Author: cprindia

CPR FACULTY ANALYSE
POLITICS SOUTH ASIA INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

As India made a bid for NSG membership at Seoul in June, 2016, and was opposed by China, CPR faculty analyse it from different aspects:

In The Hindu, Shyam Saran analyses China’s public stand against India’s membership in the NSG, contextualising it historically, and suggests that India should carefully assess the ongoing geopolitical changes, and ‘fashion an appropriate response strategy’.
In The Great Delusion, Pratap Bhanu Mehta analyses the reasons for India’s failed NSG bid from different angles.
In another interview to Firstpost, Saran writes that despite the failed bid, India ‘should engage in quiet but active diplomacy, to mobilise greater support within the NSG, including winning over China,’ since China was unlikely to risk a setback to India-China relations in the long run.
In a two part interview with The Wire (Part 1, Part 2), Shyam Saran again analyses the reasons behind China’s stance at Seoul, and says that India must not make NSG membership an elemental issue, as well as deal with China taking into account its very complex relationship with the country, which is both adversarial and collaborative in nature.

ACCESS THE FULL JOURNAL ARTICLE
CLIMATE RESEARCH ENERGY RESEARCH

How can India undertake its large projected growth in buildings while simultaneously meeting its development, energy and climate objectives? The Building and Research Information special issue sets out to help answer this question by developing and extending the growing body of research on the topic, with the aim to help define the built environment in India as an emerging and important field of socio-technical enquiry. The special issue’s framing of the problem departs from the often used techno-economic view and instead suggests that both technical infrastructures, such as the built environment, and social infrastructures, such as policies, professions, habits and norms, shape behaviour, and as a consequence offer significant potential for reducing overall energy demand and GHG emissions. This editorial, which contextualizes the special issue, sets a three-pronged multidisciplinary framework for current and future research on India’s building stock, and associates the papers in the special issue with this agenda. It also points to the importance of international research collaborations in seeking solutions to India’s energy and climate change challenges.

NEW JOURNAL ARTICLE CO-AUTHORED BY NAVROZ K DUBASH, RADHIKA KHOSLA, ANKIT BHARDWAJ, AND NARASIMHA D RAO
CLIMATE RESEARCH ENERGY RESEARCH

Over the last few years, India has variously been presented in the global climate debate as an energy-hungry climate deal-breaker, and a forerunner of a low carbon future. Developing clarity on India’s energy and emissions future, however, is challenged by the uncertainties of India’s development transitions. Based on an interpretive analysis of 7 leading studies on CO2 emissions from energy, this paper concludes that given current policies, a doubling of India’s emissions from 2012 levels is a likely upper bound for emissions in 2030, and that this level is consistent with India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), as the graphic below suggests.

FULL AUDIO OF TALK
URBAN SERVICES

Listen to the full audio of the talk (above) by Kabir Sheikh where he speaks about India’s governance of its human resources for health.

In this talk, Sheikh outlines the inadequacies of prevailing, largely instrumental, approaches to governance of human resources for health, such as retention, substitution and assimilation. He illustrates how deeper socio-political phenomena such as professional dominance, pluralism, parallel systems and regulatory capture have shaped the character and dynamics of the health workforce, rendering it resistant to common policy solutions.

Part 3 of a blog series by the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Prayas (Energy Group)
The series is titled ‘Plugging in: Electricity consumption in Indian Homes’.

Lighting is the most basic use of electricity in a home. Lighting’s share in the total residential electricity consumption is estimated to be in the range of 18% to 27%. In 2013, about a billion and a half lighting devices were sold in India; half of them being incandescent bulbs followed by CFLs (31%), tube-lights (16%) and a negligible share of LED bulbs. In 2014, the government launched a programme to promote LED bulbs in Indian households and later named it UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All).

