Soumyadip Chattopadhyay
Biographic Data
| ID | 3696863 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Soumyadip Chattopadhyay |
| GIVEN NAMES | Soumyadip |
| FAMILY NAME | Chattopadhyay |
| SIGNATURE | CHATTOPADHYAY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Visva-Bharati University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7373-1408 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Grounding the self-help groups performances with implications for women empowerment and rural livelihoods
Wl-3438-Union Budget 2025-26 and India’s Quest for Inclusive Cities
The Union Budget 2025-26 underscores the government’s continued commitment to urban transformation by significantly increasing allocations for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). While the increased allocation appears promising, this paper critically examines its effectiveness in building inclusive cities. The introduction of the Urban Challenge Fund raises critical concerns regarding inclusivity and financial viability, as the new…
Emergence of the new poor in rural India
Rural India – following the COVID-induced shrinking of employment opportunities; heavy reliance on adverse coping strategies, including liquidation of productive assets and dispensing with productive investments; and inadequacies in government-support programs – may observe both further deterioration of its existing poor and the emergence of a new poor, with characteristics and implications that are dissimilar to those of the existing poor. The d…
Spatial Analysis of Access to Basic Services in Urban West Bengal
This paper, using data from Census 2011, examines the availability of treated drinking water, latrine facility, drainage facility and electricity between villages, census towns (CTs) and statutory towns (STs) in West Bengal, India. Urban areas of socio-economically developed administrative divisions experienced higher household service coverage. Availability of drinking water and latrine facilities is distinctly better in STs over CTs and CTs ove…
Participatory water institutions and sustainable irrigation management
Based on a survey of selected Water Users’ Associations (WUA) and their members in West Bengal, India, this paper examines the nature and determinants of member participation in irrigation management. WUA meetings were held on a regular basis with higher member participation under Tube Well, Check Dam and River Lift Irrigation schemes. Their physical characteristics (e.g., high sub-surface storage and flowing rivers with large catchment areas) an…
Understanding peoples' participation in urban local government in West Bengal
In light of the potential of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act to reinforce participatory practices in Indian cities, this paper, based on field observation from two municipalities of West Bengal, examines the nature of peoples’ participation and identifies the socio-economic factors determining effective participation. It finds that in West Bengal, municipalities’ failures to set up ward committees, the highly partisan nature of the ward com…
Neoliberal Urban Transformations in Indian Cities
This article attempts to understand state practices of restructuring of urban space and modes of governance, the role and strategies of the different actors involved and their participatory implications related to neoliberal urban transformation in Indian cities. Intergovernmental competition and inter-party conflict have constrained India’s attempts towards ‘state rescaling’, marked by incomplete devolution of authority and resources to the citi…
Contesting inclusiveness
This article attempts to understand the inclusion of citizens and other actors, the structure of incentives and accountability and service delivery outcomes in relation to participatory forms of urban governance in Indian cities. Under a decentralized set-up, the political nature and the poor attendance of people in participative forums seriously serve to undermine the constitutionally envisaged aim of ‘ deepening democracy’. New forms of partici…
Decentralised Provision of Public Services in Developing Countries
This article discusses the problems and prospects of provision of public services under decentralisation of the government. Traditionally, the provision of public services falls under the purview of a centralised planning process. But the system’s failure to adjust public services to heterogeneous local needs results in inadequate provisioning and improper maintenance of these services. Of late, decentralisation has been hailed as an alternative …
Decentralized Urban Governance
One of the major promises of decentralization is that it brings popular participation and accountability to local governance and, therefore, makes local government more responsive to citizens’ desires and more effective in delivering services. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act in India provides the much needed platform to operationalize the rhetoric of decentralization into reality. This amendment marks a distinct watershed in the concept and…
Contours of Governance Reforms in India
Good governance—which includes accountability, transparency, an effective bureaucracy, regulatory quality, electoral competition, political checks and balances and rule of law—is considered the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development. The article discusses changes that have taken place in India with regard to governance reforms, focusing on reforms related to decentralisation. A review of available evidence d…
Decentralisation and delivery of urban basic services
One of the major promises of decentralisation is that it brings popular participation and accountability to local governance, making local government more responsive to citizens' desires and more effective in delivering services. Acknowledging the potential of decentralisation in improving delivery of basic services, the present article uses primary data to demonstrate that higher availability of urban basic services (UBSs) is associated with hig…
Neoliberal Urban Transformations in Indian Cities
This article attempts to understand state practices of restructuring of urban space and modes of governance, the role and strategies of the different actors involved and their participatory implications related to neoliberal urban transformation in Indian cities. Intergovernmental competition and inter-party conflict have constrained India’s attempts towards ‘state rescaling’, marked by incomplete devolution of authority and resources to the citi…
Contesting inclusiveness
This article attempts to understand the inclusion of citizens and other actors, the structure of incentives and accountability and service delivery outcomes in relation to participatory forms of urban governance in Indian cities. Under a decentralized set-up, the political nature and the poor attendance of people in participative forums seriously serve to undermine the constitutionally envisaged aim of ‘ deepening democracy’. New forms of partici…
Understanding peoples' participation in urban local government in West Bengal
