Humans and elephants have shared social, historical and ecological relations for ages. However, their interactions have not been as pleasant as one would like that to be. Although the problems associated with human‐elephant conflict (HEC) are widely known, the increasing rate and extent of conflicts suggest that improved strategies are required to promote their co‐existence. Several measures such as compensation for loss of lives and livelihood, deployment of deterrents, erection of fences to restrict the movements, promotion of conservation education to reduce antagonism, preservation of forests and habitation, etc. have been adopted extensively to mitigate human‐elephant conflict and foster coexistence. Despite persistent efforts, the problem refuses to wither away. Stakeholders' perceptions and attitudes also vary widely across the categories. Many studies show that the impacts of human‐elephant conflict penetrate far deeper than the immediate threats from each other. This paper attempts to understand the plurality of stakeholders' connect with elephants, their perceptions, effectiveness of existing mitigation strategies and future of their coexistence, drawing from empirical data. On the basis of inputs from key informants, focus group discussions among community members and Forest Department officials and field observations from one of the migratory elephant corridors of India, we locate mixed perspectives from various stakeholders and their experiences and responses to human‐elephant conflict which, as we envisage, will go a long way in designing participatory and community‐based mitigation strategies.

Recognition of the significance of public wage employment programmes in tackling unpredictable community “covariate” shocks and ensuring livelihood security of the rural poor has led to the enactment of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, with state guarantee of work. Implementation of the Act, our empirical findings tell us, has become the site of tangible exchanges between state and society, with factors such as the level of material support for it, the balance of power between the local state and the poor on the ground, and the larger socio-economic structure determining programme outcomes.

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The Indian education system has remarkably improved in some respects in the last two decades. With the rapid expansion of educational facilities and increased enrolment of children in schools, the issue of access and participation has been addressed to a large extent. The problem of quality, however, still persists. Even after spending several years in school, many children are not acquiring basic literacy and numeracy. Reports indicate that children of the poor learn the least, and unsurprisingly, most of them study in government-run schools. While there are many factors of learning crisis, teachers are often held responsible for the deteriorating condition of government schools. A discourse of teacher criticism has emerged which portrays teachers as poorly trained, frequently absent, work-shy, hard-to-please, inefficient, ineffective, and occasionally corrupt. How does this discourse impact teachers’ self-understanding? This study analyses narrative data collected from seventeen early career teachers to understand their professional self-understanding. With the help of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, the study concludes that the popular perceptions of being work-shy, inept, and incompetent are contested by the teachers. On the contrary, there is some evidence to suggest that negotiating a positive professional identity has become a struggle for the participating teachers in the quest for becoming better teachers. While they tend to assert their effectiveness and commitment, they also experience helplessness, vulnerability, and humiliation. This research is expected to pave ways for further explorations of whether the discourse of teacher criticism negatively impacts experienced teachers as well and how teachers’ struggle for positive professional identity influences children’s learning outcomes.