Political Geography: India / Publication Year: within 3 Years and within 5 Years / Topic:

301. Enhancing South Asian Nuclear Dialogues: The Implications of Covid-19

Author:: Petr Topychkanov
Publication Date:: 09-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:: Before the global spread of Covid-19, nuclear-armed China, India and Pakistan lacked official diplomatic exchanges to address nuclear weapon-related issues. The pandemic then halted even unofficial dialogues between these countries, which had existed in various bilateral and multilateral formats. As a result, China, India and Pakistan are faced with the challenge of keeping a desirable level of predictability concerning each other’s nuclear postures and capabilities. This SIPRI Policy Brief explores ways of dealing with this challenge and enhancing nuclear dialogues in South Asia. It considers both longer-term developments in the region and the recent implications of Covid-19. The paper finds that bilateral dialogue remains more feasible than trilateral dialogue between China, India and Pakistan. Nevertheless, it argues that these countries may need to address specific issues in broader formats. Emphasized by the Covid-19 crisis, such issues notably include emerging technologies and autonomy. On the one hand, these technologies support diplomacy digitalization, allowing nuclear-armed states to use online and mixed formats to develop nuclear dialogues between them. On the other hand, if applied in the military area, these technologies may affect nuclear postures and capabilities, and contribute to military escalation.
Topic:: Diplomacy, Nuclear Power, Disarmament, Nonproliferation, COVID-19, and Dialogue
Political Geography:: Pakistan, China, South Asia, and India

302. South Asia’s Nuclear Challenges: Interlocking Views from India, Pakistan, China, Russia and the United States

Author:: Petr Topychkanov and Lora Saalman
Publication Date:: 04-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Abstract:: This report provides an overview of views on nuclear postures and escalation affecting South Asia, based on 119 research interviews conducted in 2020 with military, nuclear, political and regional experts from India, Pakistan, China, Russia and the United States. The publication also builds on the findings from a virtual workshop that SIPRI hosted on 8 and 9 December 2020 on ‘Nuclear challenges in South Asia: Views from India, Pakistan, China, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and the USA’. These discussions revealed a variety of interlocking insights on such issues as no first use, lowered nuclear thresholds, conventional and nuclear entanglement and emerging technologies that are shaping strategic stability. The publication consists of five country-focused sections that explore nuclear postures, strategic technologies and escalatory risks, as well as conclusions that offer building blocks for the next steps on engagement. This report was prepared in the framework of the SIPRI project Assessing Nuclear Deterrence Risks and Challenges in South Asia, generously supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
Topic:: Arms Control and Proliferation, Nuclear Power, and Disarmament
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Russia, China, South Asia, India, and United States of America

303. Water and Federalism: Working with States for Water Security

Author:: Srinivas Chokkakula, Avani Kapur, and Arkaja Singh
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: India’s poor water security indicators are partly a result of the poor translation of federal spirit in governing its water resources. The limited scholarship on the subject recognizes the vacuum in federal water governance and the weak articulation of Centre’s role to work with states in pursuing India’s long-term development and security goals. Besides, coherent federal responses are critical to address the new governance challenges and emerging risks such as those linked to climate change, floods, dam safety, etc. Yet the national discourse on water federalism is dominated by interstate river water disputes. The study breaks new grounds by going beyond the narrow frame to engage comprehensively with the idea of water federalism in India. It explores the range of policy, institutional, legal and financial instruments for improved water governance. Conceptualised as the Centre’s leverage, the study investigates into these instruments to explore opportunities for the Centre to work with states for improved outcomes. Using mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative approaches, the study looks at the transforming Indian federal state from two contrasting viewpoints: the shifting stakes of the Centre and states in water resources development; and the converging forces of development goals and security concerns. The analysis is supported by case studies of Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka states revealing the diverse territorial imaginations and priorities of water resources development and, their implications for national water security. It also examines the experiences of central schemes through intergovernmental fiscal transfers and federal water governance practices internationally to incentivize states’ progressive pathways in water resources management. Identifying federal consensus-building about the Centre’s role and autonomous institutional architecture for data as the two foundational pillars, the study makes concrete recommendations to improve federal governance for long-term development and water security.
Topic:: Security, Development, Water, and Federalism
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

304. Lessons from the Covid Care Centers in West Bengal

Author:: Jishnu Das, Patrick Agte, Abhijit Chowdhury, Parthasarathi Mukherjee, and Satyarup Siddhanta
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: With the continuing emergence of Covid-19 variants, there is underlying concern in all countries, including India, that another surge will occur in the coming months. In case of a surge like that experienced with the Delta variant, a strategy that deserves further attention for the provision of care in rural areas is the use of off-hospital sites for patients who are not severely ill. We discuss one such effort from the state of West Bengal, the lessons from which may be relevant for the management of surge cases for generalized pandemic planning. In March 2021, India experienced a large surge in Covid cases and the spike in patients led to a shortage of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders around the country. Following a notification by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that allowed organizations to set up care centers for the treatment of Covid-19 patients outside the hospital setting, the Liver Foundation and the Covid Care Network established eight Covid Care Centers in rural West Bengal. These centers were operational between May 2021 and September 2021, which coincided with the post-peak phase of the second Covid-19 wave in India. This report describes the project, summarizes the performance of the centers, and discusses the challenges faced during the project. We conclude that temporary facilities like the Covid Care Centers can be a viable option to provide urgent care during health emergencies.
Topic:: Health Care Policy, Crisis Management, Public Policy, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

305. Strengthening India’s Ambient Air Quality Standard-Setting Process

Author:: Bhargav Krishna
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) provide the basis for assessing air quality nationally, determining pollution control priorities, and defining what we consider to be acceptable air quality to protect public health. They are framed and issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the Air Act (1981). In August 2021, the CPCB announced that a revision of the NAAQS would be undertaken over the next year under the leadership of faculty from IIT Kanpur, with representatives from other institutions. The wide-ranging remit for this committee includes revisiting the existing standards for criteria pollutants, potentially expanding the base of pollutants being measured, determining the effects of air pollution on human health and vegetation, designing, and setting up of monitoring networks, and reviewing the air quality index. These revisions to the NAAQS will serve to define the discussion around air pollution for the next decade in India. Making the standards more ambitious will be based on our understanding of risk associated with exposure and how that has evolved over time. It will have implications for how that risk is communicated by the government to citizens through the Air Quality Index (AQI) and will provide a basis for regulating certain point sources. More ambitious standards can also provide a useful benchmark against which to measure the progress of our initiatives to improve air quality. Given the import of these standards as a means of protecting public health, engaging in risk communication, and tracking progress against our air quality goals, it is essential that the process followed by the NAAQS revision committee is clearly laid out and guided by a series of fundamental principles. These include ensuring their relevance by committing to predefined periodic reviews, basing policy decisions on a solid foundation of science by engaging a broad range of experts, centering health in air quality policy making, and building trust with civil society and other stakeholders. Reinforcing institutional processes are a long-term challenge, and we recognize that significantly altering the parameters of work of a committee whose work is already underway may not be possible. The principles and actions laid out in this framing note can form the basis for future work in this area by the CPCB. In our recommendations, we also outline several immediate actions that can be taken by the CPCB and the NAAQS committee as they proceed with the revision of the NAAQS.
Topic:: Regulation, Public Health, and Air Pollution
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

