Author: cprindia

FULL VIDEO OF BOOK LAUNCH AND DISCUSSION CO-ORGANISED BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AND CPR
SOUTH ASIA INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Watch the full video (above) of the launch of Zorawar Daulet Singh’s new book, ‘Power and Diplomacy: India’s Foreign Policies during the Cold War’, co-organised by Oxford University Press and CPR.

Hamid Ansari, former Vice President of India was the Guest of Honour.

The launch was followed by a panel discussion featuring Shivshankar Menon, former National Security Advisor of India, Suhasini Haidar, National Editor of The Hindu, Gautam Mukhopadhyay, Senior Visiting Fellow at CPR and author, Zorawar Daulet Singh, Fellow at CPR.

A curated list of reviews of the book can be found here.

About the Book

The notion that a monolithic idea of ‘nonalignment’ shaped India’s foreign policy since its inception is a popular view. In Power and Diplomacy, Zorawar Daulet Singh challenges conventional wisdom by unveiling another layer of India’s strategic culture. In a richly detailed narrative using new archival material, the author not only reconstructs the worldviews and strategies that underlay geopolitics during the Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi years, he also illuminates the significant transformation in Indian statecraft as policymakers redefined some of their fundamental precepts on India’s role in in the subcontinent and beyond. His contention is that those exertions of Indian policymakers are equally apposite and relevant today.

Whether it is about crafting a sustainable set of equations with competing great powers, formulating an intelligent Pakistan policy, managing India’s ties with its smaller neighbours, dealing with China’s rise and Sino-American tensions, or developing a sustainable Indian role in Asia, Power and Diplomacy strikes at the heart of contemporary debates on India’s unfolding foreign policies.

About the Author

Zorawar Daulet Singh is a Fellow at CPR, and is associated with the Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi. For the past decade, he has been a regular commentator and columnist on India’s foreign policy and various dimensions of India-China relations. His co-authored books include India-China Relations: The Border Issue and Beyond and Chasing the Dragon: Will India Catch up with China? He holds a PhD in international relations from King’s College London, and an MA from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO
SECURITY POLITICS INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

‘The Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy’ edited by David M Malone, C Raja Mohan and Srinath Raghavan provides an extensive survey of India’s external relations, and was launched on 11 September. It addresses factors in Indian foreign policy flowing from both history and geography, and also discusses key relationships, issues and multilateral forums through which the country’s international relations are refracted.

BY THE ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE
BUDGET FISCAL DEVOLUTION SOCIAL SECTOR SCHEMES

BUREAUCRACY
The Accountability Initiative (AI) at the Centre for Policy Research has come out with its budget brief series for 2015-2016, analysing government allocation and expenditure in key social sector schemes, launched on its brand new website.

This year, AI realigned its budget work to study state rather than union budgets in response to the Fourteenth Finance Commissions (FFC) recommendations to increase the fiscal autonomy of states. Through a study of 19 state budgets, AI analysed how this move toward fiscal devolution impacted the future of social sector investments. The full report, State of Social Sector Expenditure in 2015-2016 can be accessed here.

The research this year analysed union budgets in four schemes combining these with field surveys, and the individual budget briefs can be accessed here: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Integrated Child Development Services, Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) and National Health Mission.

Six out of the 19 states studied in the State of Social Sector Expenditure in 2015-2016 report can be accessed through individual state briefs here: Bihar, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

In the video (above) Yamini Aiyar, who leads the work at AI, explains what these briefs are and how they will be used to deepen the public debate, going forward.

INCREASING PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS AND INFORMING PUBLIC POLICY
URBAN SERVICES

The India Homeless Resource Network (IHRN) was launched on 20 April in the presence of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Leilani Farha

The IHRN website, which will curate research and learning on the issue, can be accessed here.

Five organisations have come together to form this knowledge hub with a view to informing policy makers, social workers, and the wider public, to increase the level of attention homelessness receives in urban policy.

Listen to the audio (above) to learn more about the issue and the need for IHRN.

IHRN combines unique strengths from each of the organisations working on a range of issues, such as health, livelihood, gender, and legal reforms, faced by people on the streets and shelters of India’s cities. To learn more, tune in to the audios describing the different organisations’ work, and visit their websites, listed below:

• The Banyan, Chennai: Listen to the audio here.
• Centre for Equity Studies, Delhi: Listen to the audio here.
• Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi: Listen to the audio here.
• Koshish-TISS, Mumbai: Listen to the audio here.
• Institute for Development Studies, Jaipur

A BLOG SERIES BY TR RAGHUNANDAN OF THE ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE AT CPR
BUREAUCRACY

The blog series below by TR Raghunandan, an advisor to the Accountability Initiative at CPR, sheds light on how senior IAS officers overcome challenges to do their work and create value for the communities they are responsible for:

Why the Bureaucracy Clicks, and Doesn’t recounts the experiences of V J Kurien, the Managing Director of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), and how he was able to convince and win the trust of all stakeholders to develop Kochi International Airport. His credibility as someone who strived for consensus helped overcome the challenges of financing, providing gainful employment for thousands of people, and getting the support of a sceptical local administration. An Eye for Detail, further explores Kurien’s exceptional eye for detail and his ‘un-relenting desire to seek economy and efficiency’ that set him apart from most other bureaucrats.

A Bureaucrat’s Endeavours Bear Fruit explores how T Vijaykumar managed to secure tribal rights and increase livelihood for rural women in Andhra Pradesh. It looks back on Vijaykumar’s experience as Managing Director of the Girijan Cooperative Corporation and head of the Society for the Elimination of Rural Poverty, (SERP). The latter, a state-level society, cut through red tape and implemented the state’s ambitious poverty reduction mission thereby supporting 1.15 crore rural poor women in the state. The success of the Andhra Pradesh approach significantly contributed to the evolution of the national model – the National Rural Livelihoods Mission.

The Key to Success in the IAS reflects on the qualities that both Kurien and Vijaykumar exhibited, and how their personal experiences of interacting with the system shaped their professional vision such as dealing with political repercussions and jealousy of colleagues from within the bureaucracy. A Social Sector Crusader delves deeper into Vijaykumar’s career trajectory as a bureaucrat, including the time he was abducted and held for ransom by left wing extremists.

BY CPR-NAMATI ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE PROGRAM
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

The CPR-Namati Environmental Justice Program, with support from Duleep Matthai Nature Conservation Trust has prepared handouts on the legal mechanisms available in Human wildlife conflict in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Odisha and Karnataka. These handouts entail:

A brief overview of the present status of human wildlife conflict,
The measures taken by the Centre and states to tackle this, and,
The compensatory mechanisms available in case of human wildlife conflict.
The information in the handouts is based on publicly available information and discussions with partner organisations. It is available in Hindi, Gujarati, Odia and Kannada .

The Program also announced the release of material on the legal framework for conservation and protection areas. This material provides information on the legal provisions under which these areas are formed, the spaces available for the local communities, and the monitoring mechanisms. It is also available in Hindi, Odia, Gujarati and Kannada.

KANCHI KOLHI EXPLAINS
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE RIGHTS

The state government of Andhra Pradesh is preparing to amend The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act (RFCLARR), 2013 in order to acquire land for the new proposed capital city of Amravati, in the footsteps of the Gujarat state government. A move of this kind would greatly disadvantage the farmers whose land is at stake, compromising their rights. In the interview below, Kanchi Kohli, the Legal Research Director at the CPR-Namati Environment Justice Program, explains this in greater detail.

Can you explain the specific provisions in The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Act (RFCLARR), 2013, and how these provide protection to farmers’ lands?

There are few provisions in the RFCLARR, 2013 that look to strengthen the position of those whose lands are being acquired or whose livelihoods and rights would be affected by the acquisition. One is the need for prior consent of 70 to 80% of land owners depending on whether a project is a public-private partnership or entirely private sector owned. Another is a thorough Social Impact Assessment (SIA) to determine all people affected (other than land owners), and a process for determining and putting together a Rehabilitation &Resettlement (R & R) plan. There are also provisions relating to the repatriation of land or possible higher compensations, in case it has remained unused.

Can you explain the Social Impact Assessment in more detail?

Broadly speaking SIA is a process to understand the nature and extent of impacts on lives and livelihoods of people living in or dependent on the land being acquired. Although there are apprehensions expressed by industry and its associations that the SIA process will lead to delays in land acquisitions, at least two aspects of the SIA process as prescribed under the RFCLARR, 2013 are critical for a democracy.

One of the first objectives of the SIA is to determine whether the acquisition is for a ‘public purpose’ or not, as land cannot be acquired under the 2013 law otherwise.
Second, is to determine the people who would be affected by acquisition of the land, including farm labourers, users of a forest, pastoralists, artisans and several other occupations that have always been left out of the rehabilitation and compensation processes. This process needs to be carried out by the District Collector in collaboration with the panchayats, gram sabhas and municipalities and a public hearing has to be conducted to ascertain if the impact assessment is adequate. It is only after this that a Social Impact Management Plan is prepared.
What are the proposed amendments and how would these dilute the Act?

The Principal Act of 2013 allows states to create rules under the Act (Section 109). If one is to go by this news report, the Andhra Pradesh government is seeking to move amendments similar to that carried out by Gujarat. One significant change is the introduction of a section, which allows for some projects to be exempt from the SIA and food security related protection (discussed below).

According to the national legislation, SIA is mandatory and multi-cropped land is to be acquired only in exceptional circumstances. However, the Gujarat state rules, drawing from the 2014 ordinance put out by the Central Government, exempts defence and national security projects; projects related to rural infrastructure; affordable housing; industrial corridors of State governments and its undertakings; and infrastructure projects, from SIA and food security related safeguards–effectively rendering these protections invalid.

