Fischer, Harry
(2020).
Policy innovations for pro-poor climate support: social protection, small-scale infrastructure, and active citizenship under India’s MGNREGA.
Climate and Development. 12
, 689-702
[Research article]
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Abstract
While extensive scholarship has explored principles for pro-poor climate support, there is a need for knowledge of specific strategies that can achieve these objectives on the ground. This paper examines India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and its effects on climate risk reduction. Although the MGNREGA was not designed specifically as a climate programme, it incorporates three key elements with the potential to advance pro-poor climate assistance objectives: (a) social protection through the provision of minimum wage labour; (b) the development of small-scale, natural resource-focused infrastructure; and (c) a decentralized, ‘community-based’ planning architecture. Analysis of a primary dataset comprising 1400 households and 798 projects in India's state Himachal Pradesh, interpreted through intensive qualitative fieldwork, shows that both projects and labour have helped vulnerable households confront climate and other risks, while the Act's decentralized architecture has expanded the channels for citizens to claim support for local challenges. The paper argues for the importance of building a broader ‘ecosystem’ of support to target diverse local needs, and of the need to strengthen the political architectures through which vulnerable groups access these benefits on the ground – especially in the context of decentralized approaches for climate assistance.
Authors/Creators: | Fischer, Harry | ||||
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Title: | Policy innovations for pro-poor climate support: social protection, small-scale infrastructure, and active citizenship under India’s MGNREGA | ||||
Series Name/Journal: | Climate and Development | ||||
Year of publishing : | 2020 | ||||
Volume: | 12 | ||||
Page range: | 689-702 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 14 | ||||
ISSN: | 1756-5529 | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||
Version: | Published version | ||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 105 Earth and Related Environmental Sciences > Climate Research (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 5 Social Sciences > 509 Other Social Sciences > Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (Peace and Conflict Research and Studies on Sustainable Society) | ||||
Keywords: | Climate adaptation, social protection, community-based adaptation, vulnerability, sustainable development, MGNREGA, India | ||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-102832 | ||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-102832 | ||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 17785 | ||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Urban and Rural Development (LTJ, LTV) > Dept. of Urban and Rural Development | ||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||
Deposited On: | 13 Oct 2020 06:59 | ||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 15 Jan 2021 19:21 |
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