Panel Discussion: Myth of Infrastructure development and Economic Recovery

The session would focus on the key national infrastructure programmes like National Infrastructure Pipeline, National Monetisation Pipeline, Gati Shakti Mission, etc. along with looking at linkages of infrastructure projects with economic growth/ recovery. The session would try to demystify whether the push for infrastructure growth has resulted in economic recovery as per the claims made. Additionally, the session would focus on the role of infrastructure projects in the rising NPAs and the load on India’s financial system due to cost overruns and project delays and its larger implications on the economy.

• Prof. Chirashree Dasgupta
• Prof. Surajit Mazumdar
• Nitin Sethi

Moderator: Anirban Bhattacharya

Presentation and Discussion: Financing and Financing Models for Infrastructure Projects 

This session would look to explore the financing issues around infrastructure projects, financial institutions and policies. It would also discuss various models and modalities through which financing occurs in the infrastructure sector. The thrust will be towards drawing a complete picture of the various mechanisms used by financial institutions (both national and international) and foreign private investment in infrastructure projects and the role played by such actors.

• Sonal Raghuvanshi
• Gaurav Dwivedi

Moderator: Priya Dharshini

Panel Discussion: Democratic Governance in the era of privatised infrastructure projects

This session will try to draw light to the issue of democratic governance in the past decades of increasing trends of privatised infrastructure projects. The top-down politics in the planning and governance of massive projects has been known to sideline democratic institutions and processes. This session will try to look at the governance question from the transparency, accountability, participation and regulatory aspects. This is one of the core areas which social movements and civil society organisations have been emphasising on.

• Ravikant Joshi (Urban Infrastructure)

• Indranil (Social Infrastructure)

• Tikendar Panwar (Urban Infrastructure)
• Jesu Rethinam (Coastal Infrastructure)

Moderator: Shweta Tripathi

Panel Discussion: Privatisation/ PPPs in infrastructure projects

The session would focus on the role of privatisation of infrastructure projects and the prevalent PPP Model in perpetuating further privatisation. With programmes like National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) enabling access to private players over public resources over the decades and the increasing role of private players in executing the key infrastructure projects also signifies transfer of public resources and public commons in their hands. The other important aspect to be explored is increasing policy push to bring in private investments into infrastructure projects. The session would also explore the implication of privatisation on social infrastructure like education and health and how it is leading to further exclusion of the marginalised.

• AJ Vijayan (Ports)
• Shripad Dharmadhikary (Water Infrastructure)
• Ranjit Gadgil (Transport Infrastructure)
• Jammu Anand (Urban Projects)

Moderator: Rajendra Ravi

Panel Discussion: Overlooking Environmental Jurisprudence for infrastructure development

This session would look to discuss the transformations in the legal and regulatory mechanisms governing the environment aspects in the country. The legal and regulatory mechanisms have been amended consistently to increase the pace of construction of infrastructure projects overriding the environmental laws and concerns. These changes have serious impacts on eco-systems across the country. The session would bring and overarching understanding of these changes in different sectors across the country and its implications on the local environment and communities.

• Avli Verma (Inland waterways)
• Sharath Chelloor (K Rail)
• Bharat Patel (Tata Mundra)
• Suma TR (Tourism Projects)

Moderator: Anil Thayarath Varghese

Presentation and Discussion: New models of land grabbing

This session would aim to address the reality of infrastructure development in India and how this can become an easy reason for monopolistic control of the commons such as land by private and state-backed bureaucratic structures. The session will try to understand the current state of conflicts associated with land grabbing and what it means for the communities that derive their livelihood from such resources.

• Preeti Sampat (Overview)
• Kumar Sambhav (Land Grabbing mechanisms)
• Bhargavi Rao (Mega Renewable Projects)
• Siddharth Joshi (Industrial Corridors)

Moderator: Joe Athialy

Presentation and Discussion: Aggravating Climate Crisis: Impacts of large infrastructure projects

Experts world over have called for a radical change in how governments plan, deliver and manage infrastructure projects – emphasizing the often-overlooked role infrastructure plays in combating climate change, mitigation, and adaptation efforts. Various findings highlight that infrastructure construction is responsible for 79 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, as well as 88 per cent of all adaptation costs and therefore the sector is centrally important to achieving the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. This session will look at the influence of infrastructure development on climate action and what role does large infrastructure play in this regard. The central question for this session is not whether we need infrastructure but rather delving upon why infrastructure development in its current stream is not sustainable, resilient and compatible to a sustainable future.

• Aahana Ganguly (Coastal Projects)
• Soumya Dutta (Mega Renewables)
• Sreedhar Ramamoorthy (Large Infra Projects)

Moderator: Jimmy James

Panel Discussion: Resisting Mega Infrastructure Projects

Rising thrust on big infrastructure projects has also seen rise in protest and resistance movements across communities in India and abroad. The modalities and pressure points for the protests have taken umpteenth shapes and continue to see connected struggles. This session will aim to look at various aspects that a complaint against a big infrastructure project could deal with, from legal to financiers, advocacy at the national level to conjoining international struggles. The session will also bring in case studies of some popular resistance put forth by communities.

• Leo Saldanha
• Anand Yagnik
• Krishnakant
• Anuradha Munshi

Moderator: Sanjeev Kumar