GENRE: Voices

The webinar was titled “The mysterious process of budget allocations”. The panellists were all people who had for many years studied budgets, the process and its many shortcomings. They could not solve this particular mystery. But all gave very practical steps to give the budget more meaning and substance and make it less mysterious. To me, at the end of the discussion, one thing stood out. The figures all budgets bandy about, in this case especially the thousands of crores supposedly allocated to Bengaluru, mean absolutely nothing. Their yearly presentation is a meaningless ritual that the law demands. My point…

Books connect readers to voices from the past, from alternative universes, from lives of people we don’t know. Books transport us to unknown worlds, while simultaneously revealing and helping us interpret the realities of our own. Books transform, by making us think, wonder and find our own voices. Public libraries, therefore, can be the centre of such transformation — for both individuals and communities.   Libraries, however, can be more than a repository of books.  During the pandemic and subsequent lock down, community-run free libraries in India educated its members on social distancing and masking, helped them book vaccination appointments, filled…

What's better for the average middle class income tax payee, the old regime of exemptions or the New regime, that this government has created? The latter is now the default, meaning that is the form that  you will see on your screen when you get online to file your income tax returns. Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman, and some economic analysts, insist the new rebates and tax slabs will reduce the tax burden on salary earners. But an important part of the Sangh parivar, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, a staunch opponent of globalisation, says otherwise. In a statement on February 3rd, Manch convener…

Every day we see two Indias. One with Indians heading prestigious companies, one with high unemployment rates. One where children thrive in online classrooms, learning new digital skills and coding games and one where 15-year olds struggle with reading from a children’s picture book. As a country we have taken gigantic strides, while leaving so many of our own behind. The real status of literacy in India  One morning, I saw my maid’s daughter, who was educated in an English medium school and is pursuing her Bachelor’s in commerce, struggle to read and understand a story meant for Grade 2…