1)
https://video-alexanderstreet-com.ezproxy.neu.edu/watch/child-labour.
In this video documentary produced by Evans Woolfe, a group of eight grade students see a poor boy’s life in India and witness how India’s child labor problem affects poor students’ ability to go to school. The source describes how child labor is very prevalent in India and the students in the video aim to raise awareness and help fix this issue. This source discusses reasons why education inequality exists in India and relates to my other sources talking about its overarching causes.
2)
In the op-ed, “Are foundations equipped to help nonprofits survive the pandemic?” by Bradford Smith, Smith talks from a charity's perspective: discussing how to deal the pandemic and changes in the way charities market and outreach. Smith’s decades of experience working with charities results in a tone of confidence and makes his writing feel knowledgeable and impactful. Plenty of global foundations have seen their causes lose importance and press because of the pandemic, so this article provides valuable information for any organization that feels overwhelmed and helpless in our current situation. This relates to my community, as charities like the ones I’ve worked with are also experiencing this issue.
3)
The article “How Education Equality also helps Gender Inequality” by Petrina Darrah discusses how Indian girls have an added disadvantage in education because in poor communities, boys are often educated first due to societal sexism. Darrah claims that improving education for girls will not only improve India’s economy, but will result in a better education system as well. This source ties in well with some of the issues related to education inequality and like other articles details a solution to this issue.
4)
Anjela Taneja details India’s flawed education system in “How can India’s education system escape the vicious cycle of inequality and discrimination?”, discussing how wage, gender, and even location can put people at a disadvantage in schooling. The op-ed claims that poor government management and a lack of resources are at fault for a lot of these issues, while racism between castes also prevents poor people from educating their children. This is another strong piece that relates to other studies on the causes of education inequality while supplying an abundance of information on solutions as well.
5)
In episode 185 of the podcast “The Seen and the Unseen”, host Amit Verma discusses how to fix Indian education with Cambridge researcher Karthik Muralidharan. Karthik mentions the increased role of charities in trying to expand and improve rural education, but he blames the government’s mishandling of funds and general incompetence as the primary reason why India’s poor communities aren’t getting the help they need. This podcast gives a more detailed look on points that were made in other sources, explaining the role of the government and how the Indian education system works. The speakers also give more insight on how the government may be hindering the progress of charities such as Ekal.
6)
The news article “Indian charities battle for survival after government crackdown” by Amy Kazmin describes a new law put into place by the Indian government that tightens restrictions on non-profits. She says that the Indian government is growing suspicious of foreign and local charities alike, accusing them of funding terrorism and negatively impacting children by mishandling funds. Like earlier sources, this article describes another problem charities have with operating in India and specific reasons why the government is pushing back on their efforts.
7)
In this piece , an op-ed from the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Rohit Menezes, Sonali Madia Patel, & Daniel Pike discuss how Indian Americans are giving back to their home country and ways that any ordinary person can help India-based NGO’s and charities. The authors claim that because Indian Americans are some of the highest earners in America, as immigrants they have an obligation to give back and help improve to their home country in some way. The ideas presented in this source are interesting and include some of the reasons why I decided to start volunteering, so my relation to it made it more appealing.
8)
This is another article from the Stanford SIR that talks about how a group of eleven US-based nonprofits specializing in Indian issues worked together to promote more support from the Indian American community in the United States. Because Indian-American support had been dwindling and it was hard for some charities to continue running, this group of charities, which includes Ekal, decided to form a council where they would lean on each other for support and set a common agenda. This article is a breath of fresh air in terms of good news for charities and sets up a promising future timeline for US-based charities.
9)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059315300110
In the study “International Organizations and the Future of Education Assistance”, Stephen Heyneman looks at the effectiveness of education-focused charities and organizations and gives suggestions for ways they can improve. Heyneman states that while current organizations are doing a good job with their respective causes, better strategy, spending, and more communication between foreign governments would make the money from donations a lot more well-spent. Like other sources, this talks about the good things charities are doing while including areas for improvement for those volunteering and working both on-site and abroad.
10)
The op-ed “The Charitable Indian-American: How, why, and where we like to give of our money and time” sees Sucheta Rawal discuss Indian donation habits and the state of charities in the 21st century. She says that at first Indian charities were only created out of need and didn’t put a lot of work in. However, the new age has brought about plenty of charities which are a lot more involved and have inspired many more people to start volunteering. This relates to the piece from the Standford SIR, and talks about many of the same ideas in a different perspective, detailing things that have changed for the better in the past few decades. Rawal’s message is also something I heavily relate to personally, as Ekal was one of the charities that caused me and many other people to start volunteering.