(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

Economics

Revenue Management for Strategic Buyers with Time% inconsistency

The critique of growth is one of the defining features of ecological economics. Yet ecological economists have had relatively little to say about “post-growth” in the global South. In this article, we propose a new definition of post-growth as the combined application and theorization of degrowth, agrowth, steady-state economics and post-development. We then discuss – with special reference to India – seven ways of thinking about post-growth in the global South. Starting with the basic observation that the current patterns of growth-fueled “development” are ecologically, socially and financially unsustainable, we argue that serious post-growth thinking can only be world-systemic and rooted in class analyses. We then point out that the “GDP growth against poverty” connection is debatable and we instead argue, normatively, that an effective post-growth program should focus on fulfilled needs and on wealth redistribution. Against the idea that growth-critical approaches have their origin in industrialized countries, we show that many post-growth ideas have non-Western roots and a substantial number of potential contemporary allies in the global South. Discussing the example of Bhutan, we suggest that preliminary elements of a post-growth program are not as utopian as it might sound. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

World University root node

International Relations and Governance Studies

Ecological Economics

Post-Growth in the Global South? Some Reflections from India and Bhutan

History

Logistical Asia: The Labour of Making a World Region

Spatialization of calculability, financialization of space: A study of the Kolkata Port

Introduction: Currently, there is no efficient vaccine available against clinical malaria. However, continuous efforts have been committed to develop powerful antimalarial vaccine by discovery of novel antigens with in-depth understanding of its nature, immunogenicity, and presentation (delivery adjuvants). Moreover, another important part of vaccine development includes discovery of better immunostimulatory formulation components (immunostimulants). A protective vaccine against malaria requires antigen-specific B and T helper cell responses as well as cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. A long-lasting B and T memory cell production is also required for effective malaria vaccine. Since activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) promotes both innate inflammatory responses as well as the induction of adaptive immunity, several initiatives have been mounted during the last few years for the use of TLR agonists as malaria vaccine adjuvants. Areas covered: The review summarizes reports related to the use and development of TLR agonists as malaria vaccine adjuvants and describes various strategies involved for the selection of specific antigens and TLR agonists. Expert opinion: TLR agonists are promising adjuvants for the development of effective malaria vaccine, allowing for both innate inflammatory responses as well as the induction of adaptive immunity. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Patents

Synthetic Toll-like receptor agonists for the development of powerful malaria vaccines: a patent review

This chapter takes into account the condition of the people in the context of rights and entitlements ceded to the state as the state strives to assert itself on commanding extractive and centralized mobilization of resources. It also examines how it paves the way for a long-term and terminal decay of the people control over their resources in the context of the Schedule V areas. The chapter, therefore, argues that the policy status is the result of the uncertainty regarding the larger framework of governance of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA) in the Schedule V areas that has been adopted as well as a steady decline of the engagement of the state with the ‘Adivasi’ and the terrain they occupy. It discusses the context in which we need to recognize the dynamics of deficit and terrains first before the discussion moves into the context of PESA and its understanding. The last part of the chapter addresses the nature and the consequences of the governance deficit and the resultant implications. © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Bijayalaxmi Nanda and Nupur Ray.

Discourse on Rights in India: Debates and Dilemmas

People and the terrains: PESA reconsidered

Human populations and their socio-economic conditions, such as road networks and poverty, are thought to be the main drivers of deforestation. However, a high deforestation rate can also alter the species composition of forests, providing further feedback to the socio-economic drivers of deforestation as well as weakening the community forest management institutions. In this paper, we model the feedback linkages associated with the degradation of forests and the weakening of the local institutions to understand how they impact the long-term sustainability of these linked socio-economic-ecological systems. In particular, we explore the impact of excessive harvesting of forests for fuelwood and fodder on a shift in the species composition from oak to pine trees in the central Himalayan region of India. This shift provides adverse feedback to the communities’ livelihoods and erodes the quality of their participatory management institutions. A change in the species composition also increases forest fire risks, which further exacerbates the ecological as well as socio-economic feedback effects. We develop and apply a dynamic optimization model of community forest management where, through optimally controlling harvesting efforts over time, a weighted sum of community and environmental objectives is maximized. Findings indicate that factors such as population size, the extent of dependence of the community on fuelwood, the strength of community institutions, and the degree of feedback effects, affect the long-term sustainability of forests. When faced with forest fire risks, there is a discounting effect present which increases deforestation and institutional entropy. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.

Forest Policy and Economics

What drives forest degradation in the central Himalayas? Understanding the feedback dynamics between participatory forest management institutions and the species composition of forests

Mining of mineral resources entails significant deforestation in developing countries. The large financial rewards associated with mining create corrupt linkages between the government regulators and mining industry, often resulting in illegal extraction of minerals in environmentally sensitive areas. We develop a model of political-industry corrupted relationship to explore the problem of illegal mining of iron ore and its impact on deforestation in Goa, India. For the regulator, the decision to allow illegal extraction and relaxation from environmental remediation requirement is made with the objective of accumulating illegal wealth while simultaneously mitigating the risks of political ouster and conviction. Results suggest that several factors, such as the relative risks of political survival and conviction, the degree of impatience displayed by the regulator as well as the contribution of the mining sector to the economy, play a role in influencing the extent of illegal mining activity. When the regulator faces a low risk of political ouster, an increase in conviction risk may not provide enough deterrence to illegal mining, resulting in high levels of deforestation. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Resources Policy

The role of political-industry nexus in promoting illegal extraction of mineral resources and deforestation: A case of iron ore mining in Goa

This paper explores the impact of salinity on livelihood choices of rural households in south-western Bangladesh. We find interdependence among households' decisions involving various livelihood choices. High salinity reduces a household's probability of entrepreneurship while those households that stick only to agriculture suffer significant crop losses because of salinity. Households also face a trade-off between subsistence and entrepreneurial activities, that is, participation in one type of activity reduces the probability of participation in the other. Households with more agricultural land, in fact, benefit from high salinity levels by taking up fisheries related activities, whereas marginal households resort to increasing labour supply. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal of International Development

Estimating the Impact of Salinity Stress on Livelihood Choices and Incomes in Rural Bangladesh

Through a cross-sectional survey of 1600 households, we analyse the impact of water scarcity on livelihood patterns of rural households in three districts of Bihar and West Bengal. We find significant correlation between water scarcity and livelihood profiles. Households involved in farming and rural labour, or a mix of farming, rural labour and enterprises, earn 30–50% less than what they would have earned through alternative livelihoods. Yet, 50% of the sampled households were engaged in farming and rural labour. When accounting for endogeneity, urban migration provides much higher returns compared to rural labour supply or entrepreneurship. © 2018, © 2018 Oxford Department of International Development.

Oxford Development Studies

Water scarcity and livelihoods in Bihar and West Bengal, India

The manifesto proposed new approaches to understanding the translations industry and the distribution and reception of genres, along with alternative ways of conceptualising genre themes and motifs, while reconstructing the historical matrix to analyse differences and similarities between genres. Rieder argues that genre fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, detective fiction, and horror, describes an entirely new phenomenon, which the ‘genre as narrative form’ usage/category does not capture. One such expectational outcome in the intersection of the historical and the formal is offered by the ubiquitous use of myth in genre fictionfrom India. Trailokyanath Mukhopadhyay, as a pioneer of genre fiction in India, was a staunch critic of nationalism, even though he was arguably one of the foremost social reformers of the colonial period. Indian Genre Fiction: Past and Future Histories is the one of the first academic engagements on a field that deserves deeper investigation and, in doing so, brings many languages, genres, and perspectives together. © 2019 selection and editorial matter, Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Aakriti Mandhwani and Anwesha Maity; individual chapters, the contributors.