Publications & Resources
Our faculty, students and researchers work together everyday to contribute to a better world by grappling with urgent problems we are facing in India. We conduct rigorous work to produce high quality learning resources and publications to contribute to public discourse and social change. Here, we feature a sample from our work for everyone to access. You can explore featured resources, policies, and the latest publications from the University.
To explore all the work of our University, please visit our publications repository.
University Working Paper Series
Governance of Yellow Foot Clam: a case study of Ashtamudi Lake in Kerala
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Yellow foot Clam (Paphia malabarica) fishery of the Ashtamudi lake, one of the deepest lakes in Kerala supports the livelihoods of thousands of clam-collectors in the region. These clams are highly demanded in the international market and it enables the clam-collectors to generate their income through export began in late 80s. An increased export market demand exerted a lot of pressure on the resource which ultimately led to the depletion of clam resources. As a response to this unexpected decline in resource size and lost income, the clam collector community in Ashtamudi came forward to address the issue by forming a collective of clam-collectors at the village level. As a management strategy, they voluntarily abstained from fishing during the breeding season and demanded management of resource through a participatory mode of governance. After years of experience in the management of resource through voluntary measures, Ashtamudi clam resource entered a new régime of resource management. It got certified as “sustainable” resource by the world’s largest marine wild-catch certification program, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) which promotes the governance of marine fisheries resources through market incentives. This study is an attempt to understand these varied and unique governance régime experiences of clam resource from participatory to market-based systems and the implications of these governance regimes in the property rights, livelihoods and social development of clam-collectors of Ashtamudi.
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University Working Paper Series
Anomalies in Manipur’s Census, 1991 – 2011
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
This paper examines Manipur’s census statistics for the period between 1991 and 2011. It argues that conventional demographic factors cannot explain the abnormal population growth rates reported in parts of Manipur and that the abnormalities in the headcount might instead be explained by the manipulation of census data driven by political and economic considerations. Manipur’s experience is used to draw attention to systemic problems related to the inadequacy of metadata supplied by the Census of India, the lack of guidelines for the correction of census data, the impact of political interference on data quality and the cascading effect of errors in fundamental statistics such as headcount on other government statistics.
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University Working Paper Series
The ordinary city and the extraordinary city : the challenges of planning for the everyday
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Recent work on informal urbanism argues that ‘informality’ is a strong force in determining and shaping how cities in the global south grow, and hence needs to be a part of emergent urban theory. This paper uses this argument as a starting point, drawing upon the work of scholars who suggest that urban informality may have an organizing logic, a system of norms that emerge from the economic conditions and the social needs of people. Specifically, this paper examines informality in the urban space as an outcome of spatial and economic changes in a market precinct in Bangalore. It finds that activities in the street are temporal in nature. In this paper, the ordinary city encapsulates how people use urban spaces on an everyday basis and the extraordinary city reflects how urban spaces are transformed during a periodic, religious and cultural festival. The paper makes two key contributions, one, to show through an in-depth spatial ethnographic study how the ‘ordinary – extraordinary’ might help us understand informal urbanism and two, to propose that it may be useful to have intermediate levels of planning that incorporate the conditions of the ‘ordinary’ city as well as the ‘extraordinary’ city, thereby contributing to both theory and practice.
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