A prospective superpower, India is still grappling with a host of risks that threaten to hamper its progress. These range from environmental threats caused by GM crops and pollution; dangers to health from HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality; safety concerns about natural hazards, nuclear power, and industrial disasters; and challenges to livelihoods and values. Some of the issues that this volume explores are: what counts as an 'acceptable' risk, and who decides? How should divergent perceptions of risks be reconciled? And, where is the line between science and politics? Advocating a more multidimensional approach to managing risks, the authors challenge many of the dominant perspectives in India. The field of risk research, which has emerged over the last 40 years in the West, has been relatively unexplored in India. In an effort to bridge this gap, this volume brings together Indian and Western scholars and practitioners across the fields of psychology, anthropology, law, politics, sociology, public health, philosophy, science, and architecture, who offer insights on the theory of risk, lessons from the West, and the realities of risk in India. Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction Raphaelle Moor and M.V. Rajeev Gowda Adopting a Multi-dimensional Lens to Approaching Risk in India: Raphaelle Moor Section One Disasters and the Environment Article 39 and Environmental Decision-making in India: Leo F. Saldanha and Bhargavi S. Rao Integrating Information Disclosure with Indian Environmental Policy: M.V. Rajeev Gowda and Mathew Idiculla Linking Post-disaster Reconstruction to Long-term Risk Reduction: Challenges and Opportunities in India: Rohit Jigyasu Section Two Public Health The Rise of Institutional Births in India: Are Maternal and Newborn Risks Adequately Addressed?: Asha Kilaru, Shanti Mahendra, Baneen Karachiwala and Zoe Matthews Culture in and of HIV/AIDS Risk Management in India: Ajay Bailey Exploring H1N1 Risk Communication in India: Ranjani Ramaswamy A Business Management Framework for Addressing Public Health Risk: The Avahan Experience in Scaling-up HIV Prevention in India - Sema K. Sgaier Section Three Science and Technology Science and Politics in Indian GM Crop Regulation: A U-turn Down a Blind Alley - Erik Millstone Absurd Confidence: Risk and Nuclear Power in India - M.V. Ramana Before and After Fukushima: The Many Fronts of Managing the Nuclear Power Option - Marc Poumadère Sustainable Management of Radioactive Waste: What Can India Learn from Stakeholder Engagement in the West? - Claire Mays Can Health and Safety Regulators Respond to Changing Societal Expectations?: Frederic Bouder About the Editors and Contributors Index
Raphaelle Moor is a consultant in the area of disaster risk management and climate change adaptation, based in London. She managed the UKIERI's (UK-India Education and Research Initiative) 'India at Risk' project at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore for over two-and-a-half years.
M.V. Rajeev Gowda is Professor of Economics and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He serves as a Director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India and is a Carnegie Council Global Ethics Fellow. He is also active in Indian politics.
