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41. Sanitation in Large and Dense Villages of India: The Last Mile and Beyond

Author:
Aditya Bhol, Shubhagato Dasgupta, Anindita Mukherjee, and Aastha Jain
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The aim of this white paper is to explore the nuances of the prevalence of on-site sanitation systems in large and dense villages of India. Villages which have a population of 1000 persons or more and a density of greater than or equal to 400 persons per square kilometre were classified as large and dense villages in an earlier research – Towards a New Research and Policy Paradigm: An Analysis of the Sanitation Situation in Large Dense Villages. Stimulated by the findings revealing a preferential pattern for selection of on-site sanitation systems in these settlements, a primary household survey was conducted in large and dense villages from five Indian states - Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The survey also included qualitative components – stakeholder interviews and transect walks. In this study the survey data has been canvassed to explore the preference patterns of households and the factors guiding them in their decision making for the construction and maintenance of on-site sanitation systems. We find that these large and dense villages exhibit a higher preference for septic tanks over pits in all states except West Bengal where pits are preferred. A majority of households have reported their toilets were private constructions. We find the preference patterns are manifested not only by the choices of building septic tanks or pits but also through the large variations in their design and sizes which are influenced by socio-economic, technical and behavioural factors. We also find specific trends in demand for desludging services by households which are influenced by internal factors such as their social status and economic well-being and by external factors such as availability of mechanised operators or continued reliance on manual cleaning and their costs which cumulatively constitute the supply side of sanitation services.
Topic:
Government, Water, Infrastructure, and Sanitation
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

42. Insufficient Energy Technology in Pakistan: A Conversation with Michael Kugelman

Author:
Fletcher Security Review Staff and Michael Kugelman
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Fletcher Security Review
Institution:
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Abstract:
Michael Kugelman is Deputy Director for the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center and is also the Center’s Senior Associate for South Asia. He is responsible for research, programming, and publications on South Asia. His specialty areas include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and U.S. relations with each of them. His recent projects have focused on India’s foreign policy, U.S.-Pakistan relations, India-Pakistan relations, the war in Afghanistan, transboundary water agreements in South Asia, and U.S. policy in South Asia. He is a regular contributor to publications that include Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Government, Science and Technology, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Pakistan, China, South Asia, and Asia

43. The Belt and Road Initiative Still Afloat in South Asia

Author:
Sudha Ramachandran
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
China Brief
Institution:
The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
South Asian governments are becoming increasingly discontent with Belt and Road Initiative projects. In August, Pakistan’s new government expressed interest in reviewing the CPEC contracts that they perceive to be over-priced, unnecessary, or excessively in the favor of PRC companies (Dawn, September 11). Similar sentiments have been expressed by the new Maldivian government, which is reviewing BRI contracts signed during the rule of former President Abdulla Yameen (Economic Times, November 26). Such actions raise questions as to whether South Asian states might scale down or even cancel BRI projects.
Topic:
Development, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, Infrastructure, and Soft Power
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, South Asia, India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives

44. 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

45. Securing China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Author:
Zi Yang
Publication Date:
11-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
The November 23 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, is the latest sign that anti-Chinese sentiment may be taking root in countries that have received massive inflows of investment from China’s Belt and Road Initiative. USIP’s new Special Report provides an overview of the different security arrangements China is using to protect its overseas investments and workers, and examines how the Belt and Road Initiative is spurring the rapid growth of China’s domestic private security industry.
Topic:
Security, Infrastructure, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and Peace
Political Geography:
Pakistan, China, South Asia, and Asia

46. Exploring the Awareness of China Pakistan Economic Corridor: A Stakeholder’s Perspective

Author:
Fouzia Hadi Ali and Aban Abid Qazi
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
The purpose of this paper is to examine the prospects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from a stakeholder’s perspective. The identification and communication of stakeholders can play a vital role in identifying the perceptions of all who are directly or indirectly involved in a project. Moreover, this study focuses on the general nature of stakeholders and their awareness about the mega project. An exploratory study was conducted through a structured survey instrument to tap the awareness and opinions of the stakeholders connected to the likely benefits of CPEC. The results revealed interesting findings relating to their opinions about CPEC. The study further suggests some important implications and future directions to introduce an inclusive approach to mitigate the misconceptions about CPEC.
Topic:
Development, International Cooperation, Infrastructure, Economy, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
Pakistan, China, South Asia, and Punjab

47. Demystifying the Indian Smart City: An Empirical Reading of the Smart Cities Mission

Author:
Persis Taraporevala
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The newly elected federal Government of India (GoI) launched the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in 2015 with the stated purpose of improving the governance and infrastructural deficiencies that plague Indian cities. Missing, however, in the pageantry of the new programme is a cohesive understanding of a smart city. While the government documentation repeatedly implies infinite liberty for cities to self-define their understanding of ‘smartness’, the actions demonstrate that there is a larger idea of ‘smartness’ that the federal government seeks to implement. It is at this disjunction, between the rhetoric and practice of the Mission, that this paper finds its core research question – ‘What constitutes a smart city in India?’ Through a detailed reading of the government documentation of the top 99 cities, the paper argues that the there is a profound chasm between the professed objectives of the Mission and the strategies enacted to achieve these objectives.
Topic:
Development, Government, Infrastructure, Social Policy, and Urban
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

48. Officiating Urbanisation: What makes a settlement officially urban in India?

Author:
Bhanu Joshi and Kanhu Charan Pradhan
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Financial incentives including government support grants for infrastructure creation, health and education development in many countries is contingent on where people live. In India, the allocation of critical government subsidies explicitly recognises urban population as a criterion for budgetary allocation. Yet, the fundamental question about what is an urban area and what does it entail to be recognised as an urban settlement in India remains understudied. This paper aims to understand the definitional paradigm of statutory towns in India. We create a novel dataset of all state laws in India on the constitution of urban local governments. We analyse the eligibility criteria that would qualify any area to become urban local bodies under the law in different states and find large variation among states. In our dataset, only fifteen of the twenty-seven states explicitly define and have laws on urban settlements. Within these fifteen states, we find that many small and transitional urban areas violate the eligibility criteria laid down by the state laws constituting them. We further find that states which do not provide statutory laws rely on executive fiat, i.e. it is the prerogative of the state government to declare the creation of a statutory town. What then becomes or “unbecomes” urban in these states is open to dispute. The full extent of this variation and reasons thereof can open up new avenues of scholarship.
Topic:
Government, Infrastructure, Urbanization, Budget, and Legislation
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia

49. Nuclear Terrorism in South Asia: Potential Threats/Challenges and Options: Post 9/11 Analysis

Author:
Iram Khalid and Arifa Kayani
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Nuclear terrorism has emerged as one of the principal concerns for states maintaining nuclear weapons technology as well as states maintaining peaceful nuclear programs. The idea is that non-state entities, in pursuance of their goals of achieving maximum tactical leverage over states, aspire to either jeopardize nuclear facilities as a means to warrant a radiological anomaly or would, in worst case scenario, acquire or construct weaponized devices. The concept of Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) or Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) is both argued as a plausibility and as a reality in current global technological layout. More specified to South Asia, where non-state entities are allegedly employed for transnational target acquisition and the where the security paradigms are hampered by technological inferiority, it is speculatively concluded that chances of such occurrences are marginally higher as compare to other nations. Vulnerabilities of South Asia pertaining to radiological terrorism are extended internationally based upon proliferation patterns in South Asia, utilization of proxies for achievement of leverage, comparative technological inferiority of nuclear facilities and auxiliary systems, spread and introduction of terrorism in South Asia, lack of understanding of nuclear terrorism and inability to proactively participate in international non-proliferation regimes and designs. Important considerations in these regards would then have to focus on efficacy of security infrastructure from production to disposal and from civilian to military nuclear installations. Where in South Asia, states have maintained secrecy and state control over nuclear installations, radiological terrorism seems a highly unlikely scenario postulation but being cautious is still operationally necessary.
Topic:
Security, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, Infrastructure, and Nuclear Power
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and Punjab

50. Horizontal and Vertical Inequalities Explaining Disparities in Access to Urban Sanitation

Author:
Aditya Bhol
Publication Date:
04-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Burgeoning urbanisation coupled with policy implementation gaps have resulted in growing disparities in the provision of public infrastructure services in urban areas of India. Apart from the impact of this, a household’s ability to procure basic amenities is also subject to its economic and social condition and the prevalence of social or spatial inequalities. This paper considers a basic household amenity – toilets – and using survey data gauges a household’s likelihood of owning one based on economic and social conditions and infrastructural parameters such as water supply and drainage using a binary multivariate logistic regression model. Horizontal or social group-based inequalities, which are often neglected in the sanitation discourse in India, are found to have a significant impact on access to toilets along with the existence of disparities based on consumption expenditure and drainage. The findings ascertain the existence of multidimensional disparities at the state level, refuting centralised programmes adopted to meet Sustainable Development Goals.
Topic:
Infrastructure, Urbanization, Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, and Sanitation
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia