Projects

Abs:This study was used to prepare a blueprint for the development of the state of Nagaland for the future in terms of road network required to link the various districts to each other and to the network of production and fruit processing plants in the foothill roads from Dimapur along the Assam border. Idea was to create a hub and spoke model linking districts to trade/production points.

Abs: This was a long term ( 6-8 month) project commissioned by the High commission to create awareness about the rules and regulations governing the WTO which must be also implemented at the state level. For example, it was clarified that each state needs to have a patent office for registration, a state level bio-diversity register for GI claims. This was a field project in 4-5 main states like UP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan etc. where stakeholder consultations were held with presentations by economic and legal experts and where feedback from stakeholders was obtained.

Abs: The two studies were linked and related to the issue of ground water pollution in particular. While the first study was a survey of the state of industrial pollution in the capital and why the STP plants were failing to stem discharge of affluents from the small scale industries in particular, the second study was a field work where a in a couple of housing societies in the Dwarka area of Delhi, a simple system of rainwater harvesting was created to prevent waste of rainfall water.

Abs: This study was commissioned by the Govt. of Nagaland after the peace process was initiated by the GOI in 1998. The study showed that, given the small size of the local market, and the geographical set up of the state, Nagaland needed to have a strategy of industrialisation based on exports of fruits and vegetables in SSIs and also look at its realtively better educated local labour force to build an IT based sector. This was seen as sufficient to put the state in a take off mode.

Abs: The study was commissioned to see what role Assam could play to promote the development of the NER. Assam holds the link of the NER to the rest of the country via the “chicken neck” corridor. Hence Assam could have a crucial role for development of the NER as a whole. Here is was argued that the development strategy of Assam can not be one centred around large scale industries ( barring the oil sector). Its specific natural advantages lie agricultural products like rice and tea and handicrafts like silk which have a huge international market which can be expanded using the GI mark. It also can be a strategic transport hub for trade with the ASEAN region as part of the Look East policy.