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HUCHON Agnès, TRICOT Guillaume
Between Citizens and Institutions: The Dynamics of the Integration of Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Hyderabad
CSH Occasional Paper Nº22, New Delhi, 2008 ISSN: 0972-3579, 135 pages

Abstract

Urban growth in Hyderabad has underscored the need for restructuring urban services, starting with public utilities. What changes are taking place in this sector? Who initiates and implements policies? What is their impact on the public? These questions are addressed in this detailed study of Hyderabad's water supply and sanitation services. The paper focuses on institutional changes with regard to the main service providers - the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board and the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad - and provides a critical analysis of restructuring and policies ostensibly aimed at providing uniform service throughout the metropolitan region. In order to evaluate how policies play out on the ground, two distinct areas of the city were selected for field surveys. In this way, the spatial dimension of urban service delivery - including deployment of physical infrastructure networks as well as social infrastructure - was examined in order to analyze the relative integration of a city and to determine the main factors of segregation. The findings dispel a number of conventional ideas about unequal service levels between the old and new parts of the city and between different income groups, and offer a more nuanced explanation for differential access using both social and spatial variables. The paper also addresses the demand side of the water supply and sanitation equation, analyzing the ways in which different categories of users try to improve access or service levels. The authors explore user expectations and the various means deployed to channel grievances, which reveal different modes of democratic interaction between the public and the authorities.

This study contributes to debates surrounding urban governance and decentralization in India's cities. On one hand, it enhances understanding of recent developments in Hyderabad, a city on the forefront of many urban reforms in recent years. On the other hand, its analytical method - combining a macro study of institutional changes on the supply side with field surveys to analyze differential social and spatial access to service and household practices for improving service levels - offers numerous insights that are significant for studies of other metropolitan cities.

Table of Contents

PREFACE BY LORAINE KENNEDY & MARIE HÉLÈNE ZÉRAH

INTRODUCTION

I)POLITICAL WILL TO STANDARDIZE / MODERNIZE THE SERVICE
1.Medium and Long-term Objectives: Rationalizing the Service
a.Infrastructural Requirements
b.Outsourcing of Operations at the Consumers' End
c.Integration of Municipal Services into a Single Entity for the Whole City
d.General Trends in Andhra Pradesh
2.Short-term Objectives: Reinventing the Relationship with Consumers
a.Customer Satisfaction
b.Improvement of Public Image
3.At What Level should the Service be Standardized?
a.Connecting Individual Lines to the Network
b.Sewerage Network
c. Storm Water Drainage

II) TESTING THIS POLICY AT THE LEVEL OF MUNICIPAL WARDS
1.Slight Difference in Service between the Two Sections
2.Old Urban Infrastructure and Economic Dynamism
3.The Special Case of Slums and Underprivileged Localities
4.Inadequate Correlation between Standard of Living and Level of Service
5.Is there Uniform Implementation of Directives from Above by Section 0ffices?

III) RESIDENTS RESORT TO SELF-HELP TO IMPROVE SERVICE
1.Individual Complaints: Differences in Response according to Locality
2.Representation: Need for Intermediaries
a.Neighbourhood Democracy
b.The Municipal Corporator: A Representative of the People and a Partner of the Administration?
3.Arrangements of Residents' Associations: Joint Representation and Common Equipment
a.To Support and Relieve or Substitute Public Authorities?
b.Question of Social Redistribution

CONCLUSION
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LIST OF ANNEXES

The CSH Occasional Papers can be downloaded for free on the CSH website

MENON-CHOUDHARY Deepa, SHUKLA P.R., HOURCADE Jean-Charles & MATHY Sandrine
Aligning Development, Air Quality and Climate Policies for Multiple Dividends
CSH Occasional Paper N°21, New Delhi, 2007 ISSN: 0972-3579, 95 pages

Abstract

This paper proposes that environment protection should be made complementary to the development process, by aligning different policies that avoid trade-offs and generate multiple dividends during policy implementation. This is especially true for developing countries where crucial development policies with long-term implications are being formulated. There is a good opportunity to align development, local air quality management and climate change policies that both reduces costs and achieves multiple dividends. Empirical evidence, including the Environmental Kuznets’ Curve, shows that, as a country progresses economically, concern develops for the environment due to availability of resources and public pressure. This is found more for local pollutants, while preventing greenhouse gas emissions need conscious policymaking. This approach is reflected in developing countries, where air quality problems are being addressed individually. A more pro-active approach would generate no-regrets options, moving a country on a pathway that prevents local air quality deterioration and is also less carbon-intensive. Since developing countries fear that climate change negotiations can impede development, developed countries should support their move to align policies by directing climate-related as well as public/private flows towards a development-oriented pathway. This would create leverage effects on implementation of domestic policies and help overcome transaction costs. A win-win situation can thus emerge, which addresses the developing countries’ concerns of development and local air quality management along with the global concern for climate change.

Taking India’s case, this paper looks at policies in the planning process incorporating the environmental agenda. The focus is on preventing local air quality deterioration. But, since benefits related to preventing greenhouse gas emissions often lie at the margin, conjoint benefits can be obtained at optimal costs. This paper looks at measures like use of CNG in public transport and development of mass rapid transit systems. Systems like the Metro Rail address congestion problems besides providing suitable means of public transport. Similarly, promoting CNG on environmental grounds would enhance CNG availability for power generation. Research shows opportunities for conjoint mitigation of CO2 and SO2 emissions from the power sector. Adoption of these measures requires conscious attempts by national policymakers, with support in the form of technological and investment flows from developed countries.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Inter-linkages between development, climate change and air quality
2. Development and energy use
3. Existing policy approaches of developed and developing countries
4. Case for aligning policies in developing countries
5. Paper structure

I. Economics of Alignment
1. Environmental Kuznets’ Curve
2. No-regrets options
3. Leverage effects of alignment

II. Multiple Dividends from Alignment: Indian Experience
1. Energy and environment profile
2. Existing policies linking development and environment
3. Alternate policies and measures

III. Developing an Architecture for Alignment
1. Policy approaches
2. Shifting towards an environment-friendly pathway
3. Global mechanisms to facilitate alignment, with emphasis on climate change negotiations
4. Some specific policy options

IV. Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix I: AIM/Local Model

GRAVEL Nicolas & MUKHOPADHYAY Abhiroop
Is India Better off Today than 15 Years Ago? A Robust Multidimensional Answer
CSH Occasional Paper N°20, New Delhi, 2007 ISSN: 0972-3579, 66 pages

Abstract

This paper provides a robust normative evaluation of the spectacular growth episode that India has experienced in the last 15 years. Specifically, the paper compares the evolution, between 1988, 1996 and 2001 of the distribution of several individual attributes on the basis of ethically robust dominance criteria. The individual attributes considered are real consumption (measured at the individual level), literacy rate, infant mortality and violent crime rates (all measured at the district levels). District level variables are interpreted as (local) public goods which, along with consumption, are assumed to contribute to individual well-being. The robust criteria used are generalizations, to more than two attributes, of the first and second order dominance criteria of Atkinson and Bourguignon (1982) and are known to correspond to the unanimity of utilitarian value judgements taken over a specific class of individual utility functions. The main result of the empirical analysis is that all utilitarian rankings of distributions of the four attributes who assume that individual utility functions satisfy the assumptions of second order dominance agree that India is better off in 2002 than in 1988 or 1996 but that these rankings disagree as to how to rank 1988 and 1996. Furthermore, if one removes crime from the list of attributes, the dominance is shown to apply steadily over the whole period.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Presentation of the criteria
One-dimensional setting
Multidimensional setting

Empirical implementation
Data
Statistical methodology

One-dimensional comparisons
Distributions of consumption
Distributions of district public goods

Multidimensional comparisons

Conclusion

Appendix A. Proof of the sufficiency part of proposition 3

Appendix B. Statistical Inference

Appendix C. Details of statistical tests

References

HENRY Laurence
Trade and Economic Arrangements between India and South East Asia in the Context of Regional Construction and Globalisation
CSH Occasional Paper N°19, New Delhi, 2007 ISSN: 0972-3579, 138 pages

The economic and trade relations between India, on one hand, and South-East Asia, on the other hand, are shaped by numerous agreements and groupings, which may become formal international Organisations in the future. They are indeed based not only on comprehensive economic agreements or free trade agreements between India and ASEAN or at the bilateral level with Thailand and Singapore in particular, but also on the BIMST-EC and MGC groupings. After having been mainly based on informality and ad hoc arrangements, they are today more institutionalised and founded on a more formal corpus of law. This paper first presents those regional initiatives, and how they are governed and managed. Then, it makes the statement that they are overlapping but, at the same time, they are also influenced by the same philosophy of trade and economic liberalization and influenced by the WTO system, in terms of law, institutions and dispute settlement. They are also the result of a tension between the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels and they aim to protect different interests at different levels. The paper finally discusses the possible influence of these arrangements between India and South-East Asia on the future organisation of the regional economic and trade integration of East-Asia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

About the Author

List of Tables

Introduction

Trade and Economic Arrangements and Groupings between India and South-east Asia: An Overall Presentation
- ASEAN’s (Association of South-East Asian Nations) Evolution
- India’s External Policy on Economy and Trade
- Development Trade and Economic Relations between India and ASEAN
- New Regional Groupings between India and South Asian States: BIMST-EC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Cooperation) and Economic Cooperation and MGC (Mekong-Ganga Cooperation)
- Bilateral Trade and Economic Relations
- Regional Trade and Economic Arrangements and the World Trade System

The Institutional Frame for Trade Liberalization and Economic Cooperation between India and South-East Asia
- The Institutional Frameworks at the Regional Level
- Legal and financial instruments
- Regional Disputes Settlement Mechanisms
- Trade management at the International Level: The World Trade Organisation system
- The World Trade Organisation system
Arrangements between India and South-East Asia: Creation of a Regional Legal System on its own or Decentralisation of the Multilateral Trade and Economic Law
- The Compatibility of Regional Trade Agreements (RTA) with the WTO Regime
- An Infinitely Variable Trade and Economic Law: Overlapping or Complementary Agreements between India and South-East Asia
- The Ongoing Creation of Multilateral and Regional System of Law

Conclusion
- Which Future for the Ongoing East Asian Community?
- Is ASEAN-India Partnership a Premise for a more Integrated East-Asia Community?

