentary“Udarikaran chhote karobariyon ke liye kyon nahin” Sanjay Kumar Sah, Economy India
Governance
Publications
CCS released two major publications in the area of governance.
State of Governance: Delhi Citizen Handbook 2006 is a compilation of more than 30 government departments, agencies, boards and issues in the Delhi Government that ignite public debate in the capital city. The Handbook makes constructive and bold recommendations for improving the quality and effectiveness of governance. The book was released by Hon’ble Minister of State for Urban Development, Shri Ajay Maken at a release function organized in collaboration with ASSOCHAM. More Media reviewsWard Power: Decentralized Urban Governance focuses on the functioning of urban municipalities. The book, which is targeted at policy makers, urban planners and citizen associations, suggests creating a local self-governance unit at a level of a Ward for decentralized management. The book was released by former Cabinet Secretary of India, Mr. TSR Subramanian at a function organized in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). More
Duty to Publish Campaign
As part of the Duty to Publish (DTP) campaign, CCS sent suggestions to the Administrative Reforms Commission via its RTI (Right to Information) Questionnaire and the Central Chief Information Commissioner's Annual Report for a stronger RTI Act. Click here for a summary of the main suggestions.
Study on Community-based Water Delivery
On March 22, 2006, World Water Day, CCS released a study on "Community innovations in Water Delivery" based on Case Studies of Olavanna in Kerala and Sangam Vihar in Delhi.
Commentary
“Budget 2006: status quo on the paternal government” Parth J Shah, The Financial Express
“An excuse to target those deep pockets?” Parth J Shah, DNA
Youth Programs
Research & Documentary-making Workshop
A two-day Research & Documentary Making Workshop was organized on January 27 & 28 in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) The Workshop aimed at introducing 43 young people to the basic skills of primary and secondary research and techniques of film making.
Seminar on Poverty, Profits & Entrepreneurship
A Seminar on Poverty, Profits and Entrepreneurship was organized in conjunction with the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi on February 4. The aim was to explore partnerships between global companies and local entrepreneurs and to look at possible connections between the Bottom of the Pyramid and global markets. Over 75 students of management and other courses attended the seminar. The speakers included Pradeep Kashyap (MART), Sharad Agarwal (Hindustan Latex), Arjun Uppal (ICICI) and William Bissell (FabIndia).
CATO Chairman at Delhi School of Economics
William A. Niskanen, Chairman of CATO, a leading policy research think tank based in Washington DC, USA, delivered a lecture on Autocratic, Democratic and Optimal Government: Fiscal Choices and Economic Outcomes at the Delhi School of Economics on February 8.
Interns’ Articles in DU Journal
Three CCS Interns’ articles were published in the inaugural issue of The Delhi University Journal. Varun Khanelwal, Shruthi Jayaram and Swati Puri wrote on issues of Tiger Conservation, Government Schooling and Private Provision of Water in Unauthorized Colonies respectively.Friends Of Freedom (FOF)
Student groups run by graduates of various CCS Seminars
FOF Amritsar organized a two-day Economics Festival, Freedom 2006 at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar on February 7-8. The aim was to introduce the Punjab youth to the libertarian thought and philosophy.
FOF Ranchi organized a Communicating Freedom Workshop for over 34 youth in Ranchi on March 7-8. The workshop was spearheaded by Rajan, a 2005 graduate of CCS Communicating Freedom Workshop in New Delhi.
CCS now has a brochure in a regional Indian language. Anzil Zachariah, a 2001 LSS graduate, brought out the CCS brochure in Malayalam.
CCS at the Delhi School of Economics
Research Associates, Renu Vinod and Sushmita Pratihast presented on the Right to Information and State of Governance: Delhi Citizen Handbook at the Delhi School of Economics on March 24. The presentations were part of a 2-day seminar on Mega-cities: Infrastructure and Governance organized by the Delhi School of Economics and sponsored by the UGC.
Parth J Shah speaks to Indian Multinationals, Students
Parth J Shah was the keynote speaker at the inaugural function of National Conference on Indian Multinationals – Opportunities and Challenges which had representation from TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) , Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Indian Airlines and the Indian Institute of Rural Management (IIRM). The Conference was jointly organized by the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu and the Madras Management Association.
School Students introduced to Alternate Solutions
Sachin Rao (Senior Research Associate, Livelihood) conducted a workshop on 'Entrepreneurial Solutions to Poverty' at Delhi Public school, RK Puram. A workshop was also conducted on 'Public Policy and Student Action' at Ramjas school. Over a hundred students and thirty teachers participated in the two workshops respectively.
Institute Spotlight
This new series aims at appraising the reader with civil society organizations across South Asia.
Deepalaya, a not-for-profit organization in New Delhi is striving hard to bring about positive change in the society, by developing children to their fullest potential.
Jeslin Jacob spoke to T K Mathew, Founder of Deepalaya. Excerpts from the interview.
Announcements
Watch out for the revamped version of the CCS website to be launched soon!
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