Page 28 - Issue 01

I think institutes with lesser student difficult in a pandemic situation. Some
strength or/and those with better
infrastructure can address technological
issues better. For example, if students
faced difficulties at IGIDR, one could
provide a laptop, send materials by email
or upload recorded classes.
When one thinks of rural areas, the
challenges increase. They may either
have no access to network connections;
or may be in a family that has a single
phone for all family members. The
solution to this has to be situation
specific. I recall having read how a
teacher in a remote village put down
lessons in the walls facing the streets so
that students can read them when they
pass by. In another instance, the school
used its public announcement system to
impart lessons. In such times, decision
making at the local level helps improve
access to learning.
NCERT started an initiative of recording
lectures and telecasting them through
their designated television channels.
There have been civil society initiatives
to bridge the digital divide by providing
mobile phones/tablets to students to
access learning materials. A mix and
match approach with technology and
local-level initiatives to ensure that
everyone has access to resources for
learning should be the way forward.
Q3. How do you think the work
of data collection has changed
due to the pandemic? What is
the way forward for
researchers in this regard?
Some of you would be pursuing a career
in research. In certain domains of applied
development research, fieldwork is very
important. One should understand what
is happening at the the ground level. But,
this will be
online forms and telephonic surveys
(including video formats) have come up,
but they cannot substitute for physical
presence. Besides, the question of
sampling design in the absence of
population listing raises other questions.
I will take a digression and discuss some
of my fieldwork conducted in the past.
Back in 2005-06, at IGIDR, we carried
out this study on farmers’ suicide in
Maharashtra. Statistically, suicide is a
rare event. Our list of incidences
superimposed to a map indicated that on
an average there was only one instance
of death by suicide in a 30-40 kilometre
radius. Hence, one cannot design a study
of selecting a few villages, listing the
population of these villages and then
drawing a sample. Our sample design
covered more than 110 villages. In each
village, we surveyed the household
where death by suicide occurred,
selected a control household, discussed
with knowledgeable people and held a
focus group discussion to have an
understanding of the socioeconomic
scenario. The team also had to be trained
to handle matters sensitively. The reason
I am bringing this here is to point out
that the situation made us innovate
survey tools and designs. It is another
matter that the report led to important
policy decisions by the state and central
governments.
In spite of its policy impact, a friendly
academic critic once asked, “Did the
farmers benefit finally?” This led me to
civil society organizations who work
with farmers to develop research
protocols that document evidences. In
2015, when I joined NCDS, we submitted
a proposal of collaborative action
research to the Government of Odisha to
revive cultivation of millets, a nutritious
and climate resilient crop, in
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