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92. Migration to Brick Kilns in India: An Appraisal
- Author:
- Shamindra Nath Roy and Eesha Kunduri
- Publication Date:
- 07-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- This note expounds on migration to brick-kilns in India, based on estimates from the National Sample Survey (NSS) 2007-08 employment- unemployment and migration survey, and a review of eld studies. Characterised by traditional modes of production, low capital- intensity, seasonal employment patterns and lack of adequate regulations, the brick industry is a signi cant site for interrogating variegated issues that lie at the intersection of migration, labour markets and urbanisation. The analysis herein sheds light on the spatial concentrations of brick- kiln workers, which are along urban peripheries and driven by migrants. The phenomenon of jodi labour, referring to family based labour (typically of husband and wife) that characterises brick- kiln work is explicated using NSS estimates. The analysis concludes that the modes and modalities of employment in brick-kilns combined with piece-rated wage payments raises complex issues that call for consideration. At the same time, an understanding of the spatial concentration of kilns could help with interventions with regard to expanding the outreach of the Construction Workers' Welfare Board (CWWB) and facilities for accompanying children of the migrant workers.
- Topic:
- Migration, Labor Issues, Urbanization, and Employment
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
93. Integrating Urban Development and Climate Objectives: Insights from Coimbatore
- Author:
- Ankit Bhardwaj and Radhika Khosla
- Publication Date:
- 07-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- Indian cities routinely make decisions on land use, housing, water, transport, economic growth and waste management that have implications for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Aligning these sectoral actions with climate goals involves understanding how infrastructural systems interact and how these choices address both development and climate objectives. City governments, as managers of these various infrastructure systems, can co-ordinate such decision-making. However, so far, this is largely ad hoc. We show how cities can use a ‘multiple objective’ approach to systematically examine, and make explicit, the linkages between local objectives, climate change mitigation and adaptation across their planning portfolio.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Development, Water, Economic growth, Urban, and Sanitation
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
94. Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban): Need vs Planning
- Author:
- Sama Khan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- This paper analyses the effectiveness of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) by analyzing the financial and physical progress of the mission and the manner in which funds have been allocated and sanctioned to different activities in various states. It examines the planned allocation of central funds (i) between the SBM (Urban) and the rural component, SBM (Gramin) (ii) among the various components of SBM-U, i.e., Construction of Individual Household Latrines and Community Toilets (IHHLs and CTs), Solid Waste Management (SWM), Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and Capacity Building (CB) and (iii) across different states and UTs. It finds that the disparity in funding between the SBM-U and SBM-G does not reflect the risk-adjusted need of urban areas, given their complexities of urban congestion and poverty that lead to higher health and environmental risk. The allocation of funds between the various components of SBM-U undervalues the need for proper solid waste management, IEC and Capacity Building and appears to ignore their effect on sanitation practices, the importance of building capacity to properly manage waste from the increasing number of toilets constructed and more organized solid waste disposal. Finally, the pattern of the allocation of funds between states does not benefit states that need it the most, in terms of states that have a lower share of in-house toilets, because the funds were allocated on the basis of the share of urban population and statutory towns. The paper concludes with recommendations to rectify some of these shortcomings.
- Topic:
- Environment, Poverty, Finance, Economy, and Urban
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
95. Midcourse Manoeuvres:Community strategies and remedies for natural resource conflicts in Myanmar
- Author:
- Meenakshi Kapoor, Nwe Ni Soe, and Vidya Viswanathan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- Land transformation has been at the centre of economic growth of post-colonial, Asian nation-states. While their political reforms and economic policies have focused on land governance, the outcomes have resulted in promoting privatisation and speculative business interest in ecologically sensitive landscapes that are also under diverse forms of common use by resource-dependent communities. A three-year study undertaken to understand community-level responses to land use transformation in India, Indonesia and Myanmar shows that the current scale and approach of land–intensive development in these large democracies is facilitated by fast-paced, top down policy changes. These policies are ‘stacked’ (when multiple layers of current and revoked laws are simultaneously in use) rather than integrated and their implementation is the responsibility of various authorities and agencies that overlap. Growing private investments in land that has remained within varying degrees of state control have changed the way land is managed. Land has become increasingly securitised and ‘out of bounds’ for small farmers and other land-users with or without recognised forms of ownership and use rights. Land conflicts are caused due to coercive acquisition processes or land grabs, unlawful operations of projects and long pending remedies to social and environmental impacts. In many instances, these conflicts begin even before the final decisions on projects are taken and persist for years. Highly capitalised land use change brings powerful investors and corporations, governments and local communities in unequal and precarious arrangements of negotiation and confrontation. Citizens and communities affected by land use change, use varied strategies such as administrative complaints, protests, litigation, media campaigns and political advocacy, and engage in improving project design and implementation, increase compensations, restore community access to resources and get a review on the operations of harmful projects. These are done under conditions of political intransigence and criminalisation of those who speak up. While all three countries have recognised land conflicts and their impact on development plans and proposals, they are yet to give affected people a formal and effective role in land and natural resource governance. This is the study report on Myanmar.
- Topic:
- Privatization, Natural Resources, Governance, Economic growth, Land Law, and Land Rights
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, Asia, and Myanmar
96. Midcourse Manoeuvres: Community strategies and remedies for natural resource conflicts in India
- Author:
- Kanchi Kohli, Meenakshi Kapoor, Manju Menon, and Vidya Viswanathan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- Land transformation has been at the centre of economic growth of post-colonial, Asian nation-states. While their political reforms and economic policies have focused on land governance, the outcomes have resulted in promoting privatisation and speculative business interest in ecologically sensitive landscapes that are also under diverse forms of common use by resource-dependent communities. A three-year study undertaken to understand community-level responses to land use transformation in India, Indonesia and Myanmar shows that the current scale and approach of land–intensive development in these large democracies is facilitated by fast-paced, top down policy changes. These policies are ‘stacked’ (when multiple layers of current and revoked laws are simultaneously in use) rather than integrated and their implementation is the responsibility of various authorities and agencies that overlap. Growing private investments in land that has remained within varying degrees of state control have changed the way land is managed. Land has become increasingly securitised and ‘out of bounds’ for small farmers and other land-users with or without recognised forms of ownership and use rights. Land conflicts are caused due to coercive acquisition processes or land grabs, unlawful operations of projects and long pending remedies to social and environmental impacts. In many instances, these conflicts begin even before the final decisions on projects are taken and persist for years. Highly capitalised land use change brings powerful investors and corporations, governments and local communities in unequal and precarious arrangements of negotiation and confrontation. Citizens and communities affected by land use change, use varied strategies such as administrative complaints, protests, litigation, media campaigns and political advocacy, and engage in improving project design and implementation, increase compensations, restore community access to resources and get a review on the operations of harmful projects. These are done under conditions of political intransigence and criminalisation of those who speak up. While all three countries have recognised land conflicts and their impact on development plans and proposals, they are yet to give affected people a formal and effective role in land and natural resource governance. This is the study report on India.
- Topic:
- Development, Privatization, Natural Resources, Business, Economic growth, Land Law, Conflict, and Land Rights
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
97. Migration Junctions in India and Indonesia Reimagining Places, Reorienting Policy
- Author:
- Mukta Naik and Gregory Randolph
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- This report, jointly put out by the Centre for Policy Research and JustJobs Network, draws attention to geographies in India and Indonesia that are acting as migration junctions because they simultaneously experience high levels of in- and out-migration. The quantitative analysis is based on an earlier paper that measured ‘migrant-intensity’ of districts in India and kota (cities) and kabupatens (regencies) in Indonesia using Census data. In both countries, small cities, peripheral districts and centres of natural resource extraction feature as migration junctions. This prompts new ways of thinking about pathways that migrants take in, out and through places. The report highlights that migration junctions have particular policy challenges and opportunities including increased need for coordination across governance institutions, the ability to concerate workforce development efforts for incoming and outgoing populations and the need to develop robust rental housing markets to serve mobile populations.
- Topic:
- Migration, Labor Issues, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, Indonesia, India, Asia, and Southeast Asia
98. Caring for the coast- Building regulatory compliance through community action
- Author:
- CPR-Namati Environmental Justice Program
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Case Study
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- Across the globe, the “development experience” of communities varies depending on their socioeconomic and political backgrounds. As a result of advancing developmental projects, a few communities are invariably made to pay a disproportionate share of the environmental costs in the form of exposure to toxic waste, loss of livelihood, and restrictions on mobility or access to common resources. This injustice, more than often not, is an outcome of active noncompliance and violation of environmental regulations by the projects . The Centre for Policy Research–Namati Environmental Justice Program is an effort towards closing this environment regulation enforcement gap. We have created a network of community-based paralegals, called as enviro-legal coordinators (ELCs), who work with affected communities using an evidence-based legal approach. As a part of this approach, the ELCs combine their understanding of the law, negotiation and mediation skills, and understanding of local contexts to assist affected communities in the use of the law to resolve environmental conflicts. They help the communities to understand relevant laws and environmental regulations and support them in engaging with institutions using these laws for better enforcement of regulatory compliance on the ground. This approach also develops a collaborative space for institutions and citizens to craft practical and sustainable remedies for the impacts that communities experience. This publication is a compendium of a few cases undertaken by the CPR–Namati Program’s ELCs working across the coastal belt in Gujarat and North Karnataka. These case stories capture the process of our work and illustrate the systematic, evidence-based legal approach followed by the ELCs along with the affected coastal community members to resolve conflicts arising from noncompliance or improper implementation of environmental regulations. These case stories are divided into three major thematic sections as follows: Section 1: Establishment and Activation of Gujarat’s District-Level Coastal Committees (DLCCs) as per Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011: This section includes case studies from Gujarat, where ELCs worked towards establishing or activating District-Level Coastal Committees, an institution set up for better implementation of CRZ regulations and protection of rights of traditional coastal communities. Section 2: Securing Housing Clearances for Coastal Communities under Coastal Zone Regulation Notification, 2011 in North Karnataka: This section includes case studies from Uttara Kannada, a district in North Karnataka, where ELCs supported members of coastal communities in securing housing clearances under the coastal protection law. Section 3: Legal Empowerment in Practice: Two Case Stories: This section has two case stories from our field sites in Gujarat that illustrate the process and outcomes of legal empowerment though our work with communities.
- Topic:
- Development, Environment, Natural Resources, Law, Oceans and Seas, and Pollution
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
99. Plugging In Energy Demand in Indian Residences
- Author:
- Radhika Khosla
- Publication Date:
- 03-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- India is poised at the edge of an energy transformation. This shift is shaped in large part by the country’s ongoing economic, social, and technological transitions. Indian cities will host an influx of 200 million more people by 2030. Most of these people will come from a low base of development, and will demand modern fuels, appliances, and vehicles for improved quality of life. Demographically, at least 10 million people are expected to enter the Indian job market annually for the next two decades (India’s Half-A-Billion Jobs Conundrum 2017). In addition, two-thirds of India’s buildings that will exist in 2030 remain to be built (McKinsey Global Institute 2010). Managing these transitions is a significant challenge in itself, further complicated by the need to address their immense energy and climate implications. This policy piece examines an important driver of India’s energy future—electricity demand in households—and argues for why a broader consideration of energy consumption is central to Indian energy and climate debates.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Demographics, Development, Energy Policy, Science and Technology, and Electricity
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia
100. Using Law to Combat Water Pollution
- Author:
- CPR-Namati Environmental Justice Program
- Publication Date:
- 03-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Centre for Policy Research, India
- Abstract:
- Contamination of surface water sources due to the discharge of polluting substances has been a long standing problem in most parts of the country. In 1974, a legislation was specifically enacted to regulate and prohibit water pollution. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 established Pollution Control Boards at the Central and State levels and bestowed them with powers to prevent and control water pollution. Aside from the Water Act, there are also other laws which can be used to remediate water pollution. These include, environmental clearance conditions under the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, public nuisance in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the licensing process under the Factories Act, 1948. Along with these, there are also certain state level legislations such as the Orissa River Pollution Prevention Act, 1953. How these laws can be used to find administrative remedies to combat water pollution has been put together in the form of two Information, Education and Communication materials by the Centre for Policy Research-Namati Environmental Justice Program, with support from the Duleep Mathai Nature Conservation Trust. The materials aim to give the reader an understanding of: The existing legislations; The kind of permissions which are needed; The various institutions which are available; The way in which evidence can be collected; The manner in which complaints can be framed; The various administrative remedies which are available; The materials focus on the states of Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Translations of the material are also available in Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, and Odiya.
- Topic:
- Environment, Water, Legislation, and Pollution
- Political Geography:
- South Asia, India, and Asia