Watch the full video of the CPR-Centre for Science and Humanities (CSH) workshop (above) on ‘A Post-Post Apartheid Urban Praxis’ featuring Jhono Bennett.
South African cities are experiencing an unprecedented shift in the nature of growth and control as the country nears its fourth democratic election. The loss of majority political control held by the post-1994 ruling party to its opposition in three out of the five major metros, combined with the growing disillusion of the ‘rainbow nation’ articulated by student leaders in recent student protests, suggest a very different process of growth for a rapidly urbanising country.
Specifically, the manner in which those that practice and frame teaching and research within city-making spaces engage with each other will become increasingly fraught due to the growing contestation of the various urban identities; making it harder in the near future to meaningfully work across polarised sectors of the city to address emerging urban challenges.
The presentation shared a reflection on the speaker’s journey through this context and on their emerging modes of praxis.
Jhono Bennett is an architectural urbanist based in Johannesburg. He is a co-director and co-founder of 1to1 – Agency of Engagement, a design based social enterprise that has been developed to support the positive re-development of South African cities.
The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here. Find all the available videos of previous workshops, here.
Watch the full video of the CPR – CSH (Centre de Sciences Humaines) workshop (above) on ‘Iron Cage meets Makeshift Shed – The ‘Jugaad’ State in Mumbai’, featuring Dr Shahana Chattaraj.
How does the state govern cities where much of the economy is informal, on the margins of state regulatory institutions? Chattaraj draws on field research in Mumbai between 2009-2016 to present an empirically-based conceptualisation of how the state works in cities like Mumbai, where ‘informality is a mode of urbanisation.’ She uses the popular Indian notion of ‘jugaad,’ which refers to makeshift adaptations, workarounds and improvisation under constraints, to describe the state in Mumbai. ‘Jugaad’ practices and strategies of governance – adaptive, flexible, negotiated and contingent – are routinely applied by state actors at different levels in Mumbai, in spaces ‘illegible’ to formal state institutions. ‘Jugaad’ governance practices are not arbitrary or merely corrupt, but rational, if ad hoc and extra-legal, adaptations around formal rules. These processes embed state actors in local power structures and crosscutting networks that span state, market and political organisations. While they enable the state to apprehend and partially incorporate the city’s informal spaces, they dissipate centralised state power and cohesiveness. The ‘jugaad’ state concept encapsulates how the formal and informal workings of the state interact and shape urban governance in largely informal cities. It draws attention to tensions and disjunctions within the state and in state-society relations in informal contexts.
The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.
Find all available videos of previous workshops here.
FULL VIDEO OF THE WORKSHOP BY SHAMINDRA NATH ROY AND KANHU CHARAN PRADHAN
URBAN ECONOMY
Watch the full video of the CPR – CSH (Centre de Sciences Humaines) workshop (above), which seeks to estimate the number of census towns (CTs) that will be identified in 2019 for the 2021 census.
The presentation asks whether the large increase in the number of CTs from 2001 to 2011 census was a one-off phenomenon or part of a longer process of rural-urban transformation. Since such prognosis requires a detailed review of the census methodology of determining CTs, it also clarifies certain challenges that arise during such identification.
Along with this methodological review, the talk presents the regional distribution of CTs on the basis of the last two censuses and the upcoming predictions; and offers insight on their spatial characteristics in relation to larger cities, attempting to shed light on their economic characteristics in the broader context of rural-urban transformation. A better appreciation of this transformation is necessary to contextualise how well the policy framework is placed to manage and govern these areas, not only in the present but also in the future.
Shamindra Nath Roy and Kanhu Charan Pradhan are Senior Researchers at the Centre for Policy Research. Their current research includes patterns of rural-urban transformation, migration, labour force participation, and issues related to spatial segregation, urban informality and governance.
The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here. Find all available videos of previous workshops here.
Watch the full video of the CPR-CSH (Centre de Sciences Humaines) workshop (above), featuring Eric Verdeil on ‘Reforming Failed Infrastructure, Struggling for the State: Lessons from Lebanon’.
The talk considers infrastructure as a site for the examination of urban governance in Lebanon, in a context of failure of the state to provide basic public services such as electricity and waste. The argument is threefold. First, public infrastructure is a site of political struggle. Political actors seek to make infrastructure serve certain political and social interests, demonstrating their belief that these state institutions and instruments produce a range of effects worth competing for. Second, the talk challenges the view that neoliberalism and sectarianism are radically narrowing and marginalising the state and its institutions. Third, despite failing to deliver the expected service outcomes, the complex assemblage of more-or-less reformed infrastructural policy instruments produces strong social effects in terms of wealth distribution. These instruments accentuate Lebanese society’s gaps and inequalities. This outcome is largely unintended, as is often the case with public policy instruments. It is a product of the work of state institutions, however, and not proof of their absence. To make this argument, this talk explores urban services in Beirut through the main types of instruments that successive governments and their advisers—commonly from the World Bank and other international organisations—have adopted for their reform: the geographic boundaries of the zones where urban services are organised; the services’ financing instruments, such as subsidies and pricing; and public-private partnerships.
Eric Verdeil is Professor of Geography and Urban Studies at Sciences Po, Paris and researcher at the Centre for International Research (CERI).
The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here.
Find all available videos of previous workshops here.
Watch the full video of the CPR – CSH (Centre de Sciences Humaines) workshop (above), which seeks to explore how Bhisti experience the state, its policies and politics of employment and challenge them, through the experiences of a Bhisti community leader.
This talk reflects on contested sanitary workers recruitment in the Jaipur Municipal Corporation, to explore a Muslim biraderi of Bhisti’s (water carriers) struggle to gain legal right to municipal job and the state’s attempt to ignore it. Despite reservation in municipal sanitary worker job, Bhisti recruitment has stopped since 1982. The community’s claims and attempts to assert and defend their rights have fallen on deaf ears, contested not only by different levels of bureaucracy and politicians but also by their Hindu counterparts, the Dalit sanitary workers.
The talk demonstrates how city politics and political infightings between councillors and party members variously impact the process of recruitment through the institutional and regulatory system, particularly contesting the applicants’ rights as citizens, and symbolically and materially marking their socio-economic deprivation.
Gayatri Jai Singh Rathore is an urban ethnographer. She holds a PhD in Political Science from SciencesPo/CERI. Her ethnographic work is concerned with examining the workings of waste disposal, materials recovery and recycling. Her current work focuses on circulation of ‘discarded’ objects and the specific notions of value attached to it.
The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here. Find all available videos of previous workshops here.
Watch the full video of the CPR – CSH (Centre de Sciences Humaines) workshop (above) on ‘Urban Mobility and Dengue in Delhi and Bangkok: What Can We Learn from Online Data?’ featuring Alexandre Cebeillac.
Emerging vector-borne diseases such as dengue intensify public health crises in the Asian mega cities of Bangkok (Thailand) and Delhi (India). The links between mosquitoes and the urban environment are well documented, but our understanding of human movement, as a key element of virus spreading, has yet to be fully explored as a research subject.
Given the paucity in adequate or available institutional data, our research first focused on field surveys, and then on the collection, comparison and critique of data collected from major Internet platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Google, Microsoft). Their potential varies from one geographical area to another, still they shed light on the organisation and structure of the studied cities. Moreover, they highlight intra-urban interactions and time frames.
However, such studies cannot be carried out without knowledge acquired from the field. Using the concept of activity space, we propose a method that uses Twitter data and field surveys to model the daily schedules of individuals, thus offering insights into mobility patterns. This is a first step in the development of an agent-based model of individual mobility.
Alexandre Cebeillac recently defended a PhD in Geography from the University of Rouen (France) and CSH in New Delhi. His work focuses on urban mobilities in Delhi and Bangkok.
The question and answer session that followed can be accessed here. Find all available videos of previous workshops here.
Britan’s exit from the European Union or Brexit analysed in a series of commentaries by CPR faculty below:
In India and the re-aligned movement, Shyam Saran contextualises how Brexit is another phase in the marginalisation of the European Union; analyses the impacts of globalisation and the geopolitical consequences of Brexit; and comments on how India should respond in a shifting global terrain.
In another interview on Rajya Sabha TV, Shyam Saran again talks about how Brexit needs to be understood in the context of the fragmentation of the global economy since the financial crisis of 2008 and the argument that globalisation has benefited the elite, including how India should respond.
Writing in The Indian Express, Pratap Bhanu Mehta analyses whether Brexit is reflective of only British affliction or ‘does it portend a more global anger against the governing structures of our time?’
In The Times of India, Rajiv Kumar writes how the Indian economy can deal with the consequences of both Rexit (Raghuram Rajan’s exit) and Brexit.
CPR faculty comment on Hindutva and the beef ban below:
Shyam Saran writes that the idea of a digital India driven by the Prime Minister’s vision of technological advancement and that of a narrowly defined Hindu India are at odds with each other. And if not reigned in, the ‘negative trends will, sooner or later, overwhelm the pursuit of modernity’.
In a piece in the Open Magazine, Shylashri Shankar writes that the beef ban is a means to ‘create a homogenous identity of an Indian’.
In Iqbal’s Wrong Turn, Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes that limiting the idea of toleration ‘within the paradigm of religion rather than individual rights’ has led to tragic consequences for Pakistan, and now India is going down the same path.
Sanjaya Baru explores the idea of ‘developmental Hindutva’ and whether the BJP can combine the ‘vigorous pursuit of economic growth’ with an idea of Hindutva that is ‘inclusive’ instead of divisive.
Countering Sanjaya Baru’s idea of an ‘inclusive Hindutva’, Rajshree Chandra writes in the Indian Express that Hindutva thrives under ‘majoritarian assertion’ defeating both ‘individual rights’ and a ‘liberal polity’.
CPR faculty comment on India’s border standoff with China in the Doklam plateau in Bhutan
A CURATED ANALYSIS
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS SECURITY
As the stand-off between India and China in the Doklam plateau region of Bhutan continues after China tried to unilaterally build a defence class road in this disputed trijunction, a move which has particular significance for the Siliguri corridor – a vital transport artery to the North-East – read curated commentary by CPR faculty below.
Shyam Saran advises on the importance of a calm and measured approach by India toward China in the Doklam stand-off, both taking Bhutan’s interests and the changing India-China relations, where the latter is seeking India’s deference to its pre-eminence in the South Asian region, into account. He also appeared in an interview on NDTV (above) and re-iterated the importance of deescalating the standoff through a dialogue process.
Brahma Chellaney analyses China’s play of camouflaging offense as defense as a part of their aggressive strategy of expansion. In another piece, Chellaney asserts that China is backing itself into a corner, with no posssibility of favourable results, as it continues the psychological warfare against India. In further analysis, Chellaney warns, that unless India responds appropriately to the Chinese psychological warfare, it may suffer long-term consequences which extend beyond Doklam. Chellaney also analyses the strategic role played by Tibet in China’s expansionist policies. Further, he analyses China’s use of disinformation and the motives of its psychological warfare against India and Bhutan.
Srinath Raghavan analyses China’s motives at the political and strategic level. He also emphasises the need for India to demonstrate strategic creativity and diplomatic agility to address the core interests and primary concerns of both sides. In another article, Raghvan suggests that realistic diplomacy requires that India and China move toward a mutual restraint pact, and deconstructs the elements of such a pact
Brahma Chellaney appeared on an NDTV India panel and analysed China’s anger, ambitions and the psychological warfare being waged by it in the Doklam plateau.
Zorawar Daulet Singh analyses the various options available to both India and China, and concludes that much depends on wider geopolitical factors and how each side evaluates its relative position in the international environment. Singh also comments on how the current crisis is the manifestation of a steep decline in the Indo-China relationship over the past few years in an interview with Radio France Internationale.
Shyam Saran speaks to India Today’s Rajdeep Sardesai on escalating tensions between China and India and how New Delhi can help thaw relations with Beijing.
Bharat Karnad praises India’s tactical restraint in the current standoff against China. He further writes that the situation is not likely to escalate anytime soon.
G Parthasarathy analyses how the Indian government’s show of independence and strength along its borders, along with the coinciding reaffirmaion of the growing India-US relationship has rattled China.
Sandeep Bhardwaj asserts that India should recognise that the ultimate goal of this standoff is not to settle the immediate future of the Doklam plateau but to reassure Bhutan of the credibility of India’s commitment, and should therefore, respond to China accordingly.
Shyam Saran gives a talk on the Doklam standoff in the larger context of a changing world order and China’s global hegemonic ambitions. The talk was hosted by the Institute of Chinese Studies and was titled Is a China-Centric World Inevitable?
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes that while a quiet compromise will be ideal for both sides, it will not be easy, as China appears keen on escalating the standoff.
Shyam Saran writes that, in order to counter China, India must develop good ties with and remain acutely sensitive to the interests of its South Asian neighbours, particularly Bhutan.
Shyam Saran writes on the need for India to push back against China’s claims of being Asia’s ‘natural leader’.
Srinath Raghavan debunks the Chinese claim of the Sikkim-Tibet border being ‘already settled’.
Doklam may bring India closer to Bhutan, writes Sandeep Bhardwaj.
Brahma Chellaney calls the Chinese ‘bully’s bluff’.
Doklam is turning out to be a classic ‘game of shadows’, writes Nimmi Kurian.
Sanjaya Baru writes on the gap between China’s geo-economic power vis-a-vis its geo-political capability.
Brahma Chellaney warns that New Delhi cannot overlook the fact that China has been systematically mobilising domestic and international support for a possible war with India.
Shyam Saran interviewed on the road ahead for India-China relations in light of the Doklam standoff.
China’s modus operandi has been to wage stealth wars, which gives an indication as to where tensions with India may lead, writes Brahma Chellaney.
Though the Doklam terrain favours India, it should offer China a face-saver, writes G Parthasarathy.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) India in April 2018 and invited public comments. CPR researchers while welcoming the government’s move to introduce an action plan with nation-wide applicability to address air pollution, have expressed their concern that the NCAP does not adequately respond to the enormity and urgency of this national crisis. In particular, they are of the view that the government needs to reconsider the NCAP in the context of three major issues:
Balancing the need for knowledge and data creation, with other, more immediate, measures for pollution abatement
A focus on effective implementation of pollution prevention and mitigation measures
Strengthening the existing regulatory framework governing air quality
