Data showed that the magnitude of interstate migration in India was close to nine million between 2011 and 2016. Other estimates of number of migrants in the workforce is around 100 million.
It has taken a pandemic, a lockdown and a mass reverse migration to shine the light on a vast segment of the country’s migrant population, who are on the move constantly; helping our cities and industries grow with their labour. Yet, so faceless are these migrants that there are no accurate counts of their numbers.
The Economic Survey of India 2017 estimated that the magnitude of interstate migration in India was close to nine million, annually, between 2011 and 2016. Other estimates of number of migrants in the workforce is around 100 million.
For decades, seasonal migrants, largely from the socially and economically disadvantaged groups, have moved to cities in search of livelihood – forced out of their homes; whereas marginal or landless farmers have irregular incomes, little or no access to social security or entitlements and limited access to credit, skilling or alternate livelihood options. Not surprising is that when they are forced to move to cities for their livelihood, they are in a position of weakness, of being forced to take whatever opportunities come their way with little awareness, and limited access to their rights and entitlements. ’
They largely find employment in the unorganised sector with no protection against workplace-related accident/injury, wage or job loss, and limited social protection. With no accommodation provided by the employer, and the formal rental market inaccessible, they are forced to live in unhygienic, crowded and unsafe accommodation.
While this has been an unfolding tragedy for decades, the unprecedented exodus witnessed post lockdown, forced us all to take notice of this humanitarian disaster. The pandemic exacerbated the occupational, social and economic vulnerabilities of the migrants and made them as a group, the worst casualty of the pandemic.
Some early findings of an ongoing survey of 4,000 migrants in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh (UP) by Tata Trusts found that around three-fourth of the migrant labourers had not been paid by their employers, and most were undecided about when they would return.
Migrant workers on their way to board a train to reach their native villages, during the ongoing lockdown, in Chandigarh, May 31, 2020. Photo: PTI
If there has been a silver lining in this dark cloud, it has been that the tragedy has pushed us all to act, to take up some short- and long-term measures for the welfare of migrant workers. While individuals and organisations responded with spontaneous acts of charity, the government announced short- and mid-term relief measures as well as promulgated the Code on Social Security, and the Code on Occupational Safety and Health, aimed at ameliorating some of the vulnerabilities of the unorganised sector workers and interstate migrants.
It is also being increasingly recognised that there is a need to design specific schemes and delivery models for migrants, both at the source and the destination regions. Over the years, a model for serving migrants in three major source states, Odisha, Rajasthan and UP, and related destinations, through one stop delivery platforms, aptly named the ‘Apna Seva Kendras’ evolved. Apna Seva Kendras are centres set up in high migration prone areas where a migrant, or potential migrant who walks in, is counselled on the schemes they are eligible for, and are helped with the documentation process right till they get access to the benefits.
Similar support is being extended to migrants in the destinations through on-site facilitation centres at construction sites and brick kilns, which are amongst the largest employers of migrants in the country.
The need of the hour is to devise holistic solutions – schemes and delivery mechanisms that address needs of migrant households, both at the source and destinations. Solutions that are able to address the major needs of the households in terms of their basic needs – livelihood, housing, nutrition, education and basic social security net – as well as empower them for safe migration by helping in building their occupational skills as well as digital and financial skills.
At the source, we need to have accurate data of vulnerable households, those that are vulnerable to distress migration, and the intent and authority to work for their welfare. At the destination, administrations and employers are equally – if not more – responsible for ensuring that every migrant and their family, that works in their city, has access to entitlements and equal opportunity to improve their quality of life in equal measure.
It should be our collective resolve that never again should any situation find so many of our fellow citizens so helpless and lacking in support. The need is to build pillars of support at every stage of their journey, so that, with every step, they get closer to a better quality of life.
Shikha Srivastava heads the Urban Habitat and Migration portfolio at Tata Trusts. She has been associated with the development sector for nearly two decades.
The Trusts clarified that this order of cancellation is a culmination of the decision taken by these six Trusts in 2015 to surrender, of their own volition, their registration under the Income Tax Act and to not claim the associated IT exemptions.
New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has cancelled the registration of six trusts operating under Tata Trusts, a move that could result in tax liability of about Rs 12,000 crore for the organisation. The cancellation order was on account of activities (performed by trusts) that are not commensurate with Articles of Association, according to an official.
The concerned entities are the Jamsetji Tata Trust, RD Tata Trust, Tata Education Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust, Sarvajanik Seva Trust, and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust. While these are not the main shareholding trusts, they hold 39,000 shares in Tata Sons, the parent company of the group, a person in the know said. Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts and Sir Ratan Tata Trust are the main entities of Tata Trusts.
Tata Trusts is the largest shareholder of Tata Sons, with 66% stake.
The amount that the I-T Department wants Tata Trusts to pay is based on the accumulation of income of the last three assessment years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, said two officials privy to the development.
