Setting Up the IITsThe creation of institutions of technical higher education was essential for the development of a skilled workforce in the fields of engineering and technology. The government established the first Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur, West Bengal, in 1951. The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961, created a unique framework for the funding, administration an
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Rural Employment GuaranteeThe Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was launched in February 2006, in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. It covered 200 of the country’s most backward districts, and was later expanded to cover all rural districts. The scheme provides at least 100 days (in a fiscal year) of guaranteed wage employment to every rural household, a
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Mid-Day Meal SchemeThe Mid-Day Meal Scheme was started to reduce school dropout rates and to combat under-nutrition among poor children. In late 2001, the Supreme Court directed all states to implement the scheme by providing students in government and government-assisted primary schools with one meal every day, for a minimum of 200 days. By 2006, the scheme was near universal in all stat
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Generic Drug ManufacturingBy 2017, the pharmaceutical industry in India was valued at $33 billion, with generic drugs accounting for 20 percent of global exports share in terms of volume. This made India the largest provider of generic medicines in the world. Despite large players like Piramal, Torrent, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Aurobindo,Dr Reddy’s and Glenmark, the industry remains highly frag
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NGOs’ Advocacy In EducationA significant phenomenon has been the contributions of non-government organisations (NGOs) in grassroots educational work. They have also contributed to national educational debates and helped make access and quality of education a prominent public issue. For instance, in 2005, Pratham did pioneering work in testing the learning achievements of elementary-school
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Groundwater ManagementSuccessive crop failures in the arid Deccan plateau and groundwater depletion prompted the Food and Agriculture Organization to work with farmers’ collectives and launch the Andhra Pradesh Farmer Managed Groundwater Systems project in 2004. It brought together over 30,000 farmers from 638 villages, who were taught to make optimal use of rain, groundwater, canal and w
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The Rise of Information Technology (IT)The IT industry was freed from the Licence Raj, thanks to policy measures of the mid-1980s. As Indian companies found clients in the US, and the world over, it provided manpower and expertise at a fraction of the cost. The phenomenon of jobs in other countries being outsourced to Indian IT majors even led to the creation of a new word—Bangalored. The
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The Gig EconomyThe rise of startups and the boom of app-based platforms in India have given rise to a new ecosystem of employment outside the formal employer-employee relationship. While the gig economy has been popular among blue-collar workers—delivery personnel and taxi drivers, for instance—there is huge potential for white-collar workers as well, due to increasing demand from industr
