14 August 2020: Virtual talk and panel discussion on 'Topping the Glass Half Full: Opportunities for Regional Trade in South Asia'

Sanjay Kathuria
Centre for Policy Research

Panellists:
Shyam Saran, Centre for Policy Research (CPR)
Nagesh Kumar, UNESCAP
Selim Raihan, University of Dhaka

Chair:
Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
It would be no overstatement to say that seventy years after the decolonisation of South Asia, economic integration of the region remains disappointing. Intraregional trade as a share of regional gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around only 1 percent in South Asia, versus 2.6 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa and about 11 percent in East Asia and the Pacific. Yet, world history has repeatedly shown trade to be a crucial tool for poverty reduction. Centered around the book A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia, this event will discuss various challenges to regional economic integration and lessons that can be learned from some success stories. The event will consist of a brief talk by Dr Sanjar Kathuria, editor of the book and a recent addition to the CPR faculty, followed by a panel discussion.

Date: August 14, 2020
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Note:
The session will be held online via Zoom. To register, kindly fill this form.

9 March 2020: One Hundred Homes: Visual survey of wealth and poverty in India

Jeffrey Hammer
Economists Without Borders(ECWB) and NCAER

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research

Abstract:
In 2018, a multi-disciplinary team from India and four other countries collected expenditure data, photographs, 360-degree media, and documentary footage of One Hundred Indian Homes, representing the entire range of income levels found across the country. The result is a website, which lets users visit and compare the One Hundred Homes -- and which upends our conventional wisdom on who's poor and who's not.

This presentation introduces the website but also raises issues about the collection of consumption data in India (and pretty much all poor countries). Problems old and new are discussed.

Date: March 9, 2020
Time: 04:00 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Room
Centre for Policy Research
Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi - 110021

Location:

31 December 2019: Workshop on "Unthinking Urbanisation: How Urban and Messy is India’s Urbanisation?"

Partha Mukhopadhyay
Centre for Policy Research

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH)

Abstract:
Recently, India’s urbanisation has been characterised as “messy”. At various times, it has been described as unplanned and chaotic. In this context, this talk will primarily engage with two questions. First, it asks if Indian cities are urban — are they urban in all dimensions, economic, social, political, and spatial? Second — and without prejudice to the answer to the first question and stipulating that an urbanisation process is underway — it asks what does it mean to say that Indian urbanisation is messy, that it is a thoughtless, unplanned sprawl? Is there another way of looking at the urbanisation process? Drawing upon multiple qualitative, quantitative, and spatial data sources, this talk will argue first, that in many respects, Indian cities may not yet be urban. Further, the apparent messiness is the result of shortcomings in the public response to relatively normal and predictable individual actions. Consequently, we need to discuss how the public response can be improved rather than adopt punitive measures that penalise rational individual behaviour.

Date: December 31, 2019
Time: 03:45 P.M.

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

Location:

View Larger Map

13 December 2019: Talk on Establishing Regulatory Capacity for the Real Estate Sector: The MahaRERA Experience

Gautam Chatterjee
Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority

Moderator:
Deepak Sanan, Centre for Policy Research

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research

Abstract:
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 was enacted by Parliament with the objective of bringing about transparency and financial discipline in the real estate business, and to protect the interests of home buyers. The law mandates states to set up real estate regulatory authorities; developers/builders are required to register projects with this regulatory authority before commencing bookings and sales. Builders are also required to deposit 70% of amounts collected from buyers into an escrow account, to ensure that these funds are used only for the specific project. The objectives of the Act include speedy dispute resolution, curbing the flow of black money, and ensuring timely completion of projects. Progress on the implementation of this law by states is encouraging. So far 29 states have set up regulatory authorities, and 24 have established appellate tribunals. Regulatory authorities of 24 states have set up their websites – which is critical for the implementation of the Act as it mandates online registration. A total of 46,695 real estate projects and 36,823 real estate agents have been registered under the Act across the country.

Maharashtra was the first state to set up its Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA). The state has one of the largest real estate markets in India. It reports more than half of all projects registered in the country and most real estate agents. Gautam Chatterjee is the first and current Chairperson of the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority. The talk will focus on his experience of establishing regulatory capacity and creating the conditions for transparency and market discipline in a difficult market.

Date: December 13, 2019
Time: 04:00 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org. The seating at the venue can accommodate up to 60 people on a first come first serve basis.

Location:

View Larger Map

13 December 2019: Discussion on 'Blackout: The Political Dynamics of Power Outages'

Discussants:
Brian Min
Department of Political Science, University of Michigan
Neelanjan Sircar and Ashwini K. Swain
Centre for Policy Research

Moderator:
Gilles Verniers, Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research & Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University

Abstract:
Access to electricity in India has increased dramatically in recent decades. On the other hand, the quality of electricity remains uneven in some areas, characterized by blackouts, load shedding, and reliability problems. Brian Min introduce new data on power outages derived from satellite imagery captured nightly over each village since the 1990s. The data suggest that the rapid implementation of village electrification projects has often coincided with a decline in the quality of electricity service. The worst outages are in areas which most aggressively pursued new electrification efforts. The patterns are consistent with an electoral strategy that prioritizes more visible, short-term accomplishments over less visible longer-term investments jn service quality. The results support an electoral explanation for the quality deficit that characterizes the delivery of many public services in democracies across the world.

Date: December 13, 2019
Time: 02:00 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org. The seating at the venue can accommodate up to 60 people on a first come first serve basis.

Location:

View Larger Map

29 November 2019: Discussion on 'India's Economy in a hole: Keep Digging?'

Lant Pritchett
Centre for Policy Research

Discussant:
Ajay Shah, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP)

Organised by
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
Weak capability for implementation and beautiful rules create complex deals. Complex deals can create a rapidly growing economy, but at the same time prevent the move to rules. Hence, the paradox can be move to rules that can be good in the long run but bad in the short term,or move to deals that are good in the short term but not in the long run. This talk will unpack these relationships and dynamics in the context of the Indian economy and state capacity.

Date: November 29, 2019
Time: 11:00 A.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org. The seating at the venue can accommodate up to 60 people on a first come first serve basis.

Location:

View Larger Map

15 November 2019: Talk on 'Government at the Grassroots: A case study of field administration'

Rashmi Sharma
Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER)

Organised by
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
The working of government at the grassroots was explored through a case study of field administration in one district in Madhya Pradesh, based on an analysis of 56 government organizations across 8 departments, interviews with Panchayat Representatives, government officials, NGO representatives and journalists, and focus group discussions with citizens.

The case study found that though the role of field administration was very wide, the capacity to deliver was constrained for several reasons. The structure was fragmented, with separate offices of 37 departments at various levels, as well as rural and urban local governments. Given the large number of government offices, there was inadequate manpower in individual institutions, especially at the grassroots. Moreover, there were several gaps in expertise, and a large number of posts were vacant. At the grassroots, several types of workers were hired on contract at low salaries, with no prospects of promotion. They were dissatisfied and agitated constantly for better working conditions. The posting of regular employees was patronage-based, and promotions very slow, which created a perverse incentive. The infrastructure in many field institutions was inadequate in terms of seating space, toilets, drinking water and sanitation.

Departmental offices from the state headquarter exercised tight control over the field offices in terms of activities, manpower and finances. This made it difficult for government workers to respond to people’s needs. The role of local governments, through extensive as per law, was very limited in practice. The District Collector had varying authority over departmental offices. Consequently, the capacity for coordinated action was limited. There was little analysis of problems, because officials saw their role as following orders. Technology had been used to centralize even more as state level officials monitored more intensely through daily reports and video conferences. There was wide-spread rent-seeking, and the impact of measures to enhance the accountability to the community was weak. This resulted in poor quality institutions, fractious relations between government workers and citizens, and poor capacity to solve local problems.

There is need to seriously re-think field administration. The measures suggested include empowering local governments, creating fewer but stronger organizations, hiring better skilled personnel at the grassroots, providing greater opportunities for promotion, developing more consultative and analytical processes of working and eliminating rent-seeking.

Date: November 15, 2019
Time: 10:00 A.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

21 November 2019: Book Launch and Discussion: 'India in a Warming World: Integrating Climate Change and Development'

Speakers:
Chandra Bhushan, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST)
Naina Lal Kidwai, Advent Private Equity India Advisory board and former President, FICCI
Nitin Sethi, Independent journalist and writer

Moderator:
Navroz K. Dubash, Centre for Policy Research and Editor, India in A Warming World

Organised by
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
As science is increasingly making clear, the problem of climate change poses an existential challenge for humanity. For India, this challenge is compounded by immediate concerns of eradicating poverty and accelerating development, and complicated by its relatively limited role thus far in causing the problem. India in a Warming World explores this complex context for India’s engagement with climate change. But, in addition, it argues that India, like other countries, can no longer ignore the problem, because a pathway to development innocent of climate change is no longer available. Bringing together leading researchers, activists, and policymakers, this volume lays out the emergent debate on climate change in India. Collectively, the chapters deepen clarity on why India should engage with climate change and how it can best do so.

Date: November 21, 2019
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Venue:
Kamladevi Complex,
India International Centre
Max Mueller Marg,
New Delhi - 110003(INDIA)

Note:
Please RSVP at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfPct5xHSCPMgWyCG9X9nL4SQRsg6K4tMZWcb7Dwrl55YerBw/viewform

22 October 2019: Conversation with author of "City of Flows"

Olivier Mongin
Essayist and Publisher in conversation with
Marie-Hélène Zérah
French Institute of Research on Development (IRD), Paris and Center for Policy Research

Organised by
The Centre for Policy Research (CPR), Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) and Institut Français India (IFI)

Abstract:
Olivier Mongin’s book City of Flows ("La Ville des flux", published in 2013), reflects on the trajectory of cities in an era of globalisation. For Olivier Mongin, there is an ongoing “de-territorialisation” process in the cities, which avoids regulation, because of their integration into a vast global movement materialised by flows. He argues in favour of the urgent need to rethink urban values, which have taken various forms and semantics through history, and which are vital to envision a more integrative future for cities.

Date: October 22, 2019
Time: 04:00 P.M.

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

Location:

View Larger Map

17 October 2019: Book launch and discussion on 'Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India's Urban Slums'

Adam Michael Auerbach
School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC

Discussants:
Véronique Dupont, French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD)
Rohit Chandra, Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Moderator:
Marie-Hélène Zérah, Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
India’s urban slums exhibit dramatic variation in their access to local public goods and services – paved roads, piped water, trash removal, sewers, and streetlights. Drawing on more than two years of fieldwork in the north Indian cities of Bhopal and Jaipur, Demanding Development accounts for the uneven success of India’s slum residents in securing local public goods and services. The book centres on the political organisation of slum settlements and the informal slum leaders who spearhead resident efforts to make claims on the state – in particular, those slum leaders who are party workers. It finds striking variation in the extent to which networks of party workers have spread across slum settlements. It demonstrates how this variation in the density and partisan distribution of party workers across settlements has powerful consequences on the ability of residents to politically mobilise to improve local conditions.

Date: October 17, 2019
Time: 04:30 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

10 October 2019: Talk on 'What Happens to Local Electricity Supply Systems When Grid Supply Improves? Insights From Three Localities in Bihar'

Bérénice Girard

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
Two simultaneous dynamics are currently taking place in the energy sector in Bihar. One is the development of the electricity grid and the improvement of supply. The other is a push by the Central and State governments for renewable energies, especially for solar. The 2017 'Policy for Promotion of New and Renewable Energy Sources' thus plans to install more than 3400 MW of renewable energy by 2022.

