ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Numbing Machines

What forms does manual scavenging take after its legal abolition? Analysing the recent deaths in Bengaluru’s sewage treatment plants and underground drainage systems, the understandings of manual scavenging as an “archaic” practice and opposed to the “rule of law” are rejected. The contractualisation of sewer maintenance instrumentalises “untouchable” bodies, making the calibration of caste power coincidental with the calibration of urban sewerage. Urban manual scavenging is shown to be an emergent application of caste power that resolves ecological impasses in contemporary sewerage. The objectification of caste power in urban infrastructures nevertheless opens up new locations for politicising normative caste embodiment.

 

Curry Mixed With Demonetisation and a Pinch of Pesticide

When the government outlawed 86 per cent of India’s currency, burying his hope of selling land to pay off growing debts, Varda Balayya of Dharmaram village in Telangana killed himself and tried to poison his entire family by mixing pesticide in their chicken curry

Madhya Pradesh : Undernutrition and Starvation Deaths

An investigation of undernutrition and suspected starvation deaths in a few selected villages of Barwani district in Madhya Pradesh, a chronically drought-prone region, has thrown up a number of issues impinging on the concepts, methods and processes used for measuring of malnutrition and starvation.

Economic Consequences of Gujarat Earthquake

Even though the impact of the earthquake on the Gujarat's GSDP may not exceed a quarter per cent, it presents many challenges. Putting in place a proper policy framework may not only restore normalcy in the region, but can start a recovery boom. Estimating the loss from the earthquake is important for devising policies and drawing up requirements for assistance both from within and outside India. However, given all the limitations of the data, firm estimates of losses from the recent quake will take time to compile. In the interim, quantification is critical for designing relief and rehabilitation packages and implementing them before the onset of the monsoon. This paper is an attempt to estimate the economic impact of the earthquake.

Are Earthquake Deaths Overestimated?

There is some reason to believe that the number of earthquakerelated deaths in Kutch may be lower than the first estimates.

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