This report is titled “Innovative Approaches to Convergence in Karnataka’s Grama Panchayats: Insights from 5 Case Studies“. It unpacks convergence practices in different programs such as Grama Panchayat Library and Information Centres, Koosina Mane, Solid Waste Management, Health Screening, and Perspective Planning.
The first case study on Rural Libraries presents how community involvement and inclusivity can promote and build learning and reading practices in GPs. The second case study on Koosina Mane highlights how the state can promote rural women’s workforce participation while also supporting children’s nutritional needs at early stages of development. The third case study on Solid Waste Management highlights the importance of localising waste management practices and also supporting alternative livelihood sources for rural women by tapping into existing community structures. The fourth case study on Health Screening further pushes the role of GPs, along with other actors in the health department, in promoting positive health outcomes. Finally, the fifth case study on Perspective Planning shows how efficient data management practices can ease monitoring and promote transparency in delivery of welfare services.
Thus, through these case studies, the authors have presented the key learnings from Karnataka’s innovative convergence practices and resource management which other states in the country can leverage and build upon. Their observations, spread across several months of immersive fieldwork, can further support RDPR’s vision to sustain these initiatives in the coming years.
This report delves into individual and team-based competencies of different functionaries including PDOs, PS, DEOs, Accounts Assistants, Bill Collector, Water Operator, Sahayak.
The team observed that individual competencies differ based on the functionary’s role in the GP. Moreover, certain roles such as those of PDOs and PSs are provided more training opportunities when compared to others such as BCs or DEOs. Systemic factors such as vacancies, workload distribution also result in some functionaries taking on more tasks outside their formal job descriptions, often without the necessary authorisations.
Beyond individual competencies, it is essential GPs function effectively as a team. However, the team found that regular team meetings are uncommon, and responsibilities are decided based on deadlines rather than a consultative, structured approach. Additionally, ERs are rarely consulted on community needs, despite their critical role in governance. While a culture of kindness and empathy exists within GPs, it can be further strengthened to ensure functionaries remain motivated to serve citizens effectively. Based on these findings, the team offers a range of recommendations, aimed at improving both individual and team competencies. These suggestions are intended to serve as a starting point for the department to further investigate the challenges and design suitable administrative reforms.
Recommendations include redesigning job charts, enhancing PDO training, improving learning resources for all functionaries and improving engagement with elected representatives. Additionally, to improve team competencies the authors recommend introducing off site training for the GP as a team, introducing regular team meetings, group reflections after major events and fostering cross-GP collaborations.
Amid looming climate concerns, engineering a shift to public transport is now imperative. India, where car ownership is yet to increase substantially beyond the large metros, can achieve a modal shift from private to public transport. Prioritising information and fare integration across transport modes can help achieve this shift without compromising user needs. The essay enumerates the types of fare integration and evaluates transport use in India, which is biased towards ‘informal’ or ‘popular’ modes, while the global focus is on formal modes. It concludes by charting a policy roadmap for a fast-urbanising India
to optimise public transport use.
The partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 changed the sub-continent permanently, and eventually led to the birth of three sovereign countries. Each country has travelled its own unique trajectory, crafted its own political institutions, sought economic prosperity, and pursued external relations with other countries. Citizens in all three countries have adopted their own norms of political and social discourse. Do people in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh still share old cultural and civilisational ties? Have they been able to bury the past and move ahead? The Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and the CVoter Foundation launched an extensive project to mark 75 years of Partition involving a comprehensive survey of citizens of all three countries that was carried out between May and October 2022.
This study examines four key reform policies and programs of the Indian education system: DPEP (1994), SSA (2000), RTE (2010) and NEP (2020). Each of these has a rich and nuanced body of research to which our study contributes a unique tracing of the key ideas, debates, and stakeholders. This longue durée of reform will shed light on the histories of current reform options and if they will indeed meet the call of the times to address the learning crisis. We use the political settlements approach to understand the contestation of ideas and actors which finally determine the policy design and the implementation strategies. We unpack the iterative dynamics between ideas and actors to highlight why our reform design looks the way it does and what kind of spaces exist for transformative change particularly to ensure learning.
Read the paper here.
Read the executive summary here.