This presentation will introduce an ongoing research that analyses how these two dynamics have modified the “market for electricity”, in other words, the local economy that provides households and shops with electricity supply, back-up or technologies that will help reduce their bills. These products and services are either autonomous or complementary to the grid, and include small individual solutions (solar lanterns, batteries, etc), large individual solutions for condominiums or public buildings (solar rooftops, generators, etc), and collective solutions (generator services, rental of batteries, etc). The research sits at the intersection of energy and urban studies and is carried out in three different urban or semi-urban localities in the district of Bhagalpur. The presentation will examine how these three localities, despite being geographically very close to one another, are currently following three different energy trajectories.

The research thus contributes to two areas of study. First, it gives insights into the assemblages of actors, technical objects and institutions, which preside over the nature, structure and evolution of local electricity supply systems, i.e. the energy transition in contemporary India. Second, it furthers the knowledge on local entrepreneurship in different urban settings.

Date: October 10, 2019
Time: 12:00 P.M.

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

Location:

View Larger Map

27 September 2019: Talk on 'State Capacity for Cities: Staffing and Cadre Restructuring in Madhya Pradesh Municipalities'

Neelesh Dubey
Urban Administration and Development Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
In the past eighteen years, starting in 1991 and linked to the Indian economic challenges of the time, there has been a broadly declining trend in government employment. Government departments are discouraged from creating new posts and have been expected to shed some of their operational costs by voluntary retirement, attrition (not hiring against posts vacated when incumbents retire), and by contracting out some of their functions.

However, the roles and functions of government continue to change and evolve, sometimes requiring increases and restructuring of staff. In the case of municipalities in Madhya Pradesh, this was felt to be necessary in light of the expanding profile, roles and responsibilities of municipalities in the state over the past decade.

During this period, the national JNNURM programme set a context in which municipalities could take some responsibility for planning their infrastructure needs in a socio-economic context, and secure funds to implement these projects. The programme also made state governments and municipalities commit to a set of institutional reforms which were largely to be implemented by the municipalities. Around the same time, the state government of Madhya Pradesh entered into a few large donor and multilateral funded infrastructure and governance improvement programmes, which were largely to be implemented at the city level by municipalities. The functional profile of the Madhya Pradesh municipalities also expanded, partly as a result of these programmes, to cover drinking water, urban poverty, housing and transport.

And yet, for much of this time, there was minimal change in municipal staffing. The staffing structure of municipalities is based on a structure that is approved by the state government, and any additional changes have to be approved by it. Upper-level posts are filled by the state, often by officers on deputation from other cadres or from state service employees, whereas the municipality recruits lower-level staff locally. This system has many problems, most importantly that municipalities fall short of skills, expertise and people in many critical areas.

In this context, the government of Madhya Pradesh undertook a comprehensive municipal cadre and staffing reform which has been partly implemented by the state and is the subject of this talk.

Date: September 27, 2019
Time: 12:00-1:30 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

2 September 2019: Hate Speech or the Speech we Hate

Salil Tripathi
PEN International

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
What constitutes hate speech and what makes it dangerous? The term hate speech has been defined loosely and takes different interpretations for the speaker and the listener. The speakers who express views forcefully believe they are expressing their right to speak freely. The listeners consider the speech they don't like or agree with as hate speech. Laws impose restrictions on free speech in most jurisdictions, and litigation can restrict free expression of ideas. But sustained hate speech can kill - genocides begin with normalisation of hatred through speech - action follows later, as examples from Rwanda and Bosnia show. A new framework, which distinguishes between hate speech and dangerous speech can provide clarity to distinguish between speech that promotes hate and violence and the ideas we hate but are merely controversial, provocative, hurtful, shocking, and disgusting for some. Negotiating that space is the challenge for democracies in the age of the Internet.

