Policy Briefs & Reports

This compendium of policy papers, initiated by Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia, seeks to explore the feasible means and approaches to mitigate, if not yet solving, Myanmar’s political stalemate and crisis. While it also seeks to explore ways on how the internationa...

More than 30 million urban households in India, including urban poor, depend on the rental housing market for their housing needs, out of which around 70 per cent rely on informal rental arrangements. According to the NSSO 76th round (2017-18), 19 million households, 64 per cent of the total rent...

In recent years, national climate governance instruments have been appearing rapidly around the world. However, these developments have rarely been discussed in terms of the requirements of climate responses in different political contexts. This brief addresses the role and potential of domestic ...

In continuation to the Government of Odisha’s landmark initiative of the Odisha Liveable Habitat Mission (OLHM), also known as the JAGA Mission, launched in 2018, along with the ongoing slum upgradation and delisting of tenable slums; relocation of slums on “objectionable” category of untenable l...

With approximately 23 per cent of people in the state of Odisha residing in slums in the capital city of Bhubaneswar, there is an estimated shortage of 80,000 housing units, specifically among low-income families. Intending to bridge this gap, the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has embar...

Community Participation in Urban WASH has been gaining prominence over the last few decades. Various civil society organisations are engaged in strengthening community-based organisations in urban poor settlements to improve access, usage and control over WASH infrastructure and services, leading...

Do manifestos of political parties play any meaningful role before, during and after elections? Are they powerful symbols of the ideas, vision and programmes offered by a party to citizens or are they merely symbolic? Since most voters don’t bother to read manifestos before casting their ballot, ...

Rarely in history does a nation go through directly contradictory impulses and emotions at the same time: exultation and horror; celebration and mourning. That sums up what happened with India 75 years ago when it won freedom from British rule but was also partitioned on religious lines as two na...

With the launch of Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act and Jaga Mission during 2017-18, the government has recognised the imminent need for improving the quality of life of the slum dwellers in the state. Continuing the Government of Odisha's landmark initiative of the Odisha Liveable Habitat...

This report highlights the scope and functions of a dozen tree laws implemented in different states in India. The implementation of these laws has come to public focus in recent years due to the growing number of cases of large-scale tree felling in Indian cities. The government use of mechani...

The rapid increase of users on social media platforms has shifted political debates and communication channels between citizens and states. While a decade ago governments may have tried to connect to citizens through their own platforms, now, many do so through social media. But what has been cre...

The pandemic made digital healthcare an integral part of our lives in various forms, including teleconsultations, exchanging digital records and now linking health outcome (vaccination) to identity, anywhere, anytime, through the Co-WIN site, which can also, inter alia, be accessed through the Aa...

As a vulnerable developing country with a low per-capita historical contribution to climate change, India’s climate commitments are situated within the context of its multiple development objectives, which highlights the need for adopting multiple co-benefits approaches to lowering its emissions ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of social security for protecting workers against economic shocks, and for smoothing consumption during downturns. As forces such as technological advancement and climate change continue to upend lives and livelihoods, social security is critic...

The NITI Aayog released the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) in July 2021 (NITI Aayog 2021) as part of a pool of innovative and alternative financing sources expected to fund about 15 to 17 per cent of the National Infrastructure Pipeline, which is targeted at `111 trillion over five years, i...

At the culmination of Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM-G) Phase I in 2019, rural India had declared itself Open-Defecation Free (ODF). However, ODF is only the first step in India’s journey toward the Sustainable Development Goal 6 of ensuring ‘availability and sustainable management of water ...

In the absence of an enforceable substantive right to housing, communities living in slums and other informal settlements have mobilized over the years, using both courts and political advocacy to try and protect themselves from eviction. This has resulted in a series of judgments, policies, and ...

Europe appears to be experiencing a ‘we are all in this together’ moment in the face of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine with an unprecedented show of solidarity towards asylum seekers. For sure, it ticks several political boxes for Europe: from presenting a unified front against Russia an...