In the 34-page order dated October 31, the tax department has invoked Section 115 (TD) of the I-T Act, a special provision introduced in 2016 with respect to certain category of trusts.
Under this, a trust whose registration is cancelled is required to pay tax on its “accreted” (past exempted income).
The section deals with additional income tax if the trust converts or merges into a non-charitable trust, or if gets dissolved and fails to transfer its assets/liabilities.
The order says that the registration of the six trusts has been cancelled with immediate effect, which makes the trust liable to pay additional tax on the accreted income. If this had been from the date of the surrender being offered, which was in 2015, the tax would have been levied only on earnings. According to the order, these entities will be taxed at the maximum rate of 42 per cent.
In an e-mail response to Business Standard, a Tata Trust spokesperson said: “The Trusts are examining the order and will take necessary next steps in accordance with the law. The Trusts have effective legal options to vindicate their grievances against today’s order, both factually and legally.’’
The Trusts further clarified that this order of cancellation is a culmination of the decision taken by these six Trusts in 2015 to surrender, of their own volition, their registration under the Income Tax Act and to not claim the associated I-T exemptions.
‘’The decision to surrender the registration (an option available in law) was taken in the best interests of the Trust, and to maximise the resources available to the Trust for their charitable work, which is the principal object and focus of the Trusts.’’ The statement said: ‘’While the Tax Department’s order has cancelled the Trusts’ registration with immediate effect, we believe that as a matter of law and consistent with the Department’s own decision in the past, the cancellation should take effect from 2015, when the registrations were surrendered and the Trusts themselves consented to cancellation.’’
The assessment wing of the I-T department, Mumbai, had in July issued notices to these trusts, seeking explanation over surrendering the registration and also the accumulated income. People in the know said these trusts, after giving up the status of a charitable trust, have been paying taxes as non-charitable organisations.
The action by the I-T department was a follow up to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report of 2013, which said that the Trusts were earning huge profits, instead of performing activities for charitable purposes. The surplus funds were either used for creating fixed assets for earning more profit, or were transferred to other trusts rather than being used for charitable purposes, the CAG had said. This, the report claimed, was done to evade taxes. Following strong remarks by the audit body, the matter was shifted to the assessment wing of the tax department in 2018, which reopened the tax assessment of these trusts.
An award-winning project of student-artists exhibited in Chennai recently showed their passion for re-imagining and documenting lives of labour – theirs and others’.
Thirty-three student-artists from the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai and Kumbakonam recently showcased their visual project, ‘Archiving Labour’, among their peers, older artists and general audience at Spaces, an inclusive cultural venue in Chennai. The work of the collective was originally part of the curated Students’ Biennale, 2016-2017 which ran parallel to the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. The project fetched the collective and its curator, Krishnapriya CP, the Tata Trust’s Students’ Biennale National Award and the Tata Trust’s Students’ Biennale International Award for Curation respectively. In this piece, the curator gives the reader a glimpse of the process through which the student-artists re-imagined and placed labour at the core of their work.
Investigating the history of the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, the first institution of its kind in the country, served as a prelude to the student-artists’ collective project. The changing nomenclature of the college, indicating its mutating identity over time, provided an axis for the students to start exploring its journey – the School of Arts, Madras, which was established in 1850 by Alexander Hunter, was known as the Government School of Industrial Arts and the Government College of Arts and Crafts before it finally got its current name, and identity, of a ‘fine arts’ institution in 2001.
The college, including its classrooms and art studios, is housed in deteriorating colonial buildings. It also has a sequestered museum containing archival material which remains closed. Taking the museum as a provocation, the artists conceptualised a labour archive as a temporary exhibit in an imagined museum. Through their project of recording contemporary labour stories, they sought to present a living alternative to the colonial history of the museum.
Removing themselves from the regular artistic practices of their institutions, the collective of student-artists from the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai and Kumbakonam started researching, documenting, conceptualising and visualising labour as a lived reality and created artefacts drawing out its experiential aspects. Most of the students in the two colleges come from families that are involved in occupations of hard labour or traditional crafts, and have migrated to cities to hone their own artistic skills, some even as first generation learners. Studying their own families, people located close to them, and the work they are connected with, became the crux of the students’ endeavour.
‘School of Arts, Madras’ brick. Credit: Padmapriya
A ‘School of Arts, Madras’ brick, found in the Chennai College, presented itself as evidence of its industrial roots. In 1852, when the institution moved to its present location in Egmore, with a functioning brick kiln, it played a significant role in contributing bricks to many of the surrounding Indo-Saracenic buildings. The institution at the time comprised artisan teachers and students from artisan communities drawn from different regions of the Madras Presidency. A cast of the original brick was made by Thalamuthu (the original brick is in the college).