If Andhra Pradesh were to adopt similar amendments for the acquisition of land for the new state capital, the rights of land owners and those tilling the land, could be seriously compromised.

How can the Act be interpreted differently from state to state? And with respect to that how have the amendments played out in Gujarat?

In our working paper, co-authored with Debayan Gupta, we have tried to assess how Section 109 has been used in nine states and how it affects sections such as consent, SIA, determination of compensation, and applicability of the food security clause. While some of these amendments are in the form of clarifying procedures or giving clear timelines for processes, others are seeking to work around the national rules, which state governments find cumbersome to implement.

It is yet to be empirically assessed how these amendments have played out in Gujarat.

Is Andhra Pradesh government changing its land acquisition procedures​, and how will this affect the farmers of Amravati?

As has been widely reported, Amravati is the new capital for Andhra Pradesh following its bifurcation in 2014. The state government has lauded it to be a people’s capital with state-of-the-art infrastructure and is seeing it as an opportunity to create a world class city. A land pooling scheme has been put in place by the state government to bring together the 33000 acres of land required for the construction of the city, which reportedly several farmers have responded to positively.

However, the state government’s current move is to acquire the remaining land which that has not been pooled in through the acquisition process. The news report quotes the Agriculture Minister assessing this land at almost 6000-8000 acres. With the proposed amendment this would happen without an SIA and acquisition would be possible as food security safeguard provisions would not apply. More importantly, the livelihood dependence on this area would neither be assessed nor compensated for.

What is the likelihood of other states following suit? And if there is a domino effect of this kind, how can people’s rights be protected eventually?

A RFCLARR ordinance of 2014 and the proposed amendments to the 2013 Act drawing from the ordinance, had already put the above mentioned idea on the table. Large scale opposition within the parliament and by farmer’s organisations led to the setting up of a Parliamentary Standing Committee. This Committee had received several technical submissions, including by CPR-Namati Environment Justice Program, on the legal and constitutional tenability of the proposed amendments.

Even though the national law has not been amended so far, several provisions put forth have been built into the state rules. For instance, some states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tripura have proposed to do away with prior consent entirely.

Since the focus of the amendments to this law has shifted to the state rules and land acquisition is a process entirely under the administration of the state governments; it is important for us to follow these proposed amendments closely. Whether it is enhancing the national provisions, protecting safeguards or reversing the dilutions will require an active engagement of many interested in democratic decision making in India.

IN CONVERSATION WITH NEELANJAN SIRCAR
ELECTION STUDIES POLITICS

Neelanjan Sircar, Senior Fellow at CPR, provides a detailed data analysis of the Bihar election in 2015, and why the BJP performed poorly in Assessing Party Performance and Alliance Dynamics in the 2015 Bihar Election.

Drawing on key arguments from the Bihar analysis, he shares below the learning for the BJP for the upcoming state elections (Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Pondicherry) between April–May, 2016, with a special focus on Assam.

How do the upcoming state elections look for BJP in general?

The BJP is clearly not doing well in the state elections, and if they do not win one in 2016, they would have gone without having won a single state election for nearly two years, which is not good for any party. Four out of the five states slated for election between April and May are not in play for them at all. The only state in which the BJP may do well is Assam, and it is important for them to win this so that their base feels energised and the morale of the party workers is boosted.

What should the BJP learn from the Bihar outcome?

There are two big lessons for the BJP from Bihar:

1. They must figure out a way to work with the state outfits—this was a problem in Bihar. Unlike the Congress, which is really a collection of quite independent state level Congress parties, this avatar of the BJP is far more centralised. In Assam, the BJP state election is being led by a Congress defector, and it might prove tricky to lead a state election through a centralised campaign, which requires negotiating with an opposition party defector.

2. If there is one state where playing the Hindu cultural issues is likely to work, it is Assam, given its Muslim population and the Bangladeshi migrant issue, which are existing fault-lines. That being said, if that is the only card played, it will be hard to win. Tarun Gogoi is weighed down by anti-incumbency, but I always tell people that ‘anti-incumbency’ is an observation, not an explanation ; it only means that people are tired of the incumbent. The BJP needs to develop an explanation in order to appeal to the floating population of voters that may be swung in its favour. Issues like economic growth and infrastructure development tend to draw floating voters and expand vote share. The BJP failed to develop these sorts of narratives in Bihar, often focusing on cultural issues. It must be remembered, however, that such cultural issues can motivate the BJP’s core base of voters but are less effective in drawing the floating voters necessary to win an election.

To what extent will the current debate around ultra-nationalism be a factor in Assam?

It is an open question. As it appears, since a lot of state elections are not going well, the BJP’s return to power in 2019 is unlikely to happen through these state elections. As a result, they are creating this national narrative around nationalism, with the 2019 general elections as the goal.

Sircar and his team will be regularly sharing data analyses; positing trends; field notes; and detailed post-analyses from April through June for all state elections.