Articles by Shankar Gopalakrishnan

Discussions on human–wildlife conflict in India typically take place within a narrow frame, viewing the problem as a result of human “encroachment” into wildlife territories, and hence, one that primarily needs to be addressed by “compensating,” relocating or “protecting” local communities. Most research focuses on protected areas and severely underestimates the scale of the problem. This study, based on field surveys in Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, throws up a different picture, where conflict is a major problem, but one to which structures and practices of forest management in the country are a central contributor. It also points to how more democratic and rights-respecting approaches to forest management must be an essential part of any solution.

This essay presents the findings of a detailed study, done in late 2014, of the conditions of tea estate workers in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu. It attempts to place these findings in the context of larger debates over capitalist agriculture and current policy efforts to promote corporatisation and commercialisation of the sector.

There is an inherent problematic in the media-fuelled protests and street demonstrations - these are characterised by depoliticised demands and fragmented mobilisations, played to create an "echo chamber" effect for the media's purposes. However, it is not as if they do not create a space for expanding popular struggle, something that progressives should be aware of and must utilise.

Rather than being a panacea for Indian agriculture, corporate food provision will likely accelerate many key elements of India's agricultural crisis. It will produce a decline in land productivity, reduce food security, adversely affect price stability and will tend to negatively impact employment and credit relations. This paper explores the changes in class and social relations that come about with the transition to a corporate system of food provisioning. It considers the potential impacts of such changes in the Indian context.

The general impression that China's special economic zones are a remarkable success is an incomplete one. Left out of the picture are inequities in development, arable land loss, real estate speculation and labour violence.