Appendixes
- Appendix 1: Asean and Indian Foreign Direct Investments
- Appendix 2: Comparative GDP Per Capita
- Appendix 3: India’s Trade with ASEAN Countries

Bibliography

CHAKRABORTY Debashis & SENGUPTA Dipankar
IBSAC (INDIA, BRAZIL, SOUTH AFRICA, CHINA): A Potential Developing Country Coalition in WTO Negotiations
CSH Occasional Paper N°18, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, New Delhi, 2006 ISSN: 0972-3579, 162 pages

The Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations is currently witnessing a deadlock, owing to the divergence of opinions between the developed and developing countries on future reform modalities. The deadlines for conclusion of the negotiation, as set by the WTO after the Hong Kong Ministerial (2005), have already been missed. While the blame game between the developed and developing countries is on, it cannot be denied that the absence of multilateral trade reform is hurting the interests of the developing countries more as compared to their developed counterparts. Therefore, it is imperative that the developing countries with similar trade interest come closer and jointly negotiate with developed countries in order to extract maximum benefits.

Developing country negotiating blocs at the multilateral trade forums is not something new. However, with the rising market share of the developing countries in world trade, both in case of merchandise products and services trade, their presence in the negotiating forum is more noteworthy vis-à-vis the same observed during the Uruguay Round. The recent developing country blocs with sectoral focus like G-20 and G-33 on agriculture, NAMA-11 on industrial products and G-24 on services could be quoted in this context. However, it has been argued that drafting a negotiating agenda which will be suited to a large number of developing countries and the LDCs on agriculture, manufacturing and services is quite difficult, while doing the same by a smaller group of developing countries at a comparable level of development is much easier. India, Brazil, South Africa and China (IBSAC), the four leading developing countries, could form one such group.

The current paper analyzes the ongoing collaborations between the IBSAC countries on various issues and looks into the possibility of the formation of a formal IBSAC bargaining coalition in the coming future. It further considers the possibility of strengthening the bond between the IBSAC countries through formation of a Free Trade Area (FTA) or by entering into a Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). It concludes that while the IBSA collaboration seems more likely, the participation of China in this proposed initiative is expected to be limited and issue-based, depending on its perceived gains from that move. Protecting developing country interests is currently not, and neither is likely to emerge as a major driving force behind China’s trade policy-making exercises in coming future.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Tables and Figures
List of Abbreviations
List of Groupings at the GATT / WTO quoted in the volume
1. Introduction
2. India, Brazil, South Africa and China: A Trade Profile
3. The WTO Negotiations towards a Developing-Country Alliance: Past, Present and the Future
4. IBSAC and the Growing Regionalism: A Response to Slow pace of Multilateral Negotiation?
5. The Possible Emergence of IBSAC as a Negotiating Coalition at WTO: An Analysis of Commonalities and Concerns
6. The Role of IBSAC-Plus: Strengthening the Negotiating Bond?
7. In lieu of Conclusion
Annexes
Bibliography

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DUPONT Véronique & SRIDHARAN N. (eds.)
Peri-urban dynamics: Case studies in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai
CSH Occasional Paper N°17, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, New Delhi, 2006 ISSN: 0972-3579, 109 pages

This Occasional Paper is the third and last volume of a series on Peri-urban Dynamics. It focuses on selected case studies, drawing from the experiences of peripheral development in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The broader context of metropolitan growth in India, as well as the background of the urbanization pattern in the states where these cities are located, are at the outset introduced by N. Sridharan.

The dynamism of the peripheral areas of Chennai has been captured by Pushpa Arabindoo (Chapter 2) by comparing the changes that have occurred over a period of time in terms of socio-spatial transformations in two contrasted peri-urban neighbourhoods.

The outward growth of Hyderabad triggered by the development of the Information Technology sector is examined by Leclerc and Bourguignon (Chapter 3) through the case study of the urbanized village of Madhapur and its IT Park (HITEC City); The authors explore and analyse population mobility as a key indicator of the level of integration of an IT cluster within the whole city.

Himanshu Burte and Malini Krishnankutty’s essay (Chapter 4) adopts a different perspective of the urban edge and conceptualizes it in the form of ecological footprints and how the city invades and expands over natural landscapes on the western coast of Mumbai.

