Interacting with the state via ICTs: Nemmadi Kendras in Karnataka

Bhuvaneswari Raman and Zainab Bawa argue that technological interventions made as part of e-governance agendas are not neutral and often complicate government-citizen relationships

Property and politics in globalising Bangalore

Bhuvaneswari Raman and Solomon Benjamin, in their paper titled “Illegible Claims, Legal Titles, and the Worlding of Bangalore”, analyse how programmes for digitising land titles are mobilised to reshape power relations within the state and outside, in a struggle to shape property claims in Bangalore

Street traders, place and politics: The case of Bangalore.

The significant proportion of the poor in Indian cities who depend on street trade for their livelihoods are increasingly threatened by eviction as a result of urban development programmes implemented since the mid 1990s. Research on urban street traders (in particular) and the urban informal economy (in general) in the developing world has primarily focussed on aspects of its social and economic organisation and have treated street traders as a homogenous group with a uniform ability to claim places. In contrast, this research explores the differential intracity spatial and political processes underpinning street trade, with particular reference to their ability to occupy and defend their trading places, in the city of Bangalore in Karnataka, India. It focuses on the everyday practices and relationships of street traders and explores the role of informal networks that give rise to such differences, through a qualitative research design and a grounded theoretical strategy. It illustrates the ways in which processes specific to a locale affect street traders' ability to occupy and defend places - an aspect that is overlooked in the theories about the politics of street trade. It argues that the territorial embeddedness of street traders is critical in so far as it affects their ability to draw on a range of networks. This thesis makes a contribution to knowledge in two ways: by providing an empirical understanding of the intra-city differences in how street traders occupy and defend places from where they can trade; and at a theoretical level on the role of urban place and the politics of street trade. It concludes with a discussion of the implications of the research findings for policies relating to urban poverty and governance of urban space

The Rhetoric of Transparency and its Reality: Transparent Territories, Opaque Power and Empowerment

This paper examines the purported links between transparency, citizens’ participation and empowerment through a focus on the governance of spatial information in Indian cities. It suggests that the data transparency paradigm need to be critically examined as the effects of data visibility and mobility differ according to the nature of information disclosed and conflicts surrounding it. Both information and technology that supports it visibility are embedded in power relations. Three themes are eloborated in the paper namely, the continued difficulty with retreiving information on land and territory;  the complexities involved in capturing and representing accurately the dynamics of territory use and ownership claims and the emerging governmentality relating to spatial governance that renders power opaque

Selected Readings on Small Town Dynamics in India

114 pagesThis literature review aims at summarizing the state of knowledge related to small urbanised settlements. The significance of researching these localities can be inferred from the fact that a growing share of urban population lives in such agglomerations with a population above 10,000 and below 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. This fact is not limited to India and a large share of the urban population worldwide lives in small and medium cities, which are understudied. The same dearth of research applies to the Indian context, as will be evident in this review, despite the importance of the resilience of an urban system comprising a large number of small towns and the diversity of these settlements in terms of their economic base and their social structure. This literature review is structured around five themes: A) the first section lays out issues related to estimating the magnitude and sources of demographic growth in order to infer the contribution of small towns to urban dynamics; B) the second section on Small Towns: Sources of Growth explores the economic processes supporting the expansion of small towns, and debates the dominant vision of the relationship between urbanization and growth, as explained by the New Economic Geography; C) the third section focuses on the transformation of small town economies and social structures while examining practices of entrepreneurship, circulation of labour, social mobility as well as caste and gender inequalities; D) the fourth section on Land and territorial transformations focuses on the relation between property and entrepreneurship; and E) the last section on Governance makes sense of the literature on decentralization, government schemes, governance and the political economy of small towns. This review constitutes one of the steps undertaken within the Subaltern Urbanization in India project (www.suburbin.hypotheses.org) to bring back to the fore the research on small towns

