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CSLG organises a seminar by Lavanya Suresh

CSLG organises a seminar by Lavanya Suresh

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CSLG organises a seminar by Lavanya Suresh
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

SEMINAR SERIES

 

 

LAVANYA SURESH 

Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences,

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, Hyderabad Campus

 

On

 

 The Politics of Water and Scarcity in Andhra Pradesh, India

 

Abstract : The search for environmentally friendly alternatives is a quest for an institution, a way of life or means of production that is an alternative to existing neo-liberal market institutions or state governance structures. This pursuit is keenly felt, in the context of climate change and environmental degradation, by the people living at the margins of society as they bear the brunt of environmental degradation and pay the price for modernist development. This manifests into injustice as it further marginalizes those who are vulnerable based on existing social stratifications of caste, class and gender. The need is to reimagine our assumptions about alternative practices and to understand them from a political gaze that considers the operation of power at different levels. In this paper, we seek to understand a traditional irrigation system called Gonchi using a case study method. A discourse analysis of the local newspaper has been undertaken to understand the mainstream discourses on irrigation. In this paper, we find that alternative systems not only provide an ecological service but also serve a bigger purpose of collectivization, mobilization and providing platforms of participation. This allows people to build on the knowledge they have accumulated over generations to face a crisis that exists today.

 

3.00 pm, Friday, 9 April 2021

 

About the Speaker: Lavanya Suresh is an Assistant Professor at BITS-Pilani, Hyderabad campus. She has a PhD in Political Science from the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore. Prior to working at BITS, she was an Assistant Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad.  She has co-authored Decentralised Democracy: Gandhi’s Vision and Indian Reality published by Routledge. Her areas of research interest are political ecology, decentralisation and public administration.

 

The Seminar will be held online via Zoom

 

Please register at the link given below for the seminar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqc-mqqTMpE9LX3EtYge5u_5zuvKKMYsRB

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.