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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Monsoon Economies: India's History in a Changing Climate

Monsoon Economies: India's History in a Changing Climate

Roy, Tirthankar

Paperback

Series: History for a Sustainable Future

EconomicsEnvironmental StudiesIndian & South Asian History

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0262543583
ISBN13: 9780262543583
Publisher: Mit Pr
Published: Apr 12 2022
Pages: 230
Weight: 0.65
Height: 0.63 Width: 5.20 Depth: 7.95
Language: English
How interventions to mitigate climate-caused poverty and inequality in India came at a cost to environmental sustainability.

In the monsoon regions of South Asia, the rainy season sustains life but brings with it the threat of floods, followed by a long stretch of the year when little gainful work is possible and the threat of famine looms. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, a series of interventions by Indian governments and other actors mitigated these conditions, enabling agricultural growth, encouraging urbanization, and bringing about a permanent decrease in death rates. But these actions--largely efforts to ensure wider access to water--came at a cost to environmental sustainability. In Monsoon Economies, Tirthankar Roy explores the interaction between the environment and the economy in the emergence of modern India.

Roy argues that the tropical monsoon climate makes economic and population growth contingent on water security. But in a water-scarce world, the means used to increase water security not only created environmental stresses but also made political conflict more likely. Roy investigates famine relief, the framing of a seasonal water famine, and the concept of public trust in water; the political movements that challenged socially sanctioned forms of deprivation; water as a public good; water quality in cities; the shift from impounding river water in dams and reservoirs to exploring groundwater; the seasonality of a monsoon economy; and economic lessons from India for a world facing environmental degradation.

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