Bejoy K Thomas
Biographic Data
| ID | 110745 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Bejoy K Thomas |
| GIVEN NAMES | Bejoy K |
| FAMILY NAME | Thomas |
| SIGNATURE | THOMAS B K |
| AFFILIATIONS | Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5188-0189 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Are We Measuring the Same Thing: Reconciling Discrepancies in SDG 6 Data in India
There has been a debate over mismatches between different sources of data on sanitation and water access in India. We look at the survey instruments and data from two nationally representative sample surveys, the National Family Health Survey-5 and the 79th round of National Sample Survey. We show that some of the data discrepancies could be attributed to the differences in definitions and indicators used by different agencies. We argue that inte…
Why is adoption of micro-irrigation slow in India? a review
Adoption of micro-irrigation has been slow among farmers in India in spite of concerted efforts. Based on a systematic literature review, this article makes two observations. First, subsidies alone will not lead to greater adoption since decisions on adoption are shaped by household, farm level and institutional factors. Secondly, mere adoption of micro-irrigation will not result in water conservation because farmers are seen to expand the area u…
The ‘boomerang effect’: Insights for improved climate action
States have been negotiating climate mitigation actions centred around greenhouse gas emissions for several decades. In the wake of the Paris Agreement, a significant body of research has emerged reflecting on the unintended negative consequences of climate mitigation action. More recently, this research includes a focus on climate adaptation actions. The negative impacts have, together, been labelled ‘maladaptation’. Maladaptation as articulated…
Beyond Money Metrics: Alternative Approaches to Conceptualising and Assessing Ecosystem Services
The concept and valuation of ecosystem services have emerged as growing and dynamic areas of research over the past few years. The adoption of these ideas and methods into mainstream policy discussions and practice has occurred at a rapid pace. Conventionally, the valuation of ecosystem services has been synonymous with estimating the economic (monetary) value of these services. However, monetisation has limitations that need to be acknowledged b…
Climate vulnerability and adaptation of water provisioning in developing countries: Approaches to disciplinary and research-practice integration
Confronting or Complementing? A Case Study on NGO–State Relations from Kerala, India
NGOs have, of late, found some of their traditional domains, such as provision of micro-credit and participatory development, coinciding with or being taken away by the state. How do they position themselves and retain relevance vis-a-vis the state in the changed scenario? Tracing the trajectory of interventions of a local NGO in Kerala, India, this article shows that NGOs exhibit ‘multiple identities’—selective collaboration, gap-filling and pos…
Participation in the Knowledge Society: The Free and Open Source Software (Foss) movement compared with participatory development
The possibilities and limits of participation at the ‘bottom’ (represented, for example, by PRA and PLA) have been well articulated in development literature. However, the emergence of the Knowledge Society has opened up spaces for what we could call participation at the ‘top’ (free software, wiki, open access), the implications of which Development Studies is only beginning to grapple with. Building upon recent debates on the issue, we take the …
Resilient and Resourceful: A Case Study on How the Poor Cope in Kerala, India
In the backdrop of the popularization of social capital, it has become fashionable in development circles to highlight the resilience of the poor in the midst of stresses and shocks as well as their resourcefulness. Expressing scepticism, this article argues that social capital is a 'conditional' resource for the poor, availability of which is dependent on the presence of a 'critical mass' of other resources. The State plays a pivotal role in cre…
International Development Studies: Theories and Methods in Research and Practice by Andy Sumner and Michael Tribe
Multidimensional Poverty and Identification of Poor Households: A Case from Kerala, India
In this paper we compare and contrast the view on poverty of lay people, who are affected by the policies, with that of academics and policy‐makers. Drawing from fieldwork in a village in Kerala, India, and applying the ‘participatory numbers’ approach, we devise a ‘local method’ to identify poor households, based on the villagers’ poverty criteria. The local method is then compared with the official methods used by the national and the state gov…
Methodological debate in poverty studies: Towards 'Participatory Qual-Quant
Compared with the divisive views of the past, integrative thinking has recently come to characterise the methodological debate on poverty. ‘Qualitative vs quantitative’ has given way to ‘qual–quant’; ‘cross-disciplinarity’ has replaced ‘economics vs anthropology’. This article attempts to review this change. It begins with a historical overview of the pure economic approach to poverty and its critique. The critique, both from within economics and…
Confronting or Complementing? A Case Study on NGO–State Relations from Kerala, India
NGOs have, of late, found some of their traditional domains, such as provision of micro-credit and participatory development, coinciding with or being taken away by the state. How do they position themselves and retain relevance vis-a-vis the state in the changed scenario? Tracing the trajectory of interventions of a local NGO in Kerala, India, this article shows that NGOs exhibit ‘multiple identities’—selective collaboration, gap-filling and pos…
Methodological debate in poverty studies: Towards 'Participatory Qual-Quant
Compared with the divisive views of the past, integrative thinking has recently come to characterise the methodological debate on poverty. ‘Qualitative vs quantitative’ has given way to ‘qual–quant’; ‘cross-disciplinarity’ has replaced ‘economics vs anthropology’. This article attempts to review this change. It begins with a historical overview of the pure economic approach to poverty and its critique. The critique, both from within economics and…
Resilient and Resourceful: A Case Study on How the Poor Cope in Kerala, India
In the backdrop of the popularization of social capital, it has become fashionable in development circles to highlight the resilience of the poor in the midst of stresses and shocks as well as their resourcefulness. Expressing scepticism, this article argues that social capital is a 'conditional' resource for the poor, availability of which is dependent on the presence of a 'critical mass' of other resources. The State plays a pivotal role in cre…
Multidimensional Poverty and Identification of Poor Households: A Case from Kerala, India
In this paper we compare and contrast the view on poverty of lay people, who are affected by the policies, with that of academics and policy‐makers. Drawing from fieldwork in a village in Kerala, India, and applying the ‘participatory numbers’ approach, we devise a ‘local method’ to identify poor households, based on the villagers’ poverty criteria. The local method is then compared with the official methods used by the national and the state gov…
Climate vulnerability and adaptation of water provisioning in developing countries: Approaches to disciplinary and research-practice integration
Methodological debate in poverty studies: Towards 'Participatory Qual-Quant
Compared with the divisive views of the past, integrative thinking has recently come to characterise the methodological debate on poverty. ‘Qualitative vs quantitative’ has given way to ‘qual–quant’; ‘cross-disciplinarity’ has replaced ‘economics vs anthropology’. This article attempts to review this change. It begins with a historical overview of the pure economic approach to poverty and its critique. The critique, both from within economics and…
International Development Studies: Theories and Methods in Research and Practice by Andy Sumner and Michael Tribe
Multidimensional Poverty and Identification of Poor Households: A Case from Kerala, India
In this paper we compare and contrast the view on poverty of lay people, who are affected by the policies, with that of academics and policy‐makers. Drawing from fieldwork in a village in Kerala, India, and applying the ‘participatory numbers’ approach, we devise a ‘local method’ to identify poor households, based on the villagers’ poverty criteria. The local method is then compared with the official methods used by the national and the state gov…
Confronting or Complementing? A Case Study on NGO–State Relations from Kerala, India
NGOs have, of late, found some of their traditional domains, such as provision of micro-credit and participatory development, coinciding with or being taken away by the state. How do they position themselves and retain relevance vis-a-vis the state in the changed scenario? Tracing the trajectory of interventions of a local NGO in Kerala, India, this article shows that NGOs exhibit ‘multiple identities’—selective collaboration, gap-filling and pos…
Participation in the Knowledge Society: The Free and Open Source Software (Foss) movement compared with participatory development
The possibilities and limits of participation at the ‘bottom’ (represented, for example, by PRA and PLA) have been well articulated in development literature. However, the emergence of the Knowledge Society has opened up spaces for what we could call participation at the ‘top’ (free software, wiki, open access), the implications of which Development Studies is only beginning to grapple with. Building upon recent debates on the issue, we take the …
Resilient and Resourceful: A Case Study on How the Poor Cope in Kerala, India
In the backdrop of the popularization of social capital, it has become fashionable in development circles to highlight the resilience of the poor in the midst of stresses and shocks as well as their resourcefulness. Expressing scepticism, this article argues that social capital is a 'conditional' resource for the poor, availability of which is dependent on the presence of a 'critical mass' of other resources. The State plays a pivotal role in cre…
Beyond Money Metrics: Alternative Approaches to Conceptualising and Assessing Ecosystem Services
The concept and valuation of ecosystem services have emerged as growing and dynamic areas of research over the past few years. The adoption of these ideas and methods into mainstream policy discussions and practice has occurred at a rapid pace. Conventionally, the valuation of ecosystem services has been synonymous with estimating the economic (monetary) value of these services. However, monetisation has limitations that need to be acknowledged b…
Climate vulnerability and adaptation of water provisioning in developing countries: Approaches to disciplinary and research-practice integration
The ‘boomerang effect’: Insights for improved climate action
States have been negotiating climate mitigation actions centred around greenhouse gas emissions for several decades. In the wake of the Paris Agreement, a significant body of research has emerged reflecting on the unintended negative consequences of climate mitigation action. More recently, this research includes a focus on climate adaptation actions. The negative impacts have, together, been labelled ‘maladaptation’. Maladaptation as articulated…
Why is adoption of micro-irrigation slow in India? a review
Adoption of micro-irrigation has been slow among farmers in India in spite of concerted efforts. Based on a systematic literature review, this article makes two observations. First, subsidies alone will not lead to greater adoption since decisions on adoption are shaped by household, farm level and institutional factors. Secondly, mere adoption of micro-irrigation will not result in water conservation because farmers are seen to expand the area u…
Are We Measuring the Same Thing: Reconciling Discrepancies in SDG 6 Data in India
There has been a debate over mismatches between different sources of data on sanitation and water access in India. We look at the survey instruments and data from two nationally representative sample surveys, the National Family Health Survey-5 and the 79th round of National Sample Survey. We show that some of the data discrepancies could be attributed to the differences in definitions and indicators used by different agencies. We argue that inte…
Political science (8 works) · Economics (7 works) · Social and Economic Development in India (6 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Citizen journalism (4 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Ecology (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Economic growth (3 works)