This article presents the findings of a survey conducted in 2000 in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), where quotas – 33 per cent of seats - for women have been implemented since 1995. [CSH Occassional Paper No. 2]

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Astrobiology Institute (NAI) conducted two “Workshops Without Walls†during 2010 that enabled global scientific exchange—with no travel required. The second of these was on the topic “Molecular Paleontology and...

People living in almost fifty percent of the districts in West Bengal are exposed to arsenic contaminated water. The economic costs imposed by arsenic-related health problems are estimated. Data from a primary survey of 473 households carried out in the districts of North 24 Parganas and...

The presence of a large number of unqualified medical practitioners in the rural areas and urban slums indicate that they provide most of the outpatient services in the private sector. Given the huge quantum of services provided by the RMPs, the present study aims at identifying their number,...

In a remote tribal village of Kandhamal District of Orissa, where there there are visible signs of empowerment of women due to the formation of SHG in the village. The confidence level of women, who are illiterate, has gone up substantially and the process has changed the man-woman equation. In...

The promotion of ‘inclusive citizenship’, through which the disadvantaged engage in collective struggles for justice and recognition, has been attracting growing attention as a solution to chronic poverty. This paper problematises this formulation by drawing on a case of landless...

This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of three case studies, each belonging to one of three types of institutional structures: Self-initiated, NGO-promoted, and Government-sponsored JFM. The basic objectives of all three institutional structures is strengthening ecological security and...

Institutions in developing countries, particularly those inherited from the colonial period, are often thought to be subject to strong inertia. This study presents the results of a unique randomized trial testing whether these institutions can be reformed through incremental administrative...