Recognising the role of cities as catalysts for economic progress, India has placed technology adoption at the heart of governance transformations via its Smart Cities Mission (SCM). Moreover, India’s adoption of smart city solutions has been unique in also responding to the country’s diverse urban contexts and specific urban governance challenges, which this report focuses on capturing.
By allowing cities’ choice to interpret ‘smartness’ as per local needs and contexts, the SCM has encouraged cities to have diverse and, in several instances, more resident-centric project portfolios. Bringing in innovative institutional mechanisms, for instance the special purpose vehicle, has afforded localised decision-making flexibility and power to implement projects quickly and efficiently, though concerns about the sustainability of these institutional interventions remain. Lastly, the adoption of data-driven technology and infrastructure across smart cities has not only enhanced service delivery and emergency response but also provided an avenue to improve interdepartmental coordination.
Particularly encouraging is the first-time data-based urban transformations unfolding in the mid-sized cities. Improved governance in this fast-growing segment of the Indian urban landscape is expected to yield multiple positive spillovers for economic growth and social cohesion.
The 3rd edition of the Compendium published by UN Habitat is a compilation of 17 case studies to show case examples on urban-rural linkages from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Thematically, it covers mobility, heritage and culture, basic services, technology, ecosystems, governance, urban and territorial planning, and food systems. The case studies highlight the role national and subnational governments can play in strengthening urban-rural linkages through joint initiatives. This includes the multi-level, multi-sector, multi-stakeholder approaches to the governance of urban and rural areas.
The Compendium provides inspiring examples of integrated efforts that apply the principles and actions of the Urban Rural Linkages, where SCI-FI’s intervention on Urban-Rural Convergence on Faecal Sludge Management in Dhenkanal, Odisha (page 72) is included, titled ‘Republic of India, Odisha, Dhenkanal District’ authored by Shubhagato Dasgupta, Anju Dwivedi and Shaivi Kulshrestha from CPR SCI-FI.
Over the last two decades, the world has witnessed a proliferation of digital platforms and the emergence of an ecosystem of digital work. In a world where evolving technology is constantly improving the efficiency of communication and production, the platform economy is reinventing the world of work. Platforms create new work opportunities that offer different nature of working conditions than have been available on the spectrum of informal and formal employment in India/global South. Claims that platforms create more employment are often countered by workers who see platform work as a ‘trade-off’ that offers the benefits of being employed as independent contractors of large platform companies while being subject to ‘chronic precarity and inequality’ (Heeks 2017).
There has been a strong focus on improving the sanitation situation in the last decade in India due to the Government of India’s flagship program called Swachh Bharat Mission. In the last decade, the country witnessed an increase in the number of toilets, Sewer Treatment Plants and Faecal Sludge Treatment plants. The demand for sanitation services has spotlighted the issue of sanitation workers too. Sanitation workers are vital to the provision of safe sanitation for all the residents in the city. However, hazardous work conditions and low social status, coupled with discrimination, long working hours, and lack of social protection, accentuate their vulnerabilities.
Recognizing the high level of social and economic vulnerability and discrimination faced by sanitation workers, the Government of India (GoI) and several state governments have initiated many programs and schemes, including social protection measures for Sanitation workers. The main objective of the research is to identify the enablers and barriers to availing social protection benefits (in the form of healthcare, insurance, pensions, and allowances) for sanitation workers. The study examines the social protection coverage of formal and informal sanitation workers in Dhenkanal, Odisha. Semi-structured interviews with Sanitation workers employed with ULB, private contractors and Area Level Federation were conducted to understand the challenges faced by Sanitation workers in accessing social protection. In addition, key informant interviews were also carried out with leaders from employee unions of sanitation workers, ULB officials, and other stakeholders, including private contractors.
The study recognizes enablers such as a favourable policy environment, capacity enhancement, collaboration with other stakeholders, and barriers like low awareness, inadequate capacities, and lack of institutional convergence mechanisms to improve socioeconomic well-being and promote sanitation workers’ safety, dignity, and social protection. This study highlights the disparity in working conditions and employment benefits received by regular and contractual sanitation workers, the need for creating a formal grievance redressal mechanism and undertaking measures to build the capacity of sanitation workers. The report presents key recommendations emerging from the study, such as greater involvement of employee unions, convergence with other departments providing welfare benefits to sanitation workers, improving grievance redressal mechanisms, and creating more awareness and information dissemination to sanitation workers on different social protection measures.
