Authors:Carol Upadhya Abstract: Carol Upadhya suggests that changes in Bangalore’s social composition and political economy have not only affected the consumption practices of its middle classes, but have also shaped public perception of urban environmental problems as well as the modes of civic engagement documented in this special e-issue. India’s new consumer and public cultures are increasingly centred on these new middle classes, whose lifestyles reflect a tension between a rising consumerist culture and growing environmental awareness. While civic activism and initiatives around waste management in Bangalore are aimed at more sustainable urban management, they fail to address the need for more equitable and democratic mechanisms of public governance. Middle-class actors rarely raise the twin questions of municipal governance and local democracy that must be addressed if long-term solutions to environmental degradation are to be found. This afterword, therefore, invites us to analyse the political economy of ... PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Christine Lutringer Abstract: Christine Lutringer’s interview with Leo Saldanha and Bhargavi Rao reflects the pivotal role of their NGO, the Environment Support Group (ESG), in bringing about changes in practices and policies of solid waste management in Bangalore. The campaign for a new solid waste management policy, which was co-organised by ESG, underscores the significance of the legal activism initiated by civil society groups. The public interest litigation (PIL) that united the various affected parties was key to transforming the solid waste management policy of the municipality. Saldanha and Rao discuss the strategy of their NGO while showing how a progressive ruling by a court led to the decentralisation of solid waste management. They also point to the challenges of implementing the judgment and to the fact that processes of waste collection and disposal are not merely technical, administrative matters but are eminently social and cultural issues. ESG’s advocacy activities have, therefore, aimed to sec... PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Christine Lutringer, Shalini Randeria Abstract: In 2012, Bangalore was the first Indian metropolitan city to adopt a comprehensive solid waste management policy based on decentralisation. This article examines the interplay between middle-class environmental activism and judicial interventions, an interplay that shaped the making of this municipal policy. We argue that the production and implementation of public policy regarding a key service provision like waste collection and disposal is no longer the domain of elected city officials or the city administration alone. The provisions of the policy are related instead to the nature of judicial activism as well as to the specificities of the policy community that came together following the breakdown of the waste management system. Bangalore evinces a constellation of actors and factors conducive to environmental activism driven by civic sense and idealism, as much as by economic interests and the desire to implement technological solutions. We delineate, on the one hand, some of t... PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Nivedita Biyani, Manisha Anantharaman Abstract: Increasingly, sanitation issues are becoming a central part of global environmental governance and the discourse on sustainability. The city of Bangalore, India, is one of many cities worldwide that is trying to come to terms with its solid waste management (SWM) problems. In 2000, the Government of India issued SWM handling rules, which is a non-binding handbook (MSW Rules 2000) that seeks to guide state and city municipalities and stakeholders in their efforts to deliver better services. A serious SWM crisis prompted Bangalore to be the first city in India to mandate segregation of waste at source. However, implementing these mandates has been a slow process, for reasons we explore in this paper. Building on transition management scholarship, the paper examines the role of interpersonal competency and framing in facilitating partnerships between diverse actors. We do this by i) clarifying the motives of actors and their aims and frames; ii) understanding roles, needs and skills; a... PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Sunayana Ganguly, Christine Lutringer Abstract: 1. Introduction Driving into Bangalore from the airport one cannot miss the endless billboards advertising gated homes—promising security, homogeneity, space, greenery, luxury living, privacy and exclusivity. The post-liberalisation economic boom in India in 2001 has led to a massive influx of people migrating to Bangalore, ‘the Silicon Valley of India’. This economic restructuring led to a mirroring of certain Western models of housing and lifestyle choices that were transplanted into new ‘global cities’, where gated communities are ‘seen as exclusive sites where local and global elites organise their consumption and production as well as social and leisure activities’ (Pow, 2009, 21). The rise of gated communities is closely linked to the rise of the new middle class, with Western aspirations, models and modes of living. Houses modelled on American suburbia but using European architectural styles and well-tended