OPEDS

Earlier this month, the automaker Ford announced its decision to close manufacturing operations in India, which at present are at Sanand in Gujarat and Maraimalai Nagar in Tamil Nadu. The decision sent what media has portrayed as ‘shockwaves,’ given that the livelihood of several employees is at stake. In Chennai, this will mean around 2,700 permanent employees and a few hundred contract staff will be thrown out of jobs. While that is no doubt regrettable, what cannot be denied is that this was bound to happen sooner or later, given the performance of the company in India. Also, what is…

The year 2020 is certainly one that will not be forgotten soon for the changes it brought in our daily routines, work and relationships. The challenges faced by school going children and their parents have been particularly severe, given the nearly 18 month closure of schools. Now, as schools reopen gradually, the challenges faced by parents of a school-going child are even tougher. Parents remain divided over the decision to reopen schools. Medical experts are also divided on whether or not parents should send their children to school, to avoid any kind of mental stress that can occur due to…

Saili and Mayank [names changed] live in a Mumbai slum, with their parents in a meagre dwelling, hardly 10ft x 10ft, divided into a bedroom and kitchen. They study in class 3 and class 7 respectively, in nearby schools. Scratch that. They are enrolled in schools would be more accurate, as any meaningful study or education has come to a stand-still since the school closure which began in March 2020.  Their parents manage to earn about Rs 30,000 a month for the family, and luckily do not have the burden of school fee expenses, as they have been enrolled under…

There was this interesting little advertisement in the Times of India that offered training in the use of spreadsheets which caught my attention for several reasons. As a young product manager in a pharmaceutical company, I had access to a fair amount of data. But I had to do a lot of the data analysis using calculators and large sheets of paper with columns and rows, making my own version of spreadsheets. The year was 1983. IBM had launched their revolutionary new PC in August 1981 and a few had found their way to India. Remember, in the mid 80s…

As a student of history, I was inquisitive about the evolution of the BEST bus services of Mumbai. My quest for truth eventually landed me at the BEST Bus Museum located at Anik Depot in Sion. Although it highlights the deep and enriching history of the evolution of the city’s transport system, I was disheartened by the dilapidated conditions of not only the museum, but also the cluttered and filthy workplace. Not much has changed since then. Instead of bringing in reforms to initiate a healthy working environment culture, there have been proposals to privatise the space. This is a…

As compared to developed countries, school students in India were never well equipped for online classes via mobiles and computers. We are still in the process of training teachers and students to handle computers and smart phones and get familiar with the meaning and concept of virtual school and virtual learning. Yet, this seems likely to continue for more time to come, especially for primary and middle school grades. Under the circumstances, teacher training also needs careful deliberation. The pandemic forced ill-prepared students and teachers to lock themselves up in a room and start learning and teaching by gazing at…

The first urban commission in 1988 visualised development of cities by linking them with manufacturing and industrialisation. The current scenario, however, is more service-driven where the bargaining power of the workers' vis–a–vis the state has shrunk drastically. Basic necessities considered as essential deliverables by the state are being privatised. Housing, water, health, education and such other sectors have seen massive privatisation, both vertical and horizontal, leading to an ever widening gap between the urban rich and the poorer working class. In this process, the organised strength of the urban working class has been weakened and more informalisation has crept in.…

“Where are you marketing guys going for your annual junket this year,” asked my colleague in finance. “It is not a ‘junket’. It is our annual conference,” I replied defiantly. “Okay, but tell me where? Goa? Kovalam? You even went to Kashmir right?”, the questioner continued. “We met our budget for two years running, so we are going to Kathmandu,” I proudly replied.  But my friend from finance would not let go. “You marketing guys are lucky, you travel all the time,” he went on.  “Yes we travel around 10 days a month, by air, by train, by bus,” I…

Academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21 were indeed tough on children, parents and for over 50 school boards, for whom COVID posed a serious dilemma — to hold or not to hold exams. Finally, the Prime Minister had to chair a meeting to arrive at a consensus saying ‘No’ to holding class 12 examinations under the CBSE. Then a new search began: how to declare Class 12 CBSE results in that case? The only way was to depend on Class 10 board exam results, performance through Class 11 and internal assessments conducted by the schools, including the pre-board exams. But this…

June 25th, 2021 marked the sixth anniversary of the launch of the Smart Cities Mission (SCM). Positioned as a game changer by NDA-1, the terminology and packaging of the scheme caught public attention as a novel idea for urban development. Rankings were announced to mark the anniversary in which Indore and Surat were declared the country’s best smart cities, and Uttar Pradesh the best state. This is the first time that states have also been ranked, with Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu ranked second and third. The Centre also announced joint winners under the COVID innovation category — Kalyan-Dombivali and Varanasi.…