From arunavdg98 at yahoo.co.in Thu May 12 15:20:48 2011 From: arunavdg98 at yahoo.co.in (Arunava Dasgupta) Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 15:20:48 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: FW: M.phil / PhD Fellowship under Rajiv Gandhi HUDCO Fellowship Programme supported by HUDCO. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <119394.84515.qm@web95511.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi everybody, This is to invite all of you to the IUDI Annual Lecture Series 2011 entitled "Urban Futures" to be held on 15th May, 2011 at the Gulmohur Hall in the India Habitat Center from 10am onwards. This is a day long program featuring eminent speakers representing a diverse range of disciplines and professions discussing the future of cities.  The IUDI Lecture Series is a free entry, public program. Please feel free to forward the invite to anyone who may be interested in the talks. A copy of the invitation and program is attached. Please take a little time out to confirm your participation by return mail so as to help us plan better.    Best wishes, Arunava Dasgupta Coordinator - Programs, Institute of Urban Designers -India email: arunavdg98 at yahoo.co.in   phone: 09811183853  -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: IUDI Invitation.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 131533 bytes Desc: not available URL: From leo at esgindia.org Tue May 3 15:42:08 2011 From: leo at esgindia.org (Leo Saldanha ESG) Date: Tue, 03 May 2011 15:42:08 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [ESG-LIST] POSCO loot of our mineral wealth and environment is far worse than the 2G scam Message-ID: <4DBFD4F8.30808@esgindia.org> *POSCO loot of our mineral wealth and environment is far worse than the 2G scam* *Jairam Ramesh's disastrous decision favouring POSCO comes a day after CBI exposes A. Raja's shocking loot when heading Environment Ministry*** Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State with independent charge for Environment and Forests in the Government of India, cleared the diversion of 3,000 acres of forest land comprising a major part of the 4,000 acres required for the POSCO Steel-power-port project in the ecologically sensitive Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa. Jairam Ramesh's pro POSCO decision was released on the evening of 2^nd May on the Ministry's _website _. He thus paved the way for acquisition of land for a most controversial project. However, the current decision does not take into account massive additional demands of land required for the project's industrial township and associated water, road and rail infrastructure, and also the most controversial iron ore mining component proposed in the thickly forested and mountainous Kandadhar region which is now a subject of litigation. This project has been peacefully resisted by local communities for six years now; their staunch resistance to the project demonstrated in their refusal to allow entry of any State or company official into the affected villages. The reaction of the State has been brutal and has involved harsh police action against women, children and men, and the filing of false criminal charges against most adults in the project affected villages -- some leaders have been wrongfully arrested and others falsely accused of over 40 crimes, most with serious implications to their normal day to day functioning. All this in a vain attempt to break a fantastic peoples movement, which has resolutely remained peaceful in its methods, in a landscape that is otherwise known for violent resistance to the State's hegemonic efforts to dispossess communities from forests and farms to favour highly questionable projects benefiting the rich and large corporate houses. "*Faith and Trust" over-rides the need for rationale in decision making:* Ramesh's decision is based on an unprecedented claim of the need for *"Faith and trust in what the state government says (a)s an essential pillar of cooperative federalism" *(emphasis in original). The rationale he offers in taking such a position is that "(b)eyond a point, the bona fides of a democratically elected state government _cannot _/_always_/_be questioned_by the Centre" (emphasis added). This even when Ramesh expresses what can be termed as very serious doubts about the capacity of Orissa Government to protect the interest of the State of Orissa and the people of India when he says that the POSCO "MOU had provisions for the export of iron ore which *made me deeply uncomfortable with this project" *(emphasis added). He also admits that he "could well have waited for the MOU to be renewed and for a final decision of the Supreme Court" which is hearing an appeal on the decision of the Orissa High Court cancelling the Orissa Government's allotment of out of turn (ignoring over 200 applicants waiting for long) and large iron ore mining permits benefiting POSCO. The simple and plain question that cries out for an answer then, is why did he not wait? Especially considering that the mining component of the project is an integral part of the overall scheme of POSCO? This also raises serious questions if he respects the Orissa Government more, and the Supreme Court less? What was the compelling need for him to rush to clear a project that has failed to comply with any of the conditions imposed in the clearances accorded by the Ministry in 2007? And this when the project is without sufficient legal support as the MOU of 2005, based on which most clearances are being secured, has lapsed and has not been renewed yet. *True Federalism is to respect Local Governments as equals:* Speaking in favour of POSCO and comprehensively rejecting serious well documented contestations over the legality of environmental, coastal and forest clearances accorded, Mr. Ramesh has spoken in many ways for the Government of India. After all the forest clearance was perceived as the last major hurdle for this mega project as all other Ministries (such as Coal, Mining, Finance, etc.) were merely waiting for him to make up his mind. In deciding for POSCO, Jairam Ramesh has gone with the Orissa Govenment's claims that the Palli Sabha^^1 resolutions of Dinkia and Govindpur Gram Panchayats are "fraudulent" and even invested a lot of paragraphs to ensure that the Sarpanch Shishir Mohapatra who is accused by the Orissa Government of perpetuating this fraud is punished, else "the state government's argument will be called into serious question". Thus, admitting he is really not sure about the facts of this critical matter involving forest rights. His unseemly haste to clear POSCO based on his innovative argument of "faith and trust" as an "essential pillar of cooperative federalism" also flies in the face of his recent (14^th April) rejection of the Orissa Government's repeated claim that it had fully complied with and implemented faithfully the provisions of the Forest Rights Act. His argument then was "(i)gnoring.. two Palli Sabha Resolutions and not allowing them to be subjected to a due process of law as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 would be tantamount, in my considered opinion, to violating the very essence of this legislation passed unanimously and with acclaim by Parliament". By so endorsing the legality of Resolutions, this position was consistent with the findings of the two independent investigative committees that he had appointed. These committees had established beyond any doubt, and on the basis of extensive legal evidence, that Orissa State had fundamentally flouted the Forest Rights Act, and other statutory procedures, in its enthusiasm to secure POSCO's interests. His latest and now unconditional "faith and trust" decision now rests on a spectacular speculative argument that simply has no place in environmental decision making, or for that matter any legal decision at all. In the federal structure of governance in India, local elected governments are in no way inferior to the elected bodies at the State level. Ensuring such separation of powers and autonomy in functioning is the whole purpose of the Panchayati Raj Act, the Forest Rights Act and such other such provisions in the Constitution. When such is the law of the land, a Minister does not enjoy privileges of over-rating the State's position over that of a Panchayat. *Legal evidence loses out to "faith and trust":* By such arguments, the Minister has not only exposed his prejudice against claims of forest dwelling and dependent communities, operating as they are in a climate of fear, but also his utter incapacity to rigorously enforce the due process of law on the basis of uncontestable facts. He abandons this critical exercise by saying "I have already examined the legal issues... and *therefore there is nothing to be gained by seeking further legal opinion. Similarly the facts of the case... are too obvious to require any further enquiry or verification*" (emphasis added). Surely, Mr. Ramesh is aware that the environmental laws are based on criminal procedure code, and that he is duty bound to spare no effort in ensuring that material submitted in seeking clearances are valid in law. The decision has to also satisfy the test of being beyond any reasonable doubt as it directly and irreversibly affects the livelihoods of hundreds of farming and fishing families who have a very weak possibility of restarting their lives, will devastate beyond repair sensitive ecosystems and could annihilate critically endangered species. A dispute in fact must be fully and legally resolved, and should not become subject to mere opinion of the Minister. Ramesh's decisions fails on all these grounds. *Investigative Committees appointed, and their uncomfortable reports sidestepped:* When Jairam Ramesh appointed very senior and widely respected former bureaucrats and experts in two fact finding committees to investigate into all aspects of the coastal regulation, forest diversion and environmental clearances accorded to the POSCO project, there was widespread hope that he would not keel over to any pressure in this critical decision. But this hope lasted only for a short duration. As the Committees returned with reports exposing extensive illegalities and fraud in the environmental decision making processes, Ramesh chose to sidestep these reports in his 'speaking order' of 31 January 2011. He thus supported the earlier clearances accorded by his scam tainted predecessor in the Ministry, Mr. A. Raja, who is now in Tihar Jail on corruption charges instituted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Of course Ramesh had laboured to justify his claim to being a socially and environmentally conscious Minister by adding dozens of additional conditions. But on close scrutiny these conditions appear to be mere window dressing and rely largely on rhetorical commitment from the investor towards safeguarding peoples' rights and the environment. Experience in India has repeatedly shown that such conditions are rarely complied with and violators even more rarely punished. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, many of these additional conditions articulate the need for thorough assessments and comprehensive studies into environmental and social impacts of the project. Thus exposing the widely known and undeniable fact that the earlier clearance decisions were accorded almost entirely on the lack of any relevant material. For instance, one of the conditions speaks of the need for evaluating the high risks involved from cyclones and tsunamis in the coastal site selected for steel plant, a point not to be taken lightly following the recent Japanese experience. This is critical considering the fact that 1,000 acres of the 4,000 acres for the steel plant will be only for dumping fly ash and sludge. Nothing is known about how POSCO proposes to contain the regional impacts of such massive storage of ash and that too in an area with super high wind energies. And there is the fundamental concern that the massive port is proposed in the Jotadhar creek, a highly sensitive area known for nesting habitats of critically endangered Olive Ridley Turtles and Horse Shoe Crabs, and as spawning grounds for fishes. A little known fact about the port is that it will have 6 kms. long and 25 metres deep channel into the sea, whose width ranges between 250 to 500 metres. This means a lot of dredging, and almost all the time through the life of the port, as the region is known for a very high accretion of sand. What would happen to all this dredged material? What, if any, are the chances for turtles to navigate a busy shipping lane, involving the movement of the largest commercial ships ever built -- as POSCO proposes to build a port allowing the berthing of 170,000 DTW carriers, known as Capesize ships because of their inability to make it through the Suez Canal and thus have to go around the Cape in South Africa. Each of these ships is a quarter of a kilometre long! Not to be overlooked also is the fact that POSCO proposes to raise the base height of the steel plant from 0 MSL to 6 MSL. This is because it wants to protect its plant from any serious impact from anything like the 5.6 metres tidal wave that slammed this very region with wind speeds exceeding 250 kmph in the super cyclone of 1999 that left a trail of destruction and misery tens of kilometres inland. Historical evidence points to the fact that the Jagatsinghpur region has been the epicentre of many intense cyclones, and thus this is exactly the kind of area that constitutes very high risk for shipping and industrial activity and is a site that must be avoided. There remains then the other serious issue of where all the mud and silt to raise such a large area over so many metres will come from? If it is the dredged material from the sea, clearly it will devastate the wetlands in land supporting very high productivity in paddies, prawn cultures and /paan kethis/(betel vine). Not to be forgotten, of course, are consequences to the local communities when they have to stare up at a steel plant towering tens of feet over them, with its smoke, ash and dust billowing all around. Their tranquil life in harmony with nature, as they now know it, will end. In a travesty of the well-honed science of environmental decision making, the single largest steel-power-port-township and potentially mega mining project ever conceived in the history of India, and also the largest industrial project conceived in recent decades world wide, has now got the push forward on the basis of faith. By this decision Jairam Ramesh has chosen to ignore, perhaps even ridicule, the findings of the POSCO Investigative Committee appointed by him with former Environment Secretary Ms. Meena Gupta as chair. The recommendations unanimously made by 3 of the 4 member committee, educate us on how little is actually known about the impacts of this massive project: 1. "....(T)hatin view of the glaring illegalities which render the clearances granted illegal, the EIA and CRZ clearances dated 15.5.2007 for the port and the EIA clearance dated 19.7.2007 for the steel plant should be revoked after following the due process of law. 2. The project proponent if it so desires may prepare a comprehensive EIA for both the port and the steel plant in accordance with the notifications now in force including all the various components of the project such as rail and road transportation, pipe line, township, mining, etc. for the full capacity of the plant and its components. 3. If the project proponent applies, a fresh public hearing may be conducted on the basis of the new comprehensive EIA to be prepared by the company. 4. In the meantime no body should be dispossessed of their land and since all clearances are ..prior to the commencement of construction no alterations of any nature should be permitted on ground." *Is 'strategic significance' any ground for clearing POSCO?* Enormous volumes of public monies and resources were invested in these investigative efforts, and they were meant to assist the Ministry, and the Minister, in ensuring a fair, just and correct decision was made in this mega project. But Jairam Ramesh decided to dump all this into the trash cans of the Ministry raising serious questions about his credibility in his pro-POSCO decision of 31 January 2011 in which he claims that "(u)ndoubtedly, projects such as that of POSCO have considerable economic, technological and /*strategic significance */for the country" (emphasis added). Despite all of Mr. Ramesh's best efforts to avoid the risk of being accused of "filibustering", which he claims to avoid in his 2^nd May pro-POSCO decision, he seems to have done exactly that. By overlooking relevant facts, and choosing to rely on the uncertain claims of the Orissa Government that it has complied with key statutory provisions, he now hopes to distract attention from the shocking finding of the Investigative Committees that serious illegalities and fraud backed key environmental clearance favouring POSCO. These are not ordinary or simple accusations for they are often the type of material for investigation into possibilities of corruption. Such argumentation also raises serious questions about his jurisdiction in so deciding for India, when his job essentially is to ensure that Ministry of Environment and Forests is environmentally sensitive, non-corrupt, efficient and just in its decisions, and protected from extraneous influences of such factors as 'strategic significance', scale or nature of the project, who the investors are, etc. A terrible consequence of such subjective reasoning is that it can now be applied to almost all projects: Jaitapur Nuclear power plant, Lavasa, Gundia power project, some windmills in a forest and so on. By this POSCO decision, Mr. Ramesh has irreversibly lost the opportunity of demonstrating his much proclaimed unyielding commitment to ensure the implementation of rule of law, and lack of corruption and transparency in environmental decision making. Mere sharing of documents backing his decisions does not make for a good and transparent decision. He has to demonstrate the legal and scientific rationale by which he arrived at such a decision, and this has to be on the basis of supportive evidence from subject review committees as per the law. Ramesh has chosen to overlook all these statutory requirements. This is clear demonstration that he has indeed yielded to pressures, whatsoever they might be and wherever they emerged from. The rule of law has been sacrificed on the altars of "faith and trust" and based largely on one man's belief that the project is of "strategic significance" to India, disregarding the widely held perception that the POSCO project constitutes a loot of India's natural resources to benefit a foreign corporate. *Cleared by Raja, is POSCO not scam tainted?* A major development is that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun to investigate the decisions of Mr. A. Raja in according environmental clearances during his term (2004-07) as Union Minister for Environment and Forests. The allegation is that Raja liberally gave environmental clearances to 2,016 projects in a little over two years! His front man in this operation was Mr. R. K. Chandolia, then director of planning and coordination in the environment ministry. Today both are implicated in the 2G scam and are in Tihar jail. POSCO was one of the mega projects that Raja cleared, specifically its captive port component. This decision was taken on 15^th of May 2007, exactly a month after the controversial statutory Environmental Public Hearing on the project was held, which the MOEF Investigation Committees have revealed involved major human rights violations. Reports of this tainted Hearing were rushed to Delhi to fulfil a legal requirement and the port was cleared by Raja in the final hours before he transited from the Environment Ministry to his new role as Union Minister for Telecom and Communications. Normally, when such big decisions have to be taken on mega projects, no Minister risks approving them on the eve of his transition, largely to avoid accusations of corruption. But Raja was made of a different mettle, clearly. The unseemly haste by which Raja cleared the port component of the massive POSCO project was a strong indicator of favourable decisions that were meant to follow. Ms. Meena Gupta, who took charge as Secretary of Environment Ministry on 1^st June 2007, ensured that the environmental clearance to the steel plant was accorded on 19^th July 2007 without much ado. At that time the Environment Ministry was without a Minister and was directly under the supervision of the Prime Minister of India -- thus with little possibility of a close watch over executive decisions and accountability to the public. Despite all this evidence, or probably because of which, Ramesh appointed Meena Gupta to officiate over the Investigation Committee into POSCO that he instituted, resulting, not surprisingly, in her single dissenting note which favoured her earlier pro-POSCO decisions that she made on the basis of weak and fraudulent evidence. It would be specious to believe now that Raja and Chandolia began their corruption racket only in the Telecom Ministry. The CBI's investigative guns are now trained on their long and corrupt politician-bureaucrat alliance, as the agency has discovered that these gentlemen favoured many projects of DB Realty with environmental clearances, a cash rich corporate house accused of benefiting enormously from the telecom scam. Raja's reliance on Chandolia was so acute that he took him as his personal secretary to the Telecom Ministry. When it was pointed out that such an appointment of an Indian Economic Services bureaucrat was violative of law, Raja elevated him as Economic Advisor to the Minister, next only to the position of Secretary of the Ministry. Could it be at all possible that their corrupt practices were strictly limited to benefit only DB Realty? Not POSCO or any other project? *POSCO sets a new 'race to the bottom' standard in environmental and economic regulation:* The Korean/US TNC POSCO project proposal (Warren Buffet who recently toured India has a major stake in the project) has a capital outlay of Rs. 51,000 crores (by 2005 prices) and involves production of 12 mtpa of steel. It also includes iron ore mining rights of a stupendous 600 million tonnes over 30 years, 60% of which is allowed for export to POSCO's Korean steel mills. As studies reveal, POCSO is likely to recover all of its capital investment in less than a decade, and that too only from profits from iron ore.^^2 With a captive port accommodating the movement of the largest commercial ships ever built, and also of a captive power plant in the steel plant, this is undoubtedly a peach of a deal for any industrial house. The unprecedented nature of profits that accrue from such a mega project demands without any doubt a rigorous and serious scrutiny, at many levels of the Union and State governments and by independent regulators as well; far more seriously than efforts are now under way to uncover the scam in the Commonwealth Games, 2G telecom deal, Bellary mining, etc. Most regulatory agencies, though, have inexplicably chosen to not subject this project for their examination. A review of the Environment Ministry's clearance records reveal that no other project has been accorded such hasty and favourable treatment as the POSCO project in recent times. There are tens of small, medium and large projects that have fully complied with procedural requirements, and yet do not secure environmental clearance within weeks of a Public Hearing. POSCO must have been of 'strategic significance' to Raja, else why would he rush its clearances through with such haste when so little was known of the project, its outcomes and its impacts? Now that Jairam Ramesh has endorsed Raja's decision, it won't be long before Karnataka's Chief Minister Yeddyurappa accuses Ramesh of bias for rejecting the Gundia power plant which the former would claim is of 'strategic significance' to the state. Similarly, Goa will make a case that mining in the Western Ghats is of critical economic importance and Ramesh must have "faith and trust" in the State's assessment of its needs. Mr. Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister, has for some time now been berating Ramesh's moratorium on Monsanto's Bt Brinjal, claiming this first food GMO in India is critical to secure the future of Indian agriculture! Narendra Modi of Gujarat will spare no words in attacking the Union Government were any of his pet projects rejected. India could have done well to avoid such propensity of pandering to investor induced pressures and the unsustainable competition between States to secure investments; at the very least in projects that have massive, serious and irreversible environmental, economic and social consequences. *CBI enquiry into POSCO is a must now:* There is simply no option now but for the CBI to completely examine all decisions taken by Raja during his time in the Environment Ministry, thus not limiting the exercise to those relating to DB Realty decisions alone. This is of strategic importance to our country in light of the fact that none less than Mr. Jairam Ramesh has expressed discomfort over the unprecedented "export of iron ore" involving Capesize super tankers that POSCO proposes to employ in shipping out the ore it mines in India. Unprecedented profits are to be made from this virtually business-risk free POSCO project, and it is not an accident that there is so much cooperation between so many different political parties and levels of governments to usher it through. As revealed in the unbelievable iron ore mining scam in Bellary, there is far too much money to be made from mining iron ore alone in the POSCO deal. The POSCO kind of loot of non-replenishable natural resources, associated with the destruction of thousands of natural resource dependent livelihoods and the environment, is a far worse scandal than the 2G scam. Airwaves are ambient, can be reallotted and the perceived loss is essentially in money terms. Iron ore, forests, coastal areas, livelihoods, critically endangered species simply aren't renewable resources. Jairam Ramesh was aware that the CBI had begun investigating Raja's possible corruption while in the Environment Ministry and could well have waited for the CBI to review Raja's role in the POSCO decision. But he chose not to, and announced his pro-POSCO decision the very next day after CBI began the investigation. All these circumstances demand that the POSCO project decisions must be thoroughly investigated by the CBI. It is high time that our Parliamentarians also spare some of their time in scrutinising the POSCO decisions, while also attending to the politically juicy spectrum allotment (2G) and other scandals. Leo F. Saldanha Coordinator Environment Support Group _leo at esgindia.org _ http://leoonpublicmatters.blogspot.com/ _www.esgindia.org _ 02 May 2011 1As Gram Sabhas are known in Orissa) 2/Iron and Steal/, by the Mining Zone Peoples' Solidarity Group, published in October 2010, provides a rigorous analysis of the super-normal profits that POSCO will make from the mining/steel project. This report is accessible at:_*http://miningzone.org/*_** -- Leo F. Saldanha [Environment, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives] Environment Support Group Trust 1572, 36th Cross, Banashankari II Stage Bangalore 560070 Tel: 91-80-26713559-61 Voice/Fax: 91-80-26713316 Email: leo at esgindia.org Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- _______________________________________________ Esglist mailing list TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS LIST, SEND AN EMAIL TO 'esglist-request at lists.esgindia.org' WITH SUBJECT 'unsubscribe' From anwitasarin at gmail.com Sat May 14 12:24:35 2011 From: anwitasarin at gmail.com (ANWITA SARIN) Date: Sat, 14 May 2011 12:24:35 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Urbanstudygroup Digest, Vol 71, Issue 1 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Arnav I would like to book a place for two for the lecture Thanks Regards Anwta On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 7:44 PM, wrote: > Send Urbanstudygroup mailing list submissions to > urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > urbanstudygroup-request at sarai.net > > You can reach the person managing the list at > urbanstudygroup-owner at sarai.net > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Urbanstudygroup digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Fwd: FW: M.phil / PhD Fellowship under Rajiv Gandhi HUDCO > Fellowship Programme supported by HUDCO. (Arunava Dasgupta) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 15:20:48 +0530 (IST) > From: Arunava Dasgupta > To: VINAY MAITRI , Anuradha Chaturvedi > , Arunava Dasgupta > , Chidambara , > "Dr. > Mayank Mathur" , "Dr. Mayank Mathur" > , "Dr. Poonam Prakash" < > mrigya13 at gmail.com>, > "Dr. Poonam Prakash" , "Dr. R. Biswas" > , "Dr. Rabidyuti Biswas" >, > "Dr. Vinita Yadav" , Krity Gera < > k.gera at spa.ac.in>, > Ms Moulshri Joshi , Neelima Risbud > , "Palaniapan. M" , > Parag > Anand Meshram , Parul Kiri Roy > , Prabhjot Singh Sugga < > psugga at gmail.com>, > Pradip Sarkar , Prof Dr P K Sarkar > , "Prof Dr. Mahavir" , > "Prof > Dr. Neelima Risbud" , "Prof Dr. > P.K.Sarkar" > , "Prof Dr. Romel Mehta" , > "Prof Dr. Sanjay Gupta" , "Prof Dr. > Sanjay > Gupta" , "Prof Dr. Sanjukta Bhaduri" > , "Prof Dr. Surinder Suneja" > , Prof Kavas Kapadia , > Prof > Manoj Mathur , Prof Ranjit Mitra > , "Prof. A. K. Sharma" < > ak.sharma at spa.ac.in>, > "Prof. A. K. Sharma" , "Prof. Anil > Dewan" > , "Prof. Dr. Aruna R. Grover" > , "Prof. Dr. Arvind Krishan" > , "Prof. Dr. Ashok Kumar" > , "Prof. Dr. Kuldip Chander" > , "Prof. Dr. Mahavir" < > mahavir57 at yahoo.com>, > "Prof. Dr. Meenakshi Dhote" , "Prof. Dr. > Meenakshi > Dhote" , "Prof. Dr. N. Sreedharan" > , "Prof. Dr. Neelma Risbud" > , "Prof. Dr. P S N Rao" , > "Prof. Dr. P.S.N.Rao" , "Prof. Dr. Pradip > Sarkar" , "Prof. Dr. Priyaleen Singh" > , "Prof. Dr. Romel Mehta" > , "Prof. Dr. Sanjukta Bhaduari" > , "Prof. Dr. Surinder Suneja" > , "Prof. Dr. V. K. Paul" > , "Prof. Dr. V. Thiruvengadam" > , "Prof. Dr. V. Thiruvengadam" > , "Prof. Dr. Vinay Maitri" > , "Prof. Dr. Vinay Maitri" > , "Prof. Dr. Virender Kumar Paul" > , "Prof. K T. Ravindran" > , "Prof. K.T. Ravindran" > , "Prof. Kavas Kapadia" < > k.kapadia at spa.ac.in>, > "Prof. M.L. Bhari" , "Prof. Mandeep > Singh" > , "Prof. Moti Bahri" < > motibahri at rediffmail.com>, > "Prof. Nalini Thakur" , "Prof. > Neerja > Tiku" , "Prof. Neerja Tiku" < > neerjatiku at gmail.com>, > "Prof. Raman Dev Suri" , "Prof. Raman Dev > Surie" > , "Prof. Ranjana Mittal" >, > "Prof. Ranjit Mitra" , "Prof. Satish > Khanna" > , "Prof. Subir K. Saha" >, > "Prof. Y. K. Jain" , "Prof. Y. K. Jain" > , "Prof.I.M.Chisti" , > "Prof.Shovan K Saha" , "Rajaprakash P." > , Renuka Vilas Bhoge < > renukabhoge at gmail.com>, > Renuka Vilas Bhoge , "S. P. Srivastava" > , sanjukta bhaduri > , Sewa Ram , > shuvojit > sarkar , Taru Jain , > Taru > Jain > Cc: urbanstudy group > Subject: Re: [Urbanstudy] Fwd: FW: M.phil / PhD Fellowship under Rajiv > Gandhi HUDCO Fellowship Programme supported by HUDCO. > Message-ID: <119394.84515.qm at web95511.mail.in.