Tag: india

  • Poet Put His Stamp On The Subcontinent

    THE humanist spirit of Kazi Nazrul Islam, known as the “rebel” poet is alive and strong. Despite religious strife still common in our news, Nazrul remains a popular literary figure in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Revered for his words and fight for social justice, this is how these three countries, divided so many years ago…

  • Addressing Masculinity In India

    By RENUKA MOTIHAR —- IN the early years of my career, I worked at CEDPA (now Centre for Catalyzing Change), a pioneer in working with adolescent girls in India. As we interacted and engaged with young women, there were demands from them: “You have changed my life. Now please change the thinking of my future…

  • Many Firsts For India’s Third Gender

    INDIA is one of the most forward-thinking countries when it comes to recognising non-binary genders, especially compared to many ‘progressive’ Western nations. Prior to colonial rule, mainstream society and religion accepted hijras, the term commonly used in South Asia to describe intersex or transgender individuals, as normal for centuries. Steps taken India’s constitution, in theory, protects…

  • Is there a disconnect between donor giving and NGO needs?

    AS a donor, do you have a preconceived notion of what your giving experience should look like? In today’s culture of instant gratification, many want instant recognition of their gift. While it is heart-warming to see the appreciation of the person you are helping and watch them immediately benefit from warm socks or food, does…

  • The Oceans’ Speedo-ed Superhero

    LEWIS PUGH, a name you’ve probably never heard, is one of the most important unsung heroes of our planet. Gifted with the ability to raise his natural body heat prior to jumping into freezing waters, he uses his superpower to draw attention to looming environmental crises. At just 17 years old, he began his quest…

  • Be Kind, It’s Natural

    By AARTI MADHUSUDAN —- IT was 42 degrees. The sun was beating down with a vengeance at 12 noon. I was late to pick up my son from his playgroup. He was a two and a half year old reluctant nursery goer. I couldn’t run any faster from the end of the road where all…

  • 5 Ads That Broke Gender Cliches In 2017

    DO you recall those ads where a woman is seen either in the kitchen or doing the laundry? Of course, you do! Ad campaigns for products that have anything to do with household chores inevitably feature, er, women. Be it a dish wash soap or a fairness cream, stereotypical characters are all too familiar – the ads mirror the society we…

  • Small Talk With Nikita Gupta

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions, not necessarily about their work, but about themselves. This week we catch up with Nikita…

  • Working In Social Sector Similar To Parenting

    By GAURAV SHAH —- WHILE there may be numerous ways of bringing up children out there in the world, there’s one irrefutable, universally accepted fact about parenting: it’s tough. Funnily, the night outs, the constant worrying, the trips to the doctor, the endless negotiations (give and take on every possible thing under the sun) are…

  • My Big Fat Charity Wedding

    IN India,  weddings give us the opportunity to celebrate our culture through elaborate customs and rituals. We all know what wedding season really means though: extensive guest lists, extravagant jewellery, ornate venues and exorbitant amounts of food. Considering India hosts around 10million weddings annually and spends more than ₹100,000 crore on everything from invitations to honeymoons,…

  • No To HIV Stigma, It’s Official

    HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is one of the world’s worst health epidemics. Today 36.7million people globally live with HIV, but 30% don’t even know it.  Despite the fact that two-thirds of sufferers live in sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is more widespread than we think. Due to its size, India actually has the third largest HIV…

  • A Realisation Of My Privilege

    By WYONNA D’SOUZA —- WHEN I was in class 2, I remember breaking the shower while trying to fix it in my direction. So, I immediately placed it in the shower holder and pretended as if nothing had happened. Mom thought it was the domestic worker (Suman) at fault there, and I let her take…

  • Action on words that went viral

    YOU might have seen people posting #MeToo on their social media accounts lately. You may have even thought, “What’s the big deal if someone flirted a little or made a pass at a cute girl? Boys will be boys after all. It was just a ‘joke’. Besides, they probably brought it on themselves.” This hashtag…

  • Small Talk With Vishal Talreja

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four questions. This week we catch up with VISHAL TALREJA, co-founder and CEO of Dream A Dream.…

  • Change Yourself, Change The World

    By VENKAT KRISHNAN N —- I HAD an interesting conversation with a seasoned development professional some years back, as he held forth on why ‘charity is bad and development is good’. “Imagine,” he said, “that you are standing by a river, and you see a baby floating by, obviously thrown into the water and likely to…

  • Is GDP The ONLY Way To Measure Progress?

    GDP, GDP, GDP. Has India’s GDP gone up, gone down, gone sideways – it’s all you hear about these days. So what is it, why the obsession and are so many column inches and hours of air time justified?   Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the globally accepted measure of a country’s economy using its financial inputs, i.e.…

  • End To Hunger Out Of Thin Air?

    DID you know that hunger is the #1 cause of death in India and the world? Shocking, isn’t it? Especially as we produce more than enough food to feed the 7.4billion people on this planet. Despite that, 815million people go to bed hungry and 194.6 million of those reside in India. So, why are people still going…

  • Is Your Smartphone Preventing You From Giving?

    By MOHIT HIRA —- WHEN I was first asked to write for this blog, I tossed around a few themes. And then, as one who has crossed over from the always-waiting-in-a-queue world of the rotary-dial black telephone to on-demand-video-streaming handheld devices, I figured it was best to connect the virtual with the real. So, here goes… In…

  • Making Giving Global

    By GAUTAM ADHIKARI —- WASHINGTON DC: Politically and ideologically this country is polarised. Conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats are barely on speaking terms. They dislike, even fear, one another with an intensity unmatched in the decades since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and ’60s. Yet, in the wake of the hurricanes Harvey and Irma…

  • Ethical Consumption Is Not That Easy

    By NIMI RAVINDRAN —- A FEW years ago I read about a man who lived somewhere in Japan who had managed to create a perfectly Zen-like atmosphere in his home. All his possessions or every single thing he owned, including his watch, clothes, furniture and appliances, came up to just 100 items. A friend of mine…

  • Four Reasons Why India Recognises Dolphins As ‘Non-Human Persons’

    IF you are a Douglas Adams fan, the fact that dolphins are considered ‘non-human persons’ should come as no surprise. According to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, “dolphins are the second most intelligent species on the planet Earth. Man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much…

  • Small Talk With Ajit Sivaram

    CHANGE leaders do great things, and often that is all we know about them. Here we want to get a different glimpse of the personalities that constitute the development space. Every month we get one leader to answer four quirky questions. This week we catch up with AJIT SIVARAM, the managing trustee of U&I. U&I…

  • Why You Should Hand Over All Your Money Right Now

    By SHOVON CHOWDHURY —- MONEY is important, and we think about it a lot. This is normal. But we need to recognise certain truths, which are self evident, and take action accordingly. One of them is this. You can make lots of money, and let’s hope you do, but you can’t take it with you. Whether you’re…

  • Working In The Impact Space: Three Under-Addressed Challenges

    CHALLENGES. We all face them, regardless of where we work; however, they are more pronounced when it comes to the third sector where the definition of success is hazier with goals focused on “impact” rather than profit. Things that corporate teams take for granted seem unreachable or unimaginable to those working in under-resourced, donor-dependent, grant-driven…

  • Who Are We To Decide Who Deserves Charity?

    By SANGHAMITRA CHAKRABORTY —- THERE is a time in your life when your child asks you questions. Lots of questions, repeatedly and relentlessly, about everything they see or hear. They then go on to validate and verify your answers like a keen fact-checker would. It was during such a time, when our son Josh had learnt to…