India’s Recent Infrastructure Development Initiatives: A Comparative Analysis of South and Southeast Asia

Since the early 1990s, the number of Regional Trade Agreements has increased considerably across continents. This is resulting into increasing regional integration with substantial importance being given to cross-border connectivity development. India, a late subscriber of active RTA strategy, is enthusiastically venturing into cross-border connectivity exercises to enhance its trade integration with the neighbouring countries in recent period. Developing cross-border connectivity is currently receiving salience in the regional forums like SAARC, though limited progress has been made so far. In contrast, ASEAN is the only forum in Asia where substantial progress in integration through cross-border infrastructure augmentation has been witnessed. India has recently entered into FTA with ASEAN and is involved in several infrastructure augmentation projects in several ASEAN member countries. Given this background, the current paper seeks to analyze the Indian infrastructure development initiatives in the immediate and Southeastern neighborhood. The discussion covers the SAARC and ASEAN initiatives towards building physical infrastructure, as well as the recent aid for trade initiatives being undertaken in South and Southeast Asia. The paper concludes by drawing the lessons for SAARC members from the ASEAN experience.Economic Integration; Infrastructure

Fish aggregation devices and artificial reefs

The principle of fish aggregation is based on the tendency of fish to concentrate around floatsam and sunken structures for food, shade and shelter (hide-out from predators). The technology is quite popular in Japan, Philippines, United States of America and the Pacific Island countries, and has been in vogue for a long period. For the first time in India this technology was introduced through the pioneering efforts of Raja (1986) who designed and fabricated an indigenous Synthetic Fish Aggregating Device/Artificial Reef (FAD/AR) made from High Density Polyethelene (HDPE) - Patent Registration No. 650/MAS/87. The results of preliminary experiments were highly encouraging and were presented by Raja (1986). Subsequently, all aspects of the FADs/ARs were discussed in detail at the National Fishermen's Forum meeting held at Bangalore, and was well received and appreciated by the participants

Selective Cooperation in the Global South: Implications for Nigeria’s International Economic Relations, 2000 – 2010.

Given that the ‘developed’ North has vigorously resisted the relinquishing of its greatest weapon of global dominance – International Economic Control Mechanisms (IECMs), South – South Cooperation (SSC) was birthed as an alternative development pathway for the countries of the global South. It has metamorphosed from being interested in geo-politics and opposition to imperialism, global racism, colonialism and the cold war, to emphasis on geo-economics and political economy. However, the emergence of new economic behemoths such as India, Brazil, South Africa among others, are beginning to reconfigure and reshape the contours of South-South Cooperation vis a vis their increasing economic and political clout. This has led to cases of selective cooperation in the global South; such as the India- Brazil – South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum; Brazil – Russia – China – South Africa (BRICS) Forum. While these selective alliances have had significant benefits for the cooperating parties, Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy is yet to be identified with this emerging trend on the South – South Cooperation (SSC) architecture; apart from being projected by Jim O'Neill along with Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey as the next potential investment destination (The so–called MINT emerging economies). This study therefore discusses selective cooperation in the global South and how it has impacted on Nigeria’s international economic relations, 2000 - 2010. The study adopted the thematic and analytical methods of Historical research while data for the study came largely through secondary sources. The position of the study is that Nigeria needs to overhaul and re-enact her SSC strategies to guarantee entry into selective alliances which have shown mutual benefits for the partners. Recommendations on how to go about in achieving this objective is made in the study Keywords: Selective Cooperation, Global South, Nigeria’s International Economic Relations, South – South Cooperation.

Missed the Goal for Workers: The Reality of Soccer Ball Stitchers in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand

This report presents the key findings of the International Labor Rights Forum’s research in the four largest soccer balls producing countries: Pakistan, India, China and Thailand. This report also highlights the need to rethink the strategies being utilized by companies to encourage suppliers to adhere to strong labor standards

China’s SAARC Membership: The Debate

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has been in existence for 29 years, but has made slow progress. Despite this, many countries within and outside the region aspire to be part of this forum. As a result, SAARC is the only association in the world, which has more observer members (nine), than full-fledged members (eight). China is presently the observer member in SAARC, and working towards enhancing its roleto“dialogue partner” and later on obtaining the full membership. However,China’s SAARC membership is widely debated. In this context, the paper attempts to analyse the arguments in favour and against China’s membershipand examines India’s position and concerns vis-à-vis China’s elevated role in SAARC. Subsequently, it identifies and discusses the factors favouring China to become a full fledge member of SAARC. This paper concludes thatChina’s SAARC membership might become inevitable at some time in the future. However, the question is – can India intelligently and sophisticatedly play its cards to advance its own interests

What Works at Scale? Distilling the Critical Success Factors for Scaling Up Rural Sanitation

This paper is based on the Knowledge Sharing Forum of the same name. It examines the conditions for success in sanitation programs and strategies that lead to robust implementation in various countries

Workshop and Symposium on Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries: Towards FAO Guidelines on Marine and Inland Small-scale Fisheries, 19-21 September, 2011, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The workshop and symposium titled Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries: Towards FAO Guidelines on Marine and Inland Small-scale Fisheries was jointly organized by the National Fishworkers’ Forum (NFF) and the Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action (DISHA), in collaboration with the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF). The workshop was the first in a series of consultations around the world organized to discuss the Voluntary Guidelines on Small-scale Fisheries (VGSSF) and propose measures, keeping in mind the interests and concerns of small-scale fisheries and fishing communities. The workshop was also a forum to make the role of small-scale fisheries and fishworkers more visible in the context of food security, poverty alleviation and sustainable use of fishery resources. The workshop had 62 participants from both the marine and inland sectors, representing 10 States of India. The participants included fishworkers, representatives of fishworker organizations, policymakers and representatives of multilateral organizations. The workshop was structured to facilitate active interaction and discussion among participants, taking into account linguistic diversity and the contextual differences of the marine and inland sectors. This publication will be useful for fishworkers, fishworker organizations, researchers, policymakers, fish farmers, members of civil society and anyone interested in small-scale fisheries and livelihoods

The Role of the Emerging Countries in the G20: Agenda-setter, Veto Player or Spectator? Bruges Regional Integration & Global Governance Paper 2/2011

In 2008, the G20 convened for the first time at leaders’ level, making emerging countries such as China, India and Brazil permanent members of an informal gathering at the highest political level. The aim of this paper is to refine previous assessments on the role of these emerging countries in the new G20. We first analyse the preferences of the United States and European members as a proxy for G8 positions and then juxtapose them with the preferences of China, India and Brazil as representatives of the emerging countries within the G20. We find that the latter share in particular the concern for more voice in global economic governance but – due to often heterogeneous preferences – do not generally act as a bloc. Moreover, by comparing their preferences with G20 outcomes, the paper investigates to what extent the emerging countries have agenda-setting or veto power, or whether they are taking a back-seat role among the G20 countries. We show that they are not mere spectators but have a certain agenda-setting power, especially when they are able to forge coalitions or hold the presidency

Medical Malpractice Overseas: The Legal Uncertainty Surrounding Medical Tourism

Mirrer-Singer explores some of the legal uncertainty surrounding medical tourism specifically in ways medical tourists can seek relief in US courts for malpractice committed abroad and explains why courts probably lack jurisdiction over foreign physicians who have allegedly committed malpractice. Among other things, he discusses theories under which US firms in the medical-tourism business could be held liable for the foreign provider\u27s negligence

Foreword

No abstract available