Kuldeep Ambekar

Renaming hostels may soothe stigma, but it does little to fix the conditions that define students’ lives AI generated image Pune: Recently, the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department decided to excise the term ‘Backward Class’ from the names of its government hostels and rechristen them after revered historical figures. While the move to replace them with names that evoke dignity and achievement is, on the face of it, a step towards psychological emancipation, it is also a reminder...

Maharashtra’s bureaucratic drift is turning a flagship foreign-study scheme into a machine for wasting talent. For a government that talks grandly of global exposure and human capital, the foreign merit scholarship scheme run by the Higher and Technical Education Department has acquired an unfortunate reputation. It raises hopes early, dashes them late and teaches students a brutal lesson in administrative indifference. The scheme’s purpose is admirable. It is meant to help meritorious...

Maharashtra’s local elections reveal how a youthful electorate is being crowded out by money, lineage and virtual politics. After a gap of nearly eight years, the bugle has finally sounded for local self-government elections in Maharashtra. Municipal corporations, councils, nagar panchayats and panchayat raj institutions are once again arenas of competition. The return of the electoral grind has brought with it a familiar mixture of excitement and confusion. Yet amid the scramble for tickets,...