Coeducación : propuestas para alcanzar la igualdad de género desde las aulas

Resumen basado en el de la publicaciónSe analiza la existencia de desigualdades de género en la sociedad del siglo XXI y su reflejo en las distintas formas de discriminación de género. Ante este hecho cultural, la mayoría de los profesionales considera que la forma más efectiva de actuar es educar en igualdad desde la infancia. En el siglo XXI la coeducación se considera uno de los temas transversales fundamentales a incluir en todos los proyectos educativos. No obstante, los profesionales de la educación no siempre cuentan con los instrumentos y la información adecuada para poder desarrollar su labor coeducativa con la misma eficacia. Las actitudes sexistas en las aulas han sufrido un largo proceso de cambio, dando lugar a nuevas formas de sexismo mucho más complejas y menos evidentes, y por ello, son necesarias metodologías que ayuden a comprender esos mecanismos. Se hace imprescindible la existencia de foros de debate y formación que posibiliten la progresiva reorientación del modelo social tradicionalmente patriarcal, hacia un sistema más equitativo, basado en las competencias y capacidades individuales de las personas. En este sentido, se incide en los siguientes puntos: analizar la importancia de la ideología sexista en la perpetuación de las desigualdades de género, cuestionar mitos y creencias sexistas en la sociedad desde un enfoque coeducativo e informar sobre la importancia de la educación como prevención de las desigualdades de género y el estado de la cuestión: qué es coeducación y cuál es el marco legal en España.AndalucíaBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín 5 -3 Planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Pharmaceutical manifestation of Knoevenagel condensed metal (II) complexes through virtual, <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> assessments

Sulphur containing compounds possess a great deal of interest due to wide range of beneficial activities towards biotic species. This work also deals with the study of biological examination of newly synthesized sulphur containing Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes derived from (E)-4-(phenylimino)-3-((E)-1-(phenylimino)ethyl)pent-2-ene-1-thiol Schiff bases. Moreover, the DNA nuclease efficiency of the synthesized metal complexes is studied by UV absorption studies, Fluorescence studies, Viscosity and CV titrations which confirm the intercalative mode of binding. Pharmacokinetic studies and drug like activity of these compounds are screened with the help of SWISS ADME online freeware. Their morphological nature is corroborated by various spectral techniques. Optimized geometry and biologically accessible nature of the synthesized compounds are investigated by Gaussian 09 W software. Interestingly, molecular docking studies are carried out against cancer DNA and 6J10 cancer cell. Anti–inflammatory and in vitro antioxidant activities have been studied to validate the theoretical prediction. Based on these preliminary pharmacological activities, the in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo antitumor activities are examined using MCF-7, HeLa, Hep-2, HepG-2 and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) cell lines. All the above examinations reveal that the nitro substituted transition metal complexes possess higher biological bustle. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes incorporating Knoevenagel β-diketimine Schiff bases The quantum mechanical examinations using Gaussian 09W software Investigation of possible interactions with DNA by Molecular docking studies In silico, in vitro and in vivo analyses of the synthesized compounds</p

Communs fonciers pour des villes inclusives: Produire et sécuriser l’habitat populaire autour de la propriété partagée du sol : une diversité de modèles, leurs intérêts et leurs limites

National audienceWhile the notion of "commons" has been the subject of a remarkable resurgence of interest in the academic, operational and political world over the last ten years, little work has been done on the cities of the Global South and the precise question of land for housing. Yet access to urban land for the inhabitants of these rapidly growing cities is a major issue, a determining factor in improving daily living conditions and providing access to "adequate housing", in the UN terminology. The dominant approach to urban land tenure, oriented towards individual ownership and the free market, generates speculative tendencies, land financialization and exclusion of the most precarious households. The critical force of the notion of commons opens up innovative ways to produce housing in the Global South, according to plural perspectives that are attentive to the needs and power to act of the inhabitants. This report presents the results of the research program "Communs fonciers pour l'habitat dans les Suds" (land-based commons for housing in the Global South), led by the UMR Géographie-cités and conducted in collaboration with researchers in the fields studied. The program received funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) from 2017 to 2020, and is part of the AFD's reflections on the link between commons and development.The research team have conducted eight case studies, representing three types of arrangements: (i) collective production of housing, such as cooperatives of usufructuary inhabitants in Uruguay, housing cooperatives in Burkina Faso, and a Community Land Trust in Kenya; (ii) socio-legal processes of collective reclamation of land rights (commoning), in particular, collective mobilizations to regularize individual land rights in Bangalore and Nagpur in India and collective acquisitive prescription in Brazil (iii) real estate development projects on collectively held land, such as developments on Kanak customary land in New Caledonia and on ejidal land in Mexico. Each case study is the subject of an illustrated summary in the report, as well as more detailed scientific publications. Comparing them allows us to establish several lines of analysis.Alors que la notion de « communs » fait l’objet d’un regain d’intérêt remarquable dans le monde académique, opérationnel ou politique depuis une dizaine d’années, peu de travaux se sont intéressés à la question du foncier pour l’habitat dans les villes des Suds. L’accès au sol urbain est pourtant un enjeu majeur pour les citadins de ces villes en pleine croissance, déterminant pour l’amélioration des conditions de vie quotidiennes et pour l’accès à un « logement convenable », selon la terminologie onusienne. L’approche dominante en matière de foncier urbain, orientée vers la pleine propriété privée et le marché libre, génère accaparement spéculatif et exclusion des ménages les plus précaires. La force critique de la notion de communs ouvre des voies innovantes pour produire de l’habitat dans les Suds, selon des perspectives plurielles et attentives aux besoins et pouvoir d’agir des habitants. Ce rapport présente les résultats du programme de recherche « Communs fonciers pour l’habitat dans les Suds », piloté par l’UMR Géographie-cités et mené en collaboration avec des chercheurs sur les terrains étudiés. Le programme a bénéficié d’un financement de l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD) de 2017 à 2020, et s’inscrit dans les réflexions de l’AFD sur l’articulation entre communs et développement. L’équipe a mené huit études de cas représentant trois types de dispositifs : des dispositifs de production collective d’habitat, comme les coopératives d’habitants usufruitiers en Uruguay, les coopératives d’habitat au Burkina Faso, et un Community Land Trust au Kenya ; (ii) des processus sociojuridiques de réclamation collective de droits fonciers (commoning), notamment des mobilisations collectives pour régulariser des droits fonciers individuels à Bangalore et Nagpur en Inde et la prescription acquisitive collective au Brésil; (iii) des projets d’aménagement et de développement immobilier sur des terres détenues de manière collective, à l’instar des aménagements sur terres coutumières kanaks en Nouvelle-Calédonie et sur terres ejidales au Mexique. Chaque étude de cas fait l’objet d’une synthèse illustrée dans le rapport, ainsi que de publications scientifiques plus détaillées. Leur mise en regard permet d’établir plusieurs lignes d’analyse. Ainsi, ce papier de recherche souligne ainsi la diversité des communs, hybrides, perméables, évolutifs –dans l’espace et dans le temps- orientés vers l’obtention et la sécurisation de droits d’accès au foncier et à l’habitat et aux services associés et qui naissent bien souvent d’opportunités spécifiques. Le rapport se penche sur les manières originales de détenir le foncier : en commun, pour une fonction d’habitat et dans une perspective non-spéculative (quand le transfert du foncier s’effectue selon un encadrement décidé au préalable par le collectif, sans plus-value). Les communs peuvent alors s’entendre comme une politique sociale de l’habitat, en proposant un accès au logement aux catégories sociales les plus vulnérables. En outre, ils peuvent constituer une alternative aux politiques publiques de logement plus classiques tournées vers l’accès à la propriété privée individuelle. Si ces initiatives résultent de collectifs d’habitants organisés, elles sont parfois encadrées par les gouvernements nationaux comme les coopératives d’habitants en Uruguay. Souvent acceptés, encouragés voire érigés en modèles à suivre, les communs font l’objet d’une attention accrue ces dernières années par des fédérations d’habitants, des associations, ONG et institutions internationales qui documentent leurs fonctionnements et contribuent à la circulation internationale de ces idées alternatives. Aux côtés de ces acteurs, ce rapport contribue d’une manière critique au plaidoyer international des enjeux relatifs aux communs