This is because LED bulbs consume less electricity, last longer, and does not contain mercury. The programme, arguably the world’s largest, has sold more than 27 crore LED bulbs with no subsidy from the government. How did the programme change India’s lighting industry and consumer behaviour? What part of programme design worked and what can be improved? Answers to these questions can improve future programmes designed to improve energy efficiency in India. In this post, we discuss some key findings of our recent report where we surveyed manufacturers, retailers, households, and various stakeholders to understand the impacts of UJALA.

Innovative programme

Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL), a public sector company, is responsible for implementing the UJALA programme. The company bought LED bulbs in bulk from manufacturers through multiple rounds of competitive bidding. The large volumes and assured sales incentivised the manufacturers to drop the bid price from Rs. 310 per LED bulb in the first round to as low as Rs. 38 in later rounds. EESL sold these bulbs to consumers through contract vendors in co-ordination with the local electricity distribution companies (discoms), bypassing the retail supply chain and further bringing down the final distribution price. As a result, the current price of LED bulbs under UJALA is Rs. 70, about half of the price of the LED bulbs available in the shops. Yet, there is no subsidy from the government or the discoms. EESL also conducted innovative marketing campaigns to create public awareness.

LED bulb sales are up and prices down

The UJALA programme transformed the LED lighting industry in India. Demand for LED bulbs has gone up 50 times in the three years since 2014, while the retail market price (for bulbs sold beyond UJALA) has dropped to a third. The fall in prices can be attributed to the economies of scale achieved due to substantial demand creation by the UJALA programme, in tandem with the global trend of reduction in prices of the LED chips. India’s LED bulb manufacturing capacity has also grown substantially, with about 176 registered manufacturing units in India.

Figure 1: Sales trends of lighting devices in India
Source: ELCOMA
Our surveys show that LED bulbs are now a major source of lighting for the households that participated in the UJALA programme (Figure 2). Most of the households also said that they would buy a new LED bulb from the market when the installed LED bulb reached the end of its useful life.

ncandescent bulbs are still around

The increased demand for LED bulbs seems to replace the demand for CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs. About 810 million incandescent bulbs were sold in 2016, a 5% drop over previous year’s sale whereas the sales of CFLs have dropped by a third since their peak in 2013 (Figure 1). Our surveys corroborate this trend as we find that a considerably large proportion of the UJALA LED bulbs were used to replace CFLs, followed by incandescent bulbs and tube lights (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Lighting options replaced by LED bulbs bought under UJALA for surveyed households
Source: Prayas Consumer survey (January – March 2017)
The more that people replace CFLs with LEDs, the lesser the saving that are actually realized. Our sample of households in Pune was distributed across different income classes. A typical LED bulb saved 2.5 times more in a low income household compared to a high income household. This makes a case for programme to focus more on low income households.

LED bulb quality and warranty is important

Our surveys found that 2% of LED bulbs failed in Pune after a year of launch of the programme, while 14% of the LED bulbs failed in Puducherry three years after the launch. The bulbs sold in Pune carried a warranty of 3 years while the bulbs sold in Puducherry carried a warranty of 8 years. However, very few households got their faulty bulbs replaced. Lower expectations from a government programme and higher tolerance levels for faults in low cost LED bulbs, ignorance about warranty, and hassles in the process were cited as reasons for not replacing the faulty bulbs under warranty.

To conclude, UJALA has created a large and sustainable market for LED bulbs in India using the no-subsidy, bulk procurement model. Demand for LED bulbs has increased manifold and the retail market price (for the LED bulbs sold beyond UJALA) has dropped by a third. It has also created a significant awareness about LED bulbs, further contributing to increasing demand. Going ahead, EESL can ensure stricter monitoring and evaluation of the programme. It can also focus on low income households and small commercial establishments who are still buying incandescent bulbs. We focus on this aspect of LED use in low income households in the next post.

This piece is authored by Aditya Chunekar and Sanjana Mulay from Prayas (Energy Group).

This blog series is also available on the Prayas website here.

This article was republished in Eklavya Magazine in Hindi under ‘स्रोत विज्ञान एवं टेक्नॉलॉजी फीचर्स’, and can be accessed here.

To subscribe to email updates on the series, click here.

Other posts in this series:

• Electricity Consumption in Indian Homes
• Trends in India’s Residential Electricity Consumption
• Illuminating Affordable Homes
• The Efficiency of Appliances
• Appliances used in Affordable Housing
• Electrifying the National Capital Region
• Exploring the different uses of household appliances
• Role of human behaviour in driving electricity use

India’s recent stance towards Pakistan
CPR FACULTY ANALYSE
INDIA-PAKISTAN POLITICS SOUTH ASIA

Post Burhan Wani’s death, protests in Kashmir, Pakistan’s comments on Wani and Kashmir, Rajnath Singh’s recent visit to Pakistan, and in the wake of PM Modi’s upcoming visit in November, CPR faculty comment on India’s stance towards Pakistan.

Following Rajnath Singh’s visit to Pakistan, G Parthasarathy analyses where India stands with respect to Pakistan, writing that the neighbouring country’s internal turmoil dictates its foreign policy imperatives, and that it is likely to continue its anti-India tirade.
In Playing the Baloch Card, Pratap Bhanu Mehta analyses PM Modi’s remark on Balochistan in the Independence Day speech–what it signals and whether it will make a difference.
In a discussion on NDTV (above), G Parthasarathy comments on PM Modi’s reference to Balochistan, stating that it marked a change in India’s historical approach and was likely to impact the current situation with international repercussions.
G Parthasarathy again emphasises that India is right in flagg

PART 5 OF A SERIES ON ‘COASTAL REGULATION’ BY THE CPR-NAMATI ENVIRONMENT JUSTICE PROGRAM
COASTAL GOVERNANCE RIGHTS ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

In June 2014, the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Dr Shailesh Nayak to review the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011.

This committee was asked to examine issues relating to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala raised by the respective state governments through various letters to the MoEFCC between August 2013 and February 2014. It also had to examine errors/inconsistencies in the CRZ Notification, 2011 and address ‘procedural simplification’.

The committee held meetings with Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka in July and August, 2014 and held a meeting for all coastal states and union territories in Delhi in October 2014, and submitted its report to the MoEFCC in January, 2015. The MoEFCC did not make the report public until June, 2016. The ministry shared the report only after a Right to Information appeal reached the Central Information Commission (CIC) and the CIC ordered the Ministry to make the report available (Read details here).

Dr Nayak chaired another committee concerning coastal regulation, which was supposed to suggest a uniform procedure for the demarcation of high tide line (HTL) and low tide line (LTL) for the Indian coast constituted by the National Coastal Zone Management Authority (NCZMA) in June, 2013. Prior to this, the CRZ Notification, 2011 authorised seven agencies to demarcate tidal lines and NCZMA noted that the procedure of demarcation across these agencies lacked consistency. The committee was also asked to bring clarity on cost, time and services to be involved in the tidal demarcation.
The interview with Dr Nayak below, conducted on 11 April, 2016, by Meenakshi Kapoor of the CPR Namati Environment Justice Program and Nihar Gokhale, an independent journalist, is an attempt to understand the changes proposed under his leadership of the two committees.

Dr Shailesh Nayak is currently the president of the 36th International Geological Congress at Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). Prior to this, till August 2015, he was the Secretary at the MoES.

Q. You were chairing the committee to review the CRZ Notification? Why was the need felt to review it?

Many State governments were expressing their concerns regarding implementation of CRZ Notification, 2011. All of them were committed to protect the coastal ecosystems but wanted to address inconsistencies in notification and amendments and simplification of procedures for obtaining clearances. Hence, this Committee was constituted to look into their concerns and suggest possible changes to the existing CRZ Notification, if required.

Q. Who all did you meet while reviewing the notification?

We met Chief Minister of Kerala, and Chief Secretary of Maharashtra and Secretaries and senior officials from all coastal states and Union Territories (UTs).

Q. Were any NGOs or groups consulted? Did you receive any submissions?

We did not consult anybody other than the state governments and the UTs. We did not receive any submissions.

Q. But the Terms of Reference (ToR) also had a point that read ‘The committee will look into any other issues that it feels are important’?

Yes, that is usually mentioned in all ToRs. We looked into all issues related to concerns of state governments.

Q. Did you face any challenges while reviewing?

No.

Q. The only state representative who was on the committee was Shri Hardik Shah from Gujarat State Coastal Zone Management Authority. Is there any particular reason that other states were not represented?

Shri Hardik Shah was in the Committee not as the state representative but as an expert on CRZ.

(To learn more about how the state coastal zone management authorities (SCZMA), institutions responsible for implementation of the Notification at the state level, were not made part of the review, read a previous piece here.)

Q. CRZ notification gives special consideration to Goa, Kerala and Mumbai (Special considerations include: islands in backwaters of Kerala to have a CRZ of 50 m (instead of 500 m) from the coast, permission to build foreshore facilities within this 50 m wide zone, permission to build temporary tourism structures in Goa, etc.). Did the committee recommend any special considerations for specific areas?

No, we gave only generic recommendations. No special considerations for any specific area were addressed.

Q. What were your suggestions geared towards?

Our suggestions were: One, the CRZ notification should focus on protection and conservation of ecologically sensitive areas, essentially CRZ I (See illustration for different CRZ zones, below). All developmental work should be taken up considering ecological importance and restrictions /regulations of CRZ notification. Second, State Laws should not be in conflict with CRZ notification. Third, we also advocated greater use of satellite data and emphasised on capacity building.

Q. MoEFCC is not making the report public. Why do you think the ministry is taking so long to make it available in public domain?

I do not know. Perhaps, they are taking opinions from other stakeholders. (Now it is available).

Q. Now National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM) is involved in tidal demarcation (CRZ Notification, 2011 originally authorised seven agencies to demarcate high tide line (HTL) and low tide line (LTL). State Governments could appoint any one of these for tidal demarcation of their respective coastlines). All states have to get their tidal lines approved by NCSCM. What do you think about this? Is it something you recommended?

There is a separate committee, which has suggested a method to delineate high tide and low tide line. These lines can be finalised after consultation with state government.

Q. There have been six amendments to the notification in the last year. All came after you submitted the report. Are they stemming from the report?

I do not know.

Q. One is to allow buildings as per the prevailing town & country planning guidelines in CRZ II areas. It means more building height?

I feel rationalised changes in CRZ II and CRZ III should be fine till CRZ I is protected. If there are overlaps between provisions of regulating the CRZ areas, we need to make sure that such overlaps are avoided.

Q. You were made chairman of a committee in the year 2013 to bring uniformity in HTL-LTL demarcation. What all did it discuss?

The agencies authorised to do tidal demarcation have employed different methods to delineate HTL and LTL. Our job was to suggest a uniform method to delineate these lines.

Q. The committee was also asked to standardise the fees charged by different agencies for tidal demarcation?

We did not standardise the fee, but suggested how cost can be computed for each element of tidal demarcation. The cost can vary depending on complexities in the area under study.

Q. How often should the tidal demarcation be done?

Technically, it takes 18.6 years for exactly same tidal conditions to return. So every 20 years, the maps should be updated.

The other pieces in this series can be accessed below:

• Coastal commons for private tourism and entertainment?
• Is it the end of participatory coastal planning?
• States ask Review Committee to loosen up the Coastal Regulation
• Crucial aspects of proposed Marine Coastal Regulatory Zone Notification revealed
• The proposed Marine Coastal Regulation Zone (MCRZ) Notification
• A tale of two reviews: How two governments amended a coastal land use law
• The Supreme Court’s guiding principles for coastal regulation
• Coastal Regulation Zone Disputes before the National Green Tribunal
• CRZ drives a wedge between communities in Mumbai

IN MEMORIAM
REMEMBERING VED MARWAH
OBITUARIES

We are deeply saddened by the demise of Ved Marwah, a long-term associate of the Centre for Policy Research.

He had an extraordinary and illustrious career, during which he held several government posts across the country, including Commissioner of Police, Delhi and Director General of the National Security Guard. Aside from serving the government in a range of advisory roles, he was the governor of three states – Manipur, Mizoram, and Jharkhand. He wrote extensively on security issues.

Mr Marwah was an Honorary Research Professor at CPR, where he was a highly respected and valued colleague and mentor. His passing is an immeasurable loss to CPR and to the wider community.

REMEMBERING VED MARWAH
OBITUARIES

We are deeply saddened by the demise of Ved Marwah, a long-term associate of the Centre for Policy Research.

He had an extraordinary and illustrious career, during which he held several government posts across the country, including Commissioner of Police, Delhi and Director General of the National Security Guard. Aside from serving the government in a range of advisory roles, he was the governor of three states – Manipur, Mizoram, and Jharkhand. He wrote extensively on security issues.

Mr Marwah was an Honorary Research Professor at CPR, where he was a highly respected and valued colleague and mentor. His passing is an immeasurable loss to CPR and to the wider community.

In Need of Structural Repairs: The Social Justice Project
AS PART OF ‘POLICY CHALLENGES – 2019-2024: THE BIG POLICY QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW GOVERNMENT AND POSSIBLE PATHWAYS’
CPR IDENTITY DISCRIMINATION RIGHTS

By D Shyam Babu

A conspicuous feature of Indian society is the caste system, which is birth-based and hierarchical. In that system, Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors) and Vaishyas (tradespeople) are defined as the twice-born and hence upper castes, while the Shudras (artisans) are the servile caste whose sole purpose is to serve the top three castes. The Dalits (former ‘untouchables’) are outside the caste system, hence the moniker Panchamas (the fifth caste, or the outcastes) – a group seen as not even fit to be part of the fourth, servile group, the Shudras. However, recent policy innovations aimed at bringing about inclusive growth have sought to blur these distinctions in such a way as to turn the social justice project under the Constitution of India on its head. It is one thing to assert that every group that needs the state’s support must get it, but it is altogether different to say that the highest in the caste system are as eligible for the state’s patronage as the lowest.

Parts III and Part XVI are the heart and soul of the Constitution. While Part III grants to all Indians the fundamental rights akin to any other democracy, Part XVI addresses the special needs of certain sections – the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) and others – who were not in a position to access their rights primarily due to the caste discrimination they suffer from. This section (from Articles 330 to 342) is based on the assumption that while the SC/STs are the victims of caste, there might be other ‘socially and educationally backward classes’ left out of development and in need of the state’s help. As the founding fathers were not sure of the identity of this latter group, they stipulated the establishment of a commission under Article 340 to find out who these classes were and recommend measures to help them; this group came to be known as the Other Backward Classes (OBCs). While the exercise to identify those in need of help has proven to be a never-ending process, it seems to have now entered a phase of chaos.

Of late, two amendments to the Constitution (123rd and 124th amendments) have sought to effect social engineering of a problematic kind. While the 123rd’s import is that Shudras (OBCs) are as badly off as Dalits and tribals (SC/STs), the 124th equates the upper castes – Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) – with Shudras. The blurring of well-recognized social cleavages appears to extend the logic that acknowledging social divisions like caste accentuates those divisions. These two legislative innovations coupled with two other related developments, discussed below, have turned the social justice project under the Constitution on its head.

Recent Developments

NCBC
Through the 123rd amendment the government has set up the National Commission for the Backward Classes (NCBC). Its earlier avatar was a mere entity created by an Act of Parliament; the new version is ‘Constitutional’. The amendment inserted a new Article, 338(B), which falls in Part XVI. The new Article is actually a replica of Article 338 under which the National Commission for the SC/STs (NCSCST) was set up. In the early 2000s, the government bifurcated the NCSCST into two: one for the SCs under the original Article 338 and the other, Article 338A which is a replica of the former. Given the almost similar condition of these two groups and the felt need for an exclusive commission for the STs, the bifurcation was amply justified. However, the same treatment for the NCBC amounts to clubbing OBCs with the SC/STs. There are two dangers implicit in the move.

One, under Sub-clause 5(b), all three commissions are enjoined ‘to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards’ of their respective wards. It is incorrect to assume that OBCs are similar to the SC/STs to such an extent that they need similar safeguards. A logical corollary is that an ill-defined right is bound to kick off a new breed of litigation. The aim of the Constitution is to pull the SC/STs out of their low condition but the new NCBC is by default designed to push OBCs into a condition similar to the SC/STs. In other words, the ‘reform’ will end up converting OBCs into SC/STs.

Two, under Clause 8, all three commissions are given ‘the powers of a civil court trying a suit’. The original provision in the case of SC/STs is due to the fact that these two groups are systematically subjected to discrimination, intimidation and violence. Moreover, in many instances of ‘atrocities’ against these two groups, the accused happen to be the OBCs. Therefore, next time an instance of atrocity is reported wherein the OBCs are the alleged perpetrators, the NCSC or NCST will find itself pitted against NCBC.

Quota for EBCs
Through the 124th amendment the government introduced 10% quota in educational institutions and central government jobs for EBCs. Phase 1 of our quota system sought to help the victims of caste (the SC/STs), and phase 2 focused on those who are mere left behind in the caste system (OBCs). The current phase 3 is geared to benefit those who are at the top of the caste heap, the upper castes, who are not the victims of caste system but its perpetrators. It cannot be anybody’s case that the poor among the so-called upper castes do not deserve state patronage. Under Article 340, the founding fathers did envisage a mechanism to help the needy (‘socially and educationally backward classes’) but what they had in mind was allocation of financial resources (‘the grants that should be made for the purpose’), not setting aside quotas. Although the finer point is a lost cause, the issue deserves attention as it has the potential to make the whole social justice project unworkable.

Verdict on the SC/ST Act
Another fairly recent related development is the Supreme Court’s verdict in March 2018 wherein it sought to ‘dilute’ the SC/ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act, 1989. The Supreme Court reasoned that the misuse of the Act was so rampant that it needed to provide safeguards for those falsely accused under the Act. The ensuing controversy hinged on two opposite arguments: one holds that the atrocities suffered by the SC/STs still remain widespread, not warranting any dilution of the Act, and the other view holds that misuse of the Act is sufficiently widespread – the apex court’s position in the judgment. So far, only opinions have been flying back and forth, but the nation has no idea of the facts. Therefore, even though the matter is sub judice, there is an urgent need to revisit Part XVI, and the laws and institutions that emanated from it, along with collecting instances of use and misuse.

Money without Motive
Separate budgetary allocations for the betterment of SC/STs are classified under two heads: the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and the Tribal Sub-Plan. The logic behind these plans is that the government must allocate resources for the welfare of these two groups and the percentage of those allocations must be in proportion to their population in the country. However, the allocations are split vertically and horizontally, resulting in the extraordinary situation of some departments receiving large amounts (sometimes hundreds of crores) under these plans with no or insufficient guidelines on how to spend the money. In the past, the Planning Commission was the nodal agency for this head but it didn’t do a great job. Although the NITI Ayog is now the nodal agency, it has expressed its inability to discharge this duty. Therefore, no agency or ministry is bothered about a large chunk of budgeted amount (in the range of one-forth of the national budget). For example, this year a few scientific and agricultural research institutions suddenly woke up less than a month before the closure of financial year to the fact that they needed to spend money on the welfare of SC/STs.

Broad Policy Direction
The government must revisit Part XVI of the Constitution with the aim of according its social justice project the dignity it deserves. Moreover, the recent toxic accretions would, if not removed, erode the whole mechanism. For example, in the context of reservations in educational institutions and quotas in government jobs, the OBCs are equated with the SC/STs. It will be a small step to extend the logic to political representation for the OBCs in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Therefore, the government must:

Rephrase Article 338B through an amendment so as to redefine the aims and objectives of the NCBC. OBCs are truly in need of state support in terms of improving their educational and social standing, but equating them with the Dalits will push them artificially into the ranks of the latter. It will not serve the nation to increase the number of Dalits.
Re-categorize OBCs and EBCs as a single group under Article 340, since the EBCs among the upper castes are ‘educationally backward classes’ and the OBCs are both ‘socially and educationally backward classes’. A way to solve the caste problem is to put in place policies that will eventually reduce the number(s) of its victims. And clubbing OBCs and EBCs will be the first step in that endeavour.
Appoint a statutory study group to examine the working of the 1989 SC/ST Atrocities Act to assess the extent of the Act’s misuse and whether the misuse warrants remedial measures. Every Act/legislation is liable to be misused, but we must ascertain the degree of that misuse to introduce remedial measures to protect the innocent.
Create a nodal agency to determine how the thousands of crores of rupees allocated under the SCSP and TSP are to be spent. This is an extremely sensitive area as it has the potential to create disaffection against SC/ST employees who are meant to be the beneficiaries of these schemes.

Other pieces as part of CPR’s policy document, ‘Policy Challenges – 2019-2024’ can be accessed below:

• The Future is Federal: Why Indian Foreign Policy Needs to Leverage its Border States by Nimmi Kurian
• Rethinking India’s Approach to International and Domestic Climate Policy by Navroz K Dubash and Lavanya Rajamani
• India’s Foreign Policy in an Uncertain World by Shyam Saran
• Need for a Comprehensive National Security Strategy by Shyam Saran
• A Clarion Call for Just Jobs: Addressing the Nation’s Employment Crisis by Sabina Dewan
• Time for Disruptive Foreign and National Security Policies by Bharat Karnad
• Multiply Urban ‘Growth Engines’, Encourage Migration to Reboot Economy by Mukta Naik
• Schooling is not Learning by Yamini Aiyar
• Clearing Our Air of Pollution: A Road Map for the Next Five Years by Santosh Harish, Shibani Ghosh and Navroz K Dubash
• Protecting Water while Providing Water to All: Need for Enabling Legislations by Philippe Cullet
• Interstate River Water Governance: Shift focus from conflict resolution to enabling cooperation by Srinivas Chokkakula
• Managing India-China Relations in a Changing Neighbourhood by Zorawar Daulet Singh
• Beyond Poles and Wires: How to Keep the Electrons Flowing? by Ashwini K Swain and Navroz K Dubash
• Regulatory Reforms to Address Environmental Non-Compliance by Manju Menon and Kanchi Kohli
• The Numbers Game: Suggestions for Improving School Education Data by Kiran Bhatty
• Safe and Dignified Sanitation Work: India’s Foremost Sanitation Challenge by Arkaja Singh and Shubhagato Dasgupta
• Safeguarding the Fragile Ecology of the Himalayas by Shyam Saran
• Female Labour Force Participation: Asking Better Questions by Neelanjan Sircar
• Towards ‘Cooperative’ Social Policy Financing in India by Avani Kapur
• Understanding Land Conflict in India and Suggestions for Reform by Namita Wahi
• Regulating New Technologies: Three Central Principles by Ananth Padmanabhan
• Back-end First: A National Agenda for India’s Agricultural Markets by Mekhala Krishnamurthy
• Big Potential, Big Risk: Underachieving Indian Capitalism and the Middle Income Trap by Noopur Sen and Michael Walton