green spaces have sprung up on Bangalore’s outskirts along with what s... PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:G. K. Karanth Abstract: The objective of this paper is to reflect upon the changing culture of eating out among middle-class households in Bengaluru. While exploring the increasing differentiation of foodscapes in the city, this study examines the notion of food waste and other waste that is generated in the course of food preparation and consumption in public places. It relates the novel patterns of food consumption outside the home with the emerging patterns of family organisation and changing food tastes. With more and more Bengalureans eating out as a way of life, as entertainment and as a means of escaping the pressures of running a kitchen in a dual/multiple-income family, food waste shifts from the home to restaurants. Using observations and interviews with consumers as well as with restaurateurs, the paper reflects on the implications of these processes in terms of waste generation and waste management. PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Sunayana Ganguly Abstract: This paper nuances the perspective of the Indian middle class as conspicuous consumers who have inherently unsustainable consumption practices and discusses the powerful role that cultural practices play in shaping consumption and waste. Using 127 qualitative interviews with people from the IT sector, it examines some practices and transformations in cultural arrangements that are intimately linked to food consumption and the identity of the middle class in Bangalore. This material challenges the assumed correlation that if middle-class income rises, people consume more wastefully. In particular, the emphasis on freshness and the low reliance on packaged products for daily consumption results in a low volume of food waste generated in the household. Making a distinction between the public and private space, the paper argues that culture and traditional ethos can be powerful allies of sustainable consumption. PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Christine Lutringer, Shalini Randeria Abstract: The editorial introduction by Christine Lutringer and Shalini Randeria delineates the overarching themes that are the foci of this special e-issue, namely the policy shifts and changes in practices of solid waste management in Bangalore following the 2012 ‘garbage crisis’. It suggests that civic mobilisation among the middle classes (and especially legal activism) have played a crucial role in the demand for, and partial implementation of, an efficient and sustainable solid waste management system. Crises and subsequent reforms thus constitute fruitful vantage points from which to explore larger processes of policy change. The contributions to this issue offer insights into the interplay between changing food consumption patterns, social practices of sustainable consumption, new forms of civic activism and emerging policy responses. On the one hand, they examine how middle-class engagement, through legal activism and neighbourhood mobilisation, has shaped public perceptions as well ... PubDate: 2017-11-03
Authors:Karsten Donnay Abstract: The recent data revolution, and with it the emergence of big data on social processes, holds enormous promise as a new paradigm for policy monitoring and evaluation. This is of particular relevance in the context of measuring and monitoring the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While there remain many practical and methodological obstacles to the applicability of big data technologies as a policy instrument, recent work has made significant progress. Focusing specifically on SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, this article discusses recent advances in using big data for monitoring political instability. After clarifying what constitutes big data, a term that is often used without clear definition or a shared understanding, the article reviews the potential of big data in the specific context of monitoring political instability. It then derives a set of best practices based on recent innovative and empirically grounded approaches, illustrating ho... PubDate: 2017-10-16
Authors:Peter Bille Larsen Abstract: Cet article traite des liens entre droits des peuples autochtones, normes mondiales et développement en Amérique latine, et plus particulièrement de la Convention 169 de l’Organisation Internationale du Travail (OIT), sur les droits des peuples autochtones et tribaux ainsi que de son application dans la région. Si les changements démocratiques, les réformes constitutionnelles et la reconnaissance des droits des peuples autochtones attestent de la naissance d’une nouvelle ère des droits, les profondes inégalités qui prévalent, la persistance de la pauvreté et les conflits de développement révèlent des tensions structurelles ainsi que le caractère ambigu de cette reconnaissance. Cette ambiguïté est souvent perçue comme le fruit d’une application inefficace des normes ou des « anomalies congénitales » résultant des compromis qui ont présidé à leur élaboration. Toutefois, cet article analyse les tendances qui caractérisent les administrations, tant orthodoxes qu’hétérodoxes, et l’arène ... PubDate: 2017-10-11
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