The adverse impact on India&rsquo;s children of school closures for nearly two years during the Covid-19 pandemic is now becoming clearer through recent large-scale surveys. It&rsquo;s no surprise that these surveys indicate significant learning loss among children, given that schools were closed for over 500 days, says Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation. The two major challenges for India right now are ensuring a better learning experience for primary school children who missed formative years of schooling, and helping those past the grade III stage recover learning loss, Banerji told us in an interview. To achieve this, schools must focus on catching up, not curriculum, she says, and suggests a re-haul of the examination system.

‘To recoup learning loss, schools should focus on catch-up, not curriculum’

The adverse impact on India&rsquo;s children of school closures for nearly two years during the Covid-19 pandemic is now becoming clearer through recent large-scale surveys. It&rsquo;s no surprise that these surveys indicate significant learning loss among children, given that schools were closed for over 500 days, says Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation. The two major challenges for India right now are ensuring a better learning experience for primary school children who missed formative years of schooling, and helping those past the grade III stage recover learning loss, Banerji told us in an interview. To achieve this, schools must focus on catching up, not curriculum, she says, and suggests a re-haul of the examination system.

In 2013, tragedy struck Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, when a flash flood washed away two bridges, a barrage for a hydropower project, inflicted heavy damage on another hydropower project and killed nearly three dozen people. Now, nine years later, residents tell us how their houses and agricultural fields are developing cracks, and the land is sinking with each passing year. Noted geologists say the floods have left the mountain slopes unstable, and that the government should study the mountains and take immediate and appropriate action.

Lasting Impacts of The 2013 Uttarakhand Floods: Cracks In Houses, Sinking Land Today

In 2013, tragedy struck Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, when a flash flood washed away two bridges, a barrage for a hydropower project, inflicted heavy damage on another hydropower project and killed nearly three dozen people. Now, nine years later, residents tell us how their houses and agricultural fields are developing cracks, and the land is sinking with each passing year. Noted geologists say the floods have left the mountain slopes unstable, and that the government should study the mountains and take immediate and appropriate action.

Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit employed in the Revenue Department, was shot inside his office by terrorists in Central Kashmir&rsquo;s Budgam district. Since then, Kashmiri Pandits have been protesting demanding the administration for their safety across Jammu and Kashmir.
Government employees, employed under the Prime Minister&rsquo;s employment scheme. are demanding their transfer to safer places like the Jammu region.

After recent killings, Kashmiri Pandits demand relocation from the Valley

Rahul Bhat, a Kashmiri Pandit employed in the Revenue Department, was shot inside his office by terrorists in Central Kashmir&rsquo;s Budgam district. Since then, Kashmiri Pandits have been protesting demanding the administration for their safety across Jammu and Kashmir.
Government employees, employed under the Prime Minister&rsquo;s employment scheme. are demanding their transfer to safer places like the Jammu region.

Inflation, which reached 7.8% in April 2022 despite weak consumer demand, is set to become the biggest headwind to India's economic recovery in fiscal year 2022-23, per a report by rating agency CRISIL. Weak demand reflects India's K-shaped economic recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic-induced contraction, with private consumption growing slowly because the poorer haven't benefited much from the recovery, says Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at CRISIL. The government must cut excise duties on petroleum products or reduce import duties on edible oils to control rising prices and inflation, already above the RBI's danger mark of 6%, sooner rather than later, he told us in an interview.

Inflation In India Is Already Above RBI’s Danger Mark Of 6%

Inflation, which reached 7.8% in April 2022 despite weak consumer demand, is set to become the biggest headwind to India's economic recovery in fiscal year 2022-23, per a report by rating agency CRISIL. Weak demand reflects India's K-shaped economic recovery post the Covid-19 pandemic-induced contraction, with private consumption growing slowly because the poorer haven't benefited much from the recovery, says Dharmakirti Joshi, chief economist at CRISIL. The government must cut excise duties on petroleum products or reduce import duties on edible oils to control rising prices and inflation, already above the RBI's danger mark of 6%, sooner rather than later, he told us in an interview.

With a substantial portion of the population vaccinated and now even children being immunised, Covid-19 is heading towards becoming endemic in India, Dr Anita Mathew, a senior consultant, physician and infectious disease specialist at Fortis Hospital in Mumbai, and Dr Rommel Tickoo, director of Internal Medicine at Max Super Specialty Hospital in Delhi, said in an interview. They urge continued caution and Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, including masking for the next six months. They suggest that all eligible Indians get a vaccine booster dose to give themselves another layer of protection. Annual Covid-19 booster shots may become part of our lives as we learn to live with Covid as we do with many other diseases, they say.

‘Everyone eligible should take a Covid-19 vaccine booster dose without hesitation’

With a substantial portion of the population vaccinated and now even children being immunised, Covid-19 is heading towards becoming endemic in India, Dr Anita Mathew, a senior consultant, physician and infectious disease specialist at Fortis Hospital in Mumbai, and Dr Rommel Tickoo, director of Internal Medicine at Max Super Specialty Hospital in Delhi, said in an interview. They urge continued caution and Covid-19-appropriate behaviour, including masking for the next six months. They suggest that all eligible Indians get a vaccine booster dose to give themselves another layer of protection. Annual Covid-19 booster shots may become part of our lives as we learn to live with Covid as we do with many other diseases, they say.

Stateless Rohingya who cross over to India fleeing violence and ethnic cleansing do not have valid documentation. They run the risk of being picked up by police, detained indefinitely and deported to Myanmar, where their lives are at risk. Children are separated from their parents and legal and financial challenges further aggravate the misery of a persecuted ethnic minority. A ground report from Bengaluru, by Shreehari Paliath, who met Noor Banoo, a Rohingya refugee whose three children have been detained in West Bengal since the past five years.

Children Separated From Mothers: Rohingyas in India Fear Detention, Deportation

Stateless Rohingya who cross over to India fleeing violence and ethnic cleansing do not have valid documentation. They run the risk of being picked up by police, detained indefinitely and deported to Myanmar, where their lives are at risk. Children are separated from their parents and legal and financial challenges further aggravate the misery of a persecuted ethnic minority. A ground report from Bengaluru, by Shreehari Paliath, who met Noor Banoo, a Rohingya refugee whose three children have been detained in West Bengal since the past five years.

Unless users of water in villages &amp; townships become part of govt groundwater management progs, these will never be a community-owned schemes. Our ground report on how communities at the local level are fighting rural Karnataka&rsquo;s water crisis.

Training Local Communities To Rejuvenate Water Bodies In Rural Karnataka | IndiaSpend

Unless users of water in villages &amp; townships become part of govt groundwater management progs, these will never be a community-owned schemes. Our ground report on how communities at the local level are fighting rural Karnataka&rsquo;s water crisis.

In Karnataka, 43% of rural habitations do not have full drinking water coverage; of these, 41% get less than 40 liters of water/day and 2% get contaminated water. Our ground report on how communities at the local level are fighting rural Karnataka&rsquo;s water crisis.

Simplifying Complexities of Groundwater Management In Rural Karnataka | IndiaSpend

In Karnataka, 43% of rural habitations do not have full drinking water coverage; of these, 41% get less than 40 liters of water/day and 2% get contaminated water. Our ground report on how communities at the local level are fighting rural Karnataka&rsquo;s water crisis.

India is struggling with low labour force participation, low female labour force participation and a highly skewed labour market where the bulk of jobs are informal, says&nbsp; Naushad Forbes&nbsp; , co-chairman of Forbes Marshall and author of &lsquo;The Struggle And The Promise: Restoring India's Potential&rsquo;. These challenges represent opportunities for India, he said in an interview. The biggest single driver of growth and prosperity is moving people from lower productivity occupations into higher productivity occupations, and if India can put millions of people in good quality jobs, there&rsquo;s the potential to create an economic miracle that will sustain for 30 years.

