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| Photo
: Petr Pavlicek / IAEA. Source: iaea_imagebank / Flickr / cc-by-sa |
Social movements in India have long voiced concerns around
the processes for deciding whether a risk is 'safe' or 'acceptable' and who is
taking these decisions. They have pointed to a noticeable imbalance in the type
of knowledge and expertise which has been shaping key policies, legislations
and institutions. They have also fought for communities' perceptions of risk
and local knowledge to be included in these processes. Uncertainty over where
the line should lie between science and politics during the assessment of
risks, and how to reconcile divergent risk perceptions, has triggered a large
number of protests over the years.
Whilst psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists,
political theorists, philosophers and scientists in the West have vigorously
debated these various issues around risk over the last 50 years, this
multidisciplinary field of academic research on risk has been relatively
unexplored in India. Little research and resources have been invested in
exploring these issues and Western scholars have also, for the most part, been
reluctant to engage with these issues in India. The Journal of Risk Research, for
example, has relatively few articles examining risks in developing countries.
In an effort to address this gap in the field, the STEPS
Centre and the Centre
for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore initiated
a project entitled 'Risk, uncertainty and technology in India', funded by the UK India Education Research Initiative. An international
conference was organized at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in
February 2011 which brought together Indian and Western scholars and
practitioners across the fields of psychology, anthropology, law, politics,
sociology, public health, philosophy, science and architecture. Together they
offered insights on the theory of risk, lessons from the West, and the
realities of risk in India. These conference papers have now been revised and
updated and included in the recently published volume India's
Risks: Democratizing the Management of Threats to Environment, Health and
Values, edited by Raphaelle Moor and M.V. Rajeev Gowda (OUP India, 2014).
This volume analyses different but profoundly interdependent
risks such as nuclear power, Bt Brinjal, environmental decision-making,
maternal mortality, H1N1, HIV/AIDS and post disaster reconstruction through the
same analytical framework. It delves into the meaning of risk in India, asking
what it signifies for policymakers and different factions of society.
It also probes the political, social, and economic dynamics
that have shaped the very different constructions of risk in India. In
particularly, we ask how India's aspirations to become the next leading
superpower have framed policymakers' assessments of scientific and
technological risks? What knowledge and expertise do policymakers tend to
consider relevant to include in their risk assessments? And are those risks
that they have identified and chosen to address consonant with those
constructed by the community?
Examples abound of the recurring mismatches between the
government's and communities' construction of risks. This has resulted in
ineffective policies, socially destructive conflicts, and the erosion of trust
and stability. India's Risks makes the case for urgently forging a new
multidisciplinary field in India in order to explore these questions in greater
depth. Whether the Western frameworks and models presented will be relevant to
the challenges of the Indian context remains to be seen but this wealth of
examples and resources provide a useful platform to begin constructively
negotiating a new path towards governing risks in India.
by Raphaelle Moor
Raphaelle Moor is a co-editor of the book India's
Risks: Democratizing the Management of Threats to Environment, Health, and
Values (OUP India 2014). She is a consultant in the area of disaster risk
management and climate change adaptation, based in London. Raphaelle 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.
