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.
Article
MGNREGA as a Technological Laboratory: Analysing Wage Payment Delays as a Result of Two Digital Interventions
in Springer Nature
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is India’s rural employment guarantee programme that provides 100 days of work to each household and mandates payment of wages within 15 days of completion of work. MGNREGA has been subject to many technological interventions purported to improve efficiency and transparency. Many of these interventions were introduced without any consultation or scientific piloting resulting in violation of workers’ rights. We focus on two digital interventions. Firstly, in the financial year 2021 – 22, wage payments of workers were segregated based on their caste. Notwithstanding delays in wage payments, we find there is a statistically significant difference in the time taken to process payments across caste. This provides an empirical corroboration of how this move created caste tensions at worksites. Just in our sample, the compensation as per law that is payable to workers due to delays by the union government alone is ₹399 million. This is neither acknowledged nor paid. Secondly, we demonstrate that there is no statistically significant difference either in timely payment of wages or in payment rejections between the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) and the standard account-based methods. Our analysis is based on 31.36 million transactions across 10 states from financial year 2021 – 22 crawled from the programme’s Management Information System. This is the first large-scale data-based evidence debunking officially stated claims of timely payments due to ABPS. We also examine official government circulars, documents retrieved using Right to Information responses combined with our immersive fieldwork to underscore our findings. In summary, we argue that any digital technology introduced in MGNREGA or any other social policy must be done through a consultative process, independent audits, giving centrality to workers’ rights.
Authors:
Suguna Bheemarasetti, Anuradha De, Rajendran Narayanan, Parul Saboo & Laavanya Tamang
Links
University Working Paper Series
Fond recollections, bittersweet memories, or markers of a forgotten past? uncultivated foods in rural Chintamani, Karnataka
in Azim Premji University
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Some experts consider “food” as the most critical issue of the 21st century. Countries such as India are experiencing what has been described as a triple burden of malnutrition – characterised by high prevalence of undernutrition, obesity, and micro-nutrient deficiency. These are a result of inadequate access to healthy foods, increased use of highly processed foods, and low dietary diversity, besides factors related to sanitation. Changes in the practice of agriculture has resulted in a reduction in agrobiodiversity. The challenges to accessing food during shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts in various parts of the world demonstrated the importance of local food security and reminded people of the importance of local food sources, including uncultivated or wild foods.
Authors:
Adithya Pradyumna,
Sudha Nagavarapu,
Sorappalli M Chandrashekar,
Shashiraj Haratale,
Muskan Babajan and
Communities of ChintamaniLinks
Article
Lattice Engineering Triggered Phase Formation of Bimetallic Thiospinels with Excellent HzOR and OER Activity for Energy-Efficient Hydrogen Production
in ChemCatChem
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Introducing foreign elements into a crystal lattice could trigger phase transformation, serving as an excellent means to fabricate highly electrocatalytic phases. NiCo2S4 is a notably electrocatalytic thiospinel phase, normally synthesized via two-step route and rarely explored for electrocatalytic hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR). This work reports one-step hydrothermal syntheses of NiCo2S4 and CuCo2S4 and their performance for HzOR and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Time-dependent syntheses suggest formation of (M, Co)9S8; M=Ni/Cu phase, followed by conversion to the respective thiospinel phase. Computational study validates that the incorporation of Ni into Co9S8 disrupts its stability and induces the formation of a stable bi-metallic thiospinel phase. Even without the assistance of metal foam substrate, NiCo2S4 displayed remarkable activity for HzOR requiring potentials of 153 and 350 mV to afford current densities of 10 and 500 mA/cm2, respectively. Furthermore, NiCo2S4 showed good activity for OER, providing 10 mA/cm2 at 290 mV. For hydrazine-assisted H2 production, the two-electrode setup, NiCo2S4||Pt/C attained a current density of 10 mA/cm2 at 140 mV, which is 1.39 V less than that required for conventional water electrolyzer (1.53 V). Long-term durability of NiCo2S4 for both HzOR and OER at high current densities highlights the suitability of the catalyst for practical applications.
Author/s: Diya Raveendran, Viplove Mishra, Athma E. Praveen, Avishek Roy, Aditi Chandrasekar, Venkataramanan Mahalingam, Ananda Basak
Links
Article
Accumulation by Dispossession: Evidence of Shrinking Space for Small-scale Fishers of Karnataka Coast
in Springer Nature
- Published
- Authors
Abstract
Small-scale fisheries play an important economic, social and cultural role in coastal Karnataka even today despite being subjected to several natural and anthropogenic stressors for a long time. They are neglected or even outright discouraged in the state’s fisheries policymaking, and their contributions to the state’s fish supply and their role in livelihood creation do not receive the due recognition. This paper is premised on the recognition of emerging stressors that pose a threat to the viability of small-scale fisheries. The impacts of these stressors have implications not only for the environment but also for nutrition, particularly among vulnerable populations, and the overall socio-economic stability of coastal communities that rely on fishing as a livelihood. The goals of this paper are to provide a thorough review of literature around these stressors, and to describe how these are being played out in coastal Karnataka. Among these stressors, we delve in depth on the new Blue Economy policy of India since it is likely to have severe antagonistic effects in combination with other anthropogenic stressors. Our opinion is, Karnataka has already started witnessing many of these ramifications of interventions/stressors and the coastal landscape of the state is set to be transformed over the next couple of decades or so. Small-scale fisheries of the state are likely to be some of the most impacted communities from these interventions.
Authors: Shruthi Suripeddi, Prasanna Surathkal, Amalendu Jyotishi, and Ramachandra Bhatta
Links