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Cultural
Politics of
Environment and
Development: The
Indian
Experience
Amita Baviskar
Abstract
What exactly is
the environment?
In the rural
case it seems to
be self-evident
that we are
referring to
land, water,
animals and
plants and other
elements of
bio-physical
world. In the
urban case, we
often fall back
on an idea of
nature derived
from rurality -
green areas,
clean air and
water. However,
when workers or
the urban poor
describe their
environmental
concerns they
rarely mention
clean air or
parks as a
priority; most
often they speak
of space, just
the sheer
ability to have
a secure
foothold in the
city, a place to
live. There is
thus a lack of
consensus on
what defines
environmental
issue, and who
speaks for the
urban
environment.
Into this
discursive gap
have disappeared
the
environmental
concerns of an
urban underclass
that makes
cities possible.
Participatory
Governance and
Institutional
Innovation - A
Case of Andhra
Pradesh Forestry
Project (JFM)
M. Gopinath
Reddy and
Madhusudan Bandi
Abstract
Forests are very
important for
the sustenance
of ecosystems,
the environment
and also the
livelihoods of a
large majority
of forest
dependent
communities.
But,
unfortunately,
the world is
increasingly
experiencing
unprecedented
degradation of
forests
everywhere. To
counter this
degradation,
governments are
coming up with
coping
mechanisms to
preserve the
forests. In
India, Joint
Forest
Management is
one such
institutional
innovation in
which local
forest dependent
communities are
involved in
protecting the
forests. Andhra
Pradesh has
picked up this
novel innovation
well and has
scaled up the
programme in a
big way in the
last few years.
Yet many
concerns,
unforeseen while
initiating the
programme, now
need immediate
attention. This
paper is an
attempt to study
and understand
participatory
governance and
the
institutional
issues that are
in question at
the ground level
and consider how
these can be
better addressed
for the enhanced
success of this
programme.
Institutional
Reforms in
Educational
Management - The
Issue of
Sustainability
R. S. Tyagi
Abstract
Administration
of school
education in
recent years has
witnessed a
major
transformation
in approaches,
structures and
functions. The
emphasis has
been on
structural
changes so as to
make
administration
more responsive
to the
educational
needs of people
at the
grassroots and
efforts have
been made to
transform the
traditional
centralized,
control-based,
process-oriented
educational
administration
into a
decentralized
task-based and
target-oriented
system of
management. The
present paper,
based on a
comparative
field study,
discusses the
extent to which
two Indian
states have
decentralized
their
administrative
structures and
functions to the
grassroots level
and devolved
administrative
and financial
powers to the
lower rungs of
educational
administration.
It attempts to
analyze
critically
institutional
reforms in
educational
administration
in Madhya
Pradesh and
Rajasthan. It
examines
emerging
structures for
planning and
decision-making
processes at
different levels
and the extent
to which they
have actually
been made
responsive to
the changing
needs of
educational
situations and
to the system as
a whole. The
linkages and
coordination
mechanisms of
various actors
have been
specifically
studied in
respect of
shifting focus
in educational
planning and
management. The
paper advocates
the need to
strengthen the
decentralized
structure, forge
inter-institutional
linkages,
completely do
away with
obsolete rules
and procedures
and evolve
healthy
practices and
procedures
without
sacrificing
accountability.
Environmental
Degradation to
Land Resources
in Uttar Pradesh
Sanatan Nayak
Abstract
This paper
highlights the
extent and
causes of land
degradation in
Uttar Pradesh
and the steps
taken by the
government to
control it. The
direct impact of
human activities
on land
resources and
factors such as
increasing
population,
poverty and land
act as a vicious
circle of
reasons for land
degradation. It
is observed that
irrigation
induced
waterlogging and
salinity,
decline in soil
fertility due to
disproportionate
fertilizer use,
and decline in
groundwater
table are some
of the major
constituents of
land
degradation.
Though,
there is no
unanimity in the
data collected
by different
organizations
about the extent
of various
components of
land
degradation, yet
all are aware of
the seriousness
of the
situation. The
declining
productivity of
major foodgrain
crops in recent
years is closely
associated with
land
degradation. It
is suggested
that, without
serious efforts
in terms of
right policy
direction for
judicious budget
allocation,
conjunctive use
of surface and
groundwater
irrigation,
extended
participatory
irrigation
management, and
recharging
depleted
groundwater, it
will be
difficult to
feed the growing
population in
the coming
years.
De-Westernizing
Literacy (Review
Article)
Nirmal Selvamony
BOOK REVIEWS
Bagchi,
Jasodhara
The Changing
Status of Women
in West Bengal,
1970-2000: The
Challenge Ahead
by Padmini
Swaminathan
Bhaskar
Majumder
Poverty, Food
Security and
Sustainability
by K. Jayashree
Dev Nathan,
Govind Kelkar,
Pierre Walter
Globalization
and Indigenous
Peoples in Asia
by Indra Munshi
Gary W., van
Loon, SG Patil,
LB Hugar
Agricultural
Sustainability -
Strategies for
Assessment
by G. S. Ganesh
Prasad
REPORT
Socio-economic
Processes in the
Rural Economy of
Tamil Nadu
by M
Vijayabaskar
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