Kameshwaran, who is studying painting, grew up seeing brick kilns in his neighbourhood in Namakkal. As part of this project, he registered the lives of adults and children working in the kilns by making a large sculpture of a book titled ‘Create’ with a brick inside it titled ‘Labour’. Several questions arise from this work – are brick makers not creators? What would the Madras School have been like when its emphasis was on traditional industry and craft? Who would have worked there?
‘Create’ by Kameshwaran. Credit: Padmapriya
In 1855, the first photography department in South Asia and Southeast Asia was established in the Madras School. The photographs taken by this department for the Survey of India, available in the British Online Library, drew the attention of the student-artists. Taking a leaf out of the work of performer-artists Pushpamala N. and Cindy Sherman, both photographers, they ‘re-clicked’ some of the colonial photographs as a photo-performance – by casting themselves as new and critical characters within the old frame.
‘Group of Domestic Servants at Madras in Tamil Nadu’. Credit: British Online Library
‘Re-clicked’. Credit: Padmapriya
Kamal invited Sundar, a blind man who sells sweetmeats in local suburban electric trains, to the Chennai college and encouraged him to sculpt with clay. What Sundar sculpted was a sweetmeat. With the help of other students Kamal made a video, ‘Touch of Labour’, of Sundar’s spontaneous performance.
Deepika, who is studying painting, comes from a family and community of woodworkers. She worked on the idea of labour pain and childbirth, using wood as her medium. Since the once active woodwork department at the Madras School no longer existed, like most other industrial and craft departments in the college, Deepika collaborated with an alumnus of the college – carpenter Thiyagu, whose father used to have a wood workshop in the campus at one time. For her work titled ‘Womb’ Deepika learnt the intricacies of sculpting from Thiyagu, who comes from the same community as her. Unlike Deepika’s family which does not practice the craft anymore, he has continued with his family’s work.
‘Womb’ by Deepika. Credit: Padmapriya
Karthick’s family makes large brass lamps, the kuthuvillakku, manually in their small-scale, home-based workshop, patarai, where the entire family is involved in intensive labour. Karthick, a student of painting in Kumbakonam, the heartland of commercial bronze casting, documented the entire process of his family’s work in an artist’s book titled Kuthuvillakku Makers. Many other artists of the collective have also artistically document different kinds of labour processes and tribulations in similar detailed books. These include Thalamuthu’s on railway track cleaners, Ayyapan’s on laundrymen, Divya’s on manual scavengers of Thiruvaiyaru, Sri Hari’s on coconut husking and Devaraj’s flip book on devarattam.
Saranraj recorded the sound of labourers breaking stones in a stone quarry near his house where his parents work; he grew up listening to this sound. In his sound installation, titled ‘Sound of Labour’, he wove in memories of his personal life, aspects of his social reality and his position as an artist. He also sketched portraits of people from his small, impoverished village, among who are a 100-year-old farm worker, an old woman who sings the opari, dirge, and a man who buries and burns dead bodies.
Karthikeyan’s father, a signboard painter, did well in his younger days when there was a need for skilled artists to paint grand images of political leaders and film posters. He had dreamed of studying in the Chennai College, a dream that was eventually realised through his son. The yearning for formal learning, then and now, points to the notion within and outside the art community, that only by studying art and becoming an artist does one achieve respectability. Karthikeyan made a live portrait study of his now ageing and disillusioned father, who has lost his only source of income with the entry of large-scale, cheaper mechanised printing. The title of the work: ‘Who is an Artist?’
‘Artist’ by Karthikeyan. Credit: Narendran.K
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Why is history important? What can we do with it? What does it tell us about our present? What does it have to do with art making? These were some of the questions that the student-artists were grappling with following a series of conversations centred on the iconic bronze sculpture ‘Triumph of Labour’ created by Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhury, who was the first Indian principal of the Government College of Arts and Crafts as it was known then. The monumental sculpture, more popularly known as the Labour Statue, was installed at the Marina Beach in Chennai in 1959 to commemorate the first May Day celebration in the country in 1923.
The students engaged in an exercise of reinterpreting and personalising this labour sculpture. They developed a series of paintings with critical individual narratives focusing on what they felt was missing in the original which had sought to valorise labour. For example, Moovendhran, a student of sculpture, positioned a supervisor overlooking the four men at work to foreground several questions – who were these men working for? Is this really a ‘triumph’ of labour? Moreover, whose triumph is it? Exploring the idea of labour thus energised the group, connecting them to one another and to critical questions regarding history, labour and art.
‘Triumph?’ by Moovendhran. Credit: Padmapriya
Thalamuthu is a student of sculpture interested in sculpting portraits, a strong practice within the college. While our cities are populated with busts of political leaders and people of significance, Thalamuthu sculpted a bust of Revathy, a railway-track cleaner at the Chennai Central railway station, honouring an unknown worker engaged in work that is known but unacknowledged. Several questions arise from the work: is Revathy important enough for her portrait to be made? Who gets recognised for their work and who does not? After sculpting the portrait Thalamuthu took it to the station and displayed it there, as a public monument.
