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CSLG organises a seminar by Aniket Aga

CSLG organises a seminar by Aniket Aga

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CSLG organises a seminar by Aniket Aga
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

Jawaharlal Nehru University

SEMINAR SERIES

 

ANIKET AGA

 Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies

Ashoka University, Sonepat

 

 On

 

                                                                                                         Bureaucratic epistemes and regulatory disputes: Genetically Modified (GM) crops between science and legal-administration 

 

Abstract

A fierce controversy surrounding the question of allowing commercial release of GM food crops, has been raging in India for nearly a decade. While the controversy concerns far-reaching issues of food security, food sovereignty, consumers' choice, farmers' livelihoods and ecological impacts, these are articulated in government policymaking via bureaucratic routines and documents. In this talk, I examine the regulatory regime overseeing GM crops in India, instituted in the late 1980s, to argue that two epistemes—scientific and legal-administrative—are fused in its design. By unraveling the course of two regulatory disputes, I suggest that an inherent ambiguity is lodged between scientific and legal-administrative modes of documentation, as facts generated in one register can be challenged by those registered in the other. I demonstrate that this ambiguity both fosters and constrains democratic participation and scrutiny over government policymaking, with deeply ambivalent implications.

 

3.00 PM, Thursday, 28 February 2019

Conference Room, CSLG, JNU

 

About the Speaker: Aniket Aga is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University, Sonepat. He is interested in science and technology studies, democratic politics, and agrarian studies. His research examines the ongoing controversy over genetically modified (GM) food crops in India. More broadly, he works on questions of environmental justice, food democracy, and sustainable agriculture, with a focus on Maharashtra. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from Yale University, and has published in the Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Agrarian Change, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and Economic & Political Weekly, among others.

   

  

 PLEASE JOIN US FOR TEA AFTER THE SEMINAR

ALL ARE WELCOME

 

DIRECTIONS: From the JNU main gate (North Gate), proceed straight until you get to a T-junction. Turn left. Continue until you reach a second T-junction. Turn right. Follow the road for just 0.7 km until you see a bus stop labelled ‘Paschimabad’. About 50 m past the bus stop take the first right turn. The CSLG building is on the right at the blind end of the lane. The conference room is on the first floor. A lift is being installed at CSLG and we hope the conference room will be more accessible in some time.

 

 
Ghazala Jamil, 
Coordinator, CSLG Seminar Series

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.