Rajasthan

This field study from Sirohi district, Rajasthan, reveals that, faced with staff shortages, resource constraints and mountains of paperwork, officials and teachers of the primary education department employ a variety of innovations that they term beech ka raasta to deal with challenges and meet targets. This article examines the strategies employed by the lower-level bureaucracy to get the job done in the jugaad framework, suggesting that these tactics are not employed to subvert policy but rather to implement it in the spirit of seva.

Remote parts of southern Rajasthan such as Udaipur, Dungarpur, Banswara and Rajsamand are characterised by a predominance of tribal groups and a high prevalence of unskilled, male, seasonal outmigration. A study conducted in these parts in 2014 shows high levels of malnutrition among children in this region. It also discusses how socio-economic characteristics translate into severe resource limitations at the household level, primarily in the availability of nutritious food. Mothers are faced by time and energy constraints in providing adequate care to young ones, especially in migrant households. Normalisation of malnutrition in community perception, rooted in the structural deprivations experienced by these communities, further entrenches the problem. The study argues that implementing local solutions and adopting strategic policy reforms can offset these constraints to child nutrition in such tribal areas.

Focusing on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, an attempt is made here to understand how central and regional governments are rescaling and restructuring power and governmental authority in terms of the governance and planning arrangements of mega-projects. Mega-projects are emerging as spaces of exception in economic as well as governance terms with far greater involvement of private actors, and constant negotiation of the central and state governments.

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puertolas, translated by Sam Taylor, New York: Alfred A Knopf, 2015; pp 320, ₹1,387, hardcover.

The Rajasthan government’s Bhama­shah Health Insurance Scheme claims to benefit over 1.10 crore families encompassing around 4.65 crore people in the state through a smart card-based cashless health cover.