Author: cprindia

Before the global financial meltdown of 2008, India’s economy was thriving and its GDP growth was cruising at an impressive 8.8 per cent. The economic boom impacted a large section of Indians, even if unequally. With sustained high growth over an extended period, India could have achieved what economists call a ‘take-off’ (rapid and self-sustained GDP growth). The global financial meltdown disrupted this momentum in 2008.

In the decade that followed, each time the country’s economy came close to returning to that growth trajectory, political events knocked it off course. In 2019, India’s GDP is growing at the rate of 7 per cent, making it the fastest-growing major economy in the world, but little on the ground suggests that Indians are actually better off. Economic discontent and insecurity are on the rise, farmers are restive, and land-owning classes are demanding quotas in government jobs. The middle class is palpably disaffected, the informal economy is struggling and big businesses are no longer expanding aggressively. India is not the star it was in 2008 and in effect, the ‘India growth story’ has devolved into ‘growth without a story’.

The Lost Decade tells the story of the slide and examines the political context in which the Indian economy failed to recover lost momentum.

Puja Mehra is an Economic Journalist. Rathin Roy is Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. Nitin Desai is the Former Chief Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Finance. Rohit Chandra is a Fellow at CPR.

A review of the book by Rohit Chandra, published in Open, the Magazine can be read here.

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

About the Book
As science is increasingly making clear, the problem of climate change poses an existential challenge for humanity. For India, this challenge is compounded by immediate concerns of eradicating poverty and accelerating development, and complicated by its relatively limited role thus far in causing the problem. India in a Warming World explores this complex context for India’s engagement with climate change. But, in addition, it argues that India, like other countries, can no longer ignore the problem, because a pathway to development innocent of climate change is no longer available. Bringing together leading researchers, activists, and policymakers, this volume lays out the emergent debate on climate change in India. Collectively, the chapters deepen clarity on why India should engage with climate change and how it can best do so.

Read the open-access PDF version of India in a Warming World on the Oxford University Press website.

To view the table of contents and learn more about the authors, visit the book homepage on the CPR website.

About the Speakers
Chandra Bhushan is a noted environmentalist, and has distinguished himself as a researcher, writer and campaigner for environmentally sound and socially inclusive development. Bhushan has wide-ranging research and public policy interests. He has researched, written and campaigned for issues ranging from climate change and energy transformation to rights of mining-affected people and industrial pollution. He was conferred with the Ozone Award by the UN Environment in 2017. He is presently the CEO of the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST), an independent non-profit environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi.

Naina Lal Kidwai is Chairperson, Advent Private Equity India Advisory board, a non-executive Director on the boards of LafargeHolcim, Max Financial Services, CIPLA, Nayara Energy and Larsen and Toubro, and a former President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). She retired in 2015 as Chairperson, HSBC India and Executive Director on the board of HSBC Asia Pacific. She is a member of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Economic Council on Planetary Health, and serves as a Commissioner on the Global Commission on Economy & Climate. She has previously been a member of the International Advisory Council of the United Nations Environment Program, and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change. An MBA from Harvard Business School, Naina is the recipient of several awards and honours, including the Padma Shri for her contribution to trade and industry.

Nitin Sethi is an independent writer and journalist. He has written on and investigated the intersections of environment, energy, climate change, development and the political economy over the last two decades. A winner of several international and national fellowships and awards, he has worked previously at The Hindu, Business Standard, Times of India, Scroll.in and the Down To Earth magazine.

About the Editor

Navroz K Dubash is a Professor at CPR, and leads the CPR Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment. He works on climate change policy and governance, the political economy of energy and air pollution, and the regulatory state in the developing world. Widely published in these areas, Navroz serves on Government of India advisory committees on climate change, energy and air pollution, and on the editorial boards of several international journals. He is currently a Coordinating Lead Author for the national policies and institutions chapter in the upcoming 6th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2015, he was conferred the 12th T N Khoshoo Memorial Award for his work on climate change policy.

The journey

PAISA course was Accountability Initiative’s flagship capacity building programme to equip our field team to understand and engage with the processes and implementation of government programmes across a range of sectors.

Over the course of our journey, we realised that our research and on-ground experience spanning domains related to policy, finance, education, planning and management, coupled with the theoretical knowledge from the original PAISA course could prove to be essential learnings for other stakeholders working in the larger development ecosystem. We believe governance is a practice-oriented discipline. Thus, in order to build capability of both professionals and frontline government functionaries, theoretical knowledge must find application in resolving an experiential problem. The course is our attempt to not only bridge the gap between research and practice but also create spaces for collaborative learning.

What are we trying to achieve?

The aim of the course is to inculcate in participants an understanding of:

The structure of the Indian administrative system and the complications of the environment within which they work. The participants should be able to decipher for themselves the bureaucracy’s importance within the Indian government system and not just criticise the system on grounds of corruption.

The fund flow system, the importance of budgets, and how schemes are formulated and implemented, and then analyse the complexities of the Indian financial system. The course urges participants to simultaneously ask questions around why money does not reach its stipulated destination on time and where it gets delayed.

Who is our audience?