In light of the potential of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act to reinforce participatory practices in Indian cities, this paper, based on field observation from two municipalities of West Bengal, examines the nature of peoples’ participation and identifies the socio-economic factors determining effective participation. It finds that in West Bengal, municipalities’ failures to set up ward committees, the highly partisan nature of the ward com…
Emergence of the new poor in rural India
Rural India – following the COVID-induced shrinking of employment opportunities; heavy reliance on adverse coping strategies, including liquidation of productive assets and dispensing with productive investments; and inadequacies in government-support programs – may observe both further deterioration of its existing poor and the emergence of a new poor, with characteristics and implications that are dissimilar to those of the existing poor. The d…
Decentralisation and delivery of urban basic services
One of the major promises of decentralisation is that it brings popular participation and accountability to local governance, making local government more responsive to citizens' desires and more effective in delivering services. Acknowledging the potential of decentralisation in improving delivery of basic services, the present article uses primary data to demonstrate that higher availability of urban basic services (UBSs) is associated with hig…
Decentralized Urban Governance
One of the major promises of decentralization is that it brings popular participation and accountability to local governance and, therefore, makes local government more responsive to citizens’ desires and more effective in delivering services. The 74th Constitutional Amendment Act in India provides the much needed platform to operationalize the rhetoric of decentralization into reality. This amendment marks a distinct watershed in the concept and…
Contours of Governance Reforms in India
Good governance—which includes accountability, transparency, an effective bureaucracy, regulatory quality, electoral competition, political checks and balances and rule of law—is considered the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development. The article discusses changes that have taken place in India with regard to governance reforms, focusing on reforms related to decentralisation. A review of available evidence d…
Decentralisation and delivery of urban basic services
One of the major promises of decentralisation is that it brings popular participation and accountability to local governance, making local government more responsive to citizens' desires and more effective in delivering services. Acknowledging the potential of decentralisation in improving delivery of basic services, the present article uses primary data to demonstrate that higher availability of urban basic services (UBSs) is associated with hig…
Decentralised Provision of Public Services in Developing Countries
This article discusses the problems and prospects of provision of public services under decentralisation of the government. Traditionally, the provision of public services falls under the purview of a centralised planning process. But the system’s failure to adjust public services to heterogeneous local needs results in inadequate provisioning and improper maintenance of these services. Of late, decentralisation has been hailed as an alternative …
Contesting inclusiveness
This article attempts to understand the inclusion of citizens and other actors, the structure of incentives and accountability and service delivery outcomes in relation to participatory forms of urban governance in Indian cities. Under a decentralized set-up, the political nature and the poor attendance of people in participative forums seriously serve to undermine the constitutionally envisaged aim of ‘ deepening democracy’. New forms of partici…
Neoliberal Urban Transformations in Indian Cities
This article attempts to understand state practices of restructuring of urban space and modes of governance, the role and strategies of the different actors involved and their participatory implications related to neoliberal urban transformation in Indian cities. Intergovernmental competition and inter-party conflict have constrained India’s attempts towards ‘state rescaling’, marked by incomplete devolution of authority and resources to the citi…
Understanding peoples' participation in urban local government in West Bengal
In light of the potential of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act to reinforce participatory practices in Indian cities, this paper, based on field observation from two municipalities of West Bengal, examines the nature of peoples’ participation and identifies the socio-economic factors determining effective participation. It finds that in West Bengal, municipalities’ failures to set up ward committees, the highly partisan nature of the ward com…
Participatory water institutions and sustainable irrigation management
Based on a survey of selected Water Users’ Associations (WUA) and their members in West Bengal, India, this paper examines the nature and determinants of member participation in irrigation management. WUA meetings were held on a regular basis with higher member participation under Tube Well, Check Dam and River Lift Irrigation schemes. Their physical characteristics (e.g., high sub-surface storage and flowing rivers with large catchment areas) an…
Emergence of the new poor in rural India
Rural India – following the COVID-induced shrinking of employment opportunities; heavy reliance on adverse coping strategies, including liquidation of productive assets and dispensing with productive investments; and inadequacies in government-support programs – may observe both further deterioration of its existing poor and the emergence of a new poor, with characteristics and implications that are dissimilar to those of the existing poor. The d…
Spatial Analysis of Access to Basic Services in Urban West Bengal
This paper, using data from Census 2011, examines the availability of treated drinking water, latrine facility, drainage facility and electricity between villages, census towns (CTs) and statutory towns (STs) in West Bengal, India. Urban areas of socio-economically developed administrative divisions experienced higher household service coverage. Availability of drinking water and latrine facilities is distinctly better in STs over CTs and CTs ove…
Grounding the self-help groups performances with implications for women empowerment and rural livelihoods
Wl-3438-Union Budget 2025-26 and India’s Quest for Inclusive Cities
The Union Budget 2025-26 underscores the government’s continued commitment to urban transformation by significantly increasing allocations for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). While the increased allocation appears promising, this paper critically examines its effectiveness in building inclusive cities. The introduction of the Urban Challenge Fund raises critical concerns regarding inclusivity and financial viability, as the new…
Political science (11 works) · Economics (8 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Local Government Finance and Decentralization (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Urban and Rural Development Challenges (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Corporate governance (5 works)