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > > Hi everybody, > > This is to invite all of you to the IUDI Annual Lecture Series > 2011 entitled "Urban Futures" to be held on 15th May, 2011 at the Gulmohur > Hall in the India Habitat Center from 10am onwards. This is a day long > program featuring eminent speakers representing a diverse range of > disciplines and professions discussing the future of cities. > The IUDI Lecture Series is a free entry, public program. Please feel free > to forward the invite to anyone who may be interested in the talks. > A copy of the invitation and program is attached. > Please take a little time out to confirm your participation by return mail > so as to help us plan better. > > Best wishes, > > Arunava Dasgupta > Coordinator - Programs, > Institute of Urban Designers -India > email: arunavdg98 at yahoo.co.in > phone: 09811183853 > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20110512/41339b95/attachment.html > > > -------------- next part -------------- > A non-text attachment was scrubbed... > Name: IUDI Invitation.pdf > Type: application/pdf > Size: 131533 bytes > Desc: not available > URL: < > http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20110512/41339b95/attachment.pdf > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > http://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > > End of Urbanstudygroup Digest, Vol 71, Issue 1 > ********************************************** > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Sat May 14 22:58:49 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Sat, 14 May 2011 22:58:49 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Decentralization, Local Governance, and Social Wellbeing in India: Do Local Governments Matter? Message-ID: Decentralization, Local Governance, and Social Wellbeing in India: Do Local Governments Matter? http://cprindia.org/seminars-conferences/3112-decentralization-local-governance-and-social-wellbeing-india-do-local-gove The Centre for Policy Research is hosting a talk based on a book *Decentralization, Local Governance, and Social Wellbeing in India: Do Local Governments Matter?* by Prof. Rani D. Mullen, Assistant Professor of Government at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, USA and currently a Visiting Fellow at the CPR, New Delhi. *Abstract* Over the past three decades, decentralization has been seen as the means for allowing local governments to become more accountable, and for encouraging the deepening of democracy and the building of village communities. By drawing on original village-level case studies of six villages in three different Indian states, this book presents a systematic analysis of the impact of decentralization on the delivery of social services at the local level within India. Supplementing national and state-level data and analyzing the different historical legacies in each state, the book argues that decentralization is not simply a function of the structure of the decentralization program or of the relationship between higher-tiered and local government. Rather, the possibility of decentralization affecting social outcomes depends on several interacting factors, including the distribution of power among local elites, the dynamics of political competition, and the level of civil society mobilization. By examining constitutionally-mandated political decentralization across India, this book identifies the circumstances under which local government structures can lead to improved social services and societal wellbeing, as well as presenting a major contribution to studies on South Asian Politics and Local Government. Venue: Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 11:30 - 13:30 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu May 19 11:52:07 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 11:52:07 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Urban Development: Leaders Lead, But People Do the Planning Message-ID: http://thecityfix.com/urban-development-leaders-lead-but-people-do-the-planning/ Urban Development: Leaders Lead, But People Do the Planning Submitted by Victoria Broadus on May 4, 2011 [image: Photo by Gerardo Arévalo Tamayo.] TransMilenio in Bogotá, Colombia was launched as a short-term goal that was part of a long-term vision for urban improvement. Photo by Gerardo Arévalo Tamayo. The inclusion of all stakeholders in urban planning was a recurring theme yesterday at the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development event, “Sustainable Transport and Infrastructure Policies in Latin America,” organized by the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) . To punctuate the point, presenter Morana M. Stipisic from Columbia Earth Institute’s Urban Design Lab quoted Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: “When the best leader’s work is done, the people say ‘We did it ourselves.’” Ricardo Sánchez, chief of ECLAC’s Infrastructure Services Unit, led the presentations. Sánchez focused explicitly on the role of transport and urban infrastructure development in reducing inequality in the region and stimulating economic and social development, neither of which can happen without the other. Infrastructure development as a tool for poverty reduction is something we have written about frequently. Transport infrastructure and more livable built environmentscan dramatically increasepoor people’s access to economic opportunities. These benefits can be even more striking for the disabled poor.Unfortunately, as Sánchez pointed out, the “infrastructure gap” in transport persists. Policymakers in cities around the world continue to let urban infrastructure languish, even as demand for new infrastructure booms and despite the axiom that infrastructure development boosts economic productivity. Sánchez highlighted the main challenges to sustainable and inclusive urban infrastructure development in Latin America, which hold true in cities around the world. These include tightness in space or shortage in provision; inconsistent views among policymakers on best practices; institutional failures (e.g. cities that rely on one agency to plan housing, another to govern the streets, and still others to govern transportation); and a lack of sustainability criteria in infrastructure design policies, a weakness that Sánchez suggests is particularly glaring in transport and worse in landlocked countries. So how should we move forward in the face of all of these challenges? To address this question, Dr. Stipisic from Columbia presented a preview of forthcoming guidelines for sustainable and inclusive urban development, called “Are we building sustainable and competitive cities?” The guidelines establish three measures for urban infrastructure development: quality of life, competitiveness and environmental sustainability. They also clearly identify “counter-intuitive bad policies,” such as widening roads to accommodate more cars, rather than focusing on building cities for *people, *and responding to increased waste with more landfills, rather than promoting and incentivizing “reduce, reuse and recycle.” But increasingly best practices are standing out and becoming more difficult for policymakers to ignore. The U.N./Columbia publication highlights six of them. Policymakers should *lead the change*, as Jaime Lerner did in Curitibawith his commitment to transforming public transportation in the city. Curitiba’s bus rapid transit (BRT) system continues to serve as a global model . Policymakers must also *bridge the gap,* linking short-term goals to a long-term vision for urban improvement. Bogotá’s successful implementation of its BRT system, TransMilenio , can serve as an example. As EMBARQ Senior Transport Engineer Dario Hidalgo points out , Mayor Enrique Peñalosa started the project from scratch and then seamlessly passed it on to the next administration. The third guiding principle is to *integrate sectors, actors and institutions*. Think of the city as a living organism, where the contribution of each unique part is crucial for the organism to thrive. The fourth and fifth guiding principles focus on the financial phenomena that penetrate all urban ecosystems: *leaders must recognize the value of sustainable infrastructure, and incentivize it appropriately*, while pursuing policies that turn sustainable development into a profitable business opportunity. And finally, the principle that we began with: *build a city for the people, by the peopl*e. Public-private partnerships like Atal Indore City Transport Services Ltd (AICTSL) in Indore, one of India’s fastest growing cities, are emerging as a crucial tool to promote transparency and include more stakeholders in the urban planning process. Ricardo Jordánand Willard Phillipsclosed the session, again citing social inclusion and poverty reduction as a central aim for urban planners. Jordán emphasized the urgency of making the correct choices today, which governments can encourage by creating appropriate incentives. Examples could include identifying economic losses from congestion and implementing congestion pricing; providing reward mechanisms for non-polluting companies; and removing “wicked” subsidies for fuel and subsidizing research and development for sustainability, instead. Phillips, who is the economic affairs officer heading the Caribbean regional office, then spoke of the challenges particular to the Caribbean region, which we can easily overlook when considering urban development in a global context. Extremely high population density on tiny Caribbean islands means any developments will happen in someone’s – and likely a lot of people’s – “back yard,” aggravating spatial and political challenges at once. Also, for these service-dependent economies, a focus on international transport is much more crucial than in larger nations, yet too much focus on tourism fosters economic development enclaves rather than socially inclusive development. Phillips’s speech reminded us of the need to contextualize any best practice for every region, country and city. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From arkaja at gmail.com Thu May 19 16:15:05 2011 From: arkaja at gmail.com (Arkaja Singh) Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 16:15:05 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] CSH-CPR Urban Workshop Message-ID: Dear All, As part of our Urban Workshop Series, the Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), Delhi invite you to a workshop titled *Urban Growth and Rural Poverty in India: Evidence from the National Sample Survey and Poverty Map data *by* Peter Lanjouw and Rinku Murgai* of the World Bank. Best wishes, Arkaja Date: Tuesday, 24 May, 2011 Time: 3:45 pm Venue: Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021 *theindiancity.net* * * * * *Urban Workshop * * * *Urban Growth and Rural Poverty in India: * *Evidence from National Sample Survey and Poverty Map Data* * * *Peter Lanjouw *and* Rinku Murgai** *World Bank** *3:45 pm Tuesday, 24 May 2011 * Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi Analysis of time series data on poverty in India has revealed a clearly discernable link between urban poverty decline and rural poverty decline. Previous analysis, focusing on the pre-reform period, had failed to identify an impact of urban development on rural poverty. This paper examines one possible route through which urban development might have come to exercise an influence on rural livelihoods: the impact of urban development on rural non-farm diversification. It shows that the non-farm sector in rural India has grown steadily during the past 25 years, with some acceleration during the late 1990s and first half of the present decade. This process has contributed to declining rural poverty both directly, through employment generation, and indirectly through an impact on agricultural wages. The paper illustrates that urban consumption growth contributes to growth in the rural non-farm economy, and thereby to rural poverty reduction. It speculates that the link from urban development to rural poverty reduction might have been stronger if urban poverty reduction had been centered in India’s smaller towns and cities. It is in such small towns and cities that the bulk of the urban poor are concentrated, and these same towns and cities are also more tightly connected to surrounding rural areas. The paper ends by asking whether the patterns described here are unique to India, and presents evidence for Brazil that suggest that a similar process may be underway there. *Peter Lanjouw *is the Research Manager of the Poverty Group in the Development Economics Research Group of the World Bank. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Amsterdam Institute of International Development, Netherlands. Earlier, he was a visiting scholar at the Agriculture and Resource Economics Department at UC Berkeley, and he held the appointment of Professor of Economics at the VU University of Amsterdam. He has also taught at the University of Namur, Belgium, and at the Foundation for the Advanced Study of International Development in Tokyo, Japan. His research focuses on various aspects of poverty and inequality measurement as well as on rural development issues. *The Urban Workshops by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi and Centre for Policy Research (CPR) seek to provoke public discussion on issues relating to the development of the city and try to address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society, and politics. For further information, please contact: **Marie-Hélène **Zerah at ** marie-helene.zerah at ird.fr or Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha at cprindia.org *** -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carol.upadhya at gmail.com Thu May 19 16:29:10 2011 From: carol.upadhya at gmail.com (Carol Upadhya) Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 16:29:10 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] =?windows-1252?q?Wednesday_Discussion_Meeting-Dr=2E_?= =?windows-1252?q?Ritajyoti_Bandyopadhyay_speaks_on_=93This_Urbanis?= =?windows-1252?q?m_and_That_Urbanism=3A_New_Geographies_of_Theory?= =?windows-1252?q?=94=9625_May=2C_2011_at_9=2E30_am_in_Lecture_Hall?= =?windows-1252?q?=2C_NIAS?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: *NIAS Wednesday Discussion Meeting* Topic: *“This Urbanism and That Urbanism: New Geographies of Theory”* Date: 25th May, 2011 Speaker: *Dr.* *Ritajyoti Bandyopadhyay* * *Research Associate, Urban Research and Policy Programme School of Social Sciences, NIAS * *ritajyoti at nias.iisc.ernet.in Chairperson *Professor. Carol Upadhya* Professor, School of Social Sciences, NIAS Time: 9.30 am Venue: Lecture Hall, NIAS *All are cordially invited* * * * *Abstract:* * * The talk makes a critical reading of some of the key phrases of the contemporary Urban Studies literature developed in the last two decades. It argues that dominant theorizations of city regions across the globe, rooted in Euro-American experience, have been challenged by scholars grappling with multiple forms of metropolitan modernities in the global South. The “urban turn” in the South presents new conceptual vectors for understanding the worlding of cities, production and consumption of space, and the dynamics of exurbanity. This has added substantial complexities to the urban studies phrase regime. The talk is a part of my ongoing effort to produce a dictionary of key terms of the urban studies literature. The dictionary will supplement the important texts and contribute to the critical thinking by unraveling the material and ideological baggage that such phrases and schools bring with them. The talk calls for new geographies of imagination in the production of urban theory. * * ** * * * * ** * * For further details, please contact Prof. Sangeetha Menon [ prajnana at yahoo.com or smenon at nias.iisc.ernet.in], Co-ordinator for Wednesday Discussion Meetings. * * * * * * * -K S Rama Krishna- -- N.I.A.S., I.I.Sc Campus Bangalore 560012 Ph: 2218 5000 Fax: 2218 5028 Email: niasoff at gmail.com -- Carol Upadhya Professor School of Social Sciences National Institute of Advanced Studies Indian Institute of Science Campus Bangalore 560012 India office: +91 80 2218 5000/ 5141 (ext) cell: +91(0) 97408 50141 carol at nias.iisc.ernet.in carol.upadhya at gmail.com Programme Co-Director, *Provincial Globalisation: The Impact of Reverse Transnational Flows in India's Regional Towns * *http://www.nias.res.in/research-schools-socialsciences-provincial.php* *http://www.provglo.org/* -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Mon May 23 13:10:19 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Mon, 23 May 2011 13:10:19 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Govt readies law to ensure housing for all Message-ID: http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/8521581.cms<%20http://m.timesofindia.com/PDATOI/articleshow/8521581.cms> * * *Govt readies law to ensure housing for all* May 23, 2011, 04.25am IST TNN[ Mahendra Kumar Singh ] NEW DELHI: The government has finalized a model law mandating a minimum housing space of 24 square metres to every homeless as part of its programme to make India slum-free. The housing and poverty alleviation ministry's ambitious scheme to make India slum-free -- Rajiv Awas Yojana -- is expected to get Cabinet approval on Thursday. Under the scheme, it will be mandatory for states to frame laws on legal ownership to the homeless to get monetary support from the Centre. The price of flats under the scheme is likely to wary from place to place but it will be reasonable as only 10-15% of the total cost would be charged from the beneficiary. Centre and state governments will bear the rest of the cost. "It will be affordable,” an official said, adding that cheap loans would be made available to the poor under the ministry's interest subsidy scheme. Those allotted flats will not be able to transfer or sell their homes before seven years from the date of allotment without the government's permission. And if they do so, the allotment will be cancelled. Another special feature is that women will get priority in allotments. The flats will come up wherever possible in existing slum areas as part of in-situ development but in cases where this is not possible, the government will provide alternate land before slums-dwellers are evicted. "The ministry was unwilling to leave the crucial issue of according ownership rights to urban poor on state governments. So we came out with a model law which will be followed by state governments,” a housing ministry official said. As part of the scheme, to be implemented under public-private partnership, state governments and civic agencies will ensure availability of land. Private players implementing the project will be allowed to make commercial use of some areas or sell a few flats at market rates. To arrest mushrooming of slums and fresh encroachment on government land, the model law provides for stringent punishment -- a maximum of three years jail or a minimum fine of Rs 1 lakh or both for encroachers. The ministry has also proposed that master plans should include provision of land to build houses for the poor and also for their economic activities like street vending. With India's urban slum population expected to touch 93.06 million by this year, officials admit that it would be a challenging task to make the country slum-free. "Once slum-dwellers get ownership rights through a legal process, they can leverage it for their further betterment,” said an official. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue May 24 23:01:53 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 23:01:53 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] URGENT Update 2 : Citizens Delegation Meets CM | Discussions Inconclusive In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: NAPM India Date: Tue, May 24, 2011 at 10:32 PM Subject: URGENT Update 2 : Citizens Delegation Meets CM | Discussions Inconclusive *Update 2 : Citizens Delegation Meets CM | Discussions Inconclusive * *May 24, Mumbai *: Today Medha Patkar's indefenite fast entered 5th day and Syed Zuberi in Mumbai joined her side on indefinite fast. Five other basti dwellers continue to do relay fast everyday for a day. *In the evening a citizens del**e**gation consisting of Justice (Retd) Hospet Suresh, Anand Patwardhan, Ashok and Chhaya Datar, Neerja Gupte, Dr. Mirjakar met the Chief Minister along with other officials for nearly 45 minutes.* The delegation questioned and appealed to the government to initiate dialogue on issues and demands raised by the urban communities struggling for their human and lawful rights guaranteed in constitution. *CM accepted the need for the review of 3K as well as SRA scheme and proposed to stop demolitions of Ganesh Krupa Society for next 15 days and also appoint a committee to review the documents.