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121. Comments on the Draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020

Author:
Ashwini K. Swain, Parth Bhatia, Ira Sharma, Prasanna Sarada Das, and Navroz K. Dubash
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The draft Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020, released on April 17, 2020, is an improvement from its predecessors. It has dropped some significant proposals that were resisted and has added new provisions. Are these reform proposals adequate and appropriate to address India’s long-standing electricity challenges? Are these prescriptions based on a proper diagnosis of current trends and future challenges? How will these reforms proposals affect India’s ongoing transition to 21st century electricity? While we appreciate the endeavours and intent, in our comments we focus on some serious concerns the draft raises, vital gaps and issues that need serious consideration.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Governance, Legislation, Electricity, Public Service, and Utilities
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

122. Comments on the Draft EIA Notification 2020

Author:
Shibani Ghosh
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has proposed a new notification to supersede the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2006 that is currently in force. The Ministry has sought comments from the public on this draft EIA Notification 2020. Shibani Ghosh, Fellow, CPR, in her comments to the Ministry has highlighted that there is a crying need to overhaul the EIA Notification 2006 and the regulatory framework built around it – not only to address its various inherent weaknesses that have been identified over the years, but also to put in place systems and processes that respond to the steadily degrading environmental quality in the country. However, the draft EIA Notification 2020 fails to do so. According to Ghosh, in its current form, the draft Notification is legally untenable as it does not conform to its parent Act – the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, and is in the teeth of various judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts and the National Green Tribunal. It dilutes the already weak processes of environmental impact assessment, expert scrutiny and public consultation, and wrongly condones violations and illegalities. The comments are divided into two sections. Section I discusses four specific reasons why the draft notification is legally untenable and Section II highlights five major concerns that arise from the proposed regulatory design.
Topic:
Environment, Governance, and Judiciary
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

123. Hunger, COVID-19 and The Indian Administrative State

Author:
Arkaja Singh
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
COVID-19 produced an acute and widespread crisis of hunger across India, which was felt most acutely by migrant workers and those who were outside the reach of India’s highly organised but rigid Public Distribution System (PDS). The hunger was incidental to the actual disease itself, but severe enough to be considered a crisis of governance on its own as it brought the Indian state face-t0-face with one of its oldest and most enduring challenges: how to ensure that essential supplies of food reach those in need of it? Could the Indian government simply have ‘universalised’ the PDS, and made it accessible to all? It was pointed out that the Indian state had adequate buffer stocks of food grain to make this feasible. However, for reasons that were never articulated, this option was never seriously considered by the government of India. Instead, governments tried to extend the reach of the PDS delivery mechanism, and to devise ways to deliver relief outside of the PDS framework. These strategies were however quite challenging for the risk-averse, (nominally) rule-bound Indian state that is disinclined to allow for discretion in spending of government funds, making purchases and allocation of largesse. Typically, the Indian state is all the more reluctant to delegate power to exercise discretion to lower levels of government. For this reason, the Indian state governments (who were at the frontline of this response) seemed to need to devise a framework of rules for the identification of beneficiaries, even in the middle of a humanitarian crisis. As a related problem, the states also did not necessarily have the organisational wherewithal to take up rapid, decentralised and locally grounded interventions. The organisational wherewithal, so to speak, could come in various forms. Some examples of this, which we saw at play, were decentralised government, the capacity to make non-state collaborations and institutionalised systems for the ‘continuous updating’ of beneficiary lists. More fundamentally, however, what is needed is the capacity for high levels of government to be able to formulate responsive policy and to be able to trust in the ability of their subordinate ranks to carry out new interventions, often in case-specific and individualised ways. Arkaja Singh’s working paper explores these issues in the context of state response to the COVID hunger crisis in the states of Delhi, Kerala, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana,
Topic:
Governance, Food Security, Hunger, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

124. Evaluating Recent Proposals to Reform the Power Sector in India

Author:
Deepak Sanan and Sanjay Mitra
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Reforms designed to address core issues and their sequencing and timing would be critical to ensure the eventual success of the latest initiatives in the power sector. Lessons from the experience of earlier sectoral reform programmes and recommendations regarding the general architecture of central interventions, would need to be taken on board. Through a simple scenario building exercise, this paper concludes that the parlous financial position of the distribution utilities after lockdown requires that “reforms” follow “recovery”. The concurrent roll out of stringent reform measures on several fronts during a period of severe financial stress could seriously impair the prospects of a viable power sector in the near future. This, in turn, will not only hamper our planned promotion of renewables-based electricity but act as a brake on the entire process of economic recovery.
Topic:
Economics, Energy Policy, Governance, and Reform
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

125. PROPERTY AND SOVEREIGNTY: Creating, Destroying, and Resurrecting Property Rights in British India (1600-1800)

Author:
Namita Wahi
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This paper, the first in a series of three papers, constitutes the first systematic legal attempt since the late nineteenth century to describe the changing configuration of property rights of zamindars (landlords) and ryots or raiyats (peasants) relative to the English East India Company in colonial India over a period of two hundred years from 1600 to 1800. This period begins with the Company’s first arrival in India to the court of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir in 1600 as merely a trading company. It ends with the introduction of the Permanent Settlement in Bengal by Lord Cornwallis, the Governor General of Bengal in 1793, pursuant to the Company’s exercise of sovereign authority over the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. As described in the paper, during this period of great political upheaval, scandal, and intrigue, as the East India Company gradually transitioned from a monopoly trading company to a conquering and then an administering power, Company officials, including the Governor General, and later the Supreme Council of Bengal, created, destroyed, and resurrected property rights of landlords and tenant cultivators. Following a series of experiments with land revenue administration and the lives of zamindars and raiyats, with the sole objective of maximising revenue for the East India Company, Lord Cornwallis introduced the Permanent Settlement of Land Revenue in 1793, which completely destroyed the rights of peasant cultivators in favour of zamindars, and wreaked great injustice and misery upon the people of Bengal. It would take nearly seventy years for British government to begin to reverse this injustice through tenancy protection legislation enacted in 1859, and this reversal in law would only be completed following land reforms introduced by provincial governments post India’s independence in 1947. These later developments will be the subject of the next two papers in this series.
Topic:
Sovereignty, History, Governance, and Property
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, South Asia, and India

126. Improving Housing for Urban Poor: Learnings from BLC Implementation in Kerala

Author:
Aparna Das, Anindita Mukherjee, Baisakhi Sarkar Dhar, Sudeshna Chatterjee, Arushi Gupta, and Aastha Jain
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
The Government of Kerala dovetailed its state housing programme with the national scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in 2015 to realise the vision for ‘Housing for All’. The State Poverty Eradication Mission of the Government of Kerala, or Kudumbashree, is the state-level nodal agency for implementing the scheme in Kerala. The PMAY (U) is converged with the LIFE Mission (Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment), the comprehensive housing scheme of the Kerala government, and is implemented as PMAY (U)-LIFE. In Kerala, the PMAY’s Beneficiary-led Individual House Construction or Enhancement (BLC) vertical emerged as the most preferred vertical, owing to an increased subsidy outlay by the Government of Kerala. Further, recognising the lack of state-owned land as a significant hindrance to the uptake of the BLC scheme, the state government converged the implementation of the BLC scheme with the third phase of the LIFE Mission in 2017. This convergence provided an additional subsidy to the landless households to purchase private land, thereby enabling their inclusion under the ambit of the BLC scheme in the state. This report is based on a primary assessment of the state of habitat improvement in Kerala, under the ambit of PMAY (U)-LIFE, through a quantitative household survey in three cities of Kerala – Kochi, Trivandrum and Mukkam. It finds that the State’s interventions towards the Housing for All agenda have underscored the importance attributed to the landless and the homeless in the state, rather than slum dwellers exclusively. The State’s interventions have also successfully demonstrated an approach towards enabling livelihoods through housing and imbibing financial empowerment among women. While the Kerala model has exhibited various successful interventions to achieve a higher uptake of the BLC under PMAY, Kerala now needs to focus on adopting a city-wide, inclusive spatial planning approach. This report concludes by advocating for the provision of allied basic civic infrastructure across the new and existing housing in the state and for a spatial integration of the beneficiaries, to ensure habitat improvement.
Topic:
Poverty, Governance, Urban, and Housing
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

