Mukunda Mishra – författare

This contributed volume assesses the on-the-ground realities of peace and justice vis a vis sustainability in the Global South through focusing on the level of integration between Security, Stability, and Sustainability. The chapters here visualize sustainable development through the lens of contemporary geopolitics. This volume examines how several competing visions of order across the security, economic, environmental, and political spheres throughout the Global South bring to fore the complex, highly interdependent, diverse regional situation.

This book acquaints readers with a range of techniques to help them effectively identify, record, map, analyze and report on patterns in various dimensions of human development (HD) with spatial scales down to the village level. It is impossible to capture HD at the local and global scale with only a single index, because differences in HD at the international scale are caused by ‘general’ factors, whereas local-scale differences are influenced by ‘specific’ factors. This book offers a variety of methods for scientifically mapping HD at any spatial scale. It covers how to rationally select variables; how to test the models; how to validate the results, and how to analyze them. For this purpose, it employs a case study on an Indian district. The socio-economic factors regulating the patterns of HD are now more complex than they were only a few decades ago, making it essential to incorporate newer models in order to successfully ‘replicate’ the real-world situation. Accordingly, the book offers essential methodological tools & techniques for mapping HD. It sheds new light on a handful of statistical multivariate analysis and machine learning algorithms that are rarely used in the social sciences when dealing with HD, yet have sound mathematical and statistical bases. These techniques can be successfully used for predictive analysis in the earth & natural sciences, decision sciences and management disciplines, and are equally effective in terms of capturing, predicting and projecting the composite HD ‘landscape.’ This book will especially benefit two groups of readers: firstly, HD practitioners who want to find out ‘why some areas are doing better than others’ by exploring the complex interactions of spatially linked variables with different HD parameters. And secondly, practitioners in other branches of the social sciences who are not concerned with HD but are looking for ‘hands-on training’ with techniques they can apply in their respectivefield of spatial investigations.

This book acquaints readers with a range of techniques to help them effectively identify, record, map, analyze and report on patterns in various dimensions of human development (HD) with spatial scales down to the village level. It is impossible to capture HD at the local and global scale with only a single index, because differences in HD at the international scale are caused by ‘general’ factors, whereas local-scale differences are influenced by ‘specific’ factors. This book offers a variety of methods for scientifically mapping HD at any spatial scale. It covers how to rationally select variables; how to test the models; how to validate the results, and how to analyze them. For this purpose, it employs a case study on an Indian district. The socio-economic factors regulating the patterns of HD are now more complex than they were only a few decades ago, making it essential to incorporate newer models in order to successfully ‘replicate’ the real-world situation. Accordingly, the book offers essential methodological tools & techniques for mapping HD. It sheds new light on a handful of statistical multivariate analysis and machine learning algorithms that are rarely used in the social sciences when dealing with HD, yet have sound mathematical and statistical bases. These techniques can be successfully used for predictive analysis in the earth & natural sciences, decision sciences and management disciplines, and are equally effective in terms of capturing, predicting and projecting the composite HD ‘landscape.’ This book will especially benefit two groups of readers: firstly, HD practitioners who want to find out ‘why some areas are doing better than others’ by exploring the complex interactions of spatially linked variables with different HD parameters. And secondly, practitioners in other branches of the social sciences who are not concerned with HD but are looking for ‘hands-on training’ with techniques they can apply in their respectivefield of spatial investigations.

This book brings together the emerging trends and techniques incorporated in regional science during the first two decades of this millennium. The book includes systematic and analytical notes making scientific commentary on the innovative methods of regional development, measurement of the development, regional development models, and policy measures that have significant implications and wide applicability instrumental for India as well as the other global south countries. There is clear evidence in the global south of the uneven spatial distribution of resources, economic activities, literacy, and health conditions. The most striking fact is the coexistence of development and underdevelopment that makes the planning process complicated. This can hardly be explored without taking a deep insight into the matter of how the regional parameters are impacting regional society or economy to shape the development of that region. There can be no effective global policy framework that will beeffective equally for each and every region to mitigate local issues of society or economy. It is here that the book integrates the efforts of practitioners working towards addressing these regional issues and striving for sustainable regional development through their innovative ideas.Through its contributions, the book addresses development issues, regional impact of climate change, social justice, migration, well-being, livelihood vulnerabilities, and regional urban-environmental issues from the standpoint of regional science. It is a significant resource for researchers of spatial science, and policy makers.

This book brings together the emerging trends and techniques incorporated in regional science during the first two decades of this millennium. The book includes systematic and analytical notes making scientific commentary on the innovative methods of regional development, measurement of the development, regional development models, and policy measures that have significant implications and wide applicability instrumental for India as well as the other global south countries. There is clear evidence in the global south of the uneven spatial distribution of resources, economic activities, literacy, and health conditions. The most striking fact is the coexistence of development and underdevelopment that makes the planning process complicated. This can hardly be explored without taking a deep insight into the matter of how the regional parameters are impacting regional society or economy to shape the development of that region. There can be no effective global policy framework that will beeffective equally for each and every region to mitigate local issues of society or economy. It is here that the book integrates the efforts of practitioners working towards addressing these regional issues and striving for sustainable regional development through their innovative ideas.Through its contributions, the book addresses development issues, regional impact of climate change, social justice, migration, well-being, livelihood vulnerabilities, and regional urban-environmental issues from the standpoint of regional science. It is a significant resource for researchers of spatial science, and policy makers.

