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

Articles by Aravindhan NagarajanSubscribe to Aravindhan Nagarajan

Pseudoscience, Sophistry, and Hindu Nationalism in India

Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism by Banu Subramaniam, University of Washington Press, Orient Blackswan, 2019; pp xv + 290, $95, `945 (hardcover).

India’s Waste Problem

Waste of a Nation: Garbage and Growth in India by Assa Doron and Robin Jeffrey, Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2018; pp xv + 393, ₹ 799 (hardcover).

 

Maharashtra’s War on Plastic

A brief investigation into the effects of the plastic ban in Maharashtra reveals that such regulations are riddled with arbitrariness and the absence of any accurate assessment of the scale of the problem of plastic waste. Further, such bans have the unintended consequence of creating a downturn in the plastic recycling sector, a sector which—in the absence of municipal support—handles much of the plastic waste of urban centres like Mumbai.

TISS Students Strike: Privatisation of Education Threatens Social Justice

The ongoing student strike at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai comes in the wake of reduced funding, withdrawal of scholarship for students from marginalised backgrounds, and disproportionate increase in fees. It brings to light the increasing privatisation of higher education under the current political regime, which has brought about erosion of principles of social justice and affirmative action.

Appraising the Debate on Biodiversity Conservation in the Western Ghats

This critical review and comparison of the Gadgil and Kasturirangan panel reports on the Western Ghats highlights various concerns related to their methodology, recommendations, and the manner in which they resolve the contradictions between the imperatives of environmental protection and economic development. It also focuses on basic demographic data on the affected areas in the Western Ghats, statistics on agricultural land use, and occupation data of the affected population in the ecologically sensitive zones, none of which has been considered in the two reports. The paper argues that the constitution of expert panels for the Western Ghats is an attempt to appeal to the principles of scientific certainty for addressing the dual concerns of environment and development. The two reports have an unwitting common ground: while they are alive to environmental concerns, they ignore insights from development theory and practice. The recommendations of both the reports presume that environmental and developmental imperatives can be combined without a political debate.

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