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The quest for alternative approaches to tourism has introduced ecotourism. However, in many instances, ecotourism becomes “green washing” process where revenue generation becomes prominent and protection of environmental assets is kept aside. The present article attempts to examine the impact of ecotourism policy on conservation in Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary (BKWS), Odisha, India.

Using social exchange theory (SET), the article examines whether ecotourism reduces the dependency of the local communities on natural resources and also the impact of ecotourism on conservation of biodiversity in BKWS.

The study using a mixed method approach finds that ecotourism in BKWS is able to provide economic benefits to the villagers. The economic benefits from diversified employment opportunities are able to motivate locals to conserve biodiversity. However, the socio-cultural impact is hardly experienced by the villagers.

By examining the linkage of conservation with community development in a diverse society like India, the paper finds the linkage of conservation with development. The paper has also widened the existing ecotourism literature of India and Odisha. The study adopted SET so as to get a comprehensive understanding at the ground level, forming the basis for future research and further conceptual development.

The results of the study will help policy makers to develop an effective conservation strategy by integrating tourism, conservation and sustainable development of the locals so as to make ecotourism a successful approach in BKWS.

For a growing ecotourism site like BKWS, the current study is the first to assess impact of ecotourism on conservation and local people.

Purpose – Public debates about censorship laws largely focus on their desirability and the limits set on free speech. From a historical perspective, however, the logic and contradictions inherent in these laws’ implementation, as well as their evasion, also merit attention. This chapter places at the heart of its investigation the General Communist Notification (1932) in British India which prohibited specific kinds of Communist publications from import and circulation, even more so in a context of mass anti-colonial nationalism. Methodology/Approach – Using government and intelligence agencies’ archival records, intercepted documents of the Communist Party of India, legislative debates and memoirs, this chapter illustrates the censorship of Communist literature in India at two levels: one, it sketches a broad picture of the mode and extent of the censorship of Communist literature in late colonial India (c. 1925–1947). Two, by excavating debates and processes around the treatment to be accorded to books of two British Communist writers, John Strachey and R. P. Dutt, it reveals the constraints and dilemmas of censorship of Communist literature. While doing so, it brings both Indian and British voices to the fore. Findings – This investigation provides valuable insights into the operation of laws related to specific genres of publications, provides an assessment of the success of censorship measures, and highlights the repercussions of their failure. Originality/Value – By illustrating the limited success of censorship measures, as well as the dilemmas of censors and debates among them, this chapter urges for a more nuanced and multidimensional understanding of the operation of censorship, particularly in politically fraught contexts.

In an effort to reduce ambiguity around customs clearance of items deemed pernicious to public morality and present lessons for customs administration, this research aims to explore ways to improve customs clearance for RealDolls. Furthermore, by suggesting specific ideas to improve the process, this research also aims to contribute to the future customs clearance of socially controversial and legally ambiguous items.

The authors have decided to review studies from ethical and legal perspectives to focus on the legislation and its enforcement issues. The literature review is designed to provide insights on how to incorporate legal and ethical reasoning in the customs clearance process for RealDolls. Supplementary interviews were also conducted with criminal lawyers and customs officials to obtain expert knowledge on domestic legislation and customs control against the sex toys industry.

As a result of the study, it is found that a complete ban on RealDoll infringes on individuals' right to pursue happiness guaranteed by the Constitution and in most cases, cannot be implemented without loopholes. Therefore, it is suggested that the import regulation on RealDolls should be changed to the negative list system, which selectively disapproves certain RealDolls based on a list of RealDolls previously denied clearance by either the Supreme Court or the Customs Clearance Screening Committee. In addition, to have sufficient ethical and legal grounds, it is necessary to expand research on RealDolls regulation and actively introduce the process of obtaining social consensus.

There has been little discussion on regulating RealDolls on the customs clearance level; no specific criterion exists except the public morality clause. This study is vital in that it reviews issues of RealDolls customs clearance from legal and ethical perspectives. Doing so also has a practