Chapters 2015

Lead authors: Geetika Anand, Kavita Wankhade and Rajiv K Raman
Contributing authors: Anushree Deb and Vishnu MJ

Nearly 70 years since Independence, a large proportion of urban Indians, particularly the poor and vulnerable groups, are deprived of adequate public provisioning in water supply and sanitation. e discourse of ‘urban’ is increasingly being captured through the rhetoric of ‘Smart Cities’, even as urban residents are yet to receive basic services. Albeit late, sanitation has now occupied centre-stage in India’s policy framework through the current government’s flagship: Swacch Bharat Mission.

Authors:

Anushree Deb is a Research Associate at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore.

Geetika Anand, is a Senior Associate at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore. Email: ganand@iihs.co.in

Kavita Wankhade is a Project Manager and Consultant at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore. Email: kwankhade@iihs.co.in

Rajiv K. Raman is an independent consultant based in Bangalore and is a Senior Advisor on water and sanitation, at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore.

Vishnu MJ is an Associate in the Practice Division at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore

Lead authors: Shikha Sethia, Anamika Lahiri, Rajanya Bose, Radhika Jha, Coen Kompier and Harsh Mander
Contributing authors: Sejal Dand and Sita Mamidipudi

In the India Exclusion Report 2013–14, we argued that decent work for all is an important public good and that it is the responsibility of the state to ensure equitable access of all persons to conditions of decent work. In this second Exclusion Report, we carry this argument further to underline that just conditions of work for women in particular, and not just of workers in general, is in itself a high-order public good.

Authors:

Anamika Lahiri is a Researcher at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: anamika. lahiri27@gmail.com

Coen Kompier is a Specialist on International Labour Standards with the International Labour Organization. Email: kompier@ilo.org

Harsh Mander is the founder and Director of the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: manderharsh@gmail.com

Radhika Jha is a Researcher at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: radhika.n.jha@gmail.com

Rajanya Bose is a Researcher at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: 89.rajanya@gmail.com

Sejal Dand is a founding member of Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI), Gujarat

Shikha Sethia is a Masters student at the International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague. Email: s.sethia@gmail.com

Sita Mamidipudi is a Researcher at Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI), Gujarat.

Lead authors:  Rajeev Malhotra and Sridhar Kundu

The magnitude of tax revenue and the manner of its mobilisation, in terms of its composition and incidence with regard to different segments of the population, is of direct consequence to the development process and human well-being in society. While a higher tax-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio based on high tax rates (and narrow tax base) could be detrimental to the growth of economic activity, giving rise to black economy and encouraging the flight of capital (both physical and human) from the country, a high tax-GDP ratio with moderate tax rates (and a broad tax base) could spur growth through improved scope for provisioning of public goods in the economy. It could also support the State’s capacity to create a social protection floor and, if required, specific entitlements, especially for the poor and the vulnerable to help create more equal outcomes in the society. Similarly, a progressive tax system, where taxes levied take into account the ability of an individual to pay, is a potent redistributive tool, which could potentially support a more inclusive and equitable development process.

Authors:

Rajeev Malhotra is a development economist and Professor at the School of Government and Public Policy at the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonepat (Delhi NCR). E-mail: rmalh1@hotmail.com

Sridhar Kundu is an economist working at the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA), New Delhi. Email: sridhar@cbgaindia.org

Lead author: Kanchan Gandhi
Contributing author: Harsh Mander, Agrima Bhasin, Radhika Jha and Sejal Dand

Dr Ginny Shrivastava, the founder of the National Forum for Single Women’s Rights, notes: The stories [of single women] are not “nice” stories— they tell of human cruelty, of wicked superstition, of systemic corruption, of age-old cruel caste customs. Women “discarded”, “abandoned”, murdered. But generally, women have survived, and brought up their children, through the sweat and blood of their labour. They are strong women, not weak women!’

Authors:

Agrima Bhasin is an independent researcher based in Delhi and was formerly a Researcher at the Centre for Equity Studies.

Harsh Mander is the founder and Director of the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: manderharsh@gmail.com

Kanchan Gandhi is a visiting faculty member at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. Email: kanchanisthere@yahoo.com

Radhika Jha is a Researcher at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: radhika.n.jha@gmail.com

Sejal Dand is a founding member of Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI), Gujarat

Lead author: Sajjad Hassan

In September 2013, as the country was getting ready for General Elections scheduled for the following April, large-scale communal violence engulfed Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts of western Uttar Pradesh. A BBC report described the violence as ‘the worst in India in a decade’.1 By the time the violence had abated later that month, 52 persons lay dead, over 60 had been grievously injured, and scores of houses, destroyed in res, across 14 villages in the two districts. is was the ofifcial count—many instances of deaths, injuries, sexual violence, and destruction of property remain uncounted to this day. e violence mostly targeted Western UP’s Muslims, especially the ones from poorer backgrounds. Additionally, the violence affected 74 villages in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli, and surrounding districts, as Muslim families here, especially where they were in minority, ed fearing violence, in the tens of thousands, resulting in one of the largest violence-induced displacements in the country in recent years. Estimates vary but a figure of 50,000, at its peak, has been widely accepted.

Author:

Sajjad Hassan is the Founder of MISAAL and a research fellow at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: iamsajjadhassan@gmail.com

Lead author: Sanjay (Xonzoi) Barbara and Saba Sharma

Political violence in a particular area of western Assam has resulted in the death and displacement of several thousand persons of different ethnic groups since the early 1990s. e areas in question constitute the Bodo Territorial Areas Districts (BTAD), an entity that covers four districts— Kokrajhar, Baksa, Udalguri and Chirang—and is home to several ethnic groups who differ from one another in terms of language, religion and culture. e very existence of BTAD is contentious; the nomenclature suggests that it is the home of the Bodo-speaking community, while in reality several other language-speaking groups have an equal claim to the territory.

Author:

Saba Sharma is a Doctoral student at Cambridge University, UK. Email: sabasharma4@gmail. com

Sanjay (Xonzoi) Barbora is an Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Guwahati. Email: xonzoi.barbora@ gmail.com

Lead author: Smita Premchander, V. Prameela, Shikha Sethia and Coen Kompier

The term ‘Devadasi’ is of Sanskrit origin. The women dedicated to temples and men’s entertainment were called Devadasis in Karnataka, Joginis or Mathammas in Andhra Pradesh, Mathangi/Murali in Maharashtra, Devaradiar or Dasis in Tamil Nadu and Kudikkars in the Travancore region (Kerala).

Author:

Coen Kompier is a Specialist on International Labour Standards with the International Labour Organization. Email: kompier@ilo.org

Shikha Sethia is a Masters student at the International Institute of Social Studies, the Hague. Email: s.sethia@gmail.com

Smita Premchander is the founder and secretary of Sampark, Bangalore. Email: smitapremchander@gmail.com

V. Prameela is a Programme Director at Sampark, Bangalore. Email: prameela@ sampark.org

Lead author: Rhea John, Harsh Mander

India’s Andaman Islands are home to some of the most ancient, and until recently the most isolated, peoples in the world. Today barely a few hundred of these peoples survive. This report is about one of these ancient communities of the Andaman Islands, the Jarawa, or as they describe themselves, the Ang.

Author:

Harsh Mander is the founder and Director of the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: manderharsh@gmail.com

Rhea John is a Researcher at the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi. Email: rheasjohn@ gmail.com