Author: cprindia

FULL VIDEO OF DISCUSSION
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

Watch the full video (above) of the discussion between Khin Zaw Win and Nimmi Kurian on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. The discussion delves deep into the historical narrative, the complexities of the issue, the challenges it poses, and the possible solutions going forward.

The Rohingya issue has been reduced to a single-issue debate fixated on the security dimension largely concerned with issues of illegal migration, religious radicalisation and terrorism. Despite being intensely debated, the underlying causes and the potential consequences of the crisis are dimly understood.

Khin Zaw Win has decades-long experience as one of the most respected and independent political commentators from Myanmar. He is currently the Director of the Yangon-based Tampadipa Institute and works on policy advocacy and capacity building issues.

Nimmi Kurian is an Associate Professor at Centre for Policy Research and Academic Advisor at the India China Institute, The New School, New York. She is one of the contributors to the India Country Report as part of the Bangladesh China India Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM EC) Joint Study Group, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

CPR-TCPD (TRIVEDI CENTRE FOR POLITICAL DATA, ASHOKA UNIVERSITY) DIALOGUES ON INDIAN POLITICS
ELECTION STUDIES POLITICS

Watch the full video (above) of the fifth discussion in the series on the rise of farmers movements in India, featuring Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Harish Damodaran and V M Singh.

As we approach the 2019 general elections, Rural and Agricultural distress is an issue which is likely to dominate the election discourse. Over the last few years, India has seen a significant increase in farmers movements, best exemplified by the ‘Kisan Long March’ which signified the emergence of a new moment in Indian agricultural politics. Election season is therefore likely to see many promises being made to farmers as a response to this new mobilisation.

The talk seeks to unpack the reason behind the emergence of these new farmers movements and understand the nature of the current rural political economy and its likely impact on the elections next year.

Mekhala Krishnamurthy is Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Ashoka University.

Harish Damodaran is National Editor (Rural Affairs and Agriculture) at The Indian Express.

V M Singh is a Supreme Court lawyer and President of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Party.

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

About the CPR-TCPD Dialogues

This was the fifth event in the CPR-TCPD Dialogues on Indian Politics series, launched in a partnership between Centre for Policy Research and Trivedi Centre for Political Data (TPCD) at Ashoka University. This is a monthly event that brings together academicians, policy and political practitioners, and civil society actors to grapple with important social and political issues in India. It provides a forum for intellectually rigorous, non-partisan commentary to strengthen public discourse on politics in India. In these polarised times, debates on politics in India have tended to be increasingly noisy, blurring the lines between critical engagement and partisan endorsement. This dialogue series is an effort to carve out a space for critical, nuanced engagement to understand the changing dynamics of Indian political parties, the impact of new and emerging social movements and the use of new instruments of mobilisation in our polity.

FULL AUDIO RECORDING
INDIA-PAKISTAN SOUTH ASIA

Listen to the full talk (above) by the author, Dr Venkat Dhulipala, where he discusses his book Creating a New Medina: State, Power, Islam and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India.

The book examines how the idea of Pakistan was first articulated – not as a vague idea that serendipitously emerged as a nation-state, but as a sovereign Islamic State, referred to by some as ‘a new Medina’.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO OF THE CPR- TRIVEDI CENTRE FOR POLITICAL DATA, ASHOKA UNIVERSITY (TCPD) DISCUSSION
POLITICS

Watch the full video (above) of the discussion on the book ‘Indian Federalism’ by Louise Tillin (Director, King’s India Institute, Kings College London), organised as part of the CPR-Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University (TCPD) Dialogues on Indian Politics series. The author first made a presentation and then was in conversation with Yamini Aiyar (President and Chief Executive, CPR).

The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.

Yamini Aiyar and Louise Tillin co-edited the May edition of Seminar on the future of federalism in India. The edition includes articles by Neelanjan Sircar, Rahul Verma and Avani Kapur from CPR. Read the complete issue here.