This book, through a bunch of systematic and analytical notes and scientific commentaries, acquaints the readers with the innovative methods of regional development, measurement of the development in regional scale, regional development models, and policy prescriptions.

This book, through a bunch of systematic and analytical notes and scientific commentaries, acquaints the readers with the innovative methods of regional development, measurement of the development in regional scale, regional development models, and policy prescriptions.

This common platform is provided to the practitioners of relevant academic disciplines under the umbrella of regional sciences – a forum for the exchange of ideas that may be effective in the sustainable management of the crisis and a way forward after it is mitigated.

This common platform is provided to the practitioners of relevant academic disciplines under the umbrella of regional sciences – a forum for the exchange of ideas that may be effective in the sustainable management of the crisis and a way forward after it is mitigated.

Amidst these multifarious dimensions of the pandemic, it is high time for global solidarity to save humankind.Human society, its ambient environment, the process of socio-economic development, and politics and power – all are drivers to establish the world order.

Amidst these multifarious dimensions of the pandemic, it is high time for global solidarity to save humankind.Human society, its ambient environment, the process of socio-economic development, and politics and power – all are drivers to establish the world order.

These papers collect selected material presented in the two-day international seminar entitled "Contemporary Geo-environmental Issues in the Global South: Mapping, Resilience and Sustainable Solutions (CGEIGS)".The seminar was held at the Department of Geography, Dr. Meghnad Saha College, India,11–12 July 2025, in collaboration with the Department of Geography, Gazole Mahavidyalaya and the UGC-MMTTC, University of North Bengal. This international seminar brought together academics, professionals, environmental activists and research scholars to find sustainable solutions to the manifold geo-environmental issues wreaking havoc in different corners of the world, particularly in Global South nations.The papers here provide a common space for dialogues on current geo-environmental issues, aiming to find effective solutions in the long run. The last few decades have witnessed diverse geo-environmental issues on local, regional and global scales, and the policy landscape has shifted from the classical management approach to effective resilience strategies. With this premise, the book examines how geography, environmental science and other relevant branches of applied science provide adaptive and sustainable policy prescriptions. This volume focuses on the Global South because it faces a disproportionately higher share of the world’s geo-environmental challenges but receives less attention to sustainable solutions. The contents of these papers examine how the Global South uses its space for innovation, adaptation and resilience where communities, researchers and policymakers actively craft sustainable solutions rooted in local knowledge and global cooperation. Through collaborative action toward environmental stewardship and social resilience, a sustainable and inclusive Global South is envisaged.

This volume showcases how the climate change phenomena (CCP) have been causing multifaceted threats to humankind through increasing numbers of extreme events, affecting social, economic, and human development worldwide.

This book contains selected papers presented at the international conference titled 'In Search of Creative Commons: Crisis, Catastrophe, and Responsive Literature in India', held at the Abid Ali Khan Centre for Digital Archive and Translation of Cultures, Gour Mahavidyalaya (College) from 31 August to 2 September, 2023 in collaboration with the Department of English, Dr. Meghnad Saha College. The conference was funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).In this book, three basic questions are considered. First, as humans try to live in-and-through catastrophes and exceptional situations in the contemporary world, what new perspective can literature as a creative form offer for healing and restorative purposes? Second, what new idioms and narrative styles, massive crises such as famine, partition, migration, the decimation of forests, rivers, and the disappearance of villages held up in creative articulations in colonial and postcolonial times in India? Can these representations be called “responsive literature”? Further, and this is the third major contention of this book, how can responsive literature be thought of as a conceptual category? What new transdisciplinary optic should be adopted to go beyond the limits of the “literary” and eventually include the “non-literary”?The objective of these discussions was to contribute to the larger discursive literature on disaster studies, which we believe has been excessively hegemonized by concepts from the West. By bringing in indigenous ideas from Bhasa Sahitya (language and literature), the images of samaj (society), samata (equity), and ahimsa (non-violence), the existing literature on catastrophe and crisis studies can finally be decolonized.

