March 2026
“I know you have thought about this a lot, can you give it a thought and help design a curriculum for IKS for teachers?”, was a question posed by a head of prestigious Teacher’s training college recently. I started with a disclaimer, “Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) is a term of contradiction. What constitutes the understanding of ‘Indian’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘System’ as used today are all defined by the Western society from the 15th century onwards. IKS as it is currently used and articulated is either a continuation or a reaction to the colonial construct of these concepts.Let me…
What is the Future Institution in the Development sector?NGOs (of Civil Society organizations if you prefer the American term for it) in India have had the toughest decade in existence since Independence. Five key factors have impacted the sector which many are unable to cope with. These are -the changes in the regulatory ecosystemraising expectation of the newer generation of employeesimpact and entry of market forces in the development sectorfast changing needs of the communities they work with andthe ecosystem of funding and finance available for development organizationRegulatory…