Date: September 2, 2019
Time: 11:00 A.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

30 August 2019: Talk on 'Understanding Centrally Sponsored Schemes: An Instrument for Financing Development'

Mridusmita Bordoloi
Accountability Initiative

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
This talk draws on Accountability Initiative’s work, and will provide a detailed overview of CSSs. In specific, it will focus on the following:
* Why were CSSs conceptualised as a federal intervention tool to bring about development in all states post-independence? What is their present
status?
* What are the funding and institutional architecture of CSSs? What are some key challenges and bottlenecks in the implementation of the CSSs?
* How can the policy of convergence (combining of CSS programmes) play a role in addressing bottlenecks?

Date: August 30, 2019
Time: 03:30 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at csood@accountabilityindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

26 August 2019: Seminar on 'Where is India's Growth Happening? Tales of Cities, Small Towns and Villages'

Ejaz Syed Ghani
The World Bank

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
The Indian Growth Story, it's causes and reasons, prompts a spur of questions - Is India one of the fastest urbanising countries in the world? Has it kept pace with its youth bulge and job creation? Are industries de-urbanising? What has constrained growth of secondary cities and small towns and districts? Is India’s spatial development lopsided? Will inclusive spatial development solve rural distress?

This seminar will attempt to address these questions based on evidence gathered from millions of enterprises in 550 districts in India over the last two decades and also show how urbanisation can scale up entrepreneurship and job creation.

Date: August 26, 2019
Time: 12:00 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

20 August 2019: Lecture on 'Beyond Making Spaces for Nature? Engaging ecology as if democracy mattered'

Mahesh Rangarajan
Ashoka University

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
Making spaces for nature has been one of the accomplishments of Indian democracy most so in the half century since 1969. These executive and legislative measures complement efforts of extensive social movements that have made various dimensions of the environment critical in public life. But few would today demur if told that statist and market led efforts as also community led initiatives often fall far short of the level, extent, scale and depth of the environmental challenges especially so after the pace of economic change quickened over the last four decades. The explosive expansion of the mega city and the ability of market forces to undercut not only protective rings around resources or spaces is matched by other developments. These include environmental emergency in parts of urban India as in acute drought in Bengaluru or floods in Chennai and the pall of smog over north India's plains.

Despite many bright spots, there are serious doubts if things can simply go on the old way. The ability of movements to halt haphazard and ill-planned development or enable their realignment is also uneven with the cases of Niyamgiri, Silent Valley or Subansiri set against the lure of rapid big infrastructure often with little care for the land or waterscape. Conversely, many issues such as glacier meltdown or oceanic pollution defy environmentalism in only one country.

Yet the green shoots of democratic dialogue and action beckon. Even in the past as in the US or Japan or India itself, the right to a habitable and safe environment was always about much more than making spaces for nature. The latter too matters. A democracy in the 21st century is about peace with nature as much as among ourselves: to begin on that journey needs us to look afresh at the present and trace out footsteps to a better future.

Date: August 20, 2019
Time: 04:00 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at climate.initiative.cpr@cprindia.org.

Location:

View Larger Map

14 August 2019: Public lecture on 'Is Electoral Democracy still a good tool for Social Justice?'

Philippe Van Parijs
University of Louvain

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Trivedi Centre for Political Data, Ashoka University

Abstract:
Electoral democracy possesses virtues that arguably makes it an indispensable tool in the pursuit of social justice. These virtues include the educational force of vote fetching, the disciplining force of self-infliction and above all the civilising force of hypocrisy. But this tool is very imperfect and for a number of reasons — among them, the growing impact of our local decisions on people living elsewhere or not yet born and the growing role of the internet — increasingly so.

To address its imperfections, it is worth exploring unorthodox strategies whose relevance will vary greatly from place to place. These strategies include the democratisation of a lingua franca (as a complement to local languages), the creation of global constituencies (as a complement to local ones), the development of randomly composed citizens’ assemblies (as a complement to elected assemblies) and listening to the street (as a complement to the ballot box). They will be illustrated by recent proposals and debates in the European context.

Date: August 14, 2019
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Venue:
Auditorium,
The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML)
Teen Murti Marg,
New Delhi-110011(INDIA)

Location:

9 August 2019: Lecture on 'US-China trade/ technology war'

Dingding Chen
School of International Studies at Jinan University, China

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
China and the United States have been engaged in a trade war through increasing tariffs and other measures since 2018. The trade war can be attributed to trade imbalances, the US midterm elections and rivalry for global economic dominance. The current US-China trade conflict concerns two major set of issues. The first is the lack of reciprocity in terms of tariffs, market access, and investment. The problem is that there is a second set of issues, which concern technology transfer and high-tech industrial policy, including the Made in China 2025 initiative. The US has demanded that these programs be dismantled because they unfairly disadvantage foreign firms, but China views them as critical to its plans to transform the country into a high-tech power. Definitely, the US and China are competing for supremacy in the suite of advanced technologies that will affect the means of future economic production. US efforts to curtail China's access to American technology are threatening to unravel decades of globalisation and interdependent supply chains and raising the risk of a confrontation that has been likened to a new cold war. What is Trump's next move in the trade/technology war? How the US-China trade/technology could end?

Date: August 9, 2019
Time: 11:30 A.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map

30 July 2019: Workshop on 'How Women Mobilise Women into Politics: Theory and Natural Experimental Evidence from Urban India'

Tanushree Goyal
Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH)

Abstract:
How does women’s political entry affect citizen’s political involvement? Building on qualitative interviews and extending elite mobilisation theories to account for who conducts grass-roots mobilisation, I argue that female politicians increase women’s numbers in party activist roles, and prospects of cheaply mobilising women provide a strategic incentive to do so. As a result, more women receive mobilising effort, such as door-to-door party contact, where women contest. Women’s entry in activist roles has downstream effects on the quality of mobilisation. When women enter into activist roles, where they were previously absent, they induce competition for these roles and in doing so raise the quality of activist pool. This affects the political involvement, that is, political knowledge and participation, of all citizens. I provide evidence for this argument using original survey data from a natural experiment in Delhi’s Municipal Council, where randomly chosen electoral seats are reserved for women. By outlining how representation affects the calculus of mobilisation, this paper connects the literature on women’s political entry with mobilisation and political involvement.

This paper is part of an ongoing dissertation book project, provisionally titled, 'The politics of representation: How female politicians make politics inclusive in India', that examines the consequences of women’s entry through quotas in Delhi’s civic body. Drawing on a natural experiment, extensive fieldwork, interviews, and original survey, combined with insights from a new electoral polling-station level panel dataset, this book proposes to offer new theoretical insights and an empirical account of women’s agency in shaping urban politics and governance in India.

Date: July 30, 2019
Time: 03:35 P.M.

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

Location:

View Larger Map

23 July 2019: Seminar on 'Malaysia's Sewerage and Sanitation Sector Regulatory Framework'

Punita Nook Naidu

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
Malaysia had established a regulatory framework for sewerage and sanitation as early as 1990. In general, the services aspect has improved vastly and has left a significant impact on the economic feasibility. One of the key features of sewerage management in Malaysia was the scheduled desludging framework adopted in 1994 which was operationalised by the national concession company - Indah Water Konsortium (IWK).

In 2008, the scheduled desludging framework was revisited and changed based on liberalisation model by the regulator, Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN). The desludging of septic tanks were still to be performed periodically but the services could be rendered by either IWK or by any other SPAN approved desludging contractors selected by the septic tank owner.

The seminar deliberates on the thoughts, considerations and actions that underlie processes of regulatory development specifically in faecal sludge management and desludging services.The seminar will largely focus on the eventual change in the desludging framework as well as the current status, funding dynamics of sewerage infrastructure and services in Malaysia and the benefits and challenges of the funding mechanism employed. This will be followed by deliberation on practical learnings from experiences of Malaysia which can be used by stakeholders in India in driving the sanitation agenda forward.

Date: July 23, 2019
Time: 02:30 P.M.

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

Note:
Please RSVP at RSVP at sci-fi@cprindia.org

Location:

View Larger Map