This book contains selected papers presented at the international conference titled 'In Search of Creative Commons: Crisis, Catastrophe, and Responsive Literature in India', held at the Abid Ali Khan Centre for Digital Archive and Translation of Cultures, Gour Mahavidyalaya (College) from 31 August to 2 September, 2023 in collaboration with the Department of English, Dr. Meghnad Saha College. The conference was funded by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).In this book, three basic questions are considered. First, as humans try to live in-and-through catastrophes and exceptional situations in the contemporary world, what new perspective can literature as a creative form offer for healing and restorative purposes? Second, what new idioms and narrative styles, massive crises such as famine, partition, migration, the decimation of forests, rivers, and the disappearance of villages held up in creative articulations in colonial and postcolonial times in India? Can these representations be called “responsive literature”? Further, and this is the third major contention of this book, how can responsive literature be thought of as a conceptual category? What new transdisciplinary optic should be adopted to go beyond the limits of the “literary” and eventually include the “non-literary”?The objective of these discussions was to contribute to the larger discursive literature on disaster studies, which we believe has been excessively hegemonized by concepts from the West. By bringing in indigenous ideas from Bhasa Sahitya (language and literature), the images of samaj (society), samata (equity), and ahimsa (non-violence), the existing literature on catastrophe and crisis studies can finally be decolonized.

This book addresses the “urban” and “peri-urban” spaces in India within a single frame. The reasoning is that while the former is studied for its transformation towards more value addition in terms of power and neoliberal economic viabilities, the latter is the land of visible transformation of the built environment. It acquaints readers with how the processes of circulation of migrant labour, the shift in occupations of landowning groups, and the residential cohabitation of diverse social groups contribute to re-scripting social relations, green spaces, and the forging of new subjectivities. The chapters of the book speak of the need to create sustainable cities for uncertain futures, with a quest to reverse global climate change and make an effort to halt urbanization at the cost of the natural ecosystem, all of which have become more urgent in the post-pandemic years. The book addresses different aspects of the evolutionary urban and peri-urban spaces in India amidst the conflict of the environmental and social sustainability agendas with the neo-liberal ascendancy. The integration of urban and peri-urban areas with emerging political and economic equations and the involvement of multiple disciplines to work in tandem for a deep insight into the complex phenomena incorporating diverse actors validate the need for such a volume. This edited volume seeks to record how all these stakeholders—state agencies, political leaders, businessmen, workers, investors, households, builders, real estate intermediaries, business owners, migrants, and many more with their varying capacities to influence outcomes on the ground—interact with one another. It also shows how multiple power relationships are calibrated and recalibrated to produce urban and peri-urban spaces in diverse ways in many parts of India.

This book addresses the “urban” and “peri-urban” spaces in India within a single frame. The reasoning is that while the former is studied for its transformation towards more value addition in terms of power and neoliberal economic viabilities, the latter is the land of visible transformation of the built environment. It acquaints readers with how the processes of circulation of migrant labour, the shift in occupations of landowning groups, and the residential cohabitation of diverse social groups contribute to re-scripting social relations, green spaces, and the forging of new subjectivities. The chapters of the book speak of the need to create sustainable cities for uncertain futures, with a quest to reverse global climate change and make an effort to halt urbanization at the cost of the natural ecosystem, all of which have become more urgent in the post-pandemic years. The book addresses different aspects of the evolutionary urban and peri-urban spaces in India amidst the conflict of the environmental and social sustainability agendas with the neo-liberal ascendancy. The integration of urban and peri-urban areas with emerging political and economic equations and the involvement of multiple disciplines to work in tandem for a deep insight into the complex phenomena incorporating diverse actors validate the need for such a volume. This edited volume seeks to record how all these stakeholders—state agencies, political leaders, businessmen, workers, investors, households, builders, real estate intermediaries, business owners, migrants, and many more with their varying capacities to influence outcomes on the ground—interact with one another. It also shows how multiple power relationships are calibrated and recalibrated to produce urban and peri-urban spaces in diverse ways in many parts of India.

This book portrays India as a representative of post-colonial democratic republic states with a parliamentary form of federal-structured government and analyzes the critical challenges faced by such states in generating broadly shared economic well-being and quality of life. The reader is shown how creating and utilizing physical, human, financial, and social assets under the aegis of public policies help achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide a global framework to move toward a more equitable, peaceful, resilient, and prosperous society by 2030. It not only addresses how the state’s capacity has long been linked to the available economic resources, but also unfolds how the political system thus evolves to crucially determine the capacity of the state to implement its programs. The chapters of this book are particularly focused on judging the state’s capacity amid the neo-liberal ascendancy that has been triggered by the opening up of both the domestic and external economy, significantly initiated since 1991 and popularly known as the economic reforms in India.Examined here is the potency of the public policies of the country in fulfilling the sustainable development agendas, the specificity of which places the state at the heart of its execution, unlike many other versions of development that would be executed in parallel with or without states’ action. This work book has three principal foci facets within the broad swath of discussions covered by different chapters: (1) It critically examines how successful remains the public policies in mobilizing the population is mobilized to the next orbit of income, employment, education, and health consequent to amid the existing considerable magnitude of social and economic inequalities while achieving “equity” has always been the declared agenda in the post-reform public policy frameworks; (2) It traces the rationality of the transformation of the public policies and welfare strategies duringthe post-reform period in terms of motives, goals, and coverage to achieve the SDGs; and, (3) It reviews specific post-reform policies in terms of their potency to stimulate the system in addressing sustainable development. and upholding the state’s dominant and structuring intervention to resolve the existing inequalities and ensure that society develops amidst a harmonious world reconciled with nature.