Hum aur Hamaari Sarkaar has been strategically designed to cater to grassroots-level development sector professionals across organisations working towards improving the quality of public services. The course makes a conscious effort to take content, often not available easily, and empower these professionals with tools to understand and contextualise government functioning within their local context. It thereby enables participants to undertake a critical analysis of state capability in India.

Through this course, the Learning and Development team (L&D) at AI envisages to build and strengthen the nodes between decision-makers, service-providers and citizens, and catalyse change through structured learning opportunities that enable them to participate in and monitor social sector programmes.

The course is conducted entirely in Hindi by PAISA Associates or AI’s field staff who carry out ground surveys to track budget spend in key social sector schemes.

Our experience so far

So far two trainings have been conducted, with:

District-level coordinators of the NGO Pratham in Bihar, who mainly work to implement Pratham’s programmes on education at the field-level, often in partnership with the government, and;

Block-level coordinators of the Nehru Yuva Kendra in Rajasthan, who work to create awareness about government schemes and ensure all intended beneficiaries are able to avail them with ease.
The following are testimonies of some of the participants, which underscore the importance of the training:

‘Change from earlier way of thinking in which bureaucracy and officials were seen as corrupt and hungry for bribes to recognising that they are burdened beyond their capacities, stuck in centralised and long drawn bureaucratic processes,’ Deepak Saini, Participant, Nehru Yuva Kendra.

‘There were 1 or 2 people whose money was stuck. We found out that the Sarpanch had listed someone else’s account and the money had gone into that account. Thus, while the money was transferred, it did not reach the intended beneficiary. The Sarpanch and the Secretary said this could be the result of a mistake. Through the course we could identify where the lapse actually was (at the Panchayat level) and would have assumed that the money had not been disbursed from the source!’ Om Prakash Sharma, Participant, Nehru Yuva Kendra.

Importantly, Hum aur Hamaari Sarkaar also proved to be a stepping stone for AI’s PAISA Associates or field staff, who are the trainers and facilitators of the course. They not only honed their training and facilitation skills but also spent considerable time building their knowledge levels to become subject experts.

For more information please click here.

We are excited to announce that this volume has been awarded the 2018 Certificate of Merit in a Specialized Area of International Law by The American Society of International Law. Find below a short excerpt from the note accompanying the award:

“In a foreword to this book, the authors remark that “international climate change law presents a moving target.” Indeed, a field buffeted by sharp political controversies, entrenched economic interests, complex evolving science, global inequalities, and urgent advancing deadlines presents a formidable area of study. The authors rise to the challenge, bringing their many collective decades of experience to bear in developing a remarkably clear and cohesive overview of the field. Indeed, the authors develop the parameters of the field as they review it,offering an account of its origins; analysis of the key conventions of the climate change regime (specifically the Framework Convention on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement), and their corresponding institutions; as well as private, sub-national, and polycentric climate change governance regimes; and intersections between climate change and areas like trade, human rights law, and migration. We were particularly struck by the authors’ capacity to weave both authoritative analysis of legal rules and a nuanced understanding of practical and political factors into a comprehensive and eminently accessible account. The elements add up to a timely and extraordinarily useful guide that will be relevant for scholars, practitioners, students, and legal architects alike.”

The CPR Initiative on Climate, Energy and Environment is pleased to announce the publication of International Climate Change Law, co-authored by Professor Lavanya Rajamani, which provides a comprehensive overview of international climate change law. Climate change is one of the fundamental challenges facing the world today, and is the cause of significant international concern. In response, states have created an international climate regime. The treaties that comprise the regime – the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2015 Paris Agreement establish a system of governance to address climate change and its impacts. This tome authored by Daniel Bodansky, Jutta Brunnée, and Lavanya Rajamani provides a clear analytical guide to the climate regime, as well as other relevant international legal rules.

The book locates international climate change law within the broader context of international law and international environmental law. It considers the evolution of the international climate change regime, and the process of law-making that has led to it. It examines the key provisions of the Framework Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. It analyses the principles and obligations that underpin the climate regime, as well as the elaborate institutional and governance architecture that has been created at successive international conferences to develop commitments and promote transparency and compliance. Further, it address the polycentric nature of international climate change law, as well as the intersections of international climate change law with other areas of international regulation.

This book is an essential introduction to international climate change law for students, scholars and negotiators.

Catherine Redgwell, Chichele Professor of Public International Law, University of Oxford, writes in her review of the book, “This book is a comprehensive and authoritative account of international climate change law by three towering figures in the field… The authors have brought their unique blend of academic expertise and practical experience of the climate regime to produce the definitive work on international climate change law, and what will surely be viewed as an instant classic.”

Philippe Sands, Q C, Professor of Law, University College London in his review writes that “On the ‘defining issue of our age’, Bodansky, Brunnée and Rajamani offer the definitive guide to the history, process and substance of international law’s effort to address climate change – and the prospects we face. Measured, authoritative and readable, to the Paris Agreement and, hopefully, beyond.”

Jacob Werksman, Principal Advisor, DG Climate Action, European Commission writes “I can think of no better team of “academic practitioners” to bring a balanced insight to this surprisingly complex and subtle area of international law. I am sure even those involved in these negotiations will find new nuance and insight in this book.”

Further information about the book can be found here. More detail on Dr. Rajamani’s work can be found here.