(SoHSS) School of Humanities and Social Sciences

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Improved cookstoves (ICS) can deliver “triple wins” by improving household health, local environments, and global climate. Yet their potential is in doubt because of low and slow diffusion, likely because of constraints imposed by differences in culture, geography, institutions, and missing markets. We offer insights about this challenge based on a multiyear, multiphase study with nearly 1,000 households in the Indian Himalayas. In phase I, we combined desk reviews, simulations, and focus groups to diagnose barriers to ICS adoption. In phase II, we implemented a set of pilots to simulate a mature market and designed an intervention that upgraded the supply chain (combining marketing and home delivery), provided rebates and financing to lower income and liquidity constraints, and allowed households a choice among ICS. In phase III, we used findings from these pilots to implement a field experiment to rigorously test whether this combination of upgraded supply and demand promotion stimulates adoption. The experiment showed that, compared with zero purchase in control villages, over half of intervention households bought an ICS, although demand was highly price-sensitive. Demand was at least twice as high for electric stoves relative to biomass ICS. Even among households that received a negligible price discount, the upgraded supply chain alone induced a 28 percentage-point increase in ICS ownership. Although the bundled intervention is resource-intensive, the full costs are lower than the social benefits of ICS promotion. Our findings suggest that market analysis, robust supply chains, and price discounts are critical for ICS diffusion. © 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

World University root node

Sociology

Fulltext

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Experimental evidence on promotion of electric and improved biomass cookstoves

Marx’s theory of rent as presented in the Third Volume of Capital has been a well-researched area in the history of political economy but not many of these studies discuss the theory with respect to the exposition of the labour theory of value and primitive accumulation in the FirstVolume. In this backdrop, the chapter attempts to retrace the trajectory of the theory of rent in Marx’s exposition of capitalism by focusing on the status of land as a ‘commodity without value’ (not produced by labour) within this framework. By critically engaging with the writings of David Harvey and Enrique Dussel, the chapter also explores the methodological innovation in the deployment of ‘rent’ within a value-based interpretation of the capitalist mode of production and the productive ambiguity in positing the distinction between rent and interest in a capitalist society, especially in terms of competition and return on ‘fictitious capital’. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019.

History

"Capital" in the East: Reflections on Marx

Marx’s theory of rent: A ‘speculative’ reading

A payment for ecosystem services mechanism is designed to support an environmental enterprise aimed at controlling Lantana camara, an invasive weed that is costly to eradicate. A forest reserve manager engages the local community in lantana control efforts. The community converts the weeds into household durable items for sale. However, as markets for such products may not account for the environmental services generated through weed control, the enterprise could fail for want of additional financial support. The challenge addressed in this paper is to incorporate the full environmental benefits of the weed-based enterprise and provide adequate compensation to the local community. An optimal compensation mechanism is derived through linking the ecological dimension of weed growth to its impact on biodiversity values within the reserve. Results indicate that optimal payments to the community would need to take into consideration both the value addition to the environment from controlling the invasive weed and the opportunity cost of participation by the community. When there exists a risk of enterprise failure due to low profitability, higher payments by the manager are required. However, the best environmental outcomes are obtained when the manager incorporates the welfare of the local community within the utility function. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Economics

Ecological Economics

Deriving double dividends through linking payments for ecosystem services to environmental entrepreneurship: The case of the invasive weed Lantana camara

We explore the role of mining in contributing to deforestation across 300 plus districts in India. Using a unique dataset, covering the period 2001–2014, the impact of mining related deforestation is delineated from those driven by various socio-economic, demographic and climatic factors. The roles of several minerals, such as coal, iron, bauxite, dolomite, limestone, manganese, quartz, fireclay and granite are explicitly tested using econometric analysis. Findings indicate that, on average, a district that did not produce any of the minerals considered in the study had suffered about 350 km2 lower forest area loss compared to a mineral producing district. Districts that produced coal, iron or limestone, saw on average 450 km2 higher forest cover loss compared to those that did not produce the same minerals. Iron ore production was positively associated with barren land area across districts, whereas forest cover loss was higher in districts that produced higher amounts of limestone or granite. Overall, mining has evidently contributed to deforestation at a district level, and within the mineral groups considered in this study, coal, iron and limestone have had the most adverse impact on forest area loss. However, minerals such as fireclay, manganese, dolomite, and quartz are being produced in districts that have seen either a lower deforestation rate or an improvement in forest area over the study period. Among the non-mining related drivers of deforestation, higher share of cropping area in a district's geographical area significantly contributed to deforestation. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Resources Policy

Assessing the impact of mining on deforestation in India

This conversation attempts to critically map out the field of sociology/anthropology of religion as it is practised in select institutions of learning in India. The focus is not merely on the classical works in the field but also on classroom practices. In particular, it engages with the ways in which the canonical works in the field have been articulated through multiple pedagogic forms and institutional sites. © 2019 SAGE Publications.

Journal of Human Values

Sociology of Religion Today: Practices of Thought and Learning

Art & Performing Art

Dancing Across Borders: Perspectives on Dance, Young People and Change

Teaching dance as an investigative practice in the contemporary Indian context

Compared to conventional abatement measures, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) offers attractive cost savings while tackling the climate change problem. However, there exist challenges associated with the selection of the optimal level of REDD-based abatement given the risks and non-uniform costs of their implementation across countries. This paper develops an integrated assessment model of carbon mitigation, incorporating the REDD option. Using a dynamic optimization framework, it derives the optimal timing and level of REDD participation for key countries with REDD potential based on their opportunity costs and risks. Specifically, Brazil, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Papua New Guinea, are chosen for inclusion under the REDD-based abatement option. Together, these five countries account for roughly 20 percent of global forest area and 40 percent of current global deforestation. The relevance and contribution of REDD-based abatement is explored under the possibility of non-linear damages resulting from increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. Results indicate that the REDD programme is an attractive option to consider despite the associated risks of impermanence. Including the REDD option, in fact, also increases conventional abatement efforts because low costs of REDD reduce the overall abatement costs, thereby making it optimal to abate more. Further, use of REDD option helps stabilise the atmospheric carbon stock in the long term. Without REDD, atmospheric carbon concentrations would be higher by 800 billion tonnes in the next 300 years. Whereas, optimal implementation of REDD in just five countries would help avoid the release of about 80 billion tonnes of carbon in the next 50 years. © 2019

Journal of Environmental Management

A global climate-economy model including the REDD option

The author regrets that there is a missing differential operator, [Formula presented], in Eqs. (8)–(10). This error does not affect the rest of the paper. The correct equations should read: [Formula presented] © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Land Use Policy

Corrigendum to “Optimal mangrove restoration through community engagement on coastal lands facing climatic risks: The case of Sundarbans region in India” (Land Use Policy (2019) 81 (736–749), (S0264837718306276) (10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.11.047))

Future Anterior

Decolonizing South Asia through heritage-and nation-building

This paper explores the role of REDD+ programs in promoting community led preservation and restoration of forests in the Himalayan region of India. As there often exists a direct conflict between generating carbon credits through forest conservation and forestry-based livelihood sustenance activities, we consider the role of cooking gas subsidy in reducing communities’ reliance on forests. Findings indicate that a price of 13 USD per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent can induce a switch away from fuelwood to lpg based cooking and promote carbon sequestration. However, for such an incentive to work, a community's combined earnings from non-timber forest products, farm income and livestock-based earnings also play an important role. Curtailing access to forests can reduce forestry-based incomes, which in turn, would require a higher carbon price incentive. If no subsidy is provided, carbon price would need to be increased to 27 USD per ton for a complete switch away from fuelwood consumption. Finally, afforestation in degraded lands can be successfully undertaken by the community when restoration costs are low at 2000 INR per ha. However, restoration costs exceeding 10,000 INR per ha or high forest fire risks are not conducive to community led restoration efforts even with the REDD+ incentives. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd