Using government reported data, this brief looks closely at the effects of the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) recommendations on state finances in Chhattisgarh, with a particular focus on effects on social sector investments.
The brief asks two key questions:
Did increased tax devolution result in enhancing fiscal space for states?
Has the changed fiscal structure resulted in any visible shifts in social sector investments at the state level?
This report has been obtained from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India in response to an RTI request (application number – MOTLA/R/2016/80065) filed by CPR Land Rights Initiative.
This report has been obtained from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India in response to an RTI request (application number – MOTLA/R/2016/80065) filed by CPR Land Rights Initiative.
This brief lays out a new approach to Indian climate governance. We suggest India’s institutional structure should be aimed at generating and adopting low-carbon development pathways. Doing so implies going beyond energy and emissions policies to also look at deeper economic structures such as patterns of urbanisation, industrialisation, and job creation. We propose a new, independent, non-executive, multi-stakeholder Low-Carbon Development Commission backed by law, to bring both analytical credibility and mechanisms to ensure policy relevance. We further propose the Commission interface with an enhanced set of bodies within the executive branch, interacting through a set of annual reporting requirements and incentives for climate action. By laying out a set of principles, institutions, and mechanisms for interaction, we suggest a path to analytical credible and policy relevant Indian climate governance.
Suggested Citation: Dubash, NK, A.V. Pillai, and P. Bhatia. 2021 Building a Climate-Ready State: Institutions and Governance for a Transformative Low Carbon Development. Policy Brief, Initiative for Climate, Energy, and Environment. New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research. May 2021
Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban (SBM-U) is the Government of India’s (GoI’s) nation-wide flagship programme targeting universal sanitation coverage in urban areas.
Using government data, this brief reports on:
Allocations, releases, and expenditures
State-wise and component wise trends in releases
Progress on toilets built
Progress on Solid Waste Management (SWM)
Open Defecation Free (ODF) status
This brief lays out a new approach to Indian climate governance. We suggest India’s institutional structure should be aimed at generating and adopting low-carbon development pathways. Doing so implies going beyond energy and emissions policies to also look at deeper economic structures such as patterns of urbanisation, industrialisation, and job creation. We propose a new, independent, non-executive, multi-stakeholder Low-Carbon Development Commission backed by law, to bring both analytical credibility and mechanisms to ensure policy relevance. We further propose the Commission interface with an enhanced set of bodies within the executive branch, interacting through a set of annual reporting requirements and incentives for climate action. By laying out a set of principles, institutions, and mechanisms for interaction, we suggest a path to analytical credible and policy relevant Indian climate governance.
Suggested Citation: Dubash, NK, A.V. Pillai, and P. Bhatia. 2021 Building a Climate-Ready State: Institutions and Governance for a Transformative Low Carbon Development. Policy Brief, Initiative for Climate, Energy, and Environment. New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research. May 2021
This brief lays out a new approach to Indian climate governance. We suggest India’s institutional structure should be aimed at generating and adopting low-carbon development pathways. Doing so implies going beyond energy and emissions policies to also look at deeper economic structures such as patterns of urbanisation, industrialisation, and job creation. We propose a new, independent, non-executive, multi-stakeholder Low-Carbon Development Commission backed by law, to bring both analytical credibility and mechanisms to ensure policy relevance. We further propose the Commission interface with an enhanced set of bodies within the executive branch, interacting through a set of annual reporting requirements and incentives for climate action. By laying out a set of principles, institutions, and mechanisms for interaction, we suggest a path to analytical credible and policy relevant Indian climate governance.
Suggested Citation: Dubash, NK, A.V. Pillai, and P. Bhatia. 2021 Building a Climate-Ready State: Institutions and Governance for a Transformative Low Carbon Development. Policy Brief, Initiative for Climate, Energy, and Environment. New Delhi: Centre for Policy Research. May 2021
Although sanitation remains a focus in present government programmes and schemes (SBM and AMRUT), capacity building of ULBs and State Government on issues of sanitation has remained an area of neglect in most of the State and ULBs. The study on Capacity Building Need Assessment of cities (Angul and Dhenkanal) and state Government on Sanitation: A case of Odisha highlights systems of sanitation service delivery including septage /faecal sludge management in the cities and understand capacity gaps in the cities, both at the institutional and individual level in delivery of sanitation and inclusive urban planning. The study highlights issues of governance and challenges on the ground and provides recommendations for the capacity building on sanitation for the State and ULBs.
Sanitation in the urban areas of Odisha, as in most other parts of the country, has been a major challenge. Though one of the least urbanized states in the country,Odisha has registered a significantly high growth rate in the 2001-2011 decade and a considerable increase in the number of Census Towns. The Census of 2011 reflects the poor state of basic services such as water and sanitation in the urban areas. While only 42% of urban households have access to treated tap water, more than 35% do not have access to toilets and only a little over 58% have water closets, with the remaining using pit or other kind of toilets. As much as 98% of the septage and waste water is drained off into rivers and water bodies or into the open environment without any kind of treatment. The situation is of graver concern in small and medium size towns that face a greater capacity and resource crunch. Concerned with the dismal status, the Government of Odisha has initiated several measures to improve the overall situation. Odisha was, in fact, one of the first states to formulate an Urban Sanitation Strategy in 2011. A revised strategy (2016) is also in place focusing on FSM. Odisha revised the strategy and notified in December 2016. Since then several other initiatives, ranging from policy to legislations and programmes, are being drafted to bring about improvements. This document, part of the ongoing initiatives, describes a proposed strategy for capacity building of the urban local bodies (ULBs) for planning and managing sanitation facilities and services with a focus on urban septage and waste water management. The strategy has been developed with reference to small towns and municipalities (based on a study of Angul and Dhenkanal1).
Across the globe, the “development experience” of communities varies depending on their socioeconomic and political backgrounds. As a result of advancing developmental projects, a few communities are invariably made to pay a disproportionate share of the environmental costs in the form of exposure to toxic waste, loss of livelihood, and restrictions on mobility or access to common resources. This injustice, more than often not, is an outcome of active noncompliance and violation of environmental regulations by the projects .
The Centre for Policy Research–Namati Environmental Justice Program is an effort towards closing this environment regulation enforcement gap. We have created a network of community-based paralegals, called as enviro-legal coordinators (ELCs), who work with affected communities using an evidence-based legal approach. As a part of this approach, the ELCs combine their understanding of the law, negotiation and mediation skills, and understanding of local contexts to assist affected communities in the use of the law to resolve environmental conflicts. They help the communities to understand relevant laws and environmental regulations and support them in engaging with institutions using these laws for better enforcement of regulatory compliance on the ground. This approach also develops a collaborative space for institutions and citizens to craft practical and sustainable remedies for the impacts that communities experience.
This publication is a compendium of a few cases undertaken by the CPR–Namati Program’s ELCs working across the coastal belt in Gujarat and North Karnataka. These case stories capture the process of our work and illustrate the systematic, evidence-based legal approach followed by the ELCs along with the affected coastal community members to resolve conflicts arising from noncompliance or improper implementation of environmental regulations.
These case stories are divided into three major thematic sections as follows:
Section 1: Establishment and Activation of Gujarat’s District-Level Coastal Committees (DLCCs) as per Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011: This section includes case studies from Gujarat, where ELCs worked towards establishing or activating District-Level Coastal Committees, an institution set up for better implementation of CRZ regulations and protection of rights of traditional coastal communities.
Section 2: Securing Housing Clearances for Coastal Communities under Coastal Zone Regulation Notification, 2011 in North Karnataka: This section includes case studies from Uttara Kannada, a district in North Karnataka, where ELCs supported members of coastal communities in securing housing clearances under the coastal protection law.
Section 3: Legal Empowerment in Practice: Two Case Stories: This section has two case stories from our field sites in Gujarat that illustrate the process and outcomes of legal empowerment though our work with communities.