306. Airing Differences? Reading the Political Narrative on Air Quality Management in India

Author:: Santosh Harish, Mandakini Chandra, and Sahithi Uppalapati
Publication Date:: 11-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Air pollution exposure is a year-round, nation-wide public health crisis in India. This paper presents a careful reading of nearly eleven hours of discussions on air pollution that took place in the upper and lower Houses of Parliament in November 2019. The discussions provide unique insight into the emerging political narrative around air quality governance in India. The parliamentarians constructed an overly peak-oriented and Delhi-centric view of the problem. Contrary to the long-held scepticism of the environment ministry, parliamentarians across political parties cited global evidence on the adverse health impacts of air pollution exposure, especially on children. In addition, they drew on themes like intergenerational responsibility, equity, and Indian cultural heritage while signaling the need to act with urgency. As the discussions were dominated by crop residue burning, the Delhi government received significant criticism for blaming farmers, and parliamentarians across the board expressed solidarity with farmers as they proposed various alternative interventions to penalties. Legislators highlighted a variety of institutional, legal, and financial opportunities to strengthen Indian air quality governance, but demonstrated relatively limited engagement with the nuances of sectoral mitigation measures. Reflecting on an issue of growing political salience in India, this paper also offers insight into significant developments and gaps in the political discourse on air pollution in the two years since these discussions, and into the present day.
Topic:: Governance, Crisis Management, Public Health, and Air Pollution
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

307. South Asia Security and Kartar Pur Border: A Path to Peace OR?

Author:: Nabeila Akbar and Arshad Syed Karim
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: South Asian Studies
Institution:: Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:: South Asia has been a unique geographical region where all member states share commonality of interests in history, politics, economics and socio-cultural aspects due to close geographical proximity. Because of this uniqueness, South Asia is considered a single geographical unit where security issue has a cross border dimension. For Sikh community, Pakistan has opened the Kartar Pur border between India and Pakistan. It is a step forward to bring peace across the region. Though it has also raised many questions on the security of South Asia; would tension between Pakistan and India be diluted or escalated? Would it trigger peace or security threat across the region? What would be behavior of India and Sikh community in the new scenario? How a sovereign state can establish relations with a community group (religious community) of neighboring sovereign state by passing later? How it would affect the pattern of state relations at regional level as well as at international level? The research paper is mainly based on an attempt to answer these queries. The descriptive and analytical method is used along with the primary sources in the form of indepth interviews and focus group activities.
Topic:: Security, Foreign Policy, Territorial Disputes, and Borders
Political Geography:: Pakistan, South Asia, and India

308. India Turns an Electoral Autocracy

Author:: Muhammad Saleem Mazhar and Naheed S. Goraya
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: South Asian Studies
Institution:: Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:: This article is a critical appraisal to the findings of Sweden based Institute V-Dem1 , the Democracy Report 2021 ―Autocratization Turns Viral‖. This report elucidates that India is no more among the list of democratic countries, terming India as an ―Electoral Autocracy‖. This statistically quantified analysis puts a big question mark on the face of Indian democracy where human rights are no more respected. The Indian democratic backsliding has largely occurred due to Modi‘s promotion of Hindu-nationalist agenda that has hollowed Indian democracy leading country to a polarized and intolerant society. Personality cults have historically been the hallmarks of totalitarian regimes. The cult of Modi has been complemented by a deepening majoritarianism, as the ruling party assaults and threatens religious minorities in its effort to build a theocratic Hindu state. Empirically the study focuses on critical analysis of this report while discussing Hindutva Ideology and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The present research tries to answer the question how current situation of democratic backsliding will impact Indian politics. The paper will argue the impact it has vis-a-viz regional and global peace.
Topic:: Elections, Autocracy, Democratic Backsliding, and Hindutva
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

309. Reforming Patent Law: The Case of Covid‐19

Author:: Michele Boldrin and David Levine
Publication Date:: 10-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Cato Journal
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Ashort time ago the debate over the proposal to temporarily waive intellectual property rights on Covid‐19 vaccines was raging worldwide; and the suspension of those rights seemed imminent. Public attention reached its peak in May 2021 when the Biden administration endorsed the idea and committed itself to pursuing it under the World Trade Organization–World Intellectual Property Organization (WTO-WIPO) procedural rules for waiving intellectual property (IP) protection. By suspending IP rights, the administration sought to help low‐income countries to start producing vaccines more quickly, reducing the rising and dramatic worldwide vaccine inequality.
Topic:: Intellectual Property/Copyright, Inequality, Vaccine, COVID-19, and Patents
Political Geography:: Africa, India, and Latin America

310. Impact of Colonial Institutions on Economic Growth and Development in India: Evidence from Night Lights Data

Author:: Priyaranjan Jha and Karan Talathi
Publication Date:: 09-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Cato Institute
Abstract:: Many cross‐country studies find that quality of historical institutions is a major cause of disparity in present‐day economic development as measured by income per capita. Due to the unavailability of data on a comprehensive measure of development such as per capita income, studies examining the role of historical institutions on development at the subnational levels use alternate proxies of economic well‐being in their analysis. We examine the long‐term effects of British colonial institutions on overall economic development within India using satellite night lights data.
Topic:: Development, Economic Growth, Colonialism, Economic Policy, and Institutions
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

311. Democratic Backsliding in India

Author:: Neelanjan Sircar
Publication Date:: 05-2021
Content Type:: Commentary and Analysis
Institution:: East Asia Institute (EAI)
Abstract:: Once considered the most populous democracy in the world, recent developments in India show that India is set on a path to losing its title. Analyses conducted by the Freedom House and the V-Dem Institute claiming that India’s democracy has lost its integrity is not a surprise to India-watchers observant of the recent trajectory of the Indian government. In this Issue Briefing, Neelanjan Sircar, Assistant Professor at Ashoka University, looks into the demotion of India’s status in various democratic indices. An investigation into Prime Minister Modi’s BJP government shows that the execution of anti-democratic laws and practices, prevalent throughout India’s history, has increased. The sedition law and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act have been used to stifle voices of opposition against the government. Additionally, not only has the mass media been increasingly biased towards the BHP, but the government has resorted to internet (and phone data) shutdowns and harassing key opposition leaders when it senses threat. Amid such troubling developments, the author calls upon the necessity for India to refrain from using legal machinery and harassing critics of the government. If such practices continue, prospects for the restoration of democracy in India will remain bleak.
Topic:: Democracy, Narendra Modi, Democratic Backsliding, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

312. Kanak Mukherjee (1921-2005): Women of Struggle, Women in Struggle

Author:: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:: The twentieth century was marked by national liberation struggles that emerged in Africa and Asia, as well as in Latin America where neo-colonial structures had subordinated the formally independent countries. The achievements of the Russian Revolution in 1917 inspired the peasantry and the working class across the Global South. The fight for equality and liberation under the leadership of working people are ongoing in the anti-imperialist struggles of our time. Women, in a myriad of ways, powerfully shaped and continue to shape all of these struggles. In the Women of Struggle, Women in Struggle series of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, we will present the stories of women in struggle who contributed not only to the wider arena of politics, but who also pioneered the establishment of women’s organisations, opening up paths of feminist resistance and struggle throughout the twentieth century. Praxis, as a knowledge of theory and of organisational methods of struggle as they change and respond to history, gives sustenance to ongoing struggles to face oppression. As militants, we study the diverse organisational methods of these women not only to better understand their political contributions, but also to inspire us as we build the organisations necessary for our fight against oppression and exploitation today. In this second study, we discuss the life and legacy of Kanak Mukherjee, a fighter for the people and people’s struggles who was born in undivided Bengal, India, in 1921. The rich trajectory of her activism teaches us about the history of women organising in local, national, and international struggles that linked women’s rights to anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist struggles throughout the twentieth century. In Mukherjee’s own words: ‘We cannot see the question of women’s rights in isolation. The roots of women’s subjugation and the discriminations against them lie in class exploitation’.
Topic:: Education, Imperialism, Colonialism, Feminism, Biography, and Gender
Political Geography:: India and Asia

313. Indian Women on an Arduous Road to Equality

Author:: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:: 10-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:: Despite the constraints that their socioeconomic conditions impose on them time and again, Indian women have found their collective voice to fight for their rights. A vibrant women’s movement in various parts of India has fought against the apathy of the state towards the condition of women, attaining big and small victories in asserting the constitutional rights of women as citizens and workers.
Topic:: Gender Issues, Women, Feminism, Social Order, Socioeconomics, and Mobilization
Political Geography:: India and Asia

314. The Farmers’ Revolt in India

Author:: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Publication Date:: 06-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research
Abstract:: Despite India’s achievement of a certain level of self-sufficiency in food production over the decades, the chronic agrarian crisis, often manifested in the suicides of farmers, persists. This dossier traces the causes of this crisis, which go back to the days of British colonial rule and to the choices made by the Indian state at various points since independence.
Topic:: Agriculture, Food, Food Security, Colonialism, and Farming
Political Geography:: India and Asia

315. Rural Sanitation Practices: A Rapid Assessment Study for Odisha

Author:: Anindita Mukherjee, Anju Dwivedi, and Neha Agarwal
Publication Date:: 01-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: The state of Odisha has made unprecedented strides in increasing access to individual toilets from 14% in 2011 to a purported 100% in 2019 under the Swachh Bharat Mission - Gramin. In light of the clarion call of a ‘Swachha Odisha, Sustha Odisha’, and the national imperatives set by the National Rural Sanitation Strategy, 2019-2029, the state has created a systematic framework towards the achievement of total sanitation in the form of the Odisha Rural Sanitation Policy, 2020. To inform the creation of the Policy and shape its contours for responding optimally to ground realities, we undertook a rapid assessment of the prevailing sanitation practices in three districts of the state. The present report discusses the resulting findings relating to varied aspects of rural sanitation - ranging from trends in toilet use and on-site sanitation systems to the availability and state of Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) infrastructure.
Topic:: Infrastructure, Governance, Rural, and Sanitation
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

316. The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Public School Education

Author:: Accountability Initiative
Publication Date:: 01-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: This brief presents some of the key effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on India’s public school education, focussing specifically on children. It begins with a discussion of the pre-pandemic status of school education and key policy shifts over the past few years, and provides an overview of the principal issues arising from the pandemic and the resulting school closures. It then offers potential policy suggestions to address these challenges, and thereby ensuring quality education to all children.
Topic:: Education, Health, Children, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

317. The Pandemic and Public Administration: A survey of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officers

Author:: Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Deepak Sanan, Karnamadakala Rahul Sharma, and Aditya Unnikrishnan
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: The Covid-19 pandemic has caused extraordinary hardship since India’s first case was reported in Thrissur, Kerala in January 2020. Individuals and communities have since then made drastic changes to their behaviours, daily routines and lives, quite often in response to announcements or regulatory direction provided by the state. Officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) are important actors at the forefront of framing, implementing and evaluating the state’s response to the pandemic, and uniquely positioned between the political executive and India’s massive frontline state. Their views on the state’s response, preparedness, the public and stakeholders in governance, and their positions on important normative debates underlying policy formulation and implementation therefore offer useful insights into both how the Indian state governs, and how it might govern better in the future. This report presents the results of a representative survey of over 500 IAS officers conducted between August and September 2020, 7-8 months into the pandemic. The survey sought to engage members of the IAS in reflecting on the critical challenges, decisions, and trade-offs that confronted public administrators charged with managing the state response at different levels. In doing so, it revealed both widely shared and sharply contested views on a range of subjects, including the role of the civil servant, executive and bureaucratic functioning in a crisis, and perceptions of and relations between the state, the public, and other important actors and institutions. The report finds that on the one hand, IAS officers are remarkably consistent in expressing high levels of motivation and public service commitment and endorse the view that the Indian state and bureaucracy galvanise resources and deliver reasonably well in times of crisis. On the other hand, there is a consistent tension between some strongly expressed ideals and the realities of administrative action, especially on engagement and communication with, and trust in the public. Finally, there is significant diversity among IAS officers when it comes to perceptions of key stakeholders (civil society, international agencies and the media) and a striking distrust of the private sector. The report also highlights the diversity in responses of officers across state cadres and seniority in several places through disaggregated analysis. This report, by the State Capacity Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research is part of a larger body of work on understanding the norms and values underpinning different state institutions in India. As we develop this body of work over the coming years, our goal is to continue to probe not just how the state performs, but how it perceives its own capacity, why and how it makes choices, imagines possibilities for governance, and engages with citizens.
Topic:: Governance, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

318. The Interactions of International Relations: Racism, Colonialism, Producer-Centred Research

Author:: Deep K. Datta-Ray
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy and Peace
Institution:: Center for Foreign Policy and Peace Research
Abstract:: The racial hierarchy underscoring colonialism persists, organises core-periphery interactions and so undermines International Relations’ (IR’s) purpose of accounting and explaining to mitigate violence. Despite IR’s awareness of its colonialism, it reconstitutes in the hermeneutic’s deductive and inductive method via aphasia (calculated forgetting) about its heuristic: diplomacy. The result, analytic-violence or the core’s heuristic corrupting interaction with the periphery. Yet, its evasiveness testifies to a meaningfulness beyond IR’s hermeneutic. Irretrievably corrupted by its heuristic, IR’s hermeneutic is ejected for an altogether new hermeneutic: Producer-Centred Research (PCR). Eschewing deduction and induction, and so colonialism, PCR initiates with abduction or a problem arising from theory and practice to resolve it in terms of rationality because of its, and the problem’s, significance. Changing “rationality” to “rationalities” registers the core’s rationality as colonialism while preventing it from contaminating PCR’s collection and assessment of peripheral practices to determine if they cohere into another rationality. Moreover, treating peripheral practitioners authoritatively, as capable of rationalising themselves and thus equal to rationality, further protects PCR from aphasia. Verifying efficacy shows PCR’s decolonisation of the hermeneutic is not entirely replicated externally, amongst IR scholars. The core engages PCR, but it incites violence in the periphery which defends rationality and so is colonialism’s bastion, now.
Topic:: International Relations, Diplomacy, Colonialism, Eurocentrism, Racism, and Hermeneutics
Political Geography:: India and Global Focus

319. Building a Climate-Ready Indian State: Institutions and Governance for Transformative Low-Carbon Development

Author:: Aditya Valiathan Pillaj, Navroz K. Dubash, and Parth Bhatia
Publication Date:: 06-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: 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.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Governance, Institutions, and Carbon Emissions
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

320. Open Government in Education: Learning from Social Audits in India

Author:: Kiran Bhatty
Publication Date:: 06-2021
Content Type:: Case Study
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: This study looks at the first social audit of education undertaken in India, under the aegis of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). It was conducted as a pilot project across ten states of India. Social auditing is a powerful method for increasing open government, which relies on citizens as the primary agents. It is built on the principle that information increases engagement of citizens and helps to establish their priorities. Based on this, citizens can act as effective monitors of their entitlements.The study reviews two of the ten sites where social auditing has been implemented to learn from the different stakeholders what the achievements and challenges were. It argues that for such citizen-led monitoring to take place, tools and processes of engagement, as well as platforms for citizen-government interaction, are required. These are the elements that the social audit methodology strives to provide. In addition, as many communities may not be equipped to initiate and sustain such processes, a facilitating organization or agency is necessary, at least in the initial period, before social auditing can be institutionalized. In order to close the feedback loop, follow-up with the government is also essential. The analysis underscores the importance of citizens having direct access to information and to platforms that allow them to dialogue with the State. It demonstrates that accountability can be established through such processes and that they can lead to empowerment of marginalised social groups, such as women. However, they require investment in time and resources to get started and then to keep on going. A commitment from government agencies to pursue strategies that facilitate access to information and citizen engagement, as well as provide follow-up are, therefore, the core requisites for a successful social audit. At the same time, a non-confrontational approach that favours building bridges and working collaboratively with government actors also plays an important role in making social audits work.
Topic:: Education, Government, Accountability, Audit, Civic Engagement, and Monitoring
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

321. Responding to COVID: a Mobility Based Surge Capacity Framework

Author:: Shamindra Nath Roy, Partha Mukhopadhyay, Jishnu Das, and Yamini Aiyar
Publication Date:: 06-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: It would appear, based on the experience over the past year, that at a given point in time, CoVID-19 affects a part of the country and not the whole nation. What does this imply for the sharing of resources between more affected areas and less affected areas? What does it imply for where reserves of resources need to be maintained to meet sudden surges in caseload? This note looks at these questions, by examining the spatial pattern of the epidemic over time and the nature of the resources, i.e., the extent to which their supply can be increased, the ease with which they can be moved, etc., including, where possible and necessary, the movement of patients in addition to mobile resources. Our analysis based on current transmission dynamics, points out that there are a small set of areas permanently at risk for repeat surges. These are areas where health infrastructure may need to be augmented locally. For other areas, while increases in health infrastructure would be needed, inter-district and interstate coordination can ensure that additional critical services can be made available through resource sharing. However, such a mobility-based surge capacity framework, as we have proposed, requires enabling governance structures that builds trust and facilitates coordination across district and state administrations, based on real time data analysis as well as formal institutional structures.
Topic:: Health, Infrastructure, Governance, Institutions, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

322. Unlocking Climate Action in Indian Federalism

Author:: Aditya Valiathan Pillai, Navroz K. Dubash, and Parth Bhatia
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: India’s highly centralized federal structure sits uneasily with the nature of the climate problem. While financial and bureaucratic capacities are concentrated in the centre, the locus of climate decisions lies largely in the states because they steer energy choices and respond to climate impacts. To unlock state action, the roles and capacities of the centre and states must be reimagined in the age of the climate crisis. This brief lays out the contours of an institutional redesign. We attempt to strike a delicate balance between flexibility, essential to innovative and opportunistic state actions, and the structure necessary for a coherent national policy trajectory. Specifically, we call for a specific focus on increasing specialized capacity to deal with climate change; coordination mechanisms; and financial incentives to motivate the states.
Topic:: Climate Change, Institutions, Federalism, and Coordination
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

323. Child Protection Services (CPS) Scheme

Author:: Avani Kapur, Mridusmita Bordoloi, and Mohammad Hamza Farooqui
Publication Date:: 08-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Child Protection Services is Government of India’s (GoI’s) flagship programme to provide preventive and statutory care, and rehabilitation services to children in need of care and protection and those in conflict with the law as defined under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. This brief uses government data to analyse CPS performance along the following parameters: Trends in overall GoI allocations, releases and expenditures; State wise GoI releases and expenditures; Child Care Institutes (CCIs) and beneficiaries; Registered cases of crimes against children.
Topic:: Government, Children, Youth, and Social Services
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

324. Fly Ash Management in India: A Critique of existing and proposed frameworks

Author:: Vidya Viswanathan, Kanchi Kohli, and Manju Menon
Publication Date:: 08-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: On 22.04.2021, India’s Environment Ministry published a Draft Fly Ash Notification, which was open for public comments for 60 days and sought to replace the earlier notifications with respect to fly ash management since 1999. As a response to the draft, we made a submission to the Ministry on the need to reassess the approach, design and content of the fly ash related regulations. This submission highlighted five main issues that lead to enforcement challenges in regulating fly ash. The Environmental Justice Program at Centre for Policy Research has been studying the issue of fly ash mismanagement and its failures in Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Odisha. Based on our research on the regulatory gaps in fly ash management and the social and ecological impacts from it, we have put together a report which elaborates on the five main issues identified in the submission made to the Ministry. This report: Discusses the lacunae in the implementation of the existing fly ash management regulations using primary and secondary data. And compares the proposed draft against the backdrop of current status of fly ash management efforts.
Topic:: Environment, Pollution, and Management
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

325. Renewing India’s Air Quality Management Strategy in the Shadow of COVID-19

Author:: Santosh Harish
Publication Date:: 09-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: This framing paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge and the governance framework on air quality management in India. Air pollution is the second largest risk factor for public health in India, behind only child and maternal malnutrition. Although there has been an increase in the visibility of the issue in the media, public concern and government response, a coherent national policy strategy remains in its nascent stages. How could the ecosystem of actors engaging with air quality in India work towards a collective strategy that leads to sustained improvements throughout the country? This paper outlines the contours of such a strategy here, and has been written keeping a diverse audience in mind, along with pointed suggestions for domestic and global philanthropies working on air quality in India.
Topic:: Governance, Public Health, COVID-19, and Air Pollution
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

326. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

Author:: Sanjana Malhotra, Vastav Irava, Meghna Paul, and Avani Kapur
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is Government of India’s (GoI’s) flagship scheme to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a Financial Year (FY) to every rural household that demands work. To boost employment opportunities and cater to increased demand from an estimated 67 lakh returnee migrant workers, GoI launched the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) in mission mode for 116 districts across six states of the country. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brief uses government data to report on: Trends in MGNREGS allocations, releases, and expenditures; Scheme performance with respect to wages paid and employment provided given the increased demand for work; and Trends in finances and employment generation under GKRA.
Topic:: Government, Labor Issues, Employment, Rural, and Allocations
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

327. Jal Jeevan Mission

Author:: Sanjana Malhotra, Vastav Irava, and Avani Kapur
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is Government of India’s (GoI’s) rural drinking water programme to provide functional tap connections to every household for drinking, cooking, and other domestic needs on a sustainable basis by 2024. It subsumes the previous National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP). Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brief uses government data to report on: GoI allocations, releases, and expenditures; Component-wise trends; Progress on coverage
Topic:: Government, Water, Rural, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

328. Integrated Child Development Services

Author:: Ritwik Shukla, Sharad Pandey, and Avani Kapur
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Integrated Child Development Services is Government of India’s (GoI’s) flagship programme aimed at providing basic education, health, and nutrition services for early childhood development. It has now been combined with POSHAN Abhiyaan to form Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brief uses government data to analyse: Required funds, allocations, and releases; Changes in coverage and service delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Human resources; and Malnutrition status
Topic:: Education, Health, Budget, Social Services, COVID-19, and Child Development
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

329. Food Subsidy and the National Food Security Act

Author:: Jenny Susan John, Avani Kapur, and Mohammad Hamza Farooqui
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Food Subsidy is provided by the Government of India (GoI) for the supply and distribution of foodgrains and other essential commodities. The National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, ensured nutritional security became a right by providing adequate quantities of quality food at affordable prices to two-thirds of India’s population. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brief uses government data to analyse: Allocations, releases, and expenditures under Food Subsidy; Trends in storage/stocking, procurement and distribution of foodgrains; Coverage under NFSA; Trends in foodgrain allocation, offtake and distribution under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY); Status of adult malnutrition in India.
Topic:: Security, Food, Budget, COVID-19, and Subsidies
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

330. Ayushman Bharat

Author:: Ritwik Shukla and Avani Kapur
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: Ayushman Bharat, under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), was launched by Government of India (GoI) on 23 September 2018. The programme consists of two initiatives: (1) The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY); and (2) The establishment of 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs). Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this brief uses government data to analyse: Past trends in GoI allocations, releases, and expenditures; Eligibility and claims under PMJAY till September 2020; and Number of operational HWCs, staff in-position, and footfall.
Topic:: Health, Budget, Welfare, COVID-19, and Allocations
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

