Public Infrastructure and Services

This document describes the policy facilitating public private partnerships for infrastructure development in the state of Orissa and includes:

• The background to the policy
• The policy objectives
• Infrastructure sectors
• Institutional arrangement
• Project identification and approval process
• Preparation of Detailed Project Report and selection of developers
• State support
• Orissa Infrastructure Development Fund
• Protection of stakeholder rights

This document describes the details of the Karnataka Urban Development Authorities Act and includes:

• Short title, extent and commencement of the Act
• Definitions of the terms used in the Act
• The incorporation, constitution and details of the functioning of the Urban Development Authority
• Power of authority for development schemes
• Authority for acquisition of land
• Power of authority in case of property and finance
• Details of appointment of officers and servants of the authority

This document describes the details of the Industrial, Investment and Infrastructure Policy of Maharashtra. The document includes:

• The background to the policy
• Industry scenario at the national level
• Maharashtra: The preferred industrial investment destination
• Policy objective
• Policy targets
• Policy validity
• Strategies
• Thrust areas
• Infrastructure and communication: the growth engines
• Promotional and financial incentives
• Cluster approach for development
• Co-operative industrial estates
• Sick units: Revival and exit
• New industrial townships
• Special economic zones
• Marketing assistance
• International exhibition centres
• Resource mapping and showcasing state's potential
• HR initiatives
• Labour laws and procedures
• Single window clearance
• Promotion of foreign direct investment
• Restructuring of industries department
• Review and monitoring

This report by the World Bank examines the evolution of the management of India’s waters, describes the achievements of the past, and the looming set of challenges. The report draws heavily on a set of twelve background documents by eminent Indian practitioners and policy analysts, and addresses two basic questions - 

• What are the major water development and management challenges facing India? 
• What are the critical measures to be taken to address these? 

This working paper by the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University offers an analysis of the role of law in the Narmada valley struggle, especially that which was waged by one of India’s most prominent social movements in recent years, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), with a specific focus on India’s Supreme Court. The NBA rose in reaction to the Indian government’s plan to construct a large number of dams along the Narmada river, contesting the relief and rehabilitation provided for displaced families at first, and subsequently challenging the dams themselves as being destructive.

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra has been initiated by the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA). This is a loose alliance of scores of groups across the country, drawn from more than 20 states. The network consists of farmers’ organizations, consumer groups, women’s organizations, environmental organizations, organic farmers’ cooperatives, individual scientists, doctors, health activists and others.

Article  246   includes the following clauses:

• Notwithstanding anything in clauses (2) and (3), Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List I in the seventh Schedule (in this Constitution referred to as the "Union List").
• Notwithstanding anything in clause (3), Parliament, and, subject to clause (1), the legislature of any State also, have power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List III in the Seventh Schedule (in this Constitution referred to as the "Concurrent List").  
• Subject to clauses (1) and (2), the Legislature of any State has exclusive power to make laws for such State or any part thereof with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List II in the Seventh Schedule (in this Constitution referred to as the "State List").  
• Parliament has power to make laws with respect to any matter for any part of the territory of India not included in a State notwithstanding that such matter is a matter enumerated in the State List.

Guest post by Parineeta Dandekar

While this news item was about to be published, Pune received heavy rains on the 4th of October (highest in the last 118 years, 104 mm in 40 minutes and 181.3 mm in 24 hours). While the city administration stressed that this was a cloud burst, this claim was quashed by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). This was said to a rare event, which was experienced in many places in Maharashtra.

10 people lost their lives to these rains, including three young children and a 25 year old Ph D researcher, Agnimitra Bannerjee, from National Chemical Laboratory, who was washed away in a channelised nallah stretch. Channels prove to be much more dangerous as the velocity of water is high and there is nothing to hold on to, in case a person falls in one of these fast-flowing nallah channels.

This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Civil Engineering Management is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner. The broad group of Civil Engineering Management is structured into modules on the following topics: