By Sandeep Kumar
The annual Budget Watch and Dialogue on the Union Budget with Development Perspective has been organized by the Tata-Dhan Academy for the last six years. The dialogue is conducted on the same day that the Finance Minister presents the Union Budget in the Indian Parliament, and includes a pre-budget discussion and post-budget reflection.
By Shanti Gupta
Tata-Dhan Academy is an institute which provides opportunities for students to visualize their professional life as development managers. But the lessons we learn don’t all come from the classroom or the field–sometimes, even a traditional celebration helps bring new perspectives for the development professional.
India culture and heritage is incredibly rich. At the Academy, the students in PDM 11 and 12 represent both northern and southern states, providing an opportunity to experience and learn more about this rich culture. For example, in the northern states, Holi, a festival of colours, is widely celebrated. Last year, with PDM 10, we had a good celebration, and building on this, we decided to celebrate with some value addition. This year, for example, we did Holika Dahan and an ethnic lunch.
By Yogesh Bhatt
Usually it is very difficult to get time from the hectic classroom sessions at the Academy, but this year, from 2 to 4 of March 2012, PDM 11 and PDM 12 students got permission to participate in a management festival, Yukti 2012, organised by Thiagarajar School of Management (TSM), Madurai. Yukti 2012 was a special occasion because the event was unique, the stage was vibrant with competition, performers were highly enthusiastic, and–best of all–PDM students were eager to prove themselves.
Continue reading “Yukti 2012: Thiagarajar School of Management’s annual “Management Meet””
Trying to convince communities to join self-help groups is not always easy. Many times, people have been cheated in the past, leading to a lack of trust. Or, they might not understand the strength of groups. Or, they just might not be interested.
Sandeep (PDM 11) compiled a video of some of the success stories from women who were able to start small businesses after joining Kalanjiams. He screened this video to communities to help raise awareness of self-help groups.
Note: Subtitles have been provided so that you can get the gist of the story. If anyone is capable and interested in providing more accurate subtitles, that would be fantastic!
The IDRC Food Security Project is a research-based project which is focusing on small millets cultivation in rainfed farming areas of India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Three development NGOs have taken the responsibility to implement this project: DHAN (India), LIBARD (Nepal), and Arthacharva (Sri Lanka).
Continue reading “IDRC Food Security Project: Two Videos from DPS 1, PDM 11”
Badminton was scheduled for the third day of sports week, coordinated by Shanti and supported by Pashupati and Sandeep. Four players were selected from each house to participate in the competition. The first match was between Milkha Singh and Dhyan Chandra houses, followed by a match between P. T. Usha and Dhyan Chandra houses. In the semi-final games, V. Anand house won against P. T. Usha house with a closing score of 11-3. In the second match, Milkha Singh I won over Milkha Singh II with a closing score of 11-8.
Yesterday at the Academy, students and staff members participated in a cricket match. (Unfortunately, since faculty were busy in a meeting at DHAN’s Central Office, they could not participate.)
The Tata-Dhan Academy is an institute devoted to development studies, known for its very busy classroom sessions and academic excellence since its establishment one decade ago. But that doesn’t mean the time is without any games!
By Shanti Gupta
This is the story of tribal communities in Latehar district where I saw the extent of exploitation. Before telling this story, I want to make readers familiar about the context of Latehar. Latehar is a district in Jharkhand where people have been facing drought from past 7 years. The majority of the population belongs to scheduled tribes; according to the Government of Jharkhand, there are 10 different tribes.
This story is set in the village of district Navadih. In this village, people are not able to get safe drinking water. After a discussion with some villagers, I was able to understand that the only source of water was a river on which 70% of the population depend not only for drinking, but for household work. I was amazed to see the situation of the poor people in this village. I was also not able to do anything about it because the exploitation was not being done by outsiders, but by others in the area.
Continue reading “Red Card Application and Tribal Community Exploitation”
By Yogesh Bhatt
Date: 30th May. Time 6:30 pm. I was working on my laptop. My window was open I was enjoying the cool outside breeze. I didn’t realize that this cool breeze carried rainfall with itself until I heard the peal of thunder outside.
Usually, it happens that whenever my friends and I get this type of opportunity, we immediately start to enjoy the moment. This time, I did not know that what was happening—why weren’t these guys outside jumping in the rain?
The DHAN Academy 