‘Revathy’ by Thalamuthu, Credit: Padmapriya
Thalamuthu’s work sparked a response from within the collective. Kamal, who is studying painting, critically responded to the sculpture by writing a letter. The letter, also part of the exhibition, asks if the issue of discrimination can be addressed simply by presenting a monument of Revathy, a sanitary worker. How do we then relate to her? What does it really do to her social position? Kamal’s letter to Thalamuthu is an example of the constant engagement among the students in the collective. They were supportive as well as critical of each other’s work in discussions regarding social, political and aesthetic consequences of their works and perspectives.
The above are only some of the works exhibited at the show which draws parallels between the past and the present. What had initially started as an investigation into the history of the ‘Madras School’ evolved into a documentation of the lives and socio-economic contexts of the students studying in both the colleges today. The project carries the mark of many a labourer’s life and the students’ labour as well.
And yet, questions remain: who does, and continues to do, work traditionally mired in discrimination? Most importantly, did such positions go unchallenged even in the work of the student-artists which sought to treat labourers and their labour with dignity?
With regard to ‘Triumph of Labour’, which was created as a national monument of strength and power, the student-artists asked if art does or can, in fact, radically rethink the position of labour in our society, overlaid as it is with class, caste and gender.
As for the students’ own work, a preliminary effort that has definitely brought these issues to the fore, the question it gives rise to is this – in what way does their work address the reality that labourers will continue to toil with their sweaty bodies in the scorching sun? Further, with this project have we, the artists and the curator, been able to make a shift or has it largely remained a collective voice we have placed on record for ourselves as artists?
‘Workers of the world…relax!’ – a collective graffiti. Credit: Narendran
It is in this context that we should perhaps see a collective graffiti reinterpreting ‘The Triumph of Labour’. Painted by Deepika, Kameshwaran, Sinduja, Thalamuthu and Padmapriya, the work shows one of the four muscular, labouring men in the original sculpture stepping away for a break to drink tea, a colonial drink. And there the matter rests.
Krishnapriya C P is a practising artist based in Chennai. She is the curator of the visual project ‘Archiving Labour’.
At a recent press conference, a delegation from TISS highlighted the administration’s response to the ongoing conflict and demanded greater financial transparency from the institute.
New Delhi: Student protests against Modi government’s education policies are fast mushrooming in universities across the country. The students’ union-backed protest at all four Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) campuses – Mumbai, Tuljapur, Hyderabad and Guwahati – are evidence that there is nationwide dissent when it comes to social justice and education.
TISS students have been protesting since February 21 against the hike in dining and hostel fees along with withdrawal of fee waiver to the students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), and on Friday, three student delegates held a press conference at Delhi’s Indian Women’s Press Corps.
Addressing the media were Fahad Ahmad, general secretary of the TISS students’ union and two Ph.D scholars – Priyanka Sandaliya and Subhankar Roy. They informed the media about the university’s response to the ongoing conflict, their interactions with the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) and the legal notice served to six students. By highlighting these issues the students wished to draw media attention to the efforts of the university and the government to delegitimise their protests.
The academic fraternity has alleged that institutions are increasingly becoming less inclined to listen to the demands of their students. One glaring example of this trend was provided by the Central University of Orissa, which was shut down when students demanded permanent faculty and access to better facilities.
The speakers at Friday’s press conference said education in India is being taken over by private interests, which puts disadvantaged students at risk of being forced to leave higher education. They highlighted the declining ratio of OBC-NC students in the university, which has fallen from 22% in 2014-15 to 20% in 2015-16 and then to 18% in 2016-17. The crux of the problem is that TISS is a publicly-funded university, which also gets funds from the Tata Trust. However, the cut in funds for scholarships and the method of calculating the Rs 20 crore deficit has not been adequately explained, according to the students. Therefore, they demand greater financial transparency from the institute.
Demands from the students include the provision of sufficient funds from UGC along with a clear plan on how institutes should utilise these funds. Following the protests, UGC in mid-March released arrears worth Rs 11 crore to TISS, Mumbai but there is ambiguity about how this money will be used.
Other demands include an increase in budget allocation towards education to 10% of the GDP as opposed to the present 0.45% for 2018-19. This should be supplemented by special fund allocation towards the Government of India-Post Matriculation Scholarship (GOI-PMS). Also, the scholarship should be distributed in a timely manner to avoid disruption of students’ education.
Three MPs recently wrote a letter to the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to request the release of Rs 12,000 crore in funds intended for SC/ST scholarships.
