Investigating Infrastructure: Ecology, Sustainability and Society

Introduction

India is building a future based on Infrastructure. A ‘wave’ of projects and investments are redefining India in myriad ways. Recognizably, these are pivotal to its growth story, foundational for rapid and inclusive development as well as achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

We are releasing compendium of our articles from our Dossier : 'Investigating Infrastructure: Ecology, Sustainability and Society' into a book. Here we will be joined by few contributor to the dossier.

Our dossier on Infrastructure has been presenting and investigating various facets of Infrastructure in India.

Here we will be joined by few contributors to our dossier. Panelist will be bringing forth some of the facets of Infrastructure, adding into the larger debate on sustainable Infrastructural development. Sebastian Walter will be joining us from Germany throwing light on the Bees in Bangalore, touching upon Urban infrastructure and its non-human counterparts. Shristee Bajpai will be presenting about the socio-economic and cultural ramification of Infrastructural expansion and overlooking of local ecologies. Raille Rocky Ziipao will be speaking about the Infrastructure in boderland areas with special focus on NorthEast India and on the fissures & gaps in Infrastructural development.

We look forward for you to be part of this expanding discussion on Infrastructure. This session is moderated by Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Programme Coordinator and Research Associate at the hbs Regional Office New Delhi.

Recording of our previous webinar on Infrastructure can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmA1rIFKBGU

Panelists:

Sebastian Walter (Artist and Scientist)

Sebastian Walter is an artist and scientist based in Berlin, Germany. He currently works at the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Berlin on human-animal relations with a focus on insects and the visualisation of past landscapes. Results of his artistic and scientific research were internationally presented in exhibitions and published in books and journals, among them Journal of Vision and Nature Neuroscience. Sebastian’s special interest in relationships between humans and bees in India developed during a Goethe-Institute residency in Axel’s lab at NCBS (https://www.goethe.de/ins/in/en/sta/ban/ueb/bar/smw.html).

Shrishtee Bajpai (Researcher)

Shrishtee is a researcher- activist based in Pune and is member of an environmental action group- Kalpavriksh. Her current research is focussed on exploring alternatives to mainstream development models, documenting worldviews of communities and networking. She helps in coordinating a process called the Vikalp Sangam (Alternatives Confluence). It is an ongoing process of bringing together practitioners, thinkers, researchers, and others working on alternatives to currently dominant forms of economic development and political governance. She is a core team member of global platform similar and partly inspired by the Indian process called the -Global Tapestry of Alternatives.

Raile Rocky Ziipao (Assistant Professor of Sociology, IIT Bombay)

Ziipao is an Assistant Professor of Sociology, IIT Bombay. He was the 2017-18 Raghunathan Family/ South Asian Fellow (Post-Doc). His research interest includes socio-anthropology of infrastructure, sociology of development, Indigenous/ Tribal studies, and Northeast Indian studies. Ziipao’s works have been published in the Journal of South Asian Development, Asian Ethnicity, Strategic Analysis, Economic and Political Weekly, and in multiple edited book chapters. His recent book Infrastructure of Injustice: State and Politics in Manipur and Northeast (Routledge: London and New York, 2020) examines the concept of infrastructure of injustice, infrastructural injustice, and infrastructure deficit in the conflict-ridden states of Northeast India.

Moderator:

Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman, Programme Coordinator & Research Associate (Democracy & Pluralities)

Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman is Programme Coordinator and Research Associate at the hbs Regional Office New Delhi. He is responsible for the Programme on Democracy and Pluralities and co-manages the Alternative Development Paradigms/Worldviews with a geographical focus on Northeast India.

He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, Assam. He completed his MPhil in Diplomacy in Disarmament and his Masters in International Relations from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and his Bachelors in Political Science Honours from Hindu College, Delhi University.

His areas of interests include research on Northeast India, on transboundary water sharing and hydropower dams, roads and connectivity infrastructures, conflict and insurgency, peace building, development politics, migration and cross border exchanges. His research specialization is on border studies in Northeast India and transboundary water sharing and management issues between China, India and Bangladesh.