Uttam Kumar Roy

Children’s socio-economic realities show up inside the classroom and demand our intervention. | Picture courtesy: Hansatanu Roy For daily wage workers in North Tripura’s Bish Ghar (20 households) Colony, which sits at the Indo-Bangladesh border, basic amenities such as food, shelter, and education are products of privilege. As parents grapple with the precarity of informal labour and lack of literacy, foundational education among the children suffers.

A recent podcast episode featuring a well-known economist sparked a debate when the guest suggested that “some corruption” might, paradoxically, enhance economic growth in heavily bureaucratic systems. Although she later clarified that she does not endorse corruption, her comment raised an important question: Can corruption ever play a functional role in economic development?

The politics of selective empathy Press enter or click to view image in full size The Supreme Court of India recently shocked the citizens with a controversial order: all of Delhi’s estimated one million street dogs must be confined to shelters. This decision, taken suo motu, followed a newspaper report about a child allegedly killed by strays, a report later found to be false. Yet the very machinery, at the apex of India’s justice system, established to uphold justice, made a hasty decision.