These papers highlight conditions of development on the periphery, and how these affect the urban core and the periphery’s spatial, economic and other linkages.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
N. Sridharan

2. Neighbourhood Transformations in Peri-Urban Chennai
Pushpa Arabindoo

3. Defining the urban fringe through population mobility: the case of Madhapur and its Information Technology Park (HITEC City – Hyderabad)
Eric Leclerc & Camille Bourguignon

4. On the Edge: Planning, Describing and Imagining the Seaside Edge of Mumbai
Himanshu Burte & Malini Krishnankutty

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EGRETEAU Renaud
Instability at the Gate: India’s Troubled Northeast and its External Connections
CSH Occasional Paper N°16, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, New Delhi, 2006 ISSN: 0972-3579, 158 pages

India’s Northeast has long been described as a remote and sensitive area, racially and culturally disconnected to mainland India but strategically attached to it. Expressions of ethnic identities since India’s independence have been very blunt in the whole region and many sub-nationalists developed a strong separatist stream from the late 1940s. Rapidly, the ethnic struggle became a well-organised and multidimensional militancy which took up arms and launched various enduring insurgencies against India’s central government. Facing a harsher repression orchestrated by New Delhi, the few separatist groups that had burgeoned in the region turned rapidly radical. Moreover, most of them had found in the local population their main back-up : the “Robin Hood syndrome” they had created enabled them to benefit from a wide popular support.

This paper intends first to give a brief overview of the rise and growth of some of those separatist groups, with a special focus on the Nagas, the Mizos and the Assam movement. Insurgency took different forms in the Northeast as ethnic leaders chose different paths, means and patrons to pursue their struggle for recognition and/or separatism. Indeed, most of the armed ultras soon criminalised their activities in order to sustain their struggle. An analysis of the degeneration of these sub-nationalist movements into mere criminal groups has been proposed in this paper. With the Indian Armed Forces having more and more capacities and discretionary power of action, insurgency has radicalised its forms and activities. The criminalisation process will be broached by focusing the study on few separatist groups that have dropped their original revolutionary and lofty ideals to concentrate their struggle on easy money and underground activities, in spite of the fact that individualised interests, internecine rivalries and indiscriminate violence have often turned the population against those outfits.

Finally, how has the externality of the insurgency influenced this phenomenon? The third part of the paper will propose an overview of the rapid externalisation of all the insurgent groups. The linkages they have established across borders enabled them to obtain friendly support (Pakistan), funding (China, LTTE) and strategic shelter (Burma, Bangladesh). We will attempt to demonstrate how these external connections fuelled the instability in the Northeast and conceptualised their struggle and survival. However, in the meantime, the external factor could also be the solution to the problem: by opening up the Northeast and developing it as a result of a more globalised local economy, the stalemate could possibly be overcome.

OLIVEAU Sébastien
Peri-urbanisation in Tamil Nadu : a quantitative approach
CSH Occasional Paper N°15, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2005 ISSN: 0972-3579, 90 pages

In a context of fast socio-economic transition, the primary role of towns on rural change is to question. By endeavouring to free ourselves of ideological baggage (rural or urban bias), this paper is an attempt to measure the extent of peri-urbanisation that has taken place in Tamil Nadu.

This work is based on geographical data, based on the 1991 census for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. The author undertook a systematic exploration of the relation between the 225 urban areas and the 16,085 villages in Tamil Nadu in order to estimate the influence of the urban areas on the surrounding villages.

After re-examining the definition of urban areas, this paper underlines the diversity of peri-urbanisation, not only according to the type of town, but also on the basis of accessibility to these towns.

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DUPONT Véronique (ed.)
Peri-urban dynamics – population, habitat and environment on the peripheries of large Indian metropolises
CSH Occasional Paper N°14, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2005 ISSN: 0972-3579, 144 pages

Specific forms of urbanisation are evolving on the peripheries of the large developing metropolises. These processes of peri-urbanisation result in the formation of “mixed spaces”, midway between urban centres and rural spaces – transitional spaces subject to rapid and multiple transformations: physical, morphological, socio-demographic, cultural, economic and functional.

Our initial hypothesis in order to understand these processes is that within the metropolitan areas ‘location’ is never neutral. The urban peripheries do not constitute a simple framework of analysis, but a specific space pin which settlement patterns, and land use correspond to diverse and often conflicting stakes, indicative of processes signifying a political and societal vision of the city and access to it.

Mixed spaces, apportioned between populations with contrasting lifestyles and varied land use, peri-urban spaces are also disputed spaces, bringing into play divergent and even conflicting interests. The need for housing, especially by the poor, the development and maintenance of greenbelts and new industrial zones, enter into competition.

The papers included in this first volume of the series of three Occasional Papers on peri-urban dynamics highlight the forces that govern peri-urbanisation and reflect upon the main issues at stake, as presented in the introduction (Véronique Dupont). They also attempt, more specifically, to refine the concepts related to the ‘peri-urban’ spatial category, and to better define and delimit this research ‘object’. The authors examine not only the literature related to the Indian and Asian metropolises (Hans Schenk), as well as other developing countries (Suresh Rohilla), but also explore the concepts and models elaborated to analyse the evolution of the western metropolis, drawing in particular on the North American case (Paul Jargowsky, Pushpa Arabindoo) and the French case (Philippe Cadène).

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CHAISSE Julien
Ensuring the Conformity of Domestic Law With World Trade Organisation Law. India as a case study
CSH Occasional Paper N°13 Publicayion of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2005 ISSN: 0972-3579, 188 pages

The World Trade Organisation (WTO), established in 1995, provides a contractual framework within which Member States undertake to implement law and regulations regarding foreign trade in a wide range of sectors. The purpose of this study is to examine why and how WTO rules are actually implemented and to what extent they have changed Indian law.

The conformity of Indian law to WTO regulations is compulsory for two reasons. Firstly, by declaring that “each member shall ensure the conformity of its law, regulations and administrative procedures with its obligations as provided in the annexed Agreements”, the Agreement establishing WTO affirms the obligation for all the Members to ensure such compliance. The legal consequences of this obligation are discussed with regard to the effective adaptation of Indian domestic law. Secondly, WTO has set up a new dispute settlement mechanism to monitor the compliance of domestic law with WTO regulations. The contribution of this mechanism in ensuring conformity to WTO rules has been assessed with reference to India’s involvement in disputes.

On the theoretical side, the study identifies the characteristics peculiar to WTO that ensure the implementation of its regulations and oblige India as well as other Members to comply with international norms. On the practical side, it gives an overview of the recent innovations or changes in Indian law that are presently applicable and simultaneously assesses India’s integration in international trade governance.

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MENON-CHOUDHARY Deepa, SHULKA P.R., GARG Amit
Assessing Policy Choices for Managing SO2 Emissions from Indian Power Sector
CSH Occasional Paper N°12, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2005 ISSN: 0972-3579, 87 pages

Air quality management has become a focal issue in public policymaking in India since the 1990s. Among the different sources, coal consumption in large point sources (LPS), especially power plants, is a major source of air pollution. In the case of power generation, 82 power plants, accounting for more than 70% coal-use, contributed to around 54% of all-India SO2 emissions in 2000. But, replacing coal with other energy sources could lead to national energy security concerns, since coal is an indigenous resource in abundance, while other hydrocarbon resources are limited in supply. Thus, a growing concern for policymakers is to utilize coal cleanly and the paper addresses some of these concerns.

The paper analyses policy choices for managing SO2 emissions from the LPS, especially from power plants. We compare the existing technology-push policy instruments with alternate instruments like emissions trading that would control SO2 emissions from these plants in an economically efficient manner. An energy-environment model, Asia-Pacific Integrated/Local Model (AIM/Local), is used for mapping future SO2 emissions from power plants and comparing the implications of alternate instruments.

Compared to a technology-push instrument, an emissions trading system generates an annual average cost-savings of US$ 96 million during 2005-2030 for equivalent emission reductions. This is because an emissions trading system allows every plant to consider factors that influence their abatement costs, such as economic and logistical constraints, fuel quality and efficiency in operations and then make their abatement choice by comparing these costs vis-à-vis the allowance price. But, the technology-push instruments specify the abatement measure to be adopted by each plant, thereby resulting in higher compliance costs. The paper lays emphasis on the need for stringent local air quality standards to complement an emissions trading system. It further highlights the design elements of an emissions trading system in India. This is an initial assessment and other sources could participate in later phases of the program.

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CHAPELET Pierre, LEFEBVRE Bertrand
Contextualizing the Urban Healthcare System. Methodology for developing a geodatabase of Delhi's healthcare system
CSH Occasional Paper N°11, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2005 ISSN: 0972-3579, 135 pages

This paper introduces the setting up of a Geographical Information System on Delhi for studies in the Social Sciences. Through an explanation of their methodological procedure and demonstration of thematic applications focusing on the healthcare system’s spatial organization, the authors lead us through the inherent difficulties of building a GIS in an emerging country like India. They also attempt to demonstrate that this kind of tool remains, however, a relevant support for research in the Social Sciences as long as it is used with care and knowledge of the dataset frame. From this perspective, Exploratory Data Analysis coupled with the play of scales provide powerful ways to assess socio-spatial dynamics taking place in the Indian capital.

Keywords
GIS, Social Sciences, Healthcare system, Data Exploratory Analysis, Multiscalar, Delhi, Census 1991/2001

Highlights
In order to help researchers in discovering the spatial database underlying discourse, we decided to publish this Occasional Paper on a digital support (CDROM). This has especially allowed us to incorporate basic interactive mapping tools throughout the text. Moreover, a basic mapping interface is provided in the heading "Resources", allowing users to build up their own maps. We hope this will give the opportunity to readers to experience by themselves the potential offered by GIS.