331. Experiences of Frontline Workers in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author:: Accountability Initiative
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Case Study
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: This study examines the evolving role and experiences of Frontline Workers (FLWs) during and after the nation-wide lockdown in 2020. The findings provide insights into how FLWs shouldered additional responsibilities, how they have adapted to the disruption of routine health and nutrition related services, and how they have initiated creative responses to help the system adapt to the ‘new normal’.
Topic:: Health, Public Policy, COVID-19, and Nutrition
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

332. Tracking Finances under Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK)

Author:: Accountability Initiative
Publication Date:: 04-2021
Content Type:: Case Study
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: The Rashtriya Kishore Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) is an adolescent health Programme within the ambit of the National Health Mission (NHM). This study focusses on the expenditures and fund flows of RKSK in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh (UP). It uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Topic:: Health, Finance, and Accountability
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

333. Compensatory climate governance in Indian federalism

Author:: Aditya Valiathan Pillai and Navroz K. Dubash
Publication Date:: 04-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:: It is on the precarious and ever-shifting terrain of Indian federalism that a modern edifice of climate governance must be built. Where is the firm ground? Are there enduring characteristics of centre-state relations that let us arrive at a relatively stable description of Indian climate governance? In this working paper, we arrive at a synthetic account of the constant forces shaping climate governance in India’s federal architecture, building on descriptions of environmental federalism and state actions in climate policy. We argue that the highly asymmetric nature of Indian federalism — a federal government holds the reins of state finances and constitutes the bulk of planning and bureaucratic capacity — makes compensatory relations between centre and states inescapable in climate governance. Emergent practices have involved the use of institutional channels of fiscal transfer and federally mandated planning processes to help catalyse climate activity across India’s states. States have taken fragments of the national agenda and adapted them to local political contexts that are hitherto innocent of ‘climate’ politics phrased as such. They play the role of marrying broader mitigation and adaptation concerns to local development. In the process, they contribute to the compensatory dynamic by creating a stream of policy ideas that then come to define the national response through channels of federal diffusion.
Topic:: Climate Change, Governance, and Federalism
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

334. The Sikh Struggle for Khalistan: Refocusing on the Punjabi Suba (Province) Movement in India

Author:: Amir Ali
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Political Studies
Institution:: Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:: This study problematizes the Sikh’s demand for Khalistan, a separate country of their own. To begin with, they demanded a greater degree of political autonomy within the domains of India. During the colonial period the Sikhs supported the Indian National Congress’s demand for the division of Punjab and inclusion of the East Punjab into Bharat. But soon after the creation of Bharat(India), `the Sikhs realized that they were betrayed and they started to vow for more autonomy. Initially, they felt that PEPSU was a step towards their aspirations but later they felt that they had missed the train and moved for Punjabi Province. After much deliberation and delaying tactics, finally the Punjab emerged on the Indian Territory in the form that always proved a nightmare for the Sikh community.
Topic:: Multiculturalism, European Union, Refugee Crisis, Arab Spring, and Autonomy
Political Geography:: Europe, India, and Syria

335. Intrastate Hydro Politics: Issues of Hydro Resource Management in India

Author:: Nusrat Asif, Asia Mukhtar, and Hafiz Abdur Rashid
Publication Date:: 07-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Political Studies
Institution:: Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:: This article addresses the intrastate hydro issues and conflicts in India. With the advancement of industrial development, the issue of hydro resource sharing and acquisition has emerged as a major issue in the country. Presently Indian states are facing serious disputes over the hydro resource sharing formulas and construction of mega water reservoirs over the shared water resources. Water deprivation has even compelled some states to demand for themselves a separate state, causing alienation from the Indian federation. This article strives to look into the parameters adopted by the federal government of India for resolution of the issues. It also investigates how India has been unable to adopt and devise a permanent hydro management policy. The expert view opines that if the grim hydro management situation is not addressed properly it may lead to water scarcity and consequent deteriorated internal political scenario. This article suggests that this issue can be resolved through viable hydro management strategies that involve all stakeholders with a positive purpose to satisfy each one of them. Ultimately, it is suggested that unless India improves its water sharing mechanisms with the neighboring countries, the internal strategies to resolve the issue would go in vain.
Topic:: Natural Resources, Water, and Disputes
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

336. UN Human Rights Council Elections for 2022-2024 and the Responsibility to Protect

Author:: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Publication Date:: 10-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Abstract:: Today, 14 October, the UN General Assembly elected Argentina, Benin, Cameroon, Eritrea, Finland, The Gambia, Honduras, India, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Montenegro, Paraguay, Qatar, Somalia, United Arab Emirates and the United States of America to the Human Rights Council (HRC) for the 2022-2024 term. With the elections of Argentina, Finland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Paraguay, Qatar and the United States of America, 19 of the 47 Council members in 2022 will be “Friends of the Responsibility to Protect” – having appointed an R2P Focal Point and/or joined the Group of Friends of R2P in New York and Geneva. The Human Rights Council and its mechanisms and procedures – including the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), investigative mechanisms, special procedures and treaty bodies, as well as the technical assistance provided by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – all play an essential role in providing early warning of the risk factors that can lead to crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide, and provide recommendations to prevent their recurrence. The election of Cameroon, Eritrea and the United Arab Emirates – states that have a history of violating human rights and perpetrating atrocities at home or abroad – undermines the credibility of the HRC. States elected to the HRC are supposed to demonstrate their commitment to the highest standards of human rights, including their full cooperation with all UN mechanisms. These are conditions set forth in UN General Assembly Resolution 60/251. The fact that potential mass atrocity crimes are being perpetrated by a number of HRC member states is deeply disturbing. The Global Centre has compiled profiles on each of the newly elected Human Rights Council members. These provide a basic overview of their commitment to prevent mass atrocities by protecting and promoting human rights.
Topic:: Human Rights, United Nations, Elections, and Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Political Geography:: Malaysia, India, Finland, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Argentina, Qatar, Somalia, Honduras, Montenegro, Paraguay, Eritrea, United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, Cameroon, United States of America, Benin, and Gambia

337. Journal of Advanced Military Studies: Special Issue on Strategic Culture

Author:: Ali Parchami, Ofer Fridman, Neil Munro, W. A. Rivera, Evan Kerrane, Matthew Brummer, Eitan Oren, Katie C. Finlinson, Mark Briskey, Ben Connable, Benjamin Potter, Emilee Matheson, Jeffrey Taylor, and Dr. Jose de Arimateia da Cruz
Publication Date:: 12-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Journal of Advanced Military Studies
Institution:: Marine Corps University Press, National Defense University
Abstract:: An ironic feature of U.S. strategic culture is a rather distinctive disinterest in the study of our own or others’ strategic cultures. The U.S. security institutions find themselves energized about cultural study during irregular conflicts in which the cost of cultural ignorance is made plain, but they persist in under developing the ability to apply that same cultural acumen to great power conflict and key relationships with allies. During the last 100 years of fighting, U.S. defense institutions have repeated a pattern of investing in cultural study during short bursts of counterinsurgency fighting and then abandoning it along with its lessons learned at the termination of conflict. As a consequence, U.S. planning efforts—including those now being designed for future great power conflict—suffer from an unnecessarily narrow optic and fail to account for the full range of perspectives and plausible courses of action considered by an adversary. America’s allies know it and are frustrated by it. More importantly, U.S. adversaries know it and plan to exploit it. The study of strategic culture accounts for the ways in which the culture of a group, whether it be the constructed culture of a nascent terrorist organization or the enduring culture of a nation, impacts thinking and decision making regarding defensive and offensive approaches to security. Within a complex state like Russia or China, one must account for sweeping national narratives that cultivate collective mentalities and impact decision making but must also include the internal cultures of key organizations within the nation’s security community. These organizations often develop distinctive identities, values, perceptions, and habits of practice that can be consequential in moments when the organization’s leaders wield instruments of state power. In the first section of this special edition of the Journal of Advanced Military Studies (JAMS) on strategic culture, Drs. Ali Parchami, Ofer Fridman, Neil Munro, W. A. Rivera, and Major Evan Kerrane provide strategic culture profiles on key U.S. adversaries: Iran, Russia, and China. Their work reflects the complexity involved in identifying and analyzing the narratives and drivers that compete for dominance across these three strategic culture landscapes. Acquainting ourselves with the multivariate and often-contested internal constructs that produce the behavior of our adversaries helps expand our own thinking about the range of possible and plausible competitive strategies we are likely to see from them. The second section of this issue highlights the utility of understanding not only U.S. adversaries but also American allies and partners. Drs. Matthew Brummer and Eitan Oren examine the effort by Japan’s military leaders to shift their own strategic culture through an influence campaign aimed at altering domestic perceptions concerning the appropriate role for the military and thereby expanding its ability to more actively cooperate with the United States in maintaining peace and stability in Asia. Whether they are successful has direct implications for U.S. alliance constructs in the Pacific and the action that might be reasonably expected from Japan should U.S. conflict with China become kinetic. Katie C. Finlinson offers analysis that benefits U.S. deterrence and nonproliferation efforts. She employs a two-tiered research approach— leveraging both strategic culture and analysis of national role conception—as a useful framework for assessing the propensity of the United Arab Emirates to consider weaponizing civilian nuclear knowledge and infrastructure. Finlinson offers an approach repeatable for other potential over-the-horizon states and demonstrates the interplay between a state’s strategic culture and powerful exogenous factors—like security assurances from the United States and potential nuclear acquisition by Iran—in determining outcomes. Finally, Dr. Mark Briskey offers a look at the aspects of Pakistan’s strategic culture that exist as an outgrowth of its army’s most formative historic experiences and have resulted in deeply entrenched perceptions of self, of key adversaries, and perceptions of the past that must be understood by Western partners seeking Pakistan’s cooperation and partnership in the region. Our third section offers a close look at the ways in which cultural analysis can illuminate policy options on particularly difficult problem sets. One of these is assessing will to fight on the part of both allies and adversaries. Dr. Ben Connable recommends a diagnostic tool developed and trialed by the Rand Corporation that demonstrates promise in advancing the ability of defense institutions to anticipate will to fight in kinetic conflicts but also will to act in consequential ways by great powers engaged in strategic competition. Benjamin Potter, Emilee Matheson, and Jeffrey Taylor follow with applications of the Cultural Topography Framework, an approach to cultural data assessment and application that benefits from the insights supplied by the sort of comprehensive strategic culture profiles offered in section one of this issue and translates these into actionable intelligence against discrete problem sets. Their work, respectively, illuminates policy options for containing a potentially escalatory situation in Transnistria, decreasing violence and looting through a more effective reintegration strategy for former members of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa, and reexamining the value of technological advances in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which may be having a deleterious impact on its deterrence strategy. The special issue concludes with a review essay by Dr. José de Arimatéia da Cruz, which offers readers critical analysis of three volumes of strategic culture scholarship. The articles collected for the special issue demonstrate a range of ways in which the study of strategic culture delivers critical insights to policy planners and strategists. Understanding other great powers on their own terms—the identities they seek to establish or defend, the values that inform their policies, the norms of strategic competition or warfighting that they deem acceptable and effective, and the worldview they espouse (whether an accurate fit with objective realities or not)—prepares policy makers to craft plans and strategies in ways that are tailored for maximum advantage vis-à-vis a particular adversary. Given the steady shutdown of cultural inquiry labs and training facilities across the U.S. defense and security community, it is worth issuing a stern reminder that the advantage of knowing one’s enemy is far more consequential when engaged in great power conflict than in the irregular conflicts in which U.S. institutions have learned its worth. This issue of JAMS is provided as a resource to both reinforce that point and supply a wealth of initial material in advancing it.
Topic:: Nuclear Weapons, War, History, Power Politics, Realism, Strategic Competition, Resistance, Identity, and Strategic Culture
Political Geography:: Pakistan, Russia, Japan, Iran, Middle East, India, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America

338. Missile developments in South Asia: a perspective from Pakistan

Author:: International Institute for Strategic Studies
Publication Date:: 05-2021
Content Type:: Research Paper
Institution:: International Institute for Strategic Studies
Abstract:: India and Pakistan continue to develop their missile-delivery systems and associated nuclear inventories, raising concerns of a regional arms race. While Indian doctrine appears intended to fight a ‘two-front war’ against Pakistan and China, the extent to which India’s missile inventory is balanced, or otherwise, is a cause of disquiet in Islamabad. Many of the new missile systems being added to India’s inventory appear to be more suited to target Pakistan than China. This disconnect between India’s threat perception and missile developments not only risks eroding the credibility of its deterrence posture vis-à-vis China, but also courts an action–reaction dynamic with Pakistan. Islamabad, in response to how it views Indian developments, is in turn making qualitative improvements to its missile arsenal, with the intention of deterring limited conflict to an all-out war. The resultant arms race in the missile arena, however, is moving on two different trajectories. This paper discusses ongoing missile developments in South Asia, and how India and Pakistan have used different delivery systems as signalling mechanisms during past crises in an attempt to achieve their respective military or political objectives. It is also useful to examine Pakistan’s posture of Full-Spectrum Deterrence (FSD) in the context of India’s Cold Start doctrine, introduced in 2004 and apparently intended to allow India to explore options for a limited war in cases where there is a risk of crossing the nuclear threshold. The paper also reviews whether doctrinal ambiguities can be discerned in India’s declaratory nuclear policies, especially New Delhi’s claim of maintaining a credible minimum deterrence (CMD) and how this can be squared with the goal of being able to cope with a ‘two-front war’.
Topic:: Security, Defense Policy, Military Strategy, Missile Defense, and Rivalry
Political Geography:: Pakistan, China, India, and Asia

339. Missile developments in Southern Asia: a perspective from India

Author:: Manpreet Sethi
Publication Date:: 06-2021
Content Type:: Special Report
Institution:: International Institute for Strategic Studies
Abstract:: Credible nuclear deterrence presupposes the availability and integration of certain essential components that collectively constitute a nuclear arsenal. Delivery systems, deployable across a variety of platforms and of requisite range and reliability, are one such critical element. Accordingly, in the last decade the three nuclear-armed states in Southern Asia − China, India and Pakistan − have been engaged in developing missiles that they consider necessary to support their respective deterrent needs. This paper identifies recent trends in missile development in the region, focusing on the above-mentioned states. It captures capability trends, considers the differing capability emphasis among the three countries depending on their approach to nuclear deterrence and assesses the impact of missile developments on strategic stability.
Topic:: Security, Nuclear Weapons, Military Strategy, Deterrence, and Strategic Stability
Political Geography:: Pakistan, China, India, and Asia

340. Mapping Religion, Space, and Economic Outcomes in Indian Cities

Author:: Sripad Motiram and Vamsi Valuabharanam
Publication Date:: 08-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:: We deploy a socio-spatial approach and use a spatially representative survey that we conducted in Hyderabad and Mumbai to analyze the relation between city space and religion. After documenting the relative status of religious groups in urban India and different types of cities using secondary databases, we identify poor-ghettos and elite-enclaves in Hyderabad and Mumbai. In both cities, ghettos have a high proportion of Muslims, while enclaves are dominated by non-Muslim inhabitants. Ghettoization of Muslims is far more pronounced in Hyderabad than in Mumbai. A key finding on the relation between city space and religion is that compared to segregated neighborhoods, mixed (“grayer”) neighborhoods produce better economic outcomes like lower poverty. We argue that while Indian cities are becoming less integrated along religious lines over the last 3-4 decades, this process is far from complete, and needs to be reversed.
Topic:: Economics, Religion, Space, and Cities
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

341. India and Iran Relations under the Shadow of Global Politics: A Brief Historical Overview

Author:: Mukhtar Ahmad Bhat
Publication Date:: 10-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: Novus Orbis: Journal of Politics & International Relations
Institution:: Department of International Relations, Karadeniz Technical University
Abstract:: In contemporary world politics, India and Iran occupy great strategic significance. Both countries have huge convergence of national interests. Collaboration and cooperation between the countries would resolve their respective domestic issues and challenges and play a determining role in strengthening their role in global affairs. For a fast-growing economy and energy deficit country like India, Iran provides access to a huge amount of natural resources and opens up its vast untapped market for Indian finished goods and services. In addition to that, Iran, due to its geographic location can act as a transit route for India to reach strategically important countries in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Being the second-largest Shia populated country in the world after Iran and one of the highest energy importing countries, India occupies an important place in the strategic thinking of Iran. In the past, India was the second-largest oil-exporting destination for Iran and an important trading partner for Iran. Taking the structural realism as a theoretical framework, the article attempts to seek an answer to the questions, why despite belonging to a single-family, living together for many centuries and sharing common social, religious and traditional values, the two countries have been unable to transform their mutual understanding into a long term strategic partnership, and how the global events have affected their mutual understanding and replaced it with trust deficit.
Topic:: Security, Diplomacy, Bilateral Relations, and Strategic Interests
Political Geography:: Iran, Middle East, India, and Asia

342. Work and Social Reproduction in Rural India: Lessons from Time-Use Data

Author:: Smita Ramnarain, Sirisha Naidu, Anupama Uppal, and Avanti Mukherjee
Publication Date:: 01-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts Amherst
Abstract:: Even as the literature on work in the Global South acknowledges the importance of forms of non-waged work, it has not sufficiently incorporated consideration of the labor of social reproduction. We propose understanding work through four conceptual dyads: waged productive labor, non-waged productive labor, waged reproductive labor, and non-waged reproductive labor. Through an in-depth description of three specific cases from a Time Use Survey we conducted in rural Punjab, India, we argue not only that all four dyads are required to encompass the world of work, but that this more expansive conceptualization can help us produce richer analyses of the intersections of class, caste, and gender.
Topic:: Political Economy, Labor Issues, Class, Caste, Gender, and Social Reproduction
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

343. Creating a Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Focused Credit Risk Database in India: An Exploratory Study

Author:: Savita Shankar
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Center for the Advanced Study of India
Abstract:: Despite being the focus of numerous policy initiatives, the credit gap of the MSME sector in India has been persistent. An investment in tapping the data being generated by lenders to build a database to inform future lending is likely to improve the quality of lending decisions over time. This, in turn, has the potential to further expand MSME loan access and reduce MSME borrowing costs. To realize this objective, a credit risk database (CRD) has been found to play a useful role in catalyzing collateral and guarantee free loans for SMEs in Japan. The availability of the OCEN network and the account aggregator framework offers an opportunity to create a CRD involving banks and NBFCs at relatively low incremental cost. The CRD’s role will be distinct from that of credit bureaus and rating agencies as it is based on financial and default data for the sector as a whole, rather than for individual entities. The main benefits of CRD include the development of credit scoring models based on nationwide data and the availability of benchmarks for different segments of the MSME sector. Additional benefits are that the credit scores from the models could be used to develop a more sophisticated pricing mechanism for guarantees and for potentially aiding MSME loan securitizations
Topic:: Microcredit, Risk, Credit, and Resource-Backed Loans
Political Geography:: India

344. A Solid Handoff in the U.S-India Relationship

Author:: Kenneth I. Juster
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: The Ambassadors Review
Institution:: Council of American Ambassadors
Abstract:: The conventional wisdom is that the foreign policy of Donald Trump’s Administration severely damaged relations with U.S. allies and partners. Commentators point to repeated criticism by the United States of friends in Europe and Asia, as well as the abrupt withdrawal from trade and other arrangements. But such critics overlook the U.S. relationship with India, which made significant advances and will be an area of substantial continuity in Joseph Biden’s Administration. The U.S.-India partnership has grown steadily since the turn of the century, with the past four years seeing major progress in diplomatic, defense, economic, energy and health cooperation. The strengthened bilateral relationship has become the backbone of an Indo-Pacific strategy designed to promote peace and prosperity in a dynamic and contested region. The longstanding U.S. commitment to the Indo-Pacific has underpinned the stability and remarkable economic rise of this region over the last 70 years. While the concept of the Indo-Pacific has been many years in the making, in the past four years the United States and India have turned it into a reality. For the United States, the Indo-Pacific agenda meant working with India to provide coordinated leadership in addressing the threat from an expansionist China, the need for more economic connectivity and other challenges in the region.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Hegemony
Political Geography:: China, India, Asia, North America, and United States of America

345. How Do Indian Americans View India? Results From the 2020 Indian American Attitudes Survey

Author:: Sumitra Badrinathan, Devesh Kapur, and Milan Vaishnav
Publication Date:: 02-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: Indian Americans are now the second-largest immigrant group in the United States. Their growing political influence and the role the diaspora plays in Indian foreign policy therefore raises important questions—about how Indian Americans view India, the political changes underway there, and the course of U.S.-India relations. Since coming to power in 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made outreach to the far-flung Indian diaspora a signature element of his government’s foreign policy. Modi’s courtship of the diaspora has been especially notable in the United States, where the Indian American population has swelled to more than 4 million and has become the second-largest immigrant group in the United States.1 In two separate, large rallies on U.S. soil—in 2014 and 2019—Modi sought to highlight the achievements of the diaspora, outlining the many ways in which they can support India’s interests from afar while underscoring their increasingly substantial economic, political, and social influence in the United States. These high-octane gatherings, however, naturally lead to a series of questions: How do Indians in America regard India, and how do they remain connected to developments there? What are their attitudes toward Indian politics and changes underway in their ancestral homeland? And what role, if any, do they envision for the United States in engaging with India?
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Immigration, Public Opinion, and Survey
Political Geography:: South Asia, India, North America, and United States of America

346. The Road from Galwan: The Future of India-China Relations

Author:: Vijay Gokhale
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: China and India struggle to comprehend each other’s international ambitions. The misperceptions that follow lead to a lack of trust, border skirmishes, and potentially worse. On June 15, 2020, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a brawl that left twenty Indian soldiers dead while causing an unspecified number of Chinese casualties. The clash is a part of a broader border standoff along the Galwan River between the two forces on the Line of Actual Control that is yet to be resolved. The Indian strategic community is broadly in agreement that this border dispute marks an implacable decline in India-China ties. They argue that the very basis of relations that emerged after former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Beijing in 1988 has been shaken, if not destroyed. Yet, how did the two countries manage to reach this nadir in ties, and furthermore, what does the Galwan clash signify for the future of Sino-Indian relations? This paper argues that, long before the present border dispute occurred, Sino-Indian relations had been steadily declining due to rampant misperceptions of the other side, contributing to a lack of trust. The most fundamental misperception between the two countries is the inability to comprehend each other’s international ambitions, yielding the fear that their foreign policies are targeted against the other. This paper traces the impact and development of these misperceptions on Sino-Indian ties through three different phases before considering the future of the relationship after the Galwan dispute.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Bilateral Relations, Territorial Disputes, and Borders
Political Geography:: China, South Asia, India, and Asia

347. India’s Sustained Economic Recovery Will Require Changes to Its Bankruptcy Law

Author:: Anirudh Burman
Publication Date:: 04-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: As India’s economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, Indian businesses need efficient financial structures to regain their ground. Key reforms to India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code could fill these gaps. One of the key drivers of economic recovery in India will be the efficient movement of capital from inefficient firms to efficient ones. The economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic has been severe, and India’s economy was one of the worst affected in 2020–2021. Though the economy is recovering faster than initial estimates, sustained economic recovery will not take place if stressed businesses cannot restructure their debts properly or if failing firms cannot be resolved efficiently. India’s bankruptcy law is key to solving these challenges. In 2016 India enacted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), which was a landmark reform to the nation’s financial system and the first comprehensive law to regulate insolvency.1 But the IBC has been suspended for a period of one year since the COVID-19-related lockdown was imposed in March 2020. In its place, India’s banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has introduced a limited restructuring scheme for COVID-19-related stress in the meantime. Older mechanisms for insolvency that are still in operation have historically not worked according to expectations. As the one-year period of suspension comes to a close, this paper argues that bringing back the IBC—with adequate modifications—is an important prerequisite for sustained economic growth. India historically suffered from a patchwork framework of insolvency laws that either did not give lenders adequate powers to recover their debts upon default or only catered to the interests of certain kinds of lenders—to the exclusion of others.2 The IBC is a modern and comprehensive bankruptcy law that since its enactment has had a significant role in reducing the problem of nonperforming assets (NPAs), or “bad loans,” in India’s financial system. In the wake of the economic disruption caused by COVID-19, the Indian government suspended the operation of critical parts of the IBC. These changes meant that lenders could not trigger insolvency proceedings against defaulting businesses if the default occurred after March 20, 2020. While this suspension possibly prevented unnecessary business failures and provided a “calm period” for the economy, these measures have outlived their utility.
Topic:: Law, Finance, Economy, and COVID-19
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

348. Measuring Trade Facilitation: Evidence from India

Author:: Vijay Singh Chauhan and Sruti Vijayakumar
Publication Date:: 05-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: The World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement has placed trade facilitation initiatives high on the agenda of international governments. This case study of India studies what trade facilitation may mean for a fast-paced economy. In this paper the authors use the trigger presented by the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) to undertake a comprehensive review of various publicly available studies for India relating to performance measurement of the ecosystem that handles the cross-border movement of goods, focusing on the period since 2015. The paper summarizes the results of six key composite performance indicators—namely, (1) the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) trade facilitation indicators (TFIs); (2) the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Index; (3) the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI); (4) the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Competitiveness Index (GCI); (5) the World Bank’s World Governance Indicators (WGIs); and (6) the United Nations’ Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation (GSTF-PTI). This paper, by examining these composite survey-based indicators and the intertemporal trends they exhibit for India, reveals that they have not been moving in agreement with each other and that some of the trends are evidently counterintuitive. A comparison between delineated subindicators of select composite indicators sometimes indicates surprising trends. Import cargo release times (a performance measurement prescribed by the TFA) for the largest containerized port in the country, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), have been extracted from various studies that have relied on the data from the customs automation system; the container tracking system, which employs radio-frequency identification (RFID); and survey-based studies, including the Trading Across Borders (TAB) component of the World Bank’s EODB Index. These import cargo release time studies present a consistent trend of improvement since 2017. The paper, therefore, highlights the greater robustness of cargo release time trends, based particularly on technology-enabled data-driven studies as a more meaningful metric for measurement of performance of border management agencies and practices vis-à-vis survey or perception-based indicators representing “enablers” of trade facilitation.
Topic:: Economics, Trade, and WTO
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

349. Tracking Reforms in Land Leasing and Change in Land Use: Insights From Gujarat and Karnataka

Author:: Ankit Bhatia
Publication Date:: 05-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:: As India’s economy has become more urban and industrialized, property and land rights have evolved, too. In the states of Gujarat and Karnataka, key reforms in land leasing and change in land use show what may—and what may not—be a path forward. India is primarily an agrarian society. More than 60 percent of its population is dependent on agriculture and allied services and dwells in rural areas. In the past couple of decades, India has attempted to shift away from its rural-agrarian base toward an urban-industrialized economy. In this journey, it encountered many challenges, but none remain as severe and persistent as the ones related to the assignment and balancing of land and property rights. Land governance in India remains historically complex, politically sensitive, and economically inefficient. In recent times, state governments have attempted proactive measures to reform the sector and bring greater efficiency to land markets. Despite the exigency of these reforms, issues surrounding equity, abuse of power, and nexus among powerbrokers remain central and require thorough analysis. To unpack the fuller effects of the recent reforms, this paper aims to examine key reforms in land leasing and change in land use sub-sectors initiated by Gujarat and Karnataka states. The paper takes a comparative assessment approach to decipher the nuances and complexities of land governances in the two states. Given that land has deep historical connections, this paper briefly delves into the historical evolution of land leasing and change in land use regulation in the two states. The historical analysis highlights the political economy context of each sector and is followed by an in-depth review of the recent reforms. The paper covers reforms effectuated through legislative, executive, and judiciary actions. This approach allows a comprehensive tracking of different mechanisms at play. The paper brings out some interesting findings. In both the states, the change in land use sub-sector was able to reform more frequently than the land leasing sub-sector. Despite both states relying upon all three branches of government to initiate reforms, executive action was used most frequently. On occasion, the judiciary played a critical role, especially when lower branches passed judgments that provided windfall relaxation to the protective regulation. Further, the paper finds that most reforms were not structural in nature; they were merely attempts to ease the restrictions on the transfer of agricultural land. In a complete departure from past objectives, recent reforms attempted to dilute the protective framework of land leasing and change in land use regulation. It is understandable that socioeconomic and political realities have shifted and the archaic regulation may not serve its intended purpose. However, the recent reforms have failed to show a concrete new direction. Instead, they largely focused on allowing a greater transfer of land resources to industries, pushing toward more capital-intensive agriculture, and promoting digitalization of land-related governance and public service delivery.
Topic:: Reform, Economy, Urban, and Land Reform
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

350. Do gendered laws matter for women’s economic empowerment?

Author:: Marie Hyland, Simeon Djankov, and Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg
Publication Date:: 03-2021
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: Peterson Institute for International Economics
Abstract:: reater legal equality between men and women is associated with a narrower gender gap in opportunities and outcomes, fewer female workers in positions of vulnerable employment, and greater political representation for women. While legal equality is on average associated with better outcomes for women, the experience of individual countries may differ significantly from this average trend, depending on the countries’ stage of development (as proxied by per capita GDP). Case studies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, and Spain demonstrate this deviation. Especially in developing countries, legislative measures may not necessarily translate into actual empowerment, due mainly to deeply entrenched social norms, which render legal reforms ineffective. Women are more likely than men to be in vulnerable employment in low- and lower-middle-income economies but less likely than men to be in vulnerable employment in upper-middle- and high-income economies. Analysis of a 50-year panel of gendered laws in 190 countries reveals that country attributes that do not vary or change only slowly over time—such as a country’s legal origin, form of government, geographic characteristics, and dominant religion—explain a very large portion of the variation across countries. This finding suggests that the path to legal equality between men and women may be a long and arduous one. Nevertheless, the data also show that the past five decades have seen considerable progress toward legal gender equality. Gendered laws do evolve, suggesting a role for legal reforms in women’s economic empowerment.
Topic:: Gender Issues, Law, Women, Inequality, and Economy
Political Geography:: Africa, Europe, South Asia, India, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Spain

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