Making it happen: Indus Action

September 28, 2021

I had superannuated as Secretary, School Education and Literacy, Government of India in 2018 but it was difficult to get “disconnected” with this sector. And, when the invite came from Indus Action for the launch of a study they had conducted regarding the implementation of Section 12(1)(c) of Right to...

Making it happen: ZIIEI initiative of Aurobindo Society

September 21, 2021

It was March 17th 2018. In my capacity as Secretary, School Education, Government of India I visited Agra to launch Innovative Pathshaala- a series of booklets for the teachers comprising experiential and activity-based lesson plans mapped with the State Board. The event was organized by Sri Aurobindo Society and HDFC...

MAKING IT HAPPEN: LEND A HAND INDIA

September 14, 2021

I was on an official visit to Pune as Secretary, School Education, Government of India during 2017. Raj Gilda, co-founder of Lend A Hand India had been after me for a while to visit one of the schools run by the organization to impart vocational education to high school students....

Making it happen: Humana People to People India

September 7, 2021

It was 2017. I had taken over as Secretary, School Education, Government of India a few months ago. I was on a visit to a Government primary school in Haryana. The sight was an incredible one. This was not a typical set of children in a school. They were neither...

Making it happen: Transformation of Taladanda canal

August 31, 2021

Taladanda Main Canal is one of the oldest canals constructed during the British era off-taking from River Mahanadi at Jobra and running upto Paradeep in Odisha. It passes through the millennium city of Cuttack. Over the years the canal and its surroundings had become encroached, misused and presented a dismal...

MAKING IT HAPPEN: ANTYODAYA SARAL

August 24, 2021

I had a dream that remained unfulfilled during my career as a civil servant. This dream was based on my experience as head of the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) set up in 2013. Consequent to alleged scams, decision making in the government had come to a grinding halt, adversely impacting...

Making things happen: Transformation of Dhanora

August 17, 2021

Dhanora, a small village in Rajasthan with a population of about 2800, faces problems common to almost every Indian village - lack of sanitation and waste-water drainage facilities, potable water, internal roads and sufficient power supply. It also suffered in terms of water conservation systems, power fluctuation, dearth of employment-oriented...

Making it happen: Convergence transforms Melghat

August 10, 2021

Nestled in the picturesque Satpura hills, Melghat epitomizes beauty. Chikhaldara and Dharni - two blocks of the Melghat subdivision of Amravati district in Maharashtra - with predominant forest cover, host an almost untouched core tiger reserve, and are home to Korku tribal population. However, on account of restrictive infrastructure development...

MAKING IT HAPPEN: COMBATING PANDEMIC THROUGH PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

August 3, 2021

The recent wave of Covid-19 pandemic spread like a ‘tsunami’ in India. The second wave was worse than the first one. There could be several factors responsible for the huge spike in number of cases and its severity in the second wave as compared to the first, but it was...

Making it happen: Arpan’s journey to respond to child sexual abuse

July 27, 2021

This was 2017. As Secretary, School Education, Government of India, I was sitting on the last bench of a class-room, along with students of class 5, in a school in Mumbai. I was extremely impressed and least embarrassed at what was being taught primarily because of the manner in which...