Monday, May 15, 2017

17 May 2017: Talk on 'The Future We Need: Natural Resources as a Shared Inheritance'

Rahul Basu
Goa Foundation, Goenchi Mati Movement (GMM), and The Future We Need (TFWN)

Abstract:
Natural resources include our environment, minerals, and land. From an economic standpoint, land and minerals are the most valuable. Wealth attracts thieves, adventurers, rent seekers and crony capitalists. It is not surprising that mining encourages corruption, as private parties attempt to capture most of the value through "legal" but fundamentally illegitimate contracts. This in turn drives environment and human rights violations, which give rise to conflict. Iron ore mining in Goa has become a contentious issue between government and civil society. In his talk, Rahul will speak about the work of the Goa Foundation, an environmental NGO, in raising awareness about mining as Goa’s largest environmental issue for over twenty five years. He will describe the Supreme Court's decision in the Goa Mining case, where the Court was concerned with the rapid depletion of iron ore, and wanted a practical method of implementing the principle of "intergenerational equity", earlier ruled by the Court to be a part of the "Right to Life". Goa Foundation uses the "public trust" doctrine and the "intergenerational equity" principle to propose an ethical, fair and just resolution to the issue in the form of the "fair mining" proposal. This proposal has support from the Constitution, our traditions and customs, economics and global best practices. Rahul will explain how the "fair mining" proposal reduces poverty, slows growing inequality, reduces corruption and crony capitalism, improves governance and even creates a palatable 'Universal Basic Income'. As a result of a recommendation from the Goa Foundation, the Supreme Court has ordered the creation of the Goa Iron Ore Permanent Fund. This is intended to be a savings fund akin to the oil funds of Norway and Alaska. The Supreme Court has also ruled the last five years of iron ore mining in Goa to be illegal. While giving rise to enormous claims on the miners (as illegal mining is equivalent to theft of public property), it also gave the Goa government a clean slate. It had full freedom to redesign its mining sector. The Goenchi Mati Movement issued a manifesto for the Goa State Assembly elections showing how these principles could be put into practice. The manifesto was supported by the mining affected, mining dependent, and even a miner. It has also been supported by four political parties including AAP, as well as the Archbishop of Goa, the Shadow Chancellor of the UK, and a broad spectrum of civil society.

Date: May 17, 2017
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall
Centre for Policy Research,
Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi–110021(INDIA)

Location:

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Friday, May 12, 2017

16 May 2017: The rule of law, global prosperity and strategic calculation: the stakes for the Indo-Pacific region and the world of China’s rise

Brian Lee Crowley
Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Ottawa, Canada

Chair:
Abhijit Singh, Head, Maritime Policy Initiative, ORF 

Date: May 16, 2016
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
ORF Conference Room
Observer Research Foundation
20 Rouse Avenue Institutional Area
New Delhi-110002(INDIA)

Location:


Note:
Please RSVP to orfevents@orfonline.org

Thursday, May 4, 2017

15 May 2017: Word from the Frontlines of Demonetization: Perspective’s & Lessons Learnt from India’s Largest Cash Management Company

Rajiv Kaul
CMS Info Systems Ltd.

Abstract:
Nov 8th, 2016 will go down in the Indian Economy as a red letter day, when literally overnight the Rs. 500 and Rs.1000 banknotes were demonetised. The first two weeks, and then the prolonged aftermath affected us at an individual, industry, sectoral and economic level. As India’s largest ATM cash management company, handling more than 50% of all ATM cash replenishment, and the largest retail cash collection service, with a presence across 95% of all the districts in India, CMS was at the frontline of managing this exercise in evacuation, recalibration and replenishment of ATMs. This presentation delves into the company's singular experience in handling and surviving Demonetisation, leadership lessons in coping with an increasingly chaotic ecosystem, while giving some insights into the cash cycle of our country, how the multiple entities that affect it moved in cohesion or otherwise.

Date: May 15, 2017
Time: 04:30 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall, Ground Floor
R&T Building
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
18/2 Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110067(INDIA)

Location:

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Note:
Those who are interested may please confirm your participation at bins.sebastian@nipfp.org.in

5 May 2017: The Business of Religion and Caste in India

Manaswini Bhalla
IIM Bangalore

Abstract:
We show that boards of directors of large Indian firms are characterized by high levels of cultural proximity, with members on a board belonging overwhelmingly to the same religion or caste. Using a unique database of self-reported religions and caste from matrimonial websites, we develop a novel methodology to proba- bilistically map individuals last names to religions and castes. We also develop a new homophily index to measure cultural proximity of board members. Results show few signs of increase in cultural diversity on boards during 1999-2012. Modest heterogeneity exists across firms, sectors, and states, however. Better performing firms have more diverse boards. Board diversity also increased in sectors and states that witnessed the largest increases in output. Rigorous instrument variable analysis demonstrates that lack of diversity on boards is causally associated with lower firm performance.

Date: May 5, 2017
Time: 11:30 A.M.

Venue:
Class Room No. 14
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)

Location:

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