The Delhi Diaries

It has almost been three decades since the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992 was passed, which granted 33% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj institutions ( PRI). The move was heralded as “ a watershed in the history of state initiative on political empowerment of rural women”. [1] The rationale for these reservations was to give women a platform to directly participate in decision-making in local self-government from which they historically have been denied. However, as Sudha Pai noted, participation of women in these institutions does not exist in the abstract but is heavily interwoven with ideological and cultural factors where social inequality and oppression are reflected and maintained. [2] In this short article I will argue that reservations for women have not gone far enough to empower women once they enter in to these positions. I will demonstrate that the lack of support for these women in the form of training and education in a strongly patriarchal socie...

Part of our Experiential Learning Module (ELM) involved us learning to conduct field research. Considering that our ELM team consists of a law, psychology and media & communications’ graduate, none of us were very well versed with the ins and outs of field research when we first began. Over the last six months, we’ve experimented, adapted, erred, cried and finally (at least we feel) have reached a stage where we feel like we have gotten our heads around the field research process. Here is a rough road map for how to chart out preparing for your field research should you find yourself doing it for the first time. 1. Identify the Sample Area One very important piece of advice that was given to us is to immediately identify the area in which you are conducting the study. You should make the decision whether you want a large area of study or a narrower scope. This will depend on how much time you have to complete the project and how much you are facilitated to travel to these...