Electoral Politics in the Indian States-Volume I: The Communist Parties of West Bengal

Since the beginning of the provincial election in the early twentieth century, ‘caste’ has been a ‘political issue’ in India. It transformed into a matter of serious political contradiction when the ‘reservation’ was introduced in India. After the independence of India, in all provincial and parliamentary elections starting from to 1952 till date, organized political parties have further contributed to the ‘process of politicization of caste’. Truly speaking, caste is now a ‘determinant factor’ for formation of the union government. This trend has been equally detected in certain provinces of India especially where the Scheduled Castes (SCs) have substantial concentration. West Bengal, with 21,463,270 SC population (i.e., 23.5% of the state’s population), has been experiencing caste politics since 1952. However, the SCs of this state have been used in electoral politics merely as ‘voters’. They were controlled by the ‘Rights’, till 1962. The period from 1962 to 1976 was a transitional phase from the ‘Rights’ to ‘Lefts’. The ‘Lefts’ established their control over the SCs in 1977. However, re-emergence of the ‘Rights’ (particularly of the All India Trinamool Congress [AITMC]) in 2011 has transformed the SCs as the ‘puppet dancers’ under the direction of the ‘Rights’.

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Shelter management during pandemics: lessons from cascading risks of cyclones and COVID-19

International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment ◽

10.1108/ijdrbe-09-2020-0103 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Sujit Mohanty ◽

Ambika Dabral ◽

Ranit Chatterjee ◽

Rajib Shaw

Keyword(s):

Rural Areas ◽

Design Methodology ◽

West Bengal ◽

Effective Management ◽

Indian States ◽

Content Type ◽

Emergency Shelters ◽

Local Stakeholders ◽

Emerging Issues ◽

Cyclone Shelter

Purpose The concept of multi-purpose cyclone shelters has been found effective in saving various lives during past cyclones. The recent cyclone Amphan, which hit the Indian states of Odisha and West Bengal in the middle of pandemic COVID-19 has posed severe issues related to cyclone shelter management in the rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the case of Odisha in a pandemic and draw some key lessons of cyclone shelter management, which can be useful for future cascading risks in other parts of the country and the region. Design/methodology/approach Cyclone shelters are critical infrastructures in the management of cyclones, associated hazards and saving crucial lives. The effective management of shelters during emergencies is dependent on the existing institutional mechanism, local stakeholders and their understanding of the key functions of the emergency shelters. This paper reviews the key challenges through literature, reports and direct interviews of field professionals and practitioners. Findings In normal times, cyclone shelters are used as schools and their management lies with the local communities and/or elected bodies. Some of the key emerging issues include: the convincing population at risk for evacuation with proper care, existing emergency shelters being repurposed as COVID-19 facilities, need for hygiene and safety material, special arrangement and segregation of population at higher risk of COVID-19 and large destruction of social infrastructures. Originality/value During cascading disasters, adaptive governance becomes important. With the study of cyclones during the pandemic period, the paper draws key decision-making and governance points of cyclone shelter management. This case analysis can be useful to other similar situations during the prolonged pandemic time.

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The regional identity politics of India’s new land wars: Land, food, and popular mobilisation in Goa and West Bengal

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1177/0308518x17719884 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 49 (10) ◽

pp. 2324-2341 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Kenneth Bo Nielsen ◽

Heather Plumridge Bedi

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Identity Politics ◽

Large Scale ◽

Structural Changes ◽

West Bengal ◽

Regional Identity ◽

Recent Decade ◽

Legal Aspects ◽

The Political ◽

Indian States

India has over the recent decade witnessed a spate of land transfers as Special Economic Zones, extractive industries, or real estate dispossess farmers, land owners, and indigenous groups of their land. As a result, struggles over land have emerged with force in many locations, almost across India. Yet while the political economy and legal aspects of India’s new ‘land wars’ are well documented, the discourses and identities mobilised against large-scale forcible land transfers receive less scholarly attention. We suggest ‘the regional identity politics’ of India’s current land wars to explain the important role of place-based identities in garnering broad, public support for popular anti-dispossession movements. We explore how land, and its produce, are mobilised by anti-dispossession movements in the Indian states of Goa and West Bengal. The movements mobilised land and food not as emblematic of structural changes in the political economy, but first and foremost within a symbolic field in which they came to stand metaphorically for regional forms of belonging and identity under threat. While reinforcing regional solidarity, these identities also contributed to the fragmented and often highly localised nature of India’s current land wars, while also potentially disrupting efforts to sustain organising in the long term.

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Financial Inclusion and Quality of Life: Empirical Evidences from Indian States with Special Reference to West Bengal

Management and Labour Studies ◽

10.1177/0258042x211026150 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0258042X2110261

Author(s):

Avisek Sen ◽

Arindam Laha

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Human Development ◽

Financial Literacy ◽

Financial Services ◽

West Bengal ◽

Well Being ◽

Financial Inclusion ◽

Indian States ◽

The Relationship

The conceptual connection between financial inclusion and quality of life (QOL) can be realized by a two-way relationships. On the one hand, financial inclusion induces QOL, while an improvement in QOL facilitates in generating demand for financial services, on the other hand. Even though several studies seek to find out the role of finance in the well-being of the population (especially human development), this article concentrates on QOL to eliminate the financial attributes of development (as captured by income dimension in Human Development Index). In this sense, this study addresses the research gap in the existing literature by establishing the relationship between financial inclusion and QOL. Specifically, the article attempts to explain the two-way tie-up between the financial inclusion and the QOL in India in the context of Indian states, in general, and West Bengal, in particular. Canonical correlation (CC; a multivariate data analysis technique) is used to estimate the relation between the financial inclusion and QOL. Empirical results suggest that western and the southern Indian states excel in the attainment of education, health and other amenities-based indicators of QOL. The conditions of the eastern part of the country in case of financial inclusion and the QOL are not at all satisfactory. In case of West Bengal, Kolkata being the state capital is performing well in both the factors. CC results suggest a significant association between the financial inclusion and QOL across Indian states. The deposit account of financial inclusion indicator and the infant survival rate of QOL indicator are playing a pivotal role in the relationship (both the Indian states and districts of West Bengal as well). This article establishes the effectiveness of the demand following approach of financial inclusion than that of supply leading approach. As the demand-side aspect of financial inclusion is becoming more important to the policymakers, the next policy priority of financial inclusion measures could be the generation of awareness on the financial services through financial literacy. JEL Codes: G2, O15, C39

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Trends in underweight, stunting, and wasting prevalence and inequality among children under three in Indian states, 1993–2016

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-93493-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Omar Karlsson ◽

Rockli Kim ◽

Rakesh Sarwal ◽

K. S. James ◽

S. V. Subramanian

Keyword(s):

West Bengal ◽

Family Health ◽

State Level ◽

Living Standards ◽

Indian States ◽

Child Undernutrition ◽

Percentage Points ◽

National Family ◽

Health And Development ◽

Annual Reduction

AbstractChild undernutrition remains high in India with far-reaching consequences for child health and development. Anthropometry reflects undernutrition. We examined the state-level trends in underweight, stunting, and wasting prevalence and inequality by living standards using four rounds of the National Family Health Surveys in 26 states in India, conducted in 1992–1993, 1998–1999, 2005–2006, and 2015–2016. The average annual reduction (AAR) for underweight ranged from 0.04 percentage points (pp) (95% CI − 0.12, 0.20) in Haryana to 1.05 pp (95% CI 0.88, 1.22) in West Bengal for underweight; 0.35 pp (95% CI 0.11, 0.59) in Manipur to 1.47 (95% CI 1.19, 1.75) in Himachal Pradesh for stunting; and − 0.65 pp (95% CI − 0.77, − 0.52) in Haryana to 0.36 pp (95% CI 0.22, 0.51) in Bihar & Jharkhand for wasting. We find that change in the pp difference between children with the poorest and richest household living standards varied by states: statistically significant decline (increase) was observed in 5 (3) states for underweight, 5 (4) states for stunting, and 2 (1) states for wasting. Prevalence of poor anthropometric outcomes as well as disparities by states and living standards remain a problem in India.

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Profitability in rice cultivation across Indian States

ORYZA- An International Journal on Rice ◽

10.35709/ory.2019.56.spl.8 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (Special) ◽

pp. 156-163

Author(s):

Parshuram Samal ◽

Biswajit Mondal

Keyword(s):

Andhra Pradesh ◽

West Bengal ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Rice Production ◽

Rice Cultivation ◽

Rice Farming ◽

Indian States ◽

Total Cost

The paper discusses the profitability in rice farming using secondary data for the period 1980-81 to 2014-15. The average costs and profits were computed and it was found that cost of cultivation has increased over years, but profit has not increased commensurately. The irrigated states like Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh have maintained or increased profits over years, but not the rainfed states. There were losses in rice farming in rainfed states like Assam, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Maharashtra, when total cost of cultivation was considered. Promotional measures and investment by state and central governments are needed to make rice production profitable.

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