'India's jobs crisis is an opportunity to create an economic miracle'

India is struggling with low labour force participation, low female labour force participation and a highly skewed labour market where the bulk of jobs are informal, says&nbsp; Naushad Forbes&nbsp; , co-chairman of Forbes Marshall and author of &lsquo;The Struggle And The Promise: Restoring India's Potential&rsquo;. These challenges represent opportunities for India, he said in an interview. The biggest single driver of growth and prosperity is moving people from lower productivity occupations into higher productivity occupations, and if India can put millions of people in good quality jobs, there&rsquo;s the potential to create an economic miracle that will sustain for 30 years.

Women&rsquo;s workforce participation is yet to recover to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, while men have regained most jobs they lost. We discussed workforce participation in the context of gender equity and the implications for women&rsquo;s empowerment with Christopher Elias, President of the Global Development Division at the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. Women&rsquo;s jobs are mostly in the informal sector so they're more easily pushed out of the workforce, said Elias. Gendered barriers including the increased burden of caregiving due to COVID-19 prevent women from being able to reenter the workforce. The pandemic has shown that efforts for women's economic empowerment need to be redoubled, he said.

‘Covid-19 pandemic has shown how we undervalue women’s work’

Women&rsquo;s workforce participation is yet to recover to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, while men have regained most jobs they lost. We discussed workforce participation in the context of gender equity and the implications for women&rsquo;s empowerment with Christopher Elias, President of the Global Development Division at the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation. Women&rsquo;s jobs are mostly in the informal sector so they're more easily pushed out of the workforce, said Elias. Gendered barriers including the increased burden of caregiving due to COVID-19 prevent women from being able to reenter the workforce. The pandemic has shown that efforts for women's economic empowerment need to be redoubled, he said.

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With new cases of monkeypox being detected in multiple countries in recent weeks, concerns are rising over this zoonotic virus, i.e. which was transmitted from animals to humans, just like Covid-19. The monkeypox virus belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox, which was successfully eradicated in India and all over the world by 1980 through immunisation, says infectious diseases expert Ishwar Gilada. India should restart production of smallpox vaccines, which can be used not only for immunisation against monkeypox but also to treat the disease, Gilada told us in an interview.

India Should Produce Smallpox Vaccines To Combat Monkeypox

With new cases of monkeypox being detected in multiple countries in recent weeks, concerns are rising over this zoonotic virus, i.e. which was transmitted from animals to humans, just like Covid-19. The monkeypox virus belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox, which was successfully eradicated in India and all over the world by 1980 through immunisation, says infectious diseases expert Ishwar Gilada. India should restart production of smallpox vaccines, which can be used not only for immunisation against monkeypox but also to treat the disease, Gilada told us in an interview.

Methane is far more potent than carbon dioxide, so reducing its emissions can help curb global heating faster and can accelerate climate efforts. The Paris Agreement's 1.5&deg;C target cannot be achieved at a reasonable cost without reducing methane emissions by 40-45% by 2030. At IndiaSpend, we are launching a special project, #ChasingMethane, to track industrial emissions across urban India.

Chasing Methane: Why Curbing Methane Emissions Is Crucial To Fighting Climate Change | IndiaSpend

Methane is far more potent than carbon dioxide, so reducing its emissions can help curb global heating faster and can accelerate climate efforts. The Paris Agreement's 1.5&deg;C target cannot be achieved at a reasonable cost without reducing methane emissions by 40-45% by 2030. At IndiaSpend, we are launching a special project, #ChasingMethane, to track industrial emissions across urban India.

In the 2022 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that &ldquo;chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers&rsquo; lands in 5-km wide corridors along river Ganga, at the first stage.&rdquo; Nearly 3.8 million hectares, or 2.7% of the total area under farming in India, is farmed organically or through natural methods. But experts are divided on whether a complete transition to natural and organic farming would work in India&rsquo;s favour, especially if it is pushed top down, and follows a rigid definition of what natural farming entails.
In a multi-part series, IndiaSpend will explore the different facets of natural farming, its implementation in India and the possibility of success. In this first part, we explain what natural farming is, and where it is being practised in India.

Explained: What Is Natural Farming? | IndiaSpend

In the 2022 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that &ldquo;chemical-free natural farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers&rsquo; lands in 5-km wide corridors along river Ganga, at the first stage.&rdquo; Nearly 3.8 million hectares, or 2.7% of the total area under farming in India, is farmed organically or through natural methods. But experts are divided on whether a complete transition to natural and organic farming would work in India&rsquo;s favour, especially if it is pushed top down, and follows a rigid definition of what natural farming entails.
In a multi-part series, IndiaSpend will explore the different facets of natural farming, its implementation in India and the possibility of success. In this first part, we explain what natural farming is, and where it is being practised in India.

The United Nations&rsquo; projection that India will overtake China to become the most populous nation next year, does not come as a surprise as India&rsquo;s own data had indicated this for a while, says Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India. This moment represents an opportunity for India to meet its population growth challenges by investing more in family planning, in health, education and skilling its youth in mission mode, lest its demographic dividend become a demographic disaster, Muttreja told us in an interview.

India will have largest population but data show the growth is slowing

The United Nations&rsquo; projection that India will overtake China to become the most populous nation next year, does not come as a surprise as India&rsquo;s own data had indicated this for a while, says Poonam Muttreja, executive director of the Population Foundation of India. This moment represents an opportunity for India to meet its population growth challenges by investing more in family planning, in health, education and skilling its youth in mission mode, lest its demographic dividend become a demographic disaster, Muttreja told us in an interview.

The size of India's labour force has stayed roughly the same, at around 430 million, since 2016, indicating that India is not generating sufficient jobs for the number of people entering the labour market, thereby losing its demographic dividend, says Mahesh Vyas, managing director at the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. To fill this gap, the government has to not only provide its own jobs, it also has to create an enabling environment to motivate the private sector to invest and create good quality jobs, he told us in an interview.

‘Absence of enough jobs means India is losing its demographic dividend’

The size of India's labour force has stayed roughly the same, at around 430 million, since 2016, indicating that India is not generating sufficient jobs for the number of people entering the labour market, thereby losing its demographic dividend, says Mahesh Vyas, managing director at the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. To fill this gap, the government has to not only provide its own jobs, it also has to create an enabling environment to motivate the private sector to invest and create good quality jobs, he told us in an interview.

Recent surveys have pointed to a fall in general performance of school students, post India&rsquo;s lengthy Covid-19 school closures. We asked Anurag Behar, Vice-Chancellor of Azim Premji University, whether surveys or other such research are asking the right questions to improve school education, in context of both traditional challenges and those brought about by the pandemic. Research should be focused on how to improve education, and India is falling short in terms of both the amount of, and kinds of, research that we are doing, he told us in an interview. To improve research on education, practitioners such as teachers and education officers, not academics and policy-makers, should be setting the questions, said Behar.

Teachers, Not Academics Or Policymakers, Should Lead Education Research

Recent surveys have pointed to a fall in general performance of school students, post India&rsquo;s lengthy Covid-19 school closures. We asked Anurag Behar, Vice-Chancellor of Azim Premji University, whether surveys or other such research are asking the right questions to improve school education, in context of both traditional challenges and those brought about by the pandemic. Research should be focused on how to improve education, and India is falling short in terms of both the amount of, and kinds of, research that we are doing, he told us in an interview. To improve research on education, practitioners such as teachers and education officers, not academics and policy-makers, should be setting the questions, said Behar.

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