In 2015, the institute claimed that the government would not provide a scholarship to the OBC-NC students covered under the GOI-PMS. They were asked to pay upfront hostel, mess and tuition fees. In 2017, it issued a notice stating that even SC/ST covered under the GOI-PMS would have to pay the fees, since there was a Rs 20 crore deficit in the amount of scholarship. This is claimed because of rising fee structures, which results in an inability by the institute to adjust the amount of scholarships and freeships.
Another issue of conflict has been the expansion of the TISS campus to incorporate more courses. Sandaliya commented on how contradictory it was to have a rural management course with a rural development course in the very same institution that was slashing scholarship funds.
The dialogue between the students and the administration resulted in TISS agreeing to adjust scholarship fees for the batches of 2016-18 and 2017-19. The focus is now on new students who will seek admission and how their education will be funded.
In response, the institute has labelled the protests as being fuelled by “fringe-elements”. They have also signalled an end to the protests, which is contested by the students.
The students received a lackadaisical response to their grievances from the HRD minister Prakash Javadekar and the SJE minister Thawar Chand Gehlot.
The National Commission for STs has issued a hearing on April 12 in New Delhi. The sitting hearing with the National Commission for SCs is scheduled for April 18 and National Commission for OBCs is on April 7. These hearings will involve representatives of students, the MHRD and the institute authorities. The students hope this will urge the government to restore and safeguard the spirit of reservation and affirmative action.
Meghshala creates engaging lessons adhering to the national syllabus, uploads them into the cloud and has teachers invoke them in classrooms using tablets and handheld projectors.
Meghshala creates engaging lessons adhering to the national syllabus, uploads them into the cloud and has teachers invoke them in classrooms using tablets and handheld projectors.
A class in session using one of Meghshala’s Teachkits. Credit: Meghshala Trust
Conventional parenting wisdom asks us to keep children away from gadgets, especially phones and tablets. But sometimes a tablet can do wonders and actually go a long way in educating a child. Ask the young, dedicated team that works with the Bengaluru-based social education startup Meghshala. They will tell you how their tablet-based ‘teach kits’ have gone a long way in making lessons interactive and stimulating for many government-school students across the city and surrounding rural areas.
At the GHPS Nagasandra, a government-run school near Peenya, outside Bengaluru, the eighth graders are attending a commerce and mathematics class, getting a lesson in value added tax (VAT). What makes this lesson different from the standard chapter in the Karnataka SSC curriculum is its execution. It’s being taught with the help of one of Meghshala’s multimedia kits, and it takes the learning level several notches higher.
Meghshala is a not-for-profit trust based on a learning management system called CloodOn; the whole thing is hosted in the cloud. The trust was founded by former physics and math teacher Jyoti Thyagarajan and tech-entrepreneur Sridhar Ranganathan. Meghshala (Hindi for ‘school on a cloud’) trains teachers in government schools across Bengaluru’s urban and rural areas to facilitate better learning and enhance classroom experiences through its teaching tools.
Its secret sauce is the Teachkit. Each of these kits is written by a ‘master teacher’ in its team in an effort to “bring thoughtful pedagogy to the curriculum,” as Thyagarajan put it. These come packed with content that includes videos, class activities, fun examples and questions designed to make students think out of the box and understand concepts better.
The Teachkits are uploaded to the cloud and downloaded from there into individual teachers’ tablets, and then used in the classroom through handheld projectors. Meghshala accesses these two pieces of hardware from retail suppliers.
How it works
Meghshala’s lessons follow the national curriculum and are divided into individual subjects that are further split into units. Each unit comprises lessons that are uploaded to CloodOn. “It helps the teachers that our content exactly follows the textbook, so if chapter 8 is on perimeters, our content will also be the same,” according to Prasanth Nori, an implementation manager with the Meghshala Trust. “The chief difference is that our content has been enhanced, tweaked and twisted around with examples, questions, images and illustrations.”
Teachers access a Teachkit on their tablets and then project a lesson on the blackboard or a wall. Meghshala conducts training sessions for them to figure out how best to use these lessons in their classes. According to the software’s creators, there’s a lot of work put into the back-end to maximise the lessons’ usability and impact. The team tracks how each teacher uses the app when she logs on, and are also constantly analysing the data to understand patterns that could help improve lesson effectiveness and efficacy.
For example, the average hours of usage per teacher has risen from 3.2 in July 2016 to 5.4 in January 2017 – except during October and, when exams are commonly conducted and have limited instructional days.
Government schools have been provided with teaching tech earlier but Meghshala has been able to cut ahead because it has made a point of handholding users through its Teachkits, at least during the initial phase. Members of the organisation regularly visit schools to observe the Teachkits being used in real-time, and make themselves available to the headmasters and teachers who use them for support.
A fair amount of thought also goes into the user interface and experience. The visit to GHPS Nagasandra is an observation day for Nikita Biyani, a designer and editor with Meghshala. She’s there to see if the overall design of the lesson, from illustrations to the colours used, actually works in the classroom.
Meghshala Trust is part of Thyagarajan’s dream to enable education for all – especially in the rural areas. According to the Annual Status of Education Report 2014, half of all children in rural India who have completed eight years of schooling still haven’t learned basic arithmetic, just to quote one dismal instance.
That her impact as a teacher could’ve been more struck Thyagarajan when she was nearing retirement. “I’ve always worked in elite schools – Mallya Aditi, Stonehill International School and in schools overseas – and over the course of 35 years [might have] graduated 600 children. And I thought to myself, I’m known to be a good teacher. I should be teaching more kids!”
Thyagarajan then found a solution to the question of reach in the platform developed by Ranganathan, whom she met at an education conference. “We are talking 60 million kids out there and the only way we can scale it up and educate everyone is through technology,” she said. Empowering and training teachers to bring innovative learning methods to increase student participation and retention remains the most viable solution.
Credit: Meghshala Trust
Of course, it helps to have an enthusiastic team by her side, and the one at Meghshala is young. Many of them, like Nori, have worked in the Teach For India programme, and bring insights about the Indian education system relevant to the bottom of the pyramid. They also have a passion for teaching.
The idea in action
Over the little-over-two years for which Meghshala has been around, it has managed to reach 130 schools across urban and rural areas around Bengaluru as well as other parts of Karnataka. The app – a free product for teachers – currently has more than 300 users, which shows that interest has only been peaking. “It’s a prestige issue for the teachers as well, knowing they have access to newer ideas and tools,” Nori pointed out, adding that “a whole bunch of teachers have even gone and bought their own tablets to access the app.”
The teachers for Meghshala are selected based on the team’s interactions with the block education officer. Sometimes, the teachers surprise the team with their ability to think beyond the usual, to push the technological envelope further. Thyagarajan mentioned a teacher who used the Teachkit to increase student participation in class thus: “She clicked a picture of the student’s work, projected it on the board and asked the student to share and explain his work with the class. It’s an amazing way to keep the students engaged.”
Access to the ‘best practices’ of teaching – such as including graphic aids to help students organise their thinking – packed into the Teachkits has helped teachers create an engaging classroom environment and also upgrade their own skills, despite the initial challenges in adapting to them. Recently, one teacher explained the concept of constellations by downloading a video about the universe, putting it on the tab and starting the lesson with it – instead of simply reading from the textbook as usual. This was after attending a few of Meghshala’s training sessions where she saw others put the tablet to creative use. It was a significant change in mindset.
The Teachkits have enabled a demonstrably greater level of teacher involvement. Tara K., who teaches at GHPS Nagasandra and has been a government schoolteacher for a decade, has a fairly positive assessment of its lesson plans, which even come with a time distribution to make it helpful for the teachers using them. “The addition of videos make it interesting and motivational for the students, especially in understanding science concepts such as friction, atom and molecules, life on Earth, etc. Otherwise these classes can get monotonous. The group activities are good as even children in the last benches tend to pay attention and get involved.”
The school’s headmaster, H.R. Kodanda Ram, said the Teachkits have reduced the burden on the teacher: “They are more creative and visual, keeping the children engaged in class.”
Making it work
The startup operates in rural areas of Karnataka like Koppal, Balpa, Mudhol and Raichur. In Raichur, they’re partnered with an NGO.
Is there a difference in the acceptance and usage of the Teachkits in rural and urban areas? Surprisingly, yes. According to the team, Meghshala’s intervention finds greater and faster acceptance in rural areas, where access to extra resources is limited. The schools they visit are also supported by other partner organisations that help in better implementation. Thyagarajan thinks many government schools in the city suffer from ‘NGO fatigue’, adding, “Village schools, on the other hand, are delighted when Meghshala walks into their school to help teachers teach better.”
Their monthly operating cost is Rs 12 lakh, sometimes more. “It is primarily funded by the Tata Trust. Other revenue sources are primarily CSR funds, with some companies like T.T.K. being exceptionally generous,” according to Thyagarajan. She also hopes that, in the future, “the state governments will pay for the implementation through their budget item for the year’s teacher training.”
Its success is owed to its team’s projecting Meghshala as more than just content for teachers. It was recently named among the top 20 of the all-India MEA-NITI Aayog Social Innovation Contest, organised by the Ministry of External Affairs. In March 2017, the team was invited to talk to the Ministry of Human Resource Development about entering as many states in India as possible. As of now, they are already in talks with three state governments, quite helpful considering their goal is to reach 100,000 teachers by 2020.
The hope is that an innovative solution like the one offered by Meghshala will help turn around poor attendance figures, equally poor comprehension levels and higher-than-desirable dropout rates gradually. The platform is also an example of how tech innovations can be harnessed for the greater good and help children get access to quality education – which should ideally be a basic right for all.
Reshmi Chakraborty is a freelance writer. She is interested in stories of innovation and change across various areas.
