Archives: Journal Articles

A significant proportion of the working poor in Asian cities live in slums as renters. An estimated 60–90 per cent of low-income rentals in Asia are in the informal sector; 25 per cent of India’s housing stock comprises informal rentals. Yet informal rentals remain an understudied area. Through an empirical study, this article illustrates the typologies of informal rental housing in urban villages and unauthorized colonies in Gurgaon, a city of 1.2 million located within India’s National Capital Region (NCR). Further, through qualitative fieldwork, the article sheds light on how renters, usually low-income migrants, leverage informal rentals to negotiate the city. The research finds that while informal rentals offer advantages of affordability, flexibility and proximity to livelihoods for migrants, they are also sites of exploitation and poor living conditions. Further, the study reveals that social networks that carry over from places or origin as well as household migration strategies strongly influence housing choices in the informal rentals market.

Indiens wirtschafliche Entwicklung ist beeindruckend: In den vergangen vier Jahren betrug das Wachstum durchschnittlich über acht Prozent. Dennoch hat das Land schwerwiegende Probleme. Drei Viertel der Bevölkerung leben in Armut. Wachsender Energiebedarf und Klimawandel stellen Indien vor neue Herausforderungen.

As of May, 2021, the resurgent wave of COVID-19 in India has been spreading to rural populations and other countries in the region. The pandemic has foregrounded the long-standing need for universal health coverage (UHC) in India. The Lancet Citizens’ Commission on Reimagining India’s Health System was launched in December, 2020, to map the pathway to achieving UHC in the coming decade through a participatory, solutions-driven approach. Yet in the present moment, India confronts an immediate emergency to save lives and reduce suffering. On behalf of the Lancet Citizens’ Commission, we propose eight recommendations for the central and state governments that share responsibility for the health of the India’s people. Our recommendations complement those of Kuppalli and colleagues’ call for actions from the international community. Our intention in making these recommendations, some of which have been recently voiced by authoritative voices in the country, is to amplify and synthesise what must be done urgently.

Keeping with the global trend, India seems to be executing a “Green Industrial Policy” that seeks to prioritise production and consumption of clean energy. Will it lead to green growth and sustainable development?

The Maritime Silk Road (MSR) idea is part of this wider attempt by China to construct multiple lines of communication to its economic heartland in eastern China since the early 2000s. The underlying aim of such a geostrategy is to also develop inner Chinese provinces and shape China’s regional periphery by exercising economic, political and cultural Influence.

In May 2014, Xinhua unveiled maps showing China’s ambitious Land and Maritime Silk Roads.3 The MSR envisions an ‘economic cooperation area’ stretching from the Western Pacific to the Baltic Sea as a sort of maritime highway buttressed by Chinese-supported infrastructure and port facilities in states straddling maritime routes along which China’s trade and natural resources flow.

A time series of exports indicates that average export growth has remained almost stagnant since January 2012 after a sharp bounce back in the first and second quarters of 2009. This article looks at the composition of India’s export basket, export destinations and share in global exports to understand the reasons for the fall in export growth. It concludes that the evident inability to increase India’s share in global markets points to the need for a thorough review of the working and performance of export promotion councils and related export agencies.

Citation: Dubash, K.N., Raghunandan, D., Sant, G., Sreenivas, A., 2013. Indian Climate Change Policy: Exploring a Co-Benefits Based Approach. Economic & Political Weekly, 48(22), 47-61.

Abstract: There is a growing body of climate-related policy in India; at the same time, there is no clear and consistent approach or framework that directs and guides these efforts. In this paper, we propose and develop a methodology for operationalising a co-benefits approach to climate policy formulation. We use the technique of multi-criteria analysis, which requires making choices between and examining trade-offs across multiple objectives of policy, such as growth, inclusion and environment. In addition, we develop a framework for consideration of implementation issues. We focus on policies related to energy; but we believe the approach can also be modified to address adaptation concerns. The structured tool of the sort proposed here would hopefully contribute to more informed and deliberative decision-making on climate-related issues.

India justifiably feels uneasy about what plans China may have for the Brahmaputra in Tibet. It needs to raise the issue whenever there is evidence of planned diversion. But given our vulnerability as a downstream nation it is clear that we need to reconsider our own thinking about rivers, and be consistent between what we do internally and what we expect our neighbours to do, and between our behaviour towards our downstream neighbours and the behaviour that we expect from China vis-à-vis ourselves.

The 1956 Suez conflict was not inevitable. The involvement of an impartial third party had offered an exit ramp for the main protagonists. Largely forgotten today, India strove to reconcile the interests of the Westerns powers with Arab nationalism. Displaying creativity and perseverance in attempting to arrest the sudden deterioration in security in its extended neighborhood, India’s unceasing but responsible support for a weaker Arab state in the backdrop of determined Western coercion is a useful illustration for contemporary policymakers who are attempting to craft a sustainable approach towards a tumultuous West Asia. Using previously unused archival documents, this paper adds to the small literature on India’s involvement in this crisis by offering the first detailed account of India’s attempt to prevent the outbreak of hostilities in those fateful months of 1956. By doing so, this article also reveals interest- ing facets of India’s approach to conflict management and regional stability in the 1950s, a role that was predicated on not just promoting strategic restraint between antagonistic states but also enabling conflict resolution options that preserved the vital interests of competing actors.

For the North East Region to fulfil the role of connector, the ongoing work should be accelerated on the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral corridor, as well as the Kaladan corridor (India-Myanmar), and the corresponding motor vehicles/transport agreements be negotiated. These corridors will be truly meaningful for the NER if they are not only connectors but also enable the NER to ride on them.