127. Improving Housing for Urban Poor: Learnings from BLC Implementation in Odisha

Author:
Aparna Das, Anindita Mukherjee, Baisakhi Sarkar Dhar, Sudeshna Chatterjee, Arushi Gupta, and Aastha Jain
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
In response to the national housing scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), the Government of Odisha designed the Odisha Urban Housing Mission – Awaas in 2015 to realise the goal of housing for all in the state. With an additional outlay as subsidy from the state government and the Centre to the economically weaker sections for building houses on their own land, the Beneficiary-led ‘Individual House’ Construction or Enhancement (BLC) vertical emerged as the most preferred. During the initial days of implementation, the lack of documentary evidence for the land occupied by slum dwellers continued to exclude the majority from the purview of the BLC subsidy. To address this impediment and to enable a wider traction of the scheme, the State introduced the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2017, entitling the urban poor to rights on the land parcels they had been residing on, depending on the tenability. After the completion of the pilot phase of the Act, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha launched the JAGA Mission, to expand the land rights programme and to transform the existing slums into liveable habitats, with the provision of all essential civic urban infrastructure. Against this background, this report aims to understand (a) the impact of the distribution of Land Rights Certificates (LRCs) among the urban poor on their ability to leverage the housing subsidy under BLC and (b) the existing conditions and challenges in the construction of houses through BLC under PMAY in Odisha. For this purpose, a stratified sample survey of 250 households was carried out in three cities of Odisha – Dhenkanal, Gopalpur and Berhampur – in addition to Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). The study finds that the dissemination of land rights to the urban poor, after the commencement of the JAGA Mission, enhanced the potential beneficiary base in the state for leveraging available BLC housing subsidies. However, the ensuing ‘house only’ approach in the State and the limited focus on improving access to basic services require urgent redressal. While the steps adopted by the Government of Odisha are vital to address the issues of urban planning and housing for slum dwellers, there is now a looming need to adopt a multi-pronged approach towards ensuring an overall habitat improvement and an integration of slums into the city fabric.
Topic:
Poverty, Governance, Urban, and Housing
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

128. State Education Finances: A Deep-Dive into School Education Finances in Eight States

Author:
Mridusmita Bordoloi, Sharad Pandey, and Ruchi Junnarkar
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This study is an attempt to provide an in-depth understanding of school education financing in India through an analysis of expenditures incurred across eight states from FY 2014-15 to FY 2017-18.
Topic:
Education, Governance, Finance, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

129. Mapping State Interventions Towards Women and Child Protection in Maharashtra

Author:
Accountability Initiative
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
This study examined interventions addressing violence against women (VAW) and violence against children (VAC) in Maharashtra. The study, conducted between August 2018 and October 2019, analyses budgetary allocations, expenditures, and utilisation for measures addressing VAW and VAC over 5 years FY 2014-15 to FY 2018-19. This study was commissioned by UNICEF Maharashtra as a part of a larger project between UNICEF, UN Women and Government of Maharashtra on tracking outlays to outcomes for women and children.
Topic:
Governance, Children, Women, Violence, and Public Policy
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

130. Unblocking Barriers to Inclusive WASH: Learnings from Slums in Bhubaneswar

Author:
Tripti Singh and Anju Dwivedi
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for Policy Research, India
Abstract:
Urban sanitation in the Indian policy space received focused attention only after the mid2000s with the introduction of a slew of programmes such as Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), followed by National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP), Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and the National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM). However, there remains limited literature based on empirical research on urban sanitation in India from the perspective of inclusion. While India made considerable physical progress in sanitation infrastructure creation in the last decade, it continues to grapple with ground realities that are causing widespread social inequalities in accessing water and sanitation. These inequalities differently affect marginalised groups – women, adolescent girls, transgender and persons with disabilities – in accessing water and sanitation, and act as barriers to opportunities for them. For the country to fulfil the commitment to the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) based on the principle of ‘Leave no one behind’, it is imperative for it to place marginalised groups at the centre of programme and policy research. Often, those who are left behind face multiple marginalisations, as they live in poverty, under precarious conditions, with limited access to safe water and sanitation services. Against this backdrop, this study was conducted in 2018-19 across ten slums in Bhubaneshwar (Odisha) to explore to what extent marginalised groups access benefits of sanitation schemes and programmes. The government of Odisha has introduced a range of water and sanitation policies and strategies. These include the Odisha State Water Policy 2007, Odisha Urban Sanitation Strategies 2011 which was revised in 2017, Odisha Urban Sanitation Policy 2017, and Odisha State Urban Water Supply Policy 2013 that deal with provisioning of water and sanitation facilities for the urban poor. While this provides a conducive policy/ legal environment, it is critical to identify both the enabling mechanisms for inclusive sanitation and the barriers to inclusion that exist for marginalised groups in slums in the state. In this context, the study examined tangible and intangible effects of SBM-Urban at both household and community levels. At the household level, the study attempted to understand whether the programmes had a transformative impact on the gendered division of labour within the domestic sphere, particularly concerning water and sanitation roles and responsibilities. At the community level – in this case the slum level – the study examined whether the government programmes strengthened the participation of the most marginalised groups in decision-making processes of planning and implementation. The research proposes recommendations to support the government, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), researchers and academics in developing inclusive sanitation policies and programmes as well as promoting inclusive approaches on urban sanitation. Some of the key recommendations include developing a framework and guideline for inclusive sanitation, initiating inclusive WASH budgeting, and upgrading the design of existing community toilets (CTs) and public toilets (PTs) to cater to specific needs of transgender and persons with disability.
Topic:
Governance, Sanitation, Slums, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
South Asia and India