IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v57y2026i1p27-49.html

Two Regimes of Waste and Value: ‘Post‐Disaster’ Landscapes in a New India

Author

Listed:
  • Vasudha Chhotray
  • David Singh

Abstract

In this age of ‘disaster capitalism’, catastrophes are neither ‘natural’ nor ‘external’. They are political events mediating and vitally shaping the unequal and exploitative use of environmental resources. India's ‘post‐disaster’ landscapes at the turn of the new millennium powerfully demonstrate how visions of the new‐normal can be imposed in the aftermath of a catastrophe by indomitable state–capital alliances. Insidious ideas of entrepreneurship and a muscular Hindutva‐tinged liberalization have served as the main tropes of post‐disaster recovery and management interventions in India over the past two decades. The article demonstrates how these post‐disaster landscapes, as seen in the cases of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and 1999 Odisha super‐cyclone, can be understood through regimes of waste and value, which redefine the meanings of space and nature. At their core, these regimes rely on the purposive use of institutions, laws and discourses by powerful actors at multiple levels. The article suggests that the post‐disaster landscape offers a unique perspective into the everyday environmental authoritarianism unfolding throughout India today.

Suggested Citation

  • Vasudha Chhotray & David Singh, 2026. "Two Regimes of Waste and Value: ‘Post‐Disaster’ Landscapes in a New India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 57(1), pages 27-49, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:57:y:2026:i:1:p:27-49
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.70038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.70038
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.70038?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chhotray, Vasudha, 2022. "A supercyclone, landscapes of ‘emptiness’ and shrimp aquaculture: The lesser-known trajectories of disaster recovery in coastal Odisha, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    2. Flaherty, Mark & Vandergeest, Peter & Miller, Paul, 1999. "Rice Paddy or Shrimp Pond: Tough Decisions in Rural Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 27(12), pages 2045-2060, December.
    3. James McCarthy, 2019. "Authoritarianism, Populism, and the Environment: Comparative Experiences, Insights, and Perspectives," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(2), pages 301-313, March.
    4. Danielle Zoe Rivera, 2022. "Disaster Colonialism: A Commentary on Disasters beyond Singular Events to Structural Violence," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 126-135, January.
    5. Nick Middeldorp & Philippe Le Billon, 2019. "Deadly Environmental Governance: Authoritarianism, Eco-populism, and the Repression of Environmental and Land Defenders," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(2), pages 324-337, March.
    6. Joshua Mullenite, 2019. "Infrastructure and Authoritarianism in the Land of Waters: A Genealogy of Flood Control in Guyana," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 109(2), pages 502-510, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Thomas Borén & Patrycja Grzyś & Craig Young, 2021. "Spatializing authoritarian neoliberalism by way of cultural politics: City, nation and the European Union in Gdańsk’s politics of cultural policy formation," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(6), pages 1211-1230, September.
    2. Shyamsundar, Priya & Sauls, Laura Aileen & Cheek, Jennifer Zavaleta & Sullivan-Wiley, Kira & Erbaugh, J.T. & Krishnapriya, P.P., 2021. "Global forces of change: Implications for forest-poverty dynamics," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    3. Forsyth, Tim, 2007. "Are Environmental Social Movements Socially Exclusive? An Historical Study from Thailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2110-2130, December.
    4. Hollie Grant & Philippe Le Billon, 2021. "Unrooted responses: Addressing violence against environmental and land defenders," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 39(1), pages 132-151, February.
    5. Danny Marks & John Connell, 2024. "Unequal and unjust: The political ecology of Bangkok’s increasing urban heat island," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(15), pages 2887-2907, November.
    6. Poulomi Bhattacharya & K. N. Ninan, 2011. "Social cost‐benefit analysis of intensive versus traditional shrimp farming: A case study from India," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(4), pages 321-333, November.
    7. Gowing, J. W. & Tuong, T. P. & Hoanh, Chu Thai & Khiem, Nguyen Tri, 2006. "Social and environmental impact of rapid change in the coastal zone of Vietnam: an assessment of sustainability issues," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    8. Juan Albarracín & Rodrigo Moura Karolczak & Jonas Wolff, 2025. "Violence against civil society actors in democracies: Territorialization of criminal economies and the assassination of social activists in Brazil," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 62(5), pages 1411-1427, September.
    9. Vandergeest, Peter, 2007. "Certification and Communities: Alternatives for Regulating the Environmental and Social Impacts of Shrimp Farming," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(7), pages 1152-1171, July.
    10. repec:iwt:bosers:h039108 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Siddharth Sareen & Steven Wolf, 2020. "Accountability and Sustainability Transitions," SPRU Working Paper Series 2020-07, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    12. repec:iwt:bosers:h039103 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Torell, M. & Salamanca, A.M. & Ratner, B.D. (eds.), 2004. "Wetlands management in Cambodia: socioeconomic, ecological, and policy perspectives," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 15986, April.
    14. Bochuan Zhao & Yongfu Li & Yazhu Wang & Guoqing Zhi, 2022. "Research on Expansion Characteristics of Aquaculture Ponds and Variations in Ecosystem Service Value from the Perspective of Protecting Cultivated Lands: A Case Study of Liyang City, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-14, July.
    15. Niedziałkowski, Krzysztof & Konczal, Agata & Mielewczyk, Marcin, 2025. "“Hands off our forests!” - The impact of the authoritarian rule on polish forest policy in the context of the European Green Deal," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    16. Joshua Mullenite, 2020. "History, Colonialism, and Archival Methods in Socio-Hydrological Scholarship: A Case Study of the Boerasirie Conservancy in British Guiana," World, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-11, October.
    17. Andrew Cheon & Shi-Teng Kang & Swetha Ramachandran, 2021. "Determinants of Environmental Conflict: When Do Communities Mobilize against Fossil Fuel Production?," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 65(7-8), pages 1308-1336, August.
    18. Isabelle Vagneron, 2007. "Economic appraisal of profitability and sustainability of peri-urban agriculture in Bangkok [Evaluation economique de la profitabilité et de la durabilité de l'agriculture péri-urbaine à Bangkok]," Post-Print hal-02666459, HAL.
    19. Chhotray, Vasudha, 2022. "A supercyclone, landscapes of ‘emptiness’ and shrimp aquaculture: The lesser-known trajectories of disaster recovery in coastal Odisha, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    20. İnan, Canan Emek & Albulut, Koray, 2022. "Linking actors and scales by green grabbing in Bozbük and Kazıklı," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    21. Mason, Michael, 2022. "Infrastructure under pressure: water management and state-making in Southern Iraq," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114909, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    22. Huitric, Miriam & Folke, Carl & Kautsky, Nils, 2002. "Development and government policies of the shrimp farming industry in Thailand in relation to mangrove ecosystems," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 441-455, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:57:y:2026:i:1:p:27-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.