Solutions to Change

By Anusha Sooriyan* The defence budget is an important baggage for the Ministry of Finance (MoF), as the men in uniform wait for their fair share in protecting the nation. With escalating security threats such as the Doklam issue with China and incidents of infiltration in the Indo–Pak border, the defence forces are vitally engaged in building and training a robust team, and procuring and trading the best weaponry. The defence forces in India have sufficiently grabbed the government’s attention by giving a testament of their might. But has the government given them their due? While the defence budget of 2016-17 was known for its pays and perks (as it was the season of One Rank One Pension scheme), its 2017-18 counterpart was a huge comedown. Honourable Finance Minister Arun Jaitely brushed aside the expenditure for the defence sector in a quick note. With an insignificant hike of 6.2 per cent in defence spending and an allocation of ₹2,74,114 crore, Mr Jaitley closed the ...

By Nimish Sany* Problems with the Indian rental housing market are manifold. While private rental markets have never been free from government intervention, public rental housing projects have never been coherent with market realities. Consequently, the demand–supply mismatch in the rental housing market in India is enormous with policy inconsistency widening the gap. As per the findings of the Technical Group on Urban Housing Shortage set up by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), there exists an unmet demand of 7 million rental housing units across Indian cities, but recent reports put it at 19 million [1] . If these figures are indeed true, such a huge demand can never be met with public resources alone. The Public Rental Housing Estates (PRHE) of Kolkata stands a stark reminder of this. Around 20,000 rental housing units were built across the city during the 1970s to provide affordable housing to the large influx of migrant labour, using central...

by Shonit Nayan US Consulate General, Chennai; with Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR), Maker Village and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) organized 'Blockathon for Change' to address the societal issues of migrant labourers using blockchain technology. Migrant labourers are often a disadvantaged and vulnerable group because of associated socio-economic and cultural issues. In India, massive interstate migration of labourers poses serious predicaments warranting immediate attention both at the ground level and policy level. The first-of-its-kind hackathon in India was designed to beneficially employ the blockchain technology for offering comprehensive solutions to mitigate problems related to migrant labour. While interning at CPPR, I got an opportunity to be a part of my first hackathon. I learned how social media platforms were extensively used to create buzz for the Blockathon and blockchain technology. CPPR ...

By Mathews Raju* Almost every day, we hear some news regarding migrant labourers. Most of these labourers hail from various parts of India and some even from other countries such as Bangla desh or Nepal, and they reside here without proper documents. Migrant labourers play a vital role in building Kerala’s economy, and it’s important that we address the challenges they face. US Consulate General, Chennai; and Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) joined hands with Maker Village, and Kerala Start-up Mission to conduct  Blockathon for Change,  a hackathonto solve migrant labour issues using blockchain technology. Since I am an intern at CPPR, I got an opportunity to attend this hackathon. From what I understood, a hackathon is an event where participants are assigned with certain problem statements and they have to find a solution to those problems, mostly using technology. At Blockathon for Change, they are to use blockchain technology which has been making news as o...

By Ashamary Alexander* The word Blockathon was quite naïve to me when I first heard it during my internship at CPPR (Centre for Public Policy Research). Prodding on the topic online, I found out that it was a hackathon wherein the blockchain technology was to be used to solve the problems faced by interstate migrant labourers in our country. The Blockathon challenge was put forth by CPPR with the support of the US Consulate, Chennai in association with Maker Village and Startup Mission. To be part of something so huge itself was a privilege to me. The talks by learned people like Dr. Patrick (CPPR), Ms. Alexis Wolff (US Consulate), Mr. K. Muhammed Y. Safirulla (District Collector) and Mr. DilipKrishnaswami (IBM Research Lab head) were highly informative and helped me understand the underlying technology and its unique, fool-proof nature, effectiveness in handling data and solving many of the existing problems. The technology can be used to eliminate middlemen; which means that on...

By Anusha Sooriyan* When CPPR had decided to conduct ‘Blockathon for Change’, I was clueless at first. Apart from being a student with a science background in higher secondary school, I had no relation to this field. I decided to scour the internet regarding hackathons. Searching keywords like hackathon, blockathon, blockchain, etc. added fuel to an already inquisitive mind. Being an intern at CPPR, I attended the blockathon with a basic understanding of hackathons and blockchain technology. The event was based on blockchain technology to help interstate migrant labourers. Issues faced by migrant labourers were addressed by subject matter experts, helping me realise that these migrant labourers who drift from one place to another in search of a job or a livelihood have no real count. Their identity and size is something which is a cause of concern for the state. The inflow of migrant labourers has to be monitored, and CPPR, along with start-up incubators, took this event as an op...

by Sara John* I felt awful after watching the Malayalam movie ‘Appothecary’, which shows a doctor’s dilemma, as he is forced to test drugs on his patients at the behest of a pharmaceutical company. The film produced by two doctors carefully plots the nuances of medical ethics, sticking to the message of supremacy of money over ethics and values, and how patients are treated as guinea pigs by conducting clinical trials on them without their consent or knowledge. It made me think if such things really happened in our hospitals. So I found it interesting to look into the regulations of the clinical trial industry in India, and chose it as the topic for my Saturday presentation at CPPR. As I read a few articles on clinical trials, I realised that a set of people perceived it as an economic opportunity that needs to be tapped well, while there were others, who expressed their concern over the malpractices done under the shroud of clinical trials. The harmonisation of patent laws i...