As the battle between Cyrus Mistry and Ratan Tata escalates, it will be interesting to see which way other Tata family members will go.
As the battle between Cyrus Mistry and Ratan Tata escalates, it will be interesting to see which way other Tata family members will go.
The Taj Mahal hotel, iconic property of the Tata group, silhouetted against the Arabian Sea. Credit: The Wire Staff
With the dispute at the Tata empire now spilling over to the Tata Trusts from Tata Sons, the epic battle in the $103.51 billion empire spread across many continents now shows all signs of escalating to the next level.
Tata Sons is the holding company of all Tata companies and therefore the chairman of Tata Sons seems to be pretty much the boss of the group. It is from this position that Cyrus Mistry was evicted in October around four years after he was appointed. Cyrus had taken over from Ratan Tata, who exited after turning 75. After Cyrus was axed, the public came to realise that 66% of the shares of Tata Sons are held by a motley group of trusts which are called the Tata Trusts. Thus, whoever controls the Tata Trusts controls Tata Sons and, through the latter, the entire conglomerate.
Whereas in the past the chairman of Tata Sons was the chairman of the Tata Trusts, this was not the case during Cyrus’s tenure. While Cyrus was the chairman of Tata Sons, the chairman of the Tata Trusts was Ratan. It is by using this position that Ratan sacked Cyrus.
When J.R.D. Tata was chairman of Tata Sons between 1938-91, he was also chairman of the Tata Trusts. Between 1991-2012, when Ratan was chairman of Tata Sons he was also chairman of the Tata Trusts. Now Cyrus is lobbying that Ratan should step down from the Tata Trusts and this is the latest episode in the new corporate modern age Mahabharata, where it is difficult to figure out who the Pandavas are and who are the Kauravas.
Jasmsetji Tata. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Jamsetji Tata, who laid the foundation for the group and lies buried outside London, must be turning in his grave. The fact is that none of the men fighting for the top honours, have in any way descended from him. Ratan, who is now back as the interim chairman of the group, is the grandson of Hormusji Tata, a master weaver who joined the Ahmedabad Advance Mills in the first decade of the 20th century. Hormusji belonged to the same clan as Jamsetji but was not related by blood. When Hormusji suddenly died in 1908, he left behind his penniless widow and three children. The widow started to do embroidery work even as the sons were put in an orphanage-cum-school for Parsis in Surat.
In 1918, Sir Ratanji Tata, the younger son of Jamsetji died. Jamsetji himself had passed away in 1904. Ratanji had no children and the same was the case for his elder brother, Sir Dorabji Tata. These were the only two sons that Jamsetji had. Navajbai, the wife of Ratanji was pushed at a family meeting to adopt a ‘son’. That’s how Navajbai went to the orphanage and picked up 13-year-old Naval, attracted by his beautiful eyes. Naval was the son of Hormusji and despite his adoption, continued with the old name of Naval Hormusji Tata for life (instead of Naval Ratanji Tata). But having lived his early life in penury and want, Naval somehow lacked the killer spirit and could never push his interest forward. Thus he rose up to the largely titular position of deputy chairman of Tata group.
The man Naval lost to was a competent man: JRD. But JRD was not directly linked with Jamsetji. He was the son of Ratanbhai Dadabhoy Tata, who was a cousin of Dorabji and Ratanji. He used to do his independent business earlier but after the death of Jamsetji, joined the two bothers as his partner. After Dorabji Tata, who was the chairman of Tata Sons, died in 1931, JRD wished to be chairman of Tata Sons. But at 29 he was too young. Moreover Dorabji, in his last days, had differences with JRD. Apparently JRD’s father, Ratanbhai Dadabhoy, who had died earlier, had borrowed money from Dorabji. After his death, Dorabji insisted the money be paid back immediately. So JRD had to sell off his family home to repay his father’s debts. Dorabji also pulled out a will of Jamsetji and insisted that after his death, a nephew of Jamsetji should succeed him at Tata Sons. That’s how Nowroji Saklatvala (son of Jamsetji’s sister) became chairman of Tata Sons. He died after six years in 1938 and JRD now became the chairman of Tata Sons.
J.R.D. Tata. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
JRD had a very long innings but he had no children. That’s how the baton was passed on to Ratan, the son of Naval. Ratan is not married but his father Naval had married twice. Ratan has a half-brother, Noel, who is 59 years old. Since the retirement age for senior levels in the Tatas is 75, Noel can become the chairman of the group and continue for another 16 years. But it seems that Noel, though he is in the race, is not favoured by Ratan. Noel is presently chairman of Tata International, a smaller Tata company that is in retailing and Ratan thinks he has not had such great business exposure.