About the book

To understand how politics, the economy and public policy function in the world’s largest democracy, an appreciation of federalism is essential. Bringing to surface the complex dimensions that affect relations between India’s central government and states, this short introduction is the one-stop account to federalism in India. Paying attention to the constitutional, political and economic factors that shape Centre-state relations, this book stimulates understanding of some of the big dilemmas facing India today. The ability of India’s central government to set the economic agenda or secure implementation of national policies throughout the country depends on the institutions and practices of federalism. Similarly, the ability of India’s states to contribute to national policy-making or to define their own policy agendas that speak to local priorities all hinge on questions of federalism. Organised in four chapters, this book introduces readers to one of the key living features of Indian democracy.

This book is part of the Oxford India Short Introduction Series.

About the series

The CPR-TCPD Dialogues on Indian Politics brings together academicians, policy and political practitioners, and civil society actors to grapple with important social and political issues in India. It provides a forum for intellectually rigorous, non-partisan commentary to strengthen public discourse on politics in India. This dialogue series is an effort to understand the changing dynamics of Indian political parties, the impact of new and emerging social movements and the use of new instruments of mobilisation in our polity.

FULL VIDEO OF TALK
RIGHTS SOCIAL SECTOR SCHEMES ECONOMY

BUREAUCRACY
Watch the full video (above) of the talk by Ronald Abraham, where he shared key findings from IDInsight’s State of Aadhar Report 2016-17, which provides a careful unpacking of various topics related to Aadhaar.

The report provides a first-of-its-kind overview of Aadhaar’s technological and operational architecture, legal and governance framework, and its applications in financial inclusion, social protection, and emerging uses in other sectors.

The State of Aadhar Report aims to facilitate a more data and evidence-centric understanding of the Aadhaar ecosystem and highlights important areas for future research.

The Q&A session that followed can be accessed here.

ADITYA BHOL EXPLAINS THE INEQUALITIES BASED ON NATIONAL SAMPLE SURVEY’S DATA
SANITATION URBAN SERVICES

What is the research about?

In a new working paper, Aditya Bhol presents the levels of disparities in access to toilets based on varying socio-economic characteristics of households in urban India.

This analysis is based on data from the sixty-ninth round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) of India on ‘Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India (July 2012 – December 2014)’, conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

State-wise disparities in access to urban sanitation have been analysed drawing on data based on inequalities with respect to the following factors:

Economic conditions – Monthly Per Capita Expenditure (MPCE – taken as a proxy for income)
Access to public infrastructure – drainage and drinking water supply
Social conditions – caste status of households (social groups)
Spatial conditions – slum and non-slum status of households
Behavioural conditions – adequacy of water supply and perceived housing condition of sampled households
What are the key findings?

The findings of the paper corroborate the existence of disparities in access to toilets across 15 states (selected on the basis of population) and the factors that drive the inequalities vary in the different states. For example:

Economic well-being gauged in terms of monthly per capita expenditure is observed to be a crucial determinant of access to toilet. Except Kerala and West Bengal, disparities in access to toilets are high based on MPCE of households in almost all the states.
Rajasthan, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu show disparities in access to toilets based on differential access to drainage.
Caste based inequalities are seen to exacerbate disparities in access to toilets in the states of Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Highly urbanised states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu exhibit acute spatial inequalities in access to toilets when slum and non-slum households are compared.
How was the research conducted?’

The findings mentioned above are the result of a regression analysis and hence represent the combined effect of different predictors. With MPCE taken as the base for comparison of the disparities, the relative effects of other factors – drainage or caste system or both combined have been measured. For instance, the disparities in access to toilets, which are based on either differential access to drainage or differential caste status of households or both taken together are seen to be acute at low levels of MPCE and become less severe with increasing MPCE.

