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New urban geographies of West Bengal, East India
Get PDFThis article is part of a larger research project on new urban geographies in India. Between the
population censuses of 2001 and 2011, India witnessed a record increase of 2,532 new Census
Towns, small settlements that meet the country’s criteria to be considered ‘urban’. This steep
increase is intricately linked with decreases in agricultural jobs, but we know very little about
the spatiality of these urban geographies, alternative local employment, or the nature of the
local economies of Census Towns. Based on a tailored geodatabase, our Main Map visualizes
the geography of these heretofore uncharted Census Towns in the state of West Bengal. We
then draw on reconnaissance fieldwork to zoom in on a cluster of Census Towns in central
Bengal where we find evidence of urban growth that appears linked to road infrastructure,
what we described in earlier conceptual work as “emergent highway urbanization”. The Main
Map and reconnaissance fieldwork contribute to a better, albeit early-stage, understanding of
the rapidly changing spatiality of contemporary urbanization in this region
Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on a Draft Sustainable Coal Mining Bill Workshop Report of SERB – NIAS Virtual Workshop, September 5, 2020 (NIAS/NSE/EEP/U/WR/19/2020)
No full textCoal is one of the most significant growth drivers for the Indian economy. India is endowed with 13
percent of the World’s total proven coal reserves which can be extracted profitably with currently available
technology under the prevailing market conditions. However, coal mining is associated with significant
environmental challenges, viz, disturbance of land surface, air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution,
reduction in the water table, deforestation, and loss in agricultural productivity. While one of the major
challenges in increasing the production of coal in India is the delay in grant of approvals from various
Authorities, there is a need for a new regulatory framework to improve the environmental governance of
the coal sector, particularly before commercial coal mining takes off on the ground.
The Energy & Environment Program at NIAS is developing a new regulatory framework for coal mining
as part of ongoing PhD research supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board. The core
component of this regulatory framework consists of a “Sustainable Coal Mining Bill” to constitute a unified
authority named the “Coal Mines Environment Authority” staffed with multi-disciplinary expertise to
minimize the adverse environmental impacts of coal mining projects with an integrated, multi-disciplinary
approach.
The proposed bill is based on the Federal structure of India and does not infringe on the land rights of local
communities or the existing provisions for wildlife conservation, biodiversity protection, and occupational
health & safety, under extant Laws. The draft “Sustainable Coal Mining Bill” and the “Environment,
Forest, and Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill” crafted by NIAS were discussed during a virtual stakeholder
consultation workshop on September 5, 2020. This report includes the key recommendations received
during the Workshop as well as the updated and improved drafts of the two bills in the form of a
consultation paper
Permeable Pavements as Sustainable Nature-Based Solutions for the Management of Urban Lake Ecosystems
No full textPermeable pavement systems (PPS) are becoming integral parts of the urban green infrastructure (UGI) planning approaches for the implementation of nature-based solutions (NbS) especially in rapidly developing regions. Global research has demonstrated that UGI is quite essential to regulate and establish the hydrological and ecological functions of urban aquatic ecosystems such as lakes. At a micro-scale level, design of storm water management systems requires detailed planning, as urban flooding has the potential to affect a huge population dwelling in the cities often without any warning. Such events cause drastic changes in the hydrological statuses of urban lakes, by gradually decreasing their natural resilience over a period. An associated risk with the degradation of urban lake systems pertains to their immense contributions in maintaining the ambient temperature profiles. The loss of the urban lake systems will directly lead to a substantial rise in the ambient air temperature and enhanced heat island effect. PPS can offer successful NbS to improve the resilience of the lake systems. PPS would also prove to be instrumental in mitigating the urban heat island effects by intercepting the excessive run-offs, increasing green water collection and storage, as well as by maintaining close-to-natural flow regimes in the case of urban lakes. Such micro-scale NbS offered by the design and implementation of PPS can offer huge environmental, social, and economic benefits in the long run. PPS can also offer direct benefits towards regulating the lake services and can assist in addressing the sustainable development goals for the lake ecosystems in the urban set-up, which are under stress due to various anthropogenic detrimental activities
Use of Geospatial Technology for Sustainable Development of Small Scale Fisheries in India: Challenges and Way Forward
Get PDFThe total fish production in India is estimated to be 13.42 million metric tons (Mt) of which nearly 3.71 Mt are contributed by marine fisheries. The fisheries sector provides direct livelihood support to approximately 16 million people, of which marine fishers constitute a dominant subset and almost double the number along the value chain. In the past, the fisheries community in India had relied on traditional indicators of fish abundance such as the congregation of birds, colour of sea water, bubble breaking in the sea water and muddy/oily water on the sea surface in their traditionally known fishing grounds. The increased frequency of extreme weather events observed in recent times, have been related to major losses in marine ecosystem services. Further, the livelihoods of Small Scale Fisheries (SSF) communities are endangered not only by their limited understanding of the magnitude of the risks associated with natural hazards but also by the diminishing returns of relying on traditional knowledge for accurate prediction of the fishing stock at their usual locations.