* For other issues it was proposed to be taken up in due process and towards logical end agreeing with the basic framework and people's perspectives. *Later, Collector along with Deputy Collector in**-**charge for the demolitions at Golibar** **came to the site of **d**harna and fast and had a dialogue with Medha Patkar and other fasting persons amidst more than 1,000 people coming from various **societies** and communities. *It was a serious yet strong dialogue with people who exhibited sample of documents exposing the frauds and corruption in housing schemes and emphasised their right to shelter and housing. They also expressed and condemned the atrocities on them and land grab with the massive misappropriation of funds. They emphasised that whether those schemes are from Central government or state government or Unitech, the builders in this case, the illegalities in receiving sanctions as well as transfer of plans by the unholy nexus of bureaucrats, politicians and builders continue unabated. Sanctions granted to Shivalik Ventures or Satyen Kunda of Guru Nanak Nagar or Shakti Developers of Sion Koliwari and others have already been exposed by people and activists, and has proved the rationality of their demands which they must stick to. *It was concluded and conveyed by Medha Patkar and others to the Collector that the proposal is absolutely inadequate and a result of no serious and in-depth dialogue with representatives of movements, even when they have been submitting memorandum, alternatives, proposals as well as held dialogues whenever possible. * *Medha Patkar, Syed Zuberi and others decided to continue their fast and also conveyed that with no solution or resolve to save people's lives and death of the lakhs of people in Mumbai, the movement will only be intensified and not withdrawn. * Meanwhile, apart from Delhi and Aurangabad programmes were also held in Pune and Solapur in front of the Collectorate in support of the dharna and fast in Mumbai. *Prerna Gaekwad, Santosh Daundkar, Deven Nair, Simpreet Singh* *For details contact : Madhuresh Kumar (9818905316) **| Mukta Srivastava 9969530060* On Tue, May 24, 2011 at 5:15 PM, NAPM India wrote: > *GHAR BACHAO – GHAR BANAO ANDOLAN * > > Associate of > > *NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS* > > *National Office : *A Wing First Floor, Haji Habib Building, Naigaon Cross > Road Dadar (E), Mumbai – 400 014. Phone – 9818905316 | 9969363065 > > E-mail: gbgbandolan at gmail.com | Web : *www.napm-india.org* > > * > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ** * > > *People's Power Vs Builder Shahi : More Join in Struggle from Across the > Country* > > *May 24, Mumbai *: Someone once known as 'one man demolition army', *G R > Khairnar*, who took cudgels against the land mafia and the builder lobby > twenty years ago as Deputy Commissioner (Special – Demolitions) between 2000 > - 02 today joined Ghar Bhachao Ghar Banao Andolan's ongoing dharna in Ganesh > Krupa Society, amidst the debris of broken houses by government > authorities in collusion with Builder Lobby. He said, “the fight today led > by Medha Patkar and this movement is an important fight. *What he did as > someone being in the authority is now being taken up by 'people's power'. > This struggle needs support **and everyone needs to join hand in this.*” Even > as people lent support and they resolved to fight for their rights > demolitions continued in Powai, Mankhurd, Worli, and a couple of other > places. > > The resolve to fight was joined by other people's organisations who visited > the dharna and gave their solidarity messages and also sang songs of > struggle against corruption and injustice. Republican Panthers, Ekveera > Sez Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, Tata Dharan Grast Sangharsh Samiti, farmers > from Malegaon, Chemical Mazdoor Sabha, Shramik Janta Sangh, India Against > Corruption, Brihan Mumbai Niwas Abhiyan Samiti, SUCI, Lok Jagran Manch, Brihanmumbai > Nivara Abhiyan Samiti, and may others. The dharna has become a meeting > ground for many of the anti corruption activists not only from India Against > Corruption, whose 15 members sat all day but also anti corruption > activists like Bhagwan Das Ryani, Sharad Gayakwad and others. > > Earlier in the day Deputy's Collector's office sent doctors and his > representative requesting Medha ji to call off her fast, but Medha ji > refused to be attended by them. Yesterday, the doctors who came to attend > to her were the same ones who tried to influence people injured in the > earlier demolitions on behalf of the Shivalik Builders. She is weak but > her condition has been mostly stable today and continued to boost the > morale of the people. > > *12 people arrested on May 19, released on bail * > > It brought cheer to the people present at the dharna site as they heard > that the twelve of their comrades who were arrested while resisting > demolition on May 19th are going to join them late in the evening after > being released from the Arthur Road jail with the determination to save > their houses at any cost. > > *Domestic Workers and Hawkers along with Anna Hazare and Swami Agnivesh > join in support in Delhi* > > Anna Hazare, Swami Agnivesh, Arvind Kejriwal etc were at the Delhi Dharna > in front of Maharshtra Sadan along with more than hundred others > representing: NAPM, National Domestic Workers Union, Delhi Solidarity Group, > Shahari Gharelu Kaamgar Union, SUCI, PUCL and others. On the request of Anna > Hazare and Swami Agnivesh, Shri. Bhupendera Singh Rawat, National > Convener, NAPM who was to start a solidarity hunger strike in Delhi, > postponed it, subject to action from the state government. Anna Hazare > said that he is in touch with Prithviraj Chauhan and Medha Patkar and is > trying to resolve the issue. He added that he is concerned about the health > of Medha ji and would like this situation to end soon. Swami Agnivesh, Arv > ind Kejariwal and others including Sunita Rani, Anita Kapoor, BS Rawat, > Rajendra Ravi, N D Pancholi, Vimalbhai, Preeti Sampat, Seela M Mahapatra, > Jawahar lent their support to the ongoing struggle in Mumbai against > evictions. > > *Aurangabad too Joins in* > > Aurangabad Social Forum, a coalition of different progressive > organisations joined the struggled against evictions and demolitions in > Mumbai today at 11 am and submitted a memorandum to the Divisional > Commissioner. Similar to the eviction at Golibar region Mumbai, a large > scale eviction of the poor inhabitants on the riverfront of Kham river has > been started by the district administration and the Municipal Corporation at > Aurangabad. This brutal eviction too was condemned by the gathering and > they decided to continue their fight against the evictions. > > Apart from Delhi and Aurangabad, demonstartions were also held in > Thrissur and Calicut. Similar events are being planned in Uttar Pradesh, > Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala and other places. > Supporters have also started an online petition addressed to Chief Minister > of Maharashtra, Prime Minister and Smt. Sonia Gandhi, President INC. International > support is also being mobilised and emails are being sent to the CM > demanding for putting a moratorium to all demolitions until an independent > enquiry is held in to the 3k clause related projects and SRA is completely > reviewed. > > Even as we write this, a citizens delegation is trying to meet the Chief > Minister, Shri Prithvi Raj Chavan. > > > *Prerna Gaekwad, Santosh Daundkar, Deven Nair, Simpreet Singh* > > *For details contact : Madhuresh Kumar (9818905316) | Simpreet Singh * > 9969363065 > > > -- > *National Alliance of People’s Movements > *National Office: Room No. 29-30, 1st floor, ‘A’ Wing, Haji Habib Bldg, > Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar (E), Mumbai - 400 014; > Ph: 022-24150529 > > 6/6, Jangpura B, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014 > Phone : 011 26241167 / 24354737 Mobile : 09818905316 > > E-mail: napmindia at gmail.com | napm at napm-india.org > Web : www.napm-india.org > > -- *National Alliance of People’s Movements *National Office: Room No. 29-30, 1st floor, ‘A’ Wing, Haji Habib Bldg, Naigaon Cross Road, Dadar (E), Mumbai - 400 014; Ph: 022-24150529 6/6, Jangpura B, Mathura Road, New Delhi 110014 Phone : 011 26241167 / 24354737 Mobile : 09818905316 E-mail: napmindia at gmail.com | napm at napm-india.org Web : www.napm-india.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From veena at doccentre.net Wed May 25 10:27:25 2011 From: veena at doccentre.net (veena) Date: Wed, 25 May 2011 10:27:25 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Vulnerabilities to Climate Change in Urban areas: A pilot workshop - May 28, 2011 Message-ID: <4DDC8C35.2040509@doccentre.net> *_Vulnerabilities to Climate Change in Urban areas: A pilot workshop _* In this workshop between local people, CSOs and analysts, CED & INECC (Indian Network for Ethics of Climate Change) will share preliminary findings on critical issues of vulnerability of marginal urban communities to climate change. While seeking to validate, generalise and analyse the finding with these three stakeholders, the workshop seeks to bring in more organizations and individuals into a larger programme of study and action. We expect the workshop to begin a process which highlight areas of study and intervention in urban Bangalore, and draw linkages with broader processes at the Official National and International levels as well as Non-governmental/civil society level. We therefore think it is imperative that all stakeholders including local people, NGOs, analysts, donors join in the reflection process. Date & Time:* Saturday 28th May, 2011 10 am to 2 pm. At CED Domlur, Bangalore. RSVP needed. * _By way of background:_ At the Bangalore Platform, which has been discussing the climate change issues for over a year now, has been wanting to take up specific action. INECC(www.inecc.net) is a national forum of CSOs and individuals, who have been looking at climate change from the perspectives of the marginalized from different eco-regions.. urban being one of them. CED(www.doccentre.net) has taken up a short-term study that focuses on the vulnerability of urban, marginalised communities to Climate Change supported by INECC. Some of the objectives were to study the people's perception on the nature of changes in their neighbourhoods and climate; the factors responsible for this situation; impact on health; and to corroborate people's perceptions with secondary sources. Centre for Education & Documentation No.7, 8th Main, 3rd Phase, Domlur 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560071. Ph.25353397. Email:cedban at doccentre.net *Directions:* Google map here or call 9341248784 To reach CED, get to the Airport Road and come up to Domlur. * *If you are coming from MG Road / Victoria Road* come to Domlur on Airport Road, you will come to Domlur Junction. Look for BWSSB Water Tank(large overhead Water tank); take a left just before this water tank; take a immediate left again; then a right turn; and again a left; at this point the BDA Shopping Complex will be on your left. * *If you are coming from the direction of the Airport*, there is no right turn at the Domlur Bus Depot Junction. Go to the next junction and make a Uturn. Immediately after the U turn, take the 2nd left turn.Then again take the 2nd left turn. (for those who know Domlur Bus Depot, it is now behind you). * Now keep going straight past BDA Complex, Sri Raghavendra Temple, Sagar Super Market. Follow the road, till you reach a dead end. The road turns to the left. There is a tiny traffic island with a flagpole. Just beyond this island, the road reaches a small dead-end, with the main road turning to the right along a /naala/ (storm water drain). * CED is a largish two-story red brick structure with green windows on the right side of the small dead-end. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 15584 bytes Desc: not available URL: From bawazainab79 at gmail.com Thu May 26 11:41:12 2011 From: bawazainab79 at gmail.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 11:41:12 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Interacting with the State via Information and Communication Technologies - the case of Nemmadi Kendras in Karnataka Message-ID: Dear all, Here is a link to the journal paper which Bhuvaneswari Raman and I co-authored based on our research on the Nemmadi kiosks which have been set up across Karnataka state to deliver land records and rural digital services - http://writerruns.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/media-asia-b-raman-and-z-bawa.pdf The paper appeared in Media Asia journal [Vol. 38 (1)] in April this year. Here is a summary of the paper: This article explains how the introduction of information and communication technologies (ICTs) influences citizens’ engagement with the state by analysing *Nemmadi* *Kendras* (NKs), which are computerised kiosks established in rural areas of Karnataka to provide revenue services and land records to citizens under a public-private partnership. The government argued that the introduction of digital technology as an interface between the State and citizens would contribute towards good governance by enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability. Drawing on the social shaping of technology perspectives, the findings suggest that a thorough analysis of the impact of information technologies in governance necessitates paying attention to the larger political and social processes within which the technology is introduced and embedded. The article further argues that the introduction of information technologies in a fraught and contested context adds more layers (in terms of bureaucracy and middlemen), which rural citizens have to navigate before they can actually attain services. Concerns related to costs, scale and political dynamics in the design of databases are also discussed here. The article concludes by advocating the ‘embedded’ approach for studying the role of ICTs in governance. Please feel free to circulate the paper. Best, Zainab -- Zainab Bawa Ph.D. Student and Independent Researcher http://writerruns.wordpress.com/ ... ambling along roads and courses, not knowing whether I am running towards a destination or whether the act of running is destination in itself -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Thu May 26 20:27:02 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 20:27:02 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Update on Land Acquisition Bill from National Advisory Council Message-ID: http://nac.nic.in/press_releases/25_may_2011.pdf PRESS RELEASE Government of India National Advisory Council 25th May, 2011 The Thirteenth meeting `of the National Advisory Council was chaired by Smt. Sonia Gandhi on 25th May, 2011 at 2 Motilal Nehru Place, New Delhi. Members who attended the meeting were Prof Narendra Jadhav, Prof. Pramod Tandon, Dr. Jean Dreze, Dr N C Saxena, Shri Madhav Gadgil, Ms. Aruna Roy, Ms Anu Aga, Dr.A.K. Shiva Kumar, Shri Deep Joshi, Ms. Farah Naqvi, Shri Harsh Mander and Ms. Mirai Chatterjee. I - Land Acquisition, Resettlement & Rehabilitation Shri Harsh Mander presented the proposal of NAC Working Group on Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation. NAC after due consideration decided to recommend a single comprehensive legislation, i.e. “National Development, Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act.”, rather than the two separate ones as at present, namely, Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill 2009 (LAA 2009) and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill, 2009 (R&R 2009). NAC further recommends that the proposed legislation has the following key elements: a. A single comprehensive law which would discourage forced displacement, and minimise adverse impacts on people, habitats, environment, food security and biodiversity. The law should ensure that all possible options of more barren, less fertile and waste lands have been explored before acquiring agriculture land. It should also comprehensively define project affected persons/families, and provide for a just, timely compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation package through a humane, participatory, informed, consultative and transparent process, allowing for effective and fair implementation. b. On the condition that other less-displacing alternatives are not available, the law will provide for acquisition only for public purposes. This will be defined as acquisition necessary for strategic and infrastructural purposes, and for social services like education and health care. c. The NAC is deeply concerned above all that all persons who lose their lands, livelihoods and shelter because of acquisition for any public purpose must be brought under the protection of this law, and their rights to suitable compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation benefits are fully protected in all cases d. The processes will be transparent and participatory, requiring full information and consultation with affected communities. e. Compensation tends to be greatly under-valued, because registered sale deeds are under-valued. Therefore NAC proposes that compensation for those who lose land will be 6 times the registered sale deed value, including solatium. The assignees of government land will also be entitled to the same compensation. The option will also be offered to those who lose land to receive all or part of their compensation in the form of annuities. f. A very significant proposal for the poor is that not only those who lose land, but also those who lose livelihoods should be compensated. These include agricultural workers, artisans, fisher-folk and forest-gatherers. They would be entitled to a grant amounting to 10 days of minimum wages per month for 33 years. g. The land will be held jointly by women and men of the family, and other assets as well as cash will be paid into joint accounts held by women and men. h. If land is acquired for a public purpose and not used within five years, private property that was acquired should be returned to its original owners. i. Urgency clause shall not be used, unless it for national security and defense purposes. j. An independent Social Impact Assessment (SIA) should be conducted for all larger projects. The SIA would assess the social and environmental impacts from the project, and the R&R plan drawn up. k. Resettlement and Rehabilitation package is a legal right to the Project Affected Families and to be notified along with Section 6 notification, declaring acquisition of lands. l. At least one person from affected family will be given first preference in available employment in commercial projects, in conformity with their skills. m. A National Commission for Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (NCLRR) should be set up, with powers to supervise, and exercise oversight over land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation. Penal fines are to be imposed by NCLRR based on responsibility fixed by state government by issuing job-charts NAC advised the Working Group to workout details of the remaining key elements which require further discussion. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From leo at esgindia.org Fri May 27 10:18:35 2011 From: leo at esgindia.org (Leo Saldanha) Date: Fri, 27 May 2011 10:18:35 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [ESG-LIST] Release of "Tearing through the Water Landscape", A study of environmental and social impacts of POSCO project in India In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: *Environment Support Group* *27 May 2011* *Release of Study on impacts of POSCO's India project* “*Tearing through the Water Landscape: Evaluating the environmental and social consequences of POSCO project in Odisha, India”* On 2nd May 2011, Indian Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh finally approved the diversion of over 3,000 acres of forest land, of the 4,000 acres demanded, for a steel-power-port complex of the POSCO India project. Earlier, on 31 January 2011, Ramesh had approved the environmental and coastal regulation zone clearances that the project had secured in 2007, even though all these clearances were obtained by fraud, and thus illegal, as proved by two independent investigative committees that he appointed last year. *Forest Rights denied is violation of Fundamental Rights* The diversion of forests for non-industrial use by POSCO was based on “categorical assurances” that Jairam Ramesh sought from the Odisha Government, that the Forest Rights Act did not apply to communities affected directly and indirectly by POSCO. The Odisha Government gave him this assurance on the basis of fraudulent claims that there were no non-traditional forest dwellers and tribes in the POSCO project affected villages of Jagatsinghpur, thus making this massive land transfer merely an administrative arrangement. Rather cheaply, the Odisha Government accused Shishir Mahpatra, the Sarpanch of Dhinkia Panchayat, of fraud in providing resolutions of Palli Sabhas that demonstrated that not only were there OTFDs and tribals in the project affected area, but that they had been dependent on the region's natural resources, particularly forests, for centuries. Ramesh did not hesitate for a moment and question this claim by the Odisha Government. On the basis of this uncertainty in fact, he proceeded to support the POSCO clearance claiming it was of “strategic importance” to India. *Authorising the loot of India's natural resources:* As the single largest industrial foreign direct investment ever in India (with a capital cost of Rs. 51,000 crores at 2005 prices), POSCO's ambitions in India aren't merely of location a steel-power-port complex in the ecologically senstive Jagatsinghpur district. In fact, company officials have submitted before the investigative committees that they will not invest in the steel-port complex if permission to mine for iron ore in over 6,100 acres of dense jungle in the Kandadhar Hills in Sundergarh district is not granted. Most of this iron ore mined is for export without any local value addition, and thus will serve the economic interest of South Korea and POSCO stockholders – mainly American banks and Warren Buffet – one of the world's richest's individuals. POSCO has also demanded a dedicated railway line to the port – that means additional land demands. Further the project requires at least 2,000 acres for a township for its employees, and diversion of drinking water from the Jobra barrage for industrial use. All this has been agreed to by the Odisha Government when the project MOU was signed in 2005, but the people have been kept in the dark of the real consequences of such loot of India's non-renewable natural resources. *The Making of a 'Right-less People' by Jairam Ramesh* Over 13,000 acres is merely the demand of land for realising POSCO's dream venture in India. Thousands of families will be dislocated, and suffer irreparable damage to their lives and livelihoods. It is time we appreciated that this steel-power-port-township-mining project is the single largest industrial venture conceived in recent memory, and that such scale of investment will be done only because we are gifting highly expensive and excellent iron ore for POSCO to make stupendous profits. There is absolutely no benefit for India in this deal, and what POSCO will leave behind, if they succeed at all, is a lot of fly ash, destroyed ecologically sensitive coastal and forest environments and thousands of people in misery. To help appreciate the full consequences of the POSCO investment in India, Environment Support Group, a not-for-profit public interest research, training, campaign and advocacy initiative, has produced a study entitled “*Tearing through the Water Landscape: **Evaluating the environmental and social consequences of POSCO project in Odisha, India”, *which is co-authored by Leo Saldanha and Bhargavi Rao. This study was undertaken at the request of POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samithi (POSCO Project Resistance Movement), leading the opposition against the POSCO project. The study reveals on the basis of extensive review of historical, ecological, social and economic evidence that Jairam Ramesh's support for POSCO is nothing but a highly condemnable act that legitimises fraud and corruption in environmental decision making. As a result, the study reveals that Ramesh has today become the architect of one of India's greatest planned disasters that begins its ominous initiative by turning the affected communities into a 'rightless people', as their fundamental rights have been snatched on the basis of “faith and trust” in Odisha Government's lies*. * A copy of this study is accessible at *www.esgindia.org* Environment Support Group, 1572, 36th Cross, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore 560070. INDIA Tel: 91-80-26713559~61 Email: *esg at esgindia.org* Web: *www.esgindia.org* Email of authors of this study: Leo Saldanha: *leo at esgindia.org* Bhargavi S. Rao: *bhargavi at esgindia.org* -- *{It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Jiddu Krishnamurti}* Leo Saldanha [Environmental, Social Justice and Governance Initiatives] Environment Support Group - Trust 1572, 36th Cross, Ring Road Banashankari II Stage Bangalore 560070. INDIA Tel: 91-80-26713559-61 Fax/Voice: 91-80-26713316 Email: leo at esgindia.org Blog: http://leoonpublicmatters.blogspot.com/ Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Water_Landscape_ESG_Posco_Final_27May2011.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 2723291 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Best wishes, Arkaja *theindiancity.net* * * * * *Urban Workshop Series * * * *Robust Plans, Contingent Plans and Complementary Plans:* *A framework for resilient urban development* *Arnab Chakraborty** ** *University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign* * *3:45 pm Tuesday, 31 May, 2011 * Conference Hall, Centre for Policy Research, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi The practice of planning for urban development is often too focused on developing a single plan for a single desirable future and fails to adequately consider uncertainties and possible alternative futures. Uncertainties often arise from forces beyond the control of a single planning agency, for example, changes in projected trends in global oil prices, shift in central government priorities, or private sector dynamics. Uncertainties may greatly affect the efficacy of plans. Using the case of Washington DC, Arnab will demonstrate how to systematically incorporate uncertainties in the plan making process and use this framework to identify robust, contingent, and complimentary decisions and plans in an intergovernmental and strategic planning context such as the NCR. He argues that while a single future driven plan may be tempting to make and enforce; the institutional complexity of modern cities and metropolitan regions make a desirable future largely unavailable to planners. Instead planners should think systematically about uncertainty to improve the efficacy of plans and resiliency of cities. *Arnab Chakraborty* is an Assistant Professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on three complementary areas, viz. impact of land use policies on housing affordability, politics and praxis of regionalism, and strategic planning under complexity. He is an affiliate of the National Center for Smart Growth and, has previously worked for the Chicago Transit Authority and taught at the Johns Hopkins University. Arnab is a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and received his PhD from the University of Maryland at College Park. *This is the sixteenth in a series of Urban Workshops planned by the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH), New Delhi and Centre for Policy Research (CPR). These workshops seek to provoke public discussion on issues relating to the development of the city and try to address all its facets including its administration, culture, economy, society, and politics. For further information, please contact: **Marie-Hélène **Zerah at ** marie-helene.zerah at ird.fr or Partha Mukhopadhyay at partha at cprindia.org *** * * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue May 31 01:04:33 2011 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 01:04:33 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Like a planning school primer and wish list Message-ID: *Date:24/05/2011* *URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/br/2011/05/24/stories/2011052451131300.htm* ------------------------------ * Like a planning school primer and wish list * K. C. SIVARAMAKRISHNAN ------------------------------ * It provides a comprehensive insight into the problems, policies, and practices of urban planning. * ------------------------------ *URBAN PLANNING AND GOVERNANCE* - A New Paradigm: A. K. Jain; Bookwell, 24/4800, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002. Rs. 125 The title as well as the claim made in the preface — that it provides a comprehensive insight into the problems, policies, and practices of urban planning — tends to raise the reader's expectations. The book, which has as many as 22 chapters, with annexures that take away over a third of the space, is no doubt compendious, covering just about every aspect of the urban problem. The overview chapter offers an interesting comparison of the new and old approaches to urban problems, with the data, although not new, compiled and presented in tabulated form for convenience and ready reference. Suggestions Most of the chapters are in the nature of simplified status reports on the urban front, with the author offering his own suggestions on what needs to be done. There are a few chapters which one felt could have made a significant contribution to the literature on the subject. Take, for instance, the chapter on “Delhi's Governance, Planning and Development.” Given as an annexure is a 1961 communication related to the urban land policy containing instructions to the Chief Commissioner of Delhi. It speaks of the authorisation of land acquisition to an extent of 8,000 acres and spells out the purposes for which the land should be parcelled out: 1,200 acres for housing government employees; 4,000 acres for shopping centres, industries, private and public institutions, etc. (through the DDA); 2,000 acres for the resettlement of slum-dwellers and industrial re-location (through the Delhi Municipal Corporation) and 800 acres for cooperative housing societies. It also specified the norms in regard to plot size, price, and so on. Considering the author's long association with Delhi, the value of the relevant chapter would have been enhanced significantly had he critically analysed how far those instructions were complied with and whether they had been any deviation, addition or modification. The imperative is all the more because the Delhi experience was held out as a model for other cities to emulate. This goes for two other, inter-related annexures that contain the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act (1975) and the Haryana Government's Urban Policy (2002). Against the backdrop of the sea change in Haryana's landscape, particularly in the vicinity of the nation's capital, one felt the author could have given his assessment of how the 1975 Act had fared and to what extent the 2002 policy improved matters. Impact To cite another instance, in the chapter on the “impact of mega events”, the author limits himself to giving a brief account of the Asian Games (1951, 1982), the Asian Trade Fair (1972), and the Commonwealth Games (2010). But he fails to take a critical look at their impact on the planning of Delhi and assess whether and how the various investments reinforced or distorted the contours of planning and development. Notable among the more cogent chapters is the one on “financial reforms for urban turnaround.” Apart from providing some useful information about mobilising municipal resources, it emphasises the value of proper accounting procedures. If the chapter on land acquisition presents a historical account of how the law and procedures in this area have evolved, the one that deals with tools for planning research and rapid appraisal stops with cataloguing the commonly used survey and planning tools — this leaves the reader no wiser about, say, how they are more important than others or how they could be of help in the effective planning of cities. As a source of information, the book, especially the annexures, will be of immense value to researchers. The 1961 Urban Land Policy of Delhi apart, there is the report of the working group on private housing (1981), of which H.T. Parekh was a member; it called for a review of the 1961 policy and suggested the setting up of a Mortgage Insurance Corporation. Overall, the book reads, in part, like a planning school primer and, in others, sounds like the author's wish list. The sketches, whether planner's drawings or cartoons, provide some relief to the reader as he proceeds from one content-heavy chapter to another. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: