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791. Organizing Old Age Pensions for India’s Informal Workers: A Case Study of a Sector-Driven Approach

Author:
M.R. Narayana
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
Abstract:
About 88 percent of India’s total labor force is composed of informal (officially labeled “unorganized”) workers. As many as 388 million such workers lack old age income security by way of a pension system. The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is the latest contributory, national-level old age pension scheme for unorganized workers, with an entry age of 18–40 years. In other words, all current unorganized workers above the age of 40 are excluded. How could a national pension system viably guarantee equal pension benefits to all current unorganized workers? This paper considers how such a system might work by offering a case study of a non-contributory pension scheme for building and other construction workers in Karnataka State, India. The results indicate that this state-level pension scheme, fully funded by sector-specific receipts, is financially viable and sustainable with high levels of coverage and adequacy. The robustness of these results is shown via sensitivity analyses of discount rates, inflation rates, and growth rates of specific purpose tax collections. Additional analyses outline the scenarios under which pension benefits could be extended to all informal workers in the sector studied.
Topic:
Labor Issues, Work Culture, Unions, and Pension
Political Geography:
India and Asia

792. India-China Relations: Conflict and Cooperation in Indo-Pacific Region

Author:
Balwinder Singh
Publication Date:
07-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
From the last three decades, the Indo-Pacific has been a central theme in the global geopolitical scenario. India, China, and several other rising powers have shifted the balance of power. Thus, Indo-Pacific region marks instability and uncertainty especially caused by consistent crises of the world economy. In the present globalized era, both India and China are paramount drivers of the global economy. They are simultaneously reacting to this shifted balance of power in Indo-Pacific region. The actions of China and India towards each other and especially in Indo-Pacific region have significantly changed in last decades. At present, the Indian government has started to focus on Indo-Pacific region. The Trump Administration has focused India to contain China in Indo-Pacific region. At that moment, the Indo-Pacific region has thus become more important region than ever before. The geo-strategic significance of the Indo-Pacific region has attracted the main global-powers to preserve their strategic interests in this region. So, the Indo-Pacific has got enormous significance in the present context. From the last few years, the region has got international acknowledgment. The US`s Asia-pivot policy and China’s ‘String of Pearl’ policy have been focusing on India. The geopolitical importance of the Indo-Pacific region has dragged the western powers to counterweight growing Chinese power. That’s why; Indo-Pacific has shaped the new subject of divergence between China and India. Yet, there is no need to undermine the enlarging economic relations between the two big nations of Asia. This study also examines that how US and Pakistan are affecting the bilateral India-China relations. The study observes that how India and China satisfying their strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Thus, the study tries to find out the new issues of cooperation and conflict between the two nations. Thus, the study tries to find out the new issues of cooperation and conflict between the two nations.
Topic:
International Cooperation, Bilateral Relations, and Conflict
Political Geography:
China, India, and Asia

793. Belt and Road Initiative: Regional and Global Dimensions

Author:
Muhammad Iqbal Chawla
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
This paper is an attempt to explore the regional significance and global dimensions of the Chinese President Xi Jin Ping’s vision and initiative regarding Belt and Road which can transform adjacent countries like Afghanistan, Central Asian Republican States (CARS), India, Iran, Nepal and Pakistan into a real economic hub in coming time. Belt and road initiative is a mega project which includes; massive road connectivity, geographical linkages, rail and road transportation system, people to people contacts, development of understanding through cultural, academic, business and professional exchanges for the progress and prosperity of this vast region. In fact, the initiative of China Pakistan Economic Corridor is one of the mega projects which focuses; the creation of new regional connectivity through Gwadar Sea Port, giving direct access to Chinese goods from Kashgar (China) towards Gwadar (Pakistan). Hence, this development of faster infrastructure of rail, roads, towards maritime transportation and communication is an important project which can connect the countries of the area like Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Central Asia as well as Iran. Thus, the Gwadar Port will connect China, Russia, Middle East, Central Asia and South East Asia. The OBOR and CPEC are a burning issue and much debated topic in today’s Pakistan and world at large. In Pakistan mostly people believe that the CPEC will be a major source of economic development, peace and prosperity. On the one hand, US and India nexus, is trying to develop negative image about the project of CPEC by creating the impression of another colonial domination on the Pakistan territory in the form of Chinese presence. India is making all efforts, to sabotage and to damage the credibility of the CPEC project. This paper by delving and investigating the OBOR and CPEC connections will try to encapsulate the regional importance, dimensions of the project of Belt and Road initiative.
Topic:
Infrastructure, Soft Power, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Pakistan, China, South Asia, Central Asia, India, and United States of America

794. Indo-US Nexus to Isolate Pakistan: Options and Responses

Author:
Ashfaq Ahmad Malik and Nazir Hussain
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
India-Pakistan conflict is one of the most complicated and protracted conflicts in modern time, clouded by historical, ideological, religious, and political sentimentality. Beyond these, the diplomatic uncertainty between the two countries has proven to be capable of being transnational and international. Following the Indo-US strategic alliance, there is a growing perception that New Delhi is increasingly demonstrating and deepening its hegemonic designs in South Asia and beyond. Under the BJP government, such hegemonic proclivity has exacerbated the mistrust and the gulf of understanding between New Delhi and Islamabad. With the blessing of Washington, the BJP government has changed the dynamic of the mistrust. To this end, the paper addresses the current dynamics twofold. The first part of the paper looks at Modi’s effort geared at isolating Pakistan, the second discusses the mutual effort of Modi and Trump to politically and diplomatically ostracise Pakistan within the comity of nations. The last part of the paper discusses the three ways Pakistan should respond to the individual and combine efforts of Modi and Trump.
Topic:
Hegemony, Partnerships, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, India, and United States of America

795. Food Security: Understanding Pakistan’s National Security Concerns

Author:
Iram Khalid
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Food security has established as a concern of national security in terms of state development and progress.. Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Concerns of food security and economic development act together reinforcing one another in the practice of development. A country which is not able to generate the required food and lacks resources and affordability of buying food from the international marketplace meeting the gap of supply and demand is not a state that is sufficient in food sovereignty. Food Security therefore is essential for national security.
Topic:
Climate Change, National Security, Urbanization, and Food Security
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and India

796. Monitoring Uranium Mining and Milling in India and Pakistan through Remote Sensing Imagery

Author:
Melissa Hanham, Grace Liu, Joseph Rodgers, and Ben McIntosh
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:
CNS Occasional Paper #41 details existing and potential uranium mines and mills in India and Pakistan as part of an ongoing project to track uranium production in Asian states that possess nuclear weapons. As non-signatories to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, India and Pakistan face challenges procuring fissile material from foreign sources. Both countries have ongoing nuclear-weapon programs, clear and increasing demands to supply their nuclear-energy programs, and domestic production deficits. The continuing and increasing demand for uranium in India and Pakistan indicates that domestic uranium production is likely to grow significantly in the near future. This paper explores remote-sensing techniques that can allow open-source analysts to monitor and track front-end uranium production activity in these countries. India and Pakistan both have plans to expand their nuclear-energy industries, increasing both countries’ demands for uranium. However, without membership in the NPT, both countries face a multitude of challenges to importing uranium. They are not entitled to receive nuclear-related technologies from nuclear-weapon states, nor are they allowed to trade nuclear materials with any NPT states parties. This leaves only non-signatory countries as possible trading partners: Israel, North Korea, and South Sudan. Pakistan has a history of trade with North Korea through the now-defunct A.Q. Khan network. Both India and Pakistan are expanding existing uranium mines and mills and funding exploratory research into new sites for uranium-resource exploitation. Both countries still rely heavily on domestic production of uranium resources, which allows analysts to gain significant insight into their nuclear capabilities by monitoring domestic uranium-production sites. The operational output of a mine or processing plant can be gauged by weighing numerous factors, including the amounts of vehicle traffic, construction on the site, tailings and waste piles, and changes in the surrounding environment.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Power, Surveillance, Mining, and Uranium
Political Geography:
Pakistan, India, and Asia

797. Russia-India relations: Long-term obstacles remain despite sectoral achievements

Author:
Marcin Kaczmarski
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA)
Abstract:
Despite concrete achievements in energy and military-technical cooperation, long-term trends, such as Russia’s growing dependence on China, India’s tilt towards the US, and tense Sino-Indian relations are not conducive to closer strategic cooperation between Moscow and New Delhi.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Energy Policy, and International Cooperation
Political Geography:
Russia, China, Europe, India, and Asia

798. Reading Discourses of Power and Violence in Emerging Kashmiri Literature in English: The Collaborator and Curfewed Night

Author:
Amrita Ghosh
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Review of Human Rights
Institution:
Society of Social Science Academics (SSSA)
Abstract:
This essay studies two literary texts on Kashmir, The Collaborator (2011) by Mirza Waheed and Curfewed Night (2010) by Basharat Peer and analyzes the discourses of power, overt forms of violence that the works present. It first contextualizes events from the last three years that have occurred in Kashmir to present forms of violence Kashmiri subjects undergo in the quotidian of life. The essay, thus, argues that the selected literary works represent Kashmir as a unique postcolonial conflict zone that defies an easy terminology to understand the onslaught of violence, and the varied forms of power. As analyzed in the article, one finds a curious merging of biopolitics and necropolitics that constructs the characters as “living dead” within this emergency zone. For this, the theoretical trajectory of the essay is mapped out to show the transition from Foucault and Agamben’s idea of biopolitics to Mbembe’s concept of necropolitics. Thereafter, essay concludes how the two texts illustrate Agamben’s notion of the bare life is not enough to understand subjects living in this unique postcoloniality. The presence of death and the dead bodies go beyond bare life and shows how that bodies become significant signifiers that construct a varied notion of agency.
Topic:
Violence, Literature, Language, Biopolitics, Necropolitics, and Power
Political Geography:
Pakistan, India, and Kashmir

799. Netanyahu in India

Author:
Efraim Inbar
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS)
Abstract:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits India just half a year after the first historic trip of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Israel (July 2017). These visits reflect the significant expansion in relations between the two countries that has taken place since the establishment of full diplomatic relations in 1992.
Topic:
Diplomacy, International Cooperation, and Leadership
Political Geography:
Middle East, India, Israel, and Asia

800. Enhancing EU–India Connectivity: Towards New Spice Routes

Author:
Patryk Kugiel
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The approaches of the EU and India to the connectivity between Asia and Europe largely converge. Both the Union and the country emphasize the importance of maintaining the highest international standards in infrastructure projects, share similar concerns regarding China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and implement their own ambitious transregional transport projects in their respective neighbourhood. Comprehensive cooperation on connectivity may become a key element of their strategic partnership, help promote regulatory standards, and boost economic cooperation. Better connectivity between Europe and India is also in Poland’s interest.
Topic:
Bilateral Relations, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Trade, and Economic Cooperation
Political Geography:
China, Europe, South Asia, India, Poland, and European Union