Therefore, the Government of India has launched several programs to use geospatial technologies for the benefit of marine pelagic fisheries in India for the sustainable development of the SSF communities. However, the lives of SSF communities are also challenged by complex, inter-linked socio-economic factors. In this paper, we focus on the maritime state of Odisha which is affected by several extreme weather events (cyclones) in the Bay of Bengal. We describe the socio-economic and technological factors which determine the degree of assimilation of the Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) and Ocean State Forecast (OSF) advisories provided by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) with a focus on the threads linking natural and anthropocentric factors that produce significant changes in the Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) and net profit for pelagic fisheries of Odisha. More importantly, we identify the research and implementation gaps that must be addressed so that science, technology, and societal interactions can be used to enhance the sustainable development of the SSF communities.
Keywords: Potential fishing zone, Catch per unit effort, Ocean state forecast, Geospatial technology
Cyclone in the Sundarbans: Of Relief Work and Resilience
No full textFollowing Cyclone Amphan, relief work in the already sensitive and complex Sundarbans delta was complicated by the sudden nationwide lockdown.
Relief in the Sundarbans is complicated. Last winter,
we went to a village with blankets for the neediest
section of the village. But the villagers demanded that
everyone get a blanket. The women were pointing kataris
[sharp knives] and shouting at us. We had to cancel our
distribution and come back,” recounted Rezwana as she was
taking stock of the ration stored in her house for relief work.
Despite their earlier experience, Rezwana and her friends
from Kolkata had decided to go back to the very same village
to distribute relief. But this time, she had arranged for police
protection along the route. News of the loot of relief vans in
the Sundarbans following cyclone Amphan had started
circulating already. Amphan had left a trail of destruction
across south Bengal, with physical and virtual communication
networks in many remote areas disrupted
The Social Worlds of Higher Education: Welfare Hostels as Pedagogic Sites
No full textThis thesis foregrounds the ways in which socially marginalised young women encounter higher education. Centring social welfare hostels as sites within India’s higher educational setup, the thesis accounts for socialities, educational pathways, and negotiations with caste, that mark student lives. The thesis is situated within the broader contexts of Indian higher education, which has seen numerous transformations over the last few decades. As institutional access expanded, colleges and universities transitioned towards more diverse places of learning, work and habitation. Reserved seats in educational admissions and employment along with a wide range of assistance became part of the measures taken up by the Indian state to enable this diversification. Pre-matric and post-matric hostels have, for generations, been the spaces where students from marginalised communities could receive education. The thesis set out to understand higher education from the place of social welfare hostels, designed to expand access and enhance equity. Qualitative in its methodological orientation, my research examines two sites in depth, documenting the everyday in hostels of Bengaluru and Kalaburgi. As they enrol in college courses and secure admission in the social welfare hostels, the experience of higher education for the women students I closely interacted with often included resource scarcity, stigma, and hurt. Self-discipline, friendship and sociality become the elements to rely on in responding to institutional practices. From overt discrimination to subtle ways in which their life histories are devalued within higher educational institutions, the social worlds of higher education are difficult to traverse. The thesis unpacks how women residing in state-run social welfare hostels navigate this difficult terrain, paying attention to the ways that state policies interact with established caste-gender hierarchies. Going beyond exclusively institutional understanding, the broad premise of my thesis is to look at hostel as integral to educational experiences. My analysis shows how re-framing vocabulary from the state’s benevolent terms to that of assertion, care and rights was an important aspect of educational journeys for many students. Courses geared towards quick employment and anxieties of “paying back” were recurring elements of higher educational experience for the women residing in hostels. Laying out structural constraints within the lives of women students, the thesis demonstrates how within their specific circumstances, the students work towards building a sense of self and collective worth
Everyday violence, schooling and mediating instructions in Northeast India
No full textNortheast India, consisting of eight states, lies on the geopolitical periphery of India. In India, the region is ethnically the most diverse, with a vast diversity of languages and dialects. Despite its tremendous multiplicity in terms of language, caste, race, religion and ethnic groups, they share common features distinctive from the rest of India (Ahmed and Biswas, 2004), but having cultural affinity with Southeast Asia
Unravelling Kuttanad's Drinking Water Paradox
Get PDFSurrounded by vast expanses of water, the Kuttanad region in Alleppey district, Kerala faces severe drinking water scarcity due to infrastructure failure and civic body inaction. This picture-perfect expanse that lies at the heart of the backwaters experiences “frequent floods, waterlogging, contamination from the houseboat and domestic effluents, degradation of natural reserves, poor sanitation and land management systems in the catchment and supply-demand mismatch” (Shiney and Geeja, 2013).
Water to cater to the needs of a population of 2.4 lakh population is sourced from the Neerettupuram plant in Thiruvalla that has a production of 14 million litres per day against a demand of 24 million litres. Nearly, half of the water gets lost through the supply system creating a huge shortfall in drinking water