Centre for Policy Research

Large infrastructure projects are seen as a critical part of modern societies for the provision of basic services, creation of jobs and to boost economic growth. Infrastructural and industrial projects in modern democracies like India are subject to a complex terrain of federal arrangements, legal compliances, environmental sustainability, cultural appropriateness and public participation. The political and economic importance of such projects also influences legal standards, regulatory practices and policy outcomes.

This Program seeks to advance multidisciplinary and applied research in the political ecology of large infrastructure projects. It houses a cluster of projects at the intersection of infrastructure development, natural resource management and legal governance frameworks at transnational, national and state levels.

The key themes of the Program are:

• the spatial, social and ecological implications of the form, scale, location, design and operations of large infrastructures in India;
• the development and implementation of environment regulatory frameworks for sustainability and public accountability of infrastructures; and
• the social processes and practices in infrastructure development and operations that could generate better socio-environmental outcomes.

The Program aims to analyse key challenges in the areas of urban and rural ecologies and infrastructure regulation, track political and institutional responses to these challenges and deepen informed public engagement in policy reforms and implementation in these areas.