Conclusion

The bashful acknowledgement of the poor sanitation figures in India has been substituted with a fervour to attain Clean India by 2019, engendered by the recent Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM/ Clean India Mission), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission. These policies and the policy makers stand to benefit from the acknowledgement of the inequalities inherent in India which have continued to impede the overall development of sanitation infrastructure in India. The findings of this research paper have far-reaching policy implications in this regard and urge the policy makers and stakeholders to address these inequalities while delivering the ascertained infrastructure towards the achievement of our collective goal – Swachh Bharat.

The full working paper can be accessed here.

A presentation on this research, made at the Population Association of America Conference in Chicago on 28 April 2017, can be accessed here.

This research is part of the Scaling City Institutions For India: Sanitation project at the Centre for Policy Research.

FULL AUDIO OF TALK
LAND ACQUISITION RIGHTS

Listen to the full audio (above) of the talk by Dr Michael Levien, based on his upcoming book, where he offers a reconstruction of existing theories of the relationship between dispossession and capitalism.

Drawing on his ethnographic study of Rajasthani villages dispossessed for one of North India’s largest Special Economic Zones, Dr Levien attempts to address three major questions: how has land dispossession changed with the shift from state-led development to neoliberalism in India? What are the consequences of this change for dispossessed farmers? And what are the implications of this change for our understanding of India’s land wars?

Dr Michael Levien is assistant professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University.

This talk was organised by the CPR Land Rights Initiative.

CURATED COMMENTARY BY CPR FACULTY
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

As Donald Trump won one of the most contentious elections in the history of United States, find below a curated analysis by CPR faculty.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta analyses the larger trends that led to Donald Trump’s victory and lays out the questions that his Presidency raises for the future.
Shyam Saran writes how if Trump delivers on his promises, the world would become even more unpredictable on various fronts, including economic growth, security, trade, geopolitics, even if a ‘stronger Indo-US partnership’ was likely to endure.
Sanjaya Baru comments on how Trump’s victory is a ‘reminder of the yawning gap between ivory tower analysts and grass roots politicians’, including analysing its likely impacts, particularly vis-à-vis India.
Srinath Raghavan analyses the parallels drawn between Trump’s victory and the rise of fascism in the 1930s, as well as the depression of the late 19th century.
Anjali Chikersal writes on how Trump’s proposals will undo much of Obamacare’s progress, leaving no room to reduce the cost or improve the effectiveness of American health insurance.
Bharat Karnad writes on how Trump’s presidency will not allow America its previous global primacy, leaving India to lean less on the US for foreign policy and rely more on herself.
Neelanjan Sircar explains how issues of identity, ethnicity and race were the key drivers for Trump’s victory.
In a detailed interview, G Parthasarathy analyses if Trump’s presidency will be beneficial for India.

CPR FACULTY ANALYSE
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

As Donald Trump is officially sworn-in as the President of the United States of America, find below a curated analysis by CPR faculty on the transition of presidency from Obama to Trump.

Speaking on NDTV (above), Brahma Chellaney and G Parthasarathy discuss the impact of Donald Trump’s presidency on world politics, and more specifically, on India.

In Open Magazine, Brahma Chellaney discusses the possibility of a ‘true’ US-India partnership going forward, if Trump succeeds in revamping US Foreign Policy.

Writing in The Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta analyses Barack Obama’s last address as President, and how it laid the path for Donald Trump.

In another piece in Hindustan Times, Brahma Chellaney analyses Nobel Peace winner Barack Obama’s ‘interventionist’ foreign policy legacy, and the ‘theatres of war’ he has handed down to Trump.

In an earlier op-ed in Hindu Business Line, G Parthasarathy analyses the potential impact of Trump’s presidency on international trade, and how it could signal ‘the end of globalisation’.

It is with profound grief and sadness that we announce the passing away of Dr Ajit Mozoomdar, Honorary Research Professor, Centre for Policy Research. This is an immeasurable loss to CPR and the wider community. We can take some consolation from his extraordinary achievement in so many fields and we know he will be lighting up heaven as he lit up this earth.