Papers by Mohanan B Pillai
ISDA Journal :Studies in Development and Public Policy, 2024
With its significant role in addressing the concerns, interests, and priorities affecting develop... more With its significant role in addressing the concerns, interests, and priorities affecting developing countries, India has taken a timely step by organising the Voice of Global South Summits virtually. These virtual summits served as a platform for developing countries to exchange ideas and solutions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emphasised the need for the 'Global South' countries to unite and speak in one voice, particularly regarding concerns related to food, health, and energy security and the challenges posed by conflicts on their development journey. The two virtual summits held during India's presidency of the G20 Group played a crucial role in shaping the agenda of the G20 deliberations. The third virtual summit, held on 17 August 2024, was a testament to the global significance of these summits, with 123 countries in attendance. This paper highlights the objectives of the Global South Summits, India's leadership aspirations, and the challenges India faces to be the leader of the Global South. It also delves into the ambiguous nature of the concept of the Global South. This paper was initially written as the theme note of the two-day national seminar, ' Global South: Together for a Shared Future', organised by the Institute for the Study of Developing Areas (ISDA) on 26th and 27th March 2024.
Social Science Research Network, 2020
One of the pioneering works on India’s strategic culture is by George K. Tanham (1992) titled Ind... more One of the pioneering works on India’s strategic culture is by George K. Tanham (1992) titled India’s Strategic Thought: An interpretive essay, in which he argues that virtually there is no evidence to prove that Indian elites have consistently thought about a national strategy. According to him this lack of a coherent strategic thought can be explained by analyzing four principal factors that have conditioned the thought process of the Indian strategic community viz., geography, history, culture and the British raj(pp.1-19). These factors have contributed mostly to the absence of strategic thinking (pp.50-67). From among the Indian strategic community, a few have partly, and another section wholeheartedly agreed with the arguments of Tanham. Rejecting Tanham’s argument Siv Shankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary and National Security Advisor, has made a powerful intervention in the debate by stating that India possesses a strategic culture and the same gets applied in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy (Menon, 2013). The present paper reviews the positions of both Tanham and Shiv Shankar Menon. The paper sums up that India does have a strategic culture rooted in its civilization and its modern manifestation is the concept of strategic autonomy which got distilled from the ancient text Arthasastra of Kautilya.
ISDA JOURNAL , 2023
In this paper, an attempt is made to assess the performance, achievements and challenges of the s... more In this paper, an attempt is made to assess the performance, achievements and challenges of the state economy, using secondary data for the period 1960-61 to 2020-21. Achievements are in demography, education and health and the main challenges are unproductive agriculture, industries sectors, insufficient infrastructure, lack of skills and employability, financial crisis etc. The broad inference from the study is, there are notable achievements over the decades, but the sustainability of the development model is doubtable because of the contradictions and irrationality.
ISDA JOURNAL, 2023
A uthors are requested to follow the instructions given below while submitting articles or resear... more A uthors are requested to follow the instructions given below while submitting articles or research papers for publication. Please note that ISDA Journal is following the APA style (sixth edition) to enhance its international visibility and acceptability. Maximum word limit (a) Papers based on empirical data: 5000 (b) Conceptual paper and review articles: 6000 (c) Research notes and brief reports:1500. Manuscript Format Instructions Manuscripts should be sent as MS Word files, typed in Times New Roman, font size 12 with 1.5 line spacing.
ISDA JOURNAL:STUDIES IN DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY, 2022
ISDA Journal, the multidisciplinary and peer reviewed Quarterly, mainly focusing on development a... more ISDA Journal, the multidisciplinary and peer reviewed Quarterly, mainly focusing on development and public policy invites empirical studies, conceptual papers and review articles that fall within the scope of the journal for publication. Research papers and articles submitted to the journal go through a double blind review process to ensure quality. Also, strict plagiarism check through similarity detection software is an integral part of the review process and quality control. Our editorial policy is that we will not consider article/ research paper for publication, if it is currently being reviewed by any other Journal or if it has already been published or will be published elsewhere. The Journal or any part thereof may not be republished in any form without the written permission of the Editorial Board. All data, views, opinions, etc. are the sole responsibility of the authors. Neither the publisher nor Editorial Board is in any way responsible for them. Through the past three decades of existence, the journal has earned reputation as an earnest publication in the area of development and public policy and its reach is far and wide due to the continued patronage of the Scholars. We profusely thank our patrons for their continued support and encouragement. Needless to say your valuable suggestions and feedback are important for us to serve you better.
ISDA Journal:Studies in Development and Public Policy, 2022
The fiscal discipline of a state depends on how the revenue resources are mobilised and how it is... more The fiscal discipline of a state depends on how the revenue resources are mobilised and how it is spent. This paper examined the expenditure side of Kerala state finance for the last 30 years (1990-91 to 2020-21) and broadly inferred that the state's fiscal discipline has been in crisis over the years. However, recent data indicate that the most disturbing component is not salaries and pensions but interest costs. Spending on developmental activities and social welfare programmes is also not sufficient. Hence, it is time to rationalise expenditure, augment revenue sources, cut borrowings and explore cooperation options with similar thinking organisations and institutions.
ISDA Journal:Studies in Development and Public Policy, 2022
The media, different stakeholders, and agencies have actively discussed the National Education Po... more The media, different stakeholders, and agencies have actively discussed the National Education Policy 2020 ever since its approval by the Union Cabinet on 29 th July 2020. The reactions and responses have polarised into two blocs; the supporters blindly hailed the advantages unreservedly, while the opposers criticised the policy by pointing out many shortcomings. The opposers accuse that the policy undermines the principles of the federal system, saffronises the education system, promotes casteism, endorses the interests of the elite, and above all, ignores the reservation system. Further, they argue that it is a lethal blend of the Hindutva agenda and neoliberal fundamentalism. The reality, however, lies elsewhere. Amidst the deluge of criticisms, we should not forget that the policy contains proposals for inevitable, timely, and novel reforms. We also should keep in mind that despite some minor modifications in 1992, there has been no comprehensive policy on education since 1986, which was precisely thirty-four years ago.
ISDA Journal:Studies in Development and Public Policy, 2022
The media, different stakeholders, and agencies have actively discussed the National Education Po... more The media, different stakeholders, and agencies have actively discussed the National Education Policy 2020 ever since its approval by the Union Cabinet on 29 th July 2020. The reactions and responses have polarised into two blocs; the supporters blindly hailed the advantages unreservedly, while the opposers criticised the policy by pointing out many shortcomings. The opposers accuse that the policy undermines the principles of the federal system, saffronises the education system, promotes casteism, endorses the interests of the elite, and above all, ignores the reservation system. Further, they argue that it is a lethal blend of the Hindutva agenda and neoliberal fundamentalism. The reality, however, lies elsewhere. Amidst the deluge of criticisms, we should not forget that the policy contains proposals for inevitable, timely, and novel reforms. We also should keep in mind that despite some minor modifications in 1992, there has been no comprehensive policy on education since 1986, which was precisely thirty-four years ago.
ISDA Journal:Studies in Development and Public Policy, 2022
The media, different stakeholders, and agencies have actively discussed the National Education Po... more The media, different stakeholders, and agencies have actively discussed the National Education Policy 2020 ever since its approval by the Union Cabinet on 29th July 2020. The reactions and responses have polarised into two blocs; the supporters blindly hailed the advantages unreservedly, while the opposers criticised the policy by pointing out many shortcomings. The opposers accuse that the policy undermines the principles of the federal system, saffronises the education system, promotes casteism, endorses the interests of the elite, and above all, ignores the reservation system. Further, they argue that it is a lethal blend of the Hindutva agenda and neoliberal fundamentalism. The reality, however, lies elsewhere. Amidst the deluge of criticisms, we should not forget that the policy contains proposals for inevitable, timely, and novel reforms. We also should keep in mind that despite some minor modifications in 1992, there has been no comprehensive policy on education since 1986, which was precisely thirty-four years ago.
The Commons movement believes that shared community resources (natural and manmade) must be prote... more The Commons movement believes that shared community resources (natural and manmade) must be protected and managed in such a way as to bring benefit for all. Peasants in India as well as France are victims of the construction of barrages without regard to environment in the name of the greater common good. This paper proposes to identify the common causes for the sad predicament of French and Indian farmers through a literature based study. While French novels about the terroir are quite many, novels about the malaise of the French peasant are not numerous, but quite striking. This article will focus on Claire Van-Kinh''s Paysans des terres englouties (2016) featuring a peasant woman as its protagonist and Paul Henri-Bizon's La Louve (2017) staging the confrontation between two economic models – a cooperative of environmentally-conscious farmers and an amoral profit seeking and consumerist enterprise. In India, some recent works of fiction, both in regional languages and in English, deal with farmer suicides provoked by debt, deprivation and destruction of the way of life they are used to. Three narratives, i.e., Na. D'Souza's Dweepa Island (written in Kannada in 1970 and translated into English in 2013), Kota Neelima's Shoes of the Dead (2013) and Sonora Jha's Foreign (2013) are taken up for analysis in my study. The comparison of the French and Indian literary works allows us to perceive the need to move way from modern anthropocentrism and the market paradigm that lead to the sentimental misery, sickness and death of farmers and redefine our relation to the world. The natural contract puts the planet at the centre and man at the periphery of life in the universe. Keywords: farmer, suicide, cotton, dam, permaculture
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view i... more If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. ...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
India has emerged victorious in being part of many multilateral, regional and bilateral engagemen... more India has emerged victorious in being part of many multilateral, regional and bilateral engagements of politico-strategic, economic and cultural import in East Asia ever since the launching of the Look East Policy (LEP) in 1992 in the wake of the collapse of the bipolar international system. In November 2014 Narendra Modi rechristened the ongoing engagement as Act East Policy (AEP). Does AEP signify more than just a name change? If so, what are the variables/drivers that contributed to such renaming of an ongoing policy? The argument is that both LEP and AEP are by-products of two distinct phases of unfolding contemporary history. The bipolar international system of cold war period produced India's nonalignment and the post-cold war period of 'uni-polar moment' marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the launching of LEP. Many scholars of International Relations observed and documented the fading away of the uni-polar moment and the emergence of the multi-polar...
Global Commons: Issues, Concerns and Strategies, 2020
Security forms an important component of the way international relations are played out. After In... more Security forms an important component of the way international relations are played out. After Independence in 1947, India followed a policy of non-alignment to protect and promote the interests of the new born nation. Indias security concerns at that time revolved around the threats emanating primarily from Pakistan. China was also perceived as a threat to Indias national security. However, the age of neo-liberal globalisation has added additional dimensions to the conventional threats. In the post-Cold War period, the major security concern of India emanates from cross-border terrorism. The challenges posed by international terrorism, global economic meltdown and environmental degradation including climate change are also security concerns that India has to address seriously. The crisis in the energy sector is another major security challenge. On the domestic front, India faces many challenges including poverty, illiteracy, social and economic inequalities, communalism, regional i...
The relationship between the neoliberal paradigm of governance and its linkages with the growth s... more The relationship between the neoliberal paradigm of governance and its linkages with the growth strategy under globalization regime are two sides of the same coin and it is the agenda of neoliberalism to free capital from the clutches of the interventionist state. The growth strategy and governance paradigm ofneoliberal globalization has eulogized 'greed' as a virtue to be emulated by everybody.0 The theoretical background of the ethics of the new governance paradigm, inter alia betrays a relation between the new paradigm of governance and the appropriation of the civil society by the market forces and the way that it has been transformed as an extended arm of the market friendly governance architecture. The article also provides an overview of the political economy of shift in India s governance architecture from the ethical values of social justice that could be found in the philosophical moorings of the Constitution of India to the ethics of free market economy.
Indian Journal of Public Administration, 2012
Finance capital is a catalytic agent of corruption in all walks of life and the political class w... more Finance capital is a catalytic agent of corruption in all walks of life and the political class which sets the legal boundaries of the game has indeed become the protagonists of corruption. The political class has been facing some kind of a legitimacy crisis and the overall developments have generated frustration and insecurity in the common psyche. In this scenario, the ant~-graft movement by Anna Hazare could be seen as a tension absorbing systemic movement as also a process of consolidation of cultural capital that facilitates the rehabilitation of traditional elite to the pedestals of power through the construction of a technocratic democracy as neoliberalism denounces the importance of the Parliament in a democratic system in favour of governance by 'experts( and 'elite'.
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Papers by Mohanan B Pillai