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1. Recycling Regime, Environment, and Exclusion of Electronic Scrap Workers in Delhi

Author:
Gayatri Jai Singh Rathore
Publication Date:
11-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
In recent years, the Indian e-waste sector has undergone a process of formalisation through the implementation of E-waste Management Rules (2016), leading to the creation of what I call recycling regime. The upper and middle classes, along with NGOs and industry actors, are frontrunners in thinking about e-waste policies. They were prompted by a twofold motive: the desire for a “world-class”, clean, and pollution-free city; and seizing business opportunities by extracting value from e-waste. Rather than replacing the State, they co-opted the State so that it would legislate to safeguard the environment, and address toxicity and health problems associated with e-waste. Recycling regime relies on formalisation processes embedded in multiple technologies – technicity, capital-intensive facilities, certifications, authorisations, and licences – that work together to exclude the “informal” sector from the e-waste governance system. Recycling technologies act as “technologies of domination” that further contribute to sidelining the “informal” labour of scrap workers or e-kabadis, who as Muslims already find themselves on the margins of society. However, the recycling regime fails to safeguard the environment in the end as e-waste trickles down back to the informal sector via authorised actors.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Environment, Globalization, Health, Markets, Poverty, Governance, Law, Urbanization, Emerging States, and Norms
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

2. Causes and Effects of Water and Environmental Pollution: A Way Forward

Author:
Tahira Mumtaz, Ammara Tariq Cheema, and Rabia
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Pollution is not a new marvel, yet it is still one of the world's most prominent human issues, with its driving reasons for sickness and demise. Human activities through urbanization, industrialization, and mining are major factors of worldwide Pollution. Both advanced and developing states share this impulse, even though cognizance and flexibility in advanced states primarily affect the security of their current situation. Although worldwide attention regarding Pollution, the effect is as yet felt because of its drawn-out adverse consequences. All kinds of pollution are discussed in this study. The majority of researchers emphasize the study of water pollution. The fundamental changes it makes to humans, animals, plants, soil, and the environment as a whole are what give it significance. The study discusses water pollution caused by dumping solid, carbon-based, and liquid materials into lakes and waterways that comprise toxic chemicals like lead, mercury, and metals. One of the most significant kinds of pollution from nuclear activity is harmful pollution, which occurs when materials flow into the water and become toxic and polluting substances. The majority of factories do not use pesticides and fertilizers to industrial drainage regulations, so the waste reaches the water. Additionally, home waste outflows contribute to water pollution. In addition, it focuses on the most significant causes of groundwater pollution and the stages of its usage and distillation, highlighting hygiene sources as the most significant sources of water pollution.
Topic:
Environment, Water, Urbanization, Pollution, and Contamination
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and Global Focus

3. Characteristics and Determinants of International Migration: The Recent Phenomenon of Migration of Bhutanese to International Destinations

Author:
Tobden Tobden, Lhawang Ugyel, and Tashi Dorjee
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
The trend in international migration has always been increasing. However, in Bhutan, the rising number of international migrants, which has surged in recent years, is a new phenomenon. This paper explores the recent development of international migration of Bhutanese to countries, such as India, Australia, USA and countries in Middle-East Asia. It examines the characteristics of Bhutanese international migrants. The study also analyses the underlying reasons that drives international migration in Bhutan. As such, this study is one of the first comprehensive investigations on international migration of Bhutanese that leverages data from the two major Population and Housing Censuses conducted in the country thus far. In doing so, this paper seeks to provide an insight into the impact of international migration on the demographic structure and the policies that influence such migration.
Topic:
Development, Migration, Urbanization, Rural, Push Factor, and Pull Factor
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

4. Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban

Author:
Avani Kapur and Sanjana Malhotra
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The Swachh Bharat Mission- Urban (SBM-U) is the Government of India’s (GoI) flagship programme targeting universal sanitation coverage in urban areas. Using government data, this brief reports on: Allocations, releases, and expenditures; Progress on toilets built; Progress on Solid Waste Management (SWM); Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, and; ODF+, ODF++ and garbage free cities.
Topic:
Government, Infrastructure, Urbanization, Budget, Urban, and Sanitation
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

5. Population and Migration in Thimphu Thromde

Author:
Sangay Chophel
Publication Date:
05-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Bhutan Studies
Institution:
Centre for Bhutan & GNH Studies (CBS)
Abstract:
As a developing country, Bhutan is on the upward trajectory of urbanization. While it has benefits it also exerts pressures. Within Bhutan, Thimphu thromde has the largest urban population, which exhibit many forms of urbanization. Using the data from 2017 Population and Housing Census of Bhutan, the paper projects the population of Thimphu city till 2027 due to lack of its population projection. The cohort-component method is used for projection. The net-migration from 2005 to 2017 is calculated using residual method. Further, employing probit regression, the determinants of migration to Thimphu thromde is examined. Age, marriage, unemployment, land, household composition, household income and education are significant determinants of migration.
Topic:
Education, Migration, Population, Urbanization, and Employment
Political Geography:
South Asia and Bhutan

6. Land Title Insurance in India: Lessons from U.S. Regulatory Approaches

Author:
Anirudh Burman
Publication Date:
08-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
India’s insurance market for land titles is still in the early stages of development. Borrowing from the U.S. model, here’s what Indian insurers and officials alike can do to keep the market flourishing and protect consumers. The poor quality of land title records in India is a significant impediment for growth and urbanization. Bad land title records result in excessive litigation, property disputes, and cases of fraud. This in turn affects the cost and certainty of transactions that involve land and real estate. While the Indian government has been operating a land record modernization program for over a decade, progress has been slow. This paper accordingly proposes that land title insurance be encouraged to reduce losses in land transactions. Title insurance will also provide buyers of land and real estate a mechanism for mitigating the risks that arise from such transactions. Insurance products cannot be launched in India without prior registration with the insurance regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). So far, IRDAI has registered some title insurance products, and it is now in the process of developing a general regulatory framework for the product. Once in place, this regulatory framework will determine the development of the title insurance market and consequently its ability to solve issues related to land transactions. Therefore, it is important that the regulatory framework adopted be suitably tailored to the unique characteristics of land title insurance as a product. In addition, the regulatory framework must give due regard to the incipient nature of the market in India. While title insurance is a new product in India, it is widely used in the United States. India’s regulatory framework can therefore be better informed by an examination of title insurance regulation in the United States. This is especially so given that insurance in the United States is determined at the state level, so different states follow different models of regulation. This diversity provides an opportunity to better understand how title insurance should be regulated given the local environment.
Topic:
Urbanization, Regulation, Land, and Insurance
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, North America, and United States of America

7. Qui gardera les gardiens ? Sécurité industrielle et production d’incertitude à Karachi (Who’s Watching the Watchmen? Corporate Security and the Manufacturing of Uncertainty in Karachi)

Author:
Laurent Gayer
Publication Date:
04-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
The history of industrial capitalism and its modes of domination is intimately linked to that of violent entrepreneurs deploying their coercive resources at the service of workplace discipline, the extraction of surplus value and the securitization of the accumulation cycle. The relationship between capital and coercion is always fraught with tensions, though, and sustains new vulnerabilities among securityconsuming elites. The manufacturing economy of Karachi is a particularly fertile ground for studying this endogenous production of insecurity by security devices. The relations between Karachi’s factory owners and their guards have generated their own economy of suspicion. Various attempts to conjure this shaky domination have generated new uncertainties, calling for new methods of control to keep the guards themselves under watch.
Topic:
Security, Political Violence, Corruption, Crime, Political Economy, Sociology, Urbanization, Material Culture, and Political Science
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and Asia

8. 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

9. Urban Formation and Culture Transformation in Mughal India

Author:
Rukhsana Iftikhar
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
India was comprised of many villages before the arrival of Muslims. Those Muslim invaders, who conquered India and established their rule, essentially belonged to the urban ruling classes. In early Turkish Empire (1206 – 1266), ruling classes have developed numerous urban centers in town across India. In Muslims period, Iqta system provided opportunities to Turko – Afghan communities to have luxurious life style which provoked skill workers, artesian and architect to migrate garrison. These towns also emerge as cultural centers with the passage of time. Early cities like Daultabad, Fatehpur Sikri and Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) were royal capital cities. Some of the major cities like Kabul, Agra, Allahabad, Lahore, Attock and Multan were developed near major road (Grand Trunk Road). Many towns like Dholpur, Jodhpur, Sirohi, Asirgarh and Ajmer were inhabited near nonmetal led roads . Many of the Mughal cities and towns still exist in spite of many natural disasters. Many European travelers narrated the glory and significance of these cities and towns in their account. They compared Indian cities with Europe, like Fatehpur Sikri was larger than London and Delhi was not less urbanized than Paris. These urban centers were not only the administrative units but also considered as cultural centers in Mughal State. Emperors sometimes generated the economic activities in these urban centers. Abul Fazal mentioned many factories in Delhi, Agra and Fatehpur Sikri supplied many precious articles in the King’s wardrobe. Capital cities always had the excess of fruit and food for the Royal kitchen. People brought their master pieces in the capital city just to get the acknowledgement of kings and nobles. This paper analyzes the development of major urban centers in Mughals (most illustrated dynasty of the Muslim civilization). It also highlights the cultural transformation of Muslims under the influence of native one.
Topic:
Economics, History, Urbanization, and Medieval History
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Asia, Central Asia, India, and Punjab

10. Census Towns in India - Current Patterns and Future Discourses

Author:
Shamindra Nath Roy and Jaya Prakash Pradhan
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The surge in census towns (CTs) during Census 2011 has drawn a lot of attention to the ongoing and future dynamics of these in-situ urban settlements in India. Using the village level information from the previous and current censuses, the present study attempts to identify the villages that can be classified as a census town in 2021. While the prevailing dataset bears some obstacles for a neat identification of such settlements, it can be observed that a fairly high number of rural areas may be classified as CTs in future, which currently accommodates a population of 17.9 million. While the current nature of regional distribution of these areas may not vary much over the future, their areal characteristics over time portray multiple spatial processes undergirding India’s urban trajectory. A lot of these prospective CTs are also relatively prosperous than their current rural neighbourhoods, which reinforces the persistence of similar pattern of urban transformation in future.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Urbanization, Census, and Rural
Political Geography:
South Asia, India, and Asia