Archives: Book Chapters

This article reviews India’s foreign policy on climate change, arguing that while it is marked by tactical virtuosity, it increasingly exhibits strategic vacuity. The chapter traces the evolution of India’s role in international climate negotiations, noting particularly India’s key role in highlighting equity and enshrining the concept of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’ as a cornerstone of the negotiation process. The chapter then examines the turbulent phase from 2007 onwards, when India, along with other large developing country allies, experimented with new articulations of climate policy. This discussion explores the emergent drivers of Indian climate policy, including international pressures, shifting domestic political context, the emergence of ‘co-benefits’ as a framing concept, and the role of key personalities. The chapter concludes by suggesting that an exclusive emphasis on an equitable climate deal should transition to an approach that provides equal attention to equity and effectiveness in international climate outcomes.

This chapter studies the Indian Supreme Court’s role from three distinct, yet interconnected, perspectives: building a rights-based discourse; harmonizing centre-state relations within the federal structure; and developing the principle of separation of powers as an effective check against legislative and executive overreach into the functioning of the judicial branch. It uses a bi-dimensional axis of language and practice to enquire into both judicial conversations that provide meaning to the foundational issues of rights, federation, and separation, and practices that ensure the actual implementation of these conversations and their spirited meanings.

India and Japan enjoy a geopolitical and economic relationship that is gathering momentum. We argue that cooperation on clean energy provides a natural conduit to enhance existing cooperation and to meet the shared energy challenges of growth and security, and in the process address climate change. India’s energy demands and imports are increasing and Japan, post-Fukushima, is heavily reliant on imported energy. Both countries are also acutely vulnerable to climate change impacts and recognize that their long-term energy strategy necessitates a shift towards actions that limit their greenhouse gas emissions. While the bilateral relationship reflects this perspective, it has not acquired scale. A considered shift is needed to look beyond and address constraints in the current engagement. This chapter analyses India and Japan’s bilateral cooperation and suggests a focus on energy efficiency, solar energy, and clean coal technologies, including their respective implementation frameworks, to enhance mutual benefits.

This chapter explores existing conversations around energy transformation for a New Earth and puts forward ideas toward a conversation that might bridge the divide between how energy is supplied (how we produce) versus those who emphasize the demand side (how we use). The author approaches the problem by looking at four overarching narrative frames around energy and the implications of each for how energy is institutionalized and how it might be transformed. The four narrative frames explored are are ​​climate change, energy security, energy poverty, and local environmental pollution.

The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution, co-edited by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and published by the Oxford University Press ‘features contributions from leading legal scholars, political scientists, and judges to present a rounded perspective on the discipline and emerging trends. (It) examines the history, development, and impact of the Indian constitution.

This chapter analyses the legislative and regulatory safeguards that protect and foster public participation in environmental governance in India. It considers the environmental rights jurisprudence that has been developed by the Indian courts and discusses it in the context of the three procedural rights that form part of Rio Principle 10. In particular, the chapter examines the participatory processes under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006. It describes the opportunities provided for public engagement in the two laws and evaluates whether the participatory processes are indeed effective and whether public concerns can influence regulatory outcomes. The chapter concludes that while Indian law and judicial practice supports procedural rights in relation to environmental decision making, in practice, these rights are not just poorly implemented but also in danger of significant erosion.

This chapter constructs a gendered account of the city of Delhi through an exploration of women domestic workers’ experience of spatial-mobility in relation to work and the inherent vulnerabilities of class and gender therein. While the narratives of ‘mobility’ highlight the gendered experience of the city, the issue of ‘housing’ allows us to ground these narratives in the politics of class that characterize the millennial city. Such an exploration of housing and mobility, through the lens of gender and class, offers a perspective on how the two constitute domestic work relations in contemporary Delhi.

Unauthorized colonies are one of seven “unplanned” settlement types in Delhi. A significant number of potential voters in these colonies has made their regularization a central election promise. This chapter unpacks the “unauthorized colony”, analyses the legal and policy framework for regularization of these colonies in Delhi and explores narratives about Delhi’s largest cluster of unauthorized colonies in Sangam Vihar, examining how the promise of regularization has impacted the daily lives of its residents.