In the early 1920s, the Tata group was in trouble because of its capital-intensive investments in steel and hydro-electric power. As such, it required capital infusion and a Parsi financier, Framoze Edulji Dinshaw, infused Rs 1 crore into Tata Sons. The Tatas could not pay back the loan so it got converted to equity in Tata Sons. This was equal to 12.5% of the equity of Tata Sons. When Edulji Dinshaw died in 1931, his successors sold off this equity to builder Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, though the Tatas tried to persuade them to put it in a trust. Shapoorji Pallonji also mopped up shares of Tata Sons from folks like JRD’s brothers and sisters (against JRD’s wishes) to take up the equity he owned to 18.5%. Shapoorji Pallonji came on the board of Tata Sons followed by his son Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry. The representative of this family on the Tata Sons board has been described as a ‘phantom’ whose presence could be felt invisibly, in Bombay House – headquarters of the Tatas – where they would influence policies. In 2006, using this equity power, Cyrus came on to the Tata Sons board after the retirement of his father Pallonji Shapoorji.
Though JRD ultimately chose Ratan as his successor, the choice doesn’t seem to have been easy. This was because Ratan was not seen as a great performer. Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing, and grandson of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, was the godson of the childless JRD Tata, leading to speculation that he would be the successor to the group. Wadia’s family is one of the most prominent Parsi business families of Mumbai and came to prominence even before the Tatas. Russi Mody of the Tata Iron & Steel Company also saw himself as the successor to Ratan.
Cyrus Mistry and Ratan Tata. Credit: Reuters/Files
Ratan’s initial years as Tata Sons chairman were not great, facing as he did, rebellions from satraps in the group. In 1997, Pallonji Shapoorji initiated informal moves to ease out Ratan but nothing happened. Thus it was surprising how Cyrus managed to get appointed as Tata Sons chairman in 2012.
Now as Cyrus fights Ratan, Wadia has joined forces with him in a do or die battle. It will be interesting to see which way Ratan’s neglected step brother Noel will go. He is married to Aloo, the sister of Cyrus. Whatever this promises to be a mega battle and the spirit of Jamsetji wherever he is must be totally flummoxed by what’s happening.
“There is a multitude of records to show that the allegations made by Mr. Cyrus Mistry are unwarranted,” the statement read.
File photo of Ratan Tata with Cyrus Mistry. Credit: PTI
In a public reply to former chairman Cyrus Mistry’s letter, the Tata group has all but confirmed that Mistry’s firing was essentially over a clash of “culture” and “ethos”.
“(Mistry) would be fully familiar with the culture, ethos, governance structure, financial and operational imperatives of the Tata Group as well as various group companies. As the Executive Chairman, he was fully empowered to lead the group and its companies. It is unfortunate that it is only on his removal that allegations and misrepresentation of facts are being made about business decisions that the former Chairman was party to for over a decade in different capacities. The record, as and when made public, will prove things to the contrary.
Efforts are now being made to level accusations against individuals and company boards for ignoring corporate governance norms that were supposedly upheld by the former Chairman while in office. The Tata Sons board gives its Chairman complete autonomy to manage opportunities and challenges. However, the tenure of the former Chairman was marked by repeated departures from the culture and ethos of the group.”
The statement added that Mistry had “overwhelmingly” lost the support of board members over “a range of factors”.
Mistry wrote a letter to the Tata Sons board and Tata Trust trustees on Wednesday that was leaked to the press, saying he had “inherited a debt-laden enterprise saddled with losses” when he first took over the company.
The response issues by Tata Sons did not individually deal with the allegations in Mistry’s letter, but said they were “not based on fact or a true state of affairs”. “There is a multitude of records to show that the allegations made by Mr. Cyrus Mistry are unwarranted and these records will be duly disclosed before appropriate forums, if and when necessary, sufficiently justifying the decision made by responsible Boards of Directors, of Tata Sons and its Group companies,” the statement read.
Mistry has said that he has not filed any caveats.
File photo of Ratan Tata with Cyrus Mistry. Credit: PTI
Tata Sons, Tata Trust and Ratan Tata have filed caveats earlier in the day against ousted Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, Indian Express reported, anticipating a legal challenge from Mistry. According to the Times of India, a caveat was filed in the Supreme Court, Delhi high court and the National Company Tribunal (NCLT). On Monday, the Tata Trust board announced that Mistry was being removed and replaced by Ratan Tata for an interim period of four months.
Reports also claimed that Mistry has filed four caveats against Ratan Tata and Dorabji Tata Trust at the NCLT on Tuesday. However, Mistry has denied this.
“A caveat is a notice issued filed by a party fearing legal action seeking notice before action,” a statement from Mistry’s office said. “Tatas have filed caveats seeking notice from Cyrus Mistry fearing legal action. Cyrus has not filed any caveats. He has already made a statement that such concerns are misplaced at this stage.”
The amount that the I-T Department wants Tata Trusts to pay is based on the accumulation of income of the last three assessment years 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, said two officials privy to the development.