You can discover this interactive version online!

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SINGH Swaran
China-India Economic Engagement. Building Mutual Confidence
CSH Occasional Paper N°10, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2005 ISSN: 0972-3579, 205 pages

With their annual GDP growth rates hitting respectively at 9.1 and 8.5 per cent for 2003 and at 9.5 and 6.9 per cent for 2004, China and India have since come to be recognized as the two largest as also the fastest growing economies of the 21st century. Thanks, however, to their colonial and cold war legacies, this economic boom had, for long, remained mutually exclusive exercise. It is only rather recent that their political initiatives at confidence building have begun to develop areas of mutual engagement which remains remised on their new mantra of mutual accommodation and mutual benefit. Their economic engagement as a result has since come to be the most reliable as also most agreeable instrument of China-India rapprochement so assiduously evolved during the last three decades or more.

Especially in the last few years, China-India economic engagement has picked up its own momentum with a steak-of-autonomy to say the least. From being once driven by their bold political initiatives, their economic engagements today symbolizes as the most decisive force that promises to potentially circumscribe (and direct) their mutual policy initiatives. It is in this context, that two sides have since come to appreciate how to use their economic engagement to deal with their long-standing political concerns and difficulties. Border Trade, for one, has clearly earned the epithet of being an ideal approach to building atmospherics that can help resolve their boundary dispute, bilateral and regional dynamics, their new-found bonhomie remains as yet fragile and this calls for caution and serious planning on part of bith Beijing and New Delhi.

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SENGUPTA Dipankar
EXPORTING THROUGH E-COMMERCE: How Indian Exporters have harnessed the IT Revolution
CSH Occasional Paper N°9, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2004 ISSN: 0972-3579, 93 pages

This monograph looks at how Indian exporters of goods and services have used e-commerce to promote exports. Based partly on surveys and partly on interviews the study concludes that when it comes to garments Indian exporters have failed to use telecommunications to significantly boost exports. This failure is attributed to organisational failings (induced by regulations that reserve certain commodities for small scale industries) rather than the nature of the commodity or other commonly cited factors like credibility, trust et al. This is contrasted with the successful use by larger corporate bodies like ITC, of e-ventures designed to operate under conditions far more primitive than what garment exporters surveyed are used to and yet have proved far more successful. The study offers the view that the Digital Divide so often cited in the literature on IT is as much organisational as it is geographical in nature.

When it comes to export of services specifically of IT and IT enabled services, the study concludes that exporters of services have used the telecommunications revolution better because of the nature of goods exported; here telecommunications are not just a mode of delivering information, it is also a mode of supply delivery. The latter is an outcome of the telecommunications revolution that has made services hitherto non-tradable into tradable services. While shortcoming like the lack of skilled manpower and a correspondingly advanced IT hardware sector will probably see India ceding ground to economies like China, things will look better where IT enabled services especially BPOs are concerned. Here India's vast pool of educated manpower familiar with English ensures that India's cost advantages are considerable. Here the expansion of this sector may not be in doubt but of particular concern is the participation of Indian firms in this expansion. This study offers the view that, as in the previous case, organisational shortcomings of Indian firms fostered by archaic laws have ensured that they have lagged behind foreign firms in this field, which is technologically less advanced than the IT sector where Indian firms have the dominant presence.

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GUENNIF Samira
AIDS In India: Public health related aspects of industrial and intellectual property rights policies in a developing country
CSH Occasional Paper N°8, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2004 ISSN: 0972-3579, 172 pages

Today, 40 million people are infected by HIV/AIDS worldwide. The epidemic essentially affects the developing countries where over 98% of HIV infections have been documented. To control the spread of the epidemic as well as avoid dramatic a socio-economic impact, a public health policy must address the issues of prevention and access to anti-AIDS treatment. On these points alone, the Indian case is of a considerable interest for two reasons. The AIDS epidemic is noticeably spreading in India. There are 4 million infected persons in the country and an explosion in the number of cases is feared due to the country's enormous population. In addition, the Indian companies are key players in the anti-AIDS treatment market. They offer generic versions of drugs at considerably lower prices than those practiced by their northern competitors. Firstly, the report provides a detailed analysis of the epidemiological situation in India and introduces the preventive measures used to abate the spread of the epidemic among the general population. Secondly, the report identifies the factors that have to an acceleration in the supply of anti-AIDS drugs at competitive prices and to observe whether this has initiated a greater access to anti-AIDS treatments for Indians in reality. As a result, the report questions the link between intellectual property rights, industrial development and public health concerns in a developing country.

