Latest Publications

Keeping Up with the Changing Climate: The WTO's Evolutive Approach in Response to the Trade and Climate Conundrum
By: Vyoma Jha

Canada – Certain Measures Affecting the Renewable Energy Sector (Canada FIT), appears to be the first-ever case at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to address the tenuous ‘trade versus climate’ debate in the context of renewable energy policies. Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) for renewable energy, which have emerged as a popular domestic policy tool to address climate change, share an extremely controversial relationship with the international trade regime, especially with the legality of such support schemes increasingly coming under the WTO scanner.

'International Legal Regimes for Subsurface Activities' in The Law of Energy Underground (Edited by Zillman et al.)
By: Lavanya Rajamani

This chapter examines the international legal regime for subsurface uses and the extent to which existing treaty and customary law rules are capable of regulating new sub surface energy activities. This chapter begins with an overview of 'ownership' of the subsurface in international law, and then proceeds to examine how such activities either because of their location (e.g. subsurface) and/or effects (e.g. transboundary environmental effects) are subject to international legal rules.

Interactive Voice Response System: Closing Feedback Loops and Enhancing Accountability in the Mid-Day Meal Scheme
By: Mehjabeen Jagmag, Shailey Tucker

The Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) offers a technology-driven solution to strengthen the monitoring framework and information flows of the Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS). It is being implemented in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar since 2010 and 2012, respectively. This note summarises the issues that adversely affect the MDMS in general and the IVRS in particular, drawing primarily from research conducted in one district of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar each. It offers policy recommendations that could help improve the Scheme’s implementation through better use of this technology.

1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh
By: Srinath Raghavan

The war of 1971 was the most significant geopolitical event in the Indian subcontinent since its partition in 1947. At one swoop, it led to the creation of Bangladesh, and it tilted the balance of power between India and Pakistan steeply in favor of India. The Line of Control in Kashmir, the nuclearization of India and Pakistan, the conflicts in Siachen Glacier and Kargil, the insurgency in Kashmir, the political travails of Bangladesh—all can be traced back to the intense nine months in 1971.

Time to Dust Off the Climate Plan?
By: Anu Jogesh

The Uttarakhand disaster invited much criticism, but to say that the state government was unaware of the possibility of such a disaster would be unfair. In 2012 the Uttarakhand Action Plan on Climate Change, based on wide consultations, assessed possibilities and steps needed to avert such disasters. Despite the extensive information provided in the document, it fails to be "implementable" due to issues of financing and bureaucratic initiative among others.

Jogesh A., 2013. Time to Dust off the Climate Plan? Economic and Political Weekly. XLVII(48)