The Manufacture of Popular Perceptions of Scarcity: Dams and Water-Related Narratives in Gujarat, India

This paper critically examines some narratives of water scarcity in Kutch, western India. It argues that images of dwindling rainfall and increasing drought largely serve to legitimize the controversial Sardar Sarovar dam and manufacture dominant perceptions concerning scarcity. This manufacture has naturalized scarcity in the region and largely benefits powerful actors such as politicians, industrialists and large farmers. But the needs of the poor in water-limited areas are neglected. By exploring the various connotations of scarcity, the paper argues that scarcity is both a biophysical phenomenon as well as a powerful discursive construct. By distinguishing between the “real” and “manufactured” aspects of water scarcity, the paper attempts to enhance understandings of environmental change at the local level.     

Reproducing Difference? Schooling,Jobs, and Empowerment in Uttar Pradesh,India

This article examines the role of school education in reproducing caste and class inequalities in rural Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh, India. Drawing on Bourdieu’s work, the article shows that a rural elite has used its superior wealth, connections, and social status to ensure that their sons receive privileged access to schooling credentials and government employment. The greater availability of formal educational opportunities allied to the political rise of lower castes has allowed a small group of Dalits to raise their social standing, but has failed to alter historical relationships of dependence and exploitation.     

NGOs in Bangladesh: Activities, resources, and governance

This paper reports results from one of the first large, nationally representative surveys of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in a developing country. The NGO sector in Bangladesh is highly organized and relatively homogeneous. Most NGOs utilize a branch and headquarters structure in which branches have limited autonomy from headquarters. At the branch level, most NGOs in the country, whether big or small, focus on credit services, derive more of their income from fees for services than from grants, rely on salaried rather than voluntary staff, keep detailed financial accounts that are externally audited, and hire middle-class college educated men as managers. The convergence to a modal institutional form probably is the result of the persuasive power of ideas, sociological pressures toward acculturation and conformity, as well as material incentives.     

安庆市新城东区的污水再生利用方向规划

阐述了目前城市污水再生利用的主要方向，并结合安庆市新城东区的特征提出了具体的方向性规划，对我国沿江丰水区的污水再生利用问题提出了参考性意见。     

Institutional Pluralism and Housing Delivery: A Case of Unforeseen Conflicts in Mumbai, India

This paper demonstrates how institutional pluralism in the delivery of housing can evoke major disagreements and ultimately conflict between different stakeholders. The case study focuses on a case of slum redevelopment in Mumbai and shows how a major nongovernment organization (NGO) became involved in conflicts with the other stakeholders, including private market actors, government agencies and even the community group. But, these conflicts did not necessarily have only negative impacts. Under certain conditions, such as when property values were booming in Mumbai, communities can actually benefit from such conflicts.     

中印两国在亚太经济发展中作用的共性研究

本文认为.中国和印度在亚太地区经济发展中的作用既有共性也有差异性。本文对两国作用的共性作一探析。研究显示,两国作用的共性表现为中印在亚太经济发展中均具有大国意识、作用意识和理念、相同的作用方式和领域,这表明对21世纪初的亚太经济的认知与把握,还需要对中印两国在亚太经济发展中作用问题展开研究。