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AARON Sushil J.
Straddling Faultlines: India’s Foreign Policy Toward the Greater Middle East
CSH Occasional Paper N°7, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2003 ISSN: 0972-3579, 103 pages

India’s foreign policy has had an anomalous quality since the time Jawaharlal Nehru resolutely attempted to steer clear of Cold War alliances. This continues to be so given India’s unique situation of establishing “strategic relations” with both Israel and Iran, as part of its Greater Middle East policy. A study of this paradox assumes significance for various reasons. One, it offers a glimpse into the way India is reordering its foreign policy in the post Cold War, as part of its clamour for Great Power status, thus presenting a westward complement to its familiar ‘Look East policy’ which seeks to engage regions beyond South Asia. It also provides a view of the complexities involved in endorsing the American agenda in a geopolitical neighbourhood, transformed by the September 11 attacks, and yet, one that affects India’s security because of its energy reserves and Islamist ferment. To this end, this study analyses India’s foreign policy toward the Middle East and Central Asia since the late 1990s, with a specific focus on its relations with Israel, Iran and Iraq that reviews the way it reconciles immediate security needs with competing realities of economic interdependence and political sensitivities. The paper also evaluates the challenges India faces in strengthening links with Afghanistan and Central Asia.

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RUET Joël, SARAVANAN V. S. and ZÉRAH Marie-Hélène
The Water & Sanitation Scenario in Indian Metropolitan Cities: Resources and Management in Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai, Mumbai
CSH Occasional Paper N°6, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2002 ISSN: 0972-3579, 167 pages

Urban water supply and sanitation in India is at a crossroads. Faced with an increased demand and growing poluution probelms, Indian cities are not able to provide services that are adequate, neither in quantity nor in quality. Additional but also new types of investments are required, as well as a change in management of the sector, to be able to ensure supply for all as far as water is concerned, and to fill the gap as far as sewerage and sanitation is concerned.

This paper relies on four case studies (Calcutta, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai). It deliberately chooses to leave aside classical questions such as the use of performance indicators of the water boards/corporations to assess supply efficiency or questions regarding demand analysis. Conversely, it focuses on:

- the institutional and organisational structure of the service providers by looking at the level of technical and managerial decentralisation reached in the four cities

- the question of property rights and the debate on usage conflicts in order to fill the gap for the future demand

- revisiting the question of reforms that were launched in the 1990s for all infrastructure sectors and demonstrate that in the UWSS, the term of reform does not reflect a reality where only marginal changes are introduced.

This study actually concentrates on two directions the sector could look at for changes: the look at the water cycle through the development of conservation-based strategies, and the need for a more participative approach by involving the civil society.

This would mean a paradigm shift for the sector. Indeed, demand side solutions are rarely considered and the probelm of water supply is mostly addressed by the supply angle.

LECLERCQ François
The Impact of Education Policy Reforms on the School System : A Field Study of EGS and Other Primary Schools in Madhya Pradesh
CSH Occasional Paper N°5, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2002 ISSN: 0972-3579, 170 pages

This paper presents the results of fieldwork on rural primary schools of two districts of Madhya Pradesh, India, conducted from December 2001 to March 2002. Since the mid-1990's, the government of this state has initiated reforms aiming to extend the public primary school sector, to decentralise its management, and to facilitate the development of the private sector. Fieldwork focused on the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), a school creation programme relying on decentralisation that the state government presents as epitomising its approach to universalising access to primary education.

EGS has strongly improved access to schools in villages under study. However, EGS centres have low input levels, especially in terms of teaching positions and teacher training, and constitute classes rather than proper schools. The quantity and quality of teaching appear deficient, and achievement levels of pupils about to complete the primary curriculum are low. Neighbouring government schools, predating EGS, happen to be potentially stronger institutions, but suffer from comparable deficiencies.

Despite key changes in recruitment rules, teachers still consider themselves civil servants. Many show little interest in interacting with children, and existing incentives fail to generate and sustain their motivation. Decentralised management procedures, common to all public schools do not provide enough control or support. Notably, the involvement of village panchayat and Village Education Committes or parents-Teachers Associations is yet to have a strong impact on education matters. However, the provision of inputs and the basis supervision of teachers would have improves through the creation of local units of the state education administration.

Parents are motivated for sending their children to school, but face high (mostly direct) costs of and uncertain returns to schooling, and the structured 'community' demand for education on which the reforms rely fails to emerge. Conceptions by teachers, parents and other villages of what education is and who should have access to it remain inadequate. Village-level socio-political structures do not further the interests of children of deprived backgrounds who attend EGS or even government schools, as opposed to private ones. A notable consequence in one of the areas under study is the proliferation within each village of schools of different types that are typically too small to be efficient. Recent government policies have led to a remarkable increase in the public and private supply of primary education in rural Madhya Pradesh. It is now necessary to guarantee the quality of the new schools, address equity issues raised by the co-existence of different school types, and make the school system suitable. Change in educational values, however difficult to promote, may well be required for the necessary increases in resources devoted to primary education and further alteration of the incentive structure of the school system -if they take place- to produce their expected results.

KUMAR Girish
Constitutionalising Panchayats: The response of state legislatures
CSH Occasional Paper N°4, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2002 ISSN: 0972-3579, 104 pages

The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 was the third attempt on the part of the Government of India to strengthen the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). Prior to that, two earlier attempts made in this direction in 1957 and 1978 had failed to yield desired results. The lukewarm response of state governments across the country, notable exceptions apart, was attributed to the lack of constitutional support to panchayats. The apparent lacunae were removed through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment which ensured the continuity of panchayats by making it mandatory in all states to hold regular panchayat elections. It also ensured the representation of weaker sections, including women in PRIs. But it was left to the discretion of the state legislatures to decide the devolution of functions, power and finances to PRIs in their respective states. How did the legislators react to it ?

The paper presents the proceedings of the Assembly debates collected from Maharastra, West Bengal, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Taken together, these four states represent the three generations of panchayats in India. What happened in the Assemblies of the four states when the respective State Panchayat Acts were placed for their consideration ? Did the Assemblies witness informed debate ? Were they alive to their legislative functions ? The paper takes a critical look at these aspects in the light of their tryst with panchayats since early 1960s.

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GHOSH Debyani, SHUKLA P. R., GARG Amit and RAMANA P. V.
Renewable Energy Strategies for Indian Power Sector
CSH Occasional Paper N°3, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2001 ISSN: 0972-3579, 113 pages

India's energy scenario is characterized by growing demand-supply gap, inherent inefficiencies, distorded pricing mechanisms, weak institutional structure, environmental unsustainability and socio-political influences. The future economic development trajectory is likely to result in rapid and accelerated growth in energy demand, with attendant shortages and problems. Development and promotion of alternative energy sources that can lead to sustainability of energy system is imperative, in which context generation from renewables assumes increasing importance. A number of techno-economic, market-related, institutional barriers impede technology penetration. Although at present the contribution of renewable electricity is small, the capabilities promise the flexibility for responding to emerging economic, socio-environmental and sustainable developments needs. This paper assesses the long-term renewable energy trajectories for the Indian power sector under different future scenarios. Looking into past performance trends and likely future developments under scenarios, the analysis results are compared with officially set targets for future renewable energy penetration. Specific policy interventions are outlined for overcoming the barriers and enhancing deployment of renewables, some of which relate to decentralised power supply policies, intense R&D efforts, redefined public-private partnerships, investment mobilisation, institutional reforms, market development strategies, global environmental interventions and international collaborations. It consider integration of renewable energy strategies with liberalization of energy markets, withdrawal of government interventions in energy sector and regulatory reforms.

TAWA LAMA-REWAL Stéphanie
Women in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation : A Study in the Context of the Debate on the Women's Reservation Bill
CSH Occasional Paper N°2, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2001 ISSN: 0972-3579, 63 pages

This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted in 2000 in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, to assess the first phase of the implementation of women's quotas - 33% of seats - in this urban local body. The study proceeds by testing the major arguments expressed during the debate over the Women's Reservation Bill, which proposes to implement similar quotas in legislative assemblies at the States and Union levels. Based on a questionnaire, interviews, direct observation and archive analysis, the paper addresses in turn the five major issues raised in the course of that debate: do women's quotas favour or hinder gender and social justice? Do they hinder the efficiency of the assemblies to which they apply? Do they favour the representation of women's interests? Do they have an impact on the general functioning of the urban body? Lastly, is the system of rotating reserved constituencies detrimental to (women) politicians and to voters?

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RUET Joël
Winners and Losers of the SEB Reform : An Organisational Overview
CSH Occasional Paper N°1, Publication of the French Research Institutes in India, Rajdhani Art Press, New Delhi, 2001 ISSN: 0972-3579, 85 pages

The power sector in India is often described - in newspapers, in official reports, in reform programmes - as too 'poor' in money... and too 'rich' in politicians. These analyses hence propose corporatisation, unbundling, setting up of regulatory commissions, as a vade mecum. The sole problem is that they have proved insufficient in improving the health of State Electricity Boards (SEBs). The ultimate tool, privatisation, has also been a deceptive one.This paper suggests that the above analyses should be balanced and completed with another element : the internal organisation itself of SEBs has to be questioned, which, surprisingly enough, is not done in the current reforms. This is not because SEBs actually behave and are organised as administrations, whose objectives are different from those of a public enterprise. This is not done because consultants implicitly regard SEBs as inefficient enterprises.

This paper thus enters into the black box of SEBs, and shows why and how the behaviour of its agents is rational, given the administrative system in which they are. It gives some pratical ways to change this system, by developing the 'enterprisation' of SEBs (turning them from bodies with an administration-style way of running into actual public enterprises), a concept which was coined from the reform in Eastern Europe.

But ultimately reforms are not undertaken per se. Their final aims is a better quality and availability to the people. Their impact on various categories of users and stakeholders can be discussed within this framework of enterprisation, to establish on which conditions reforms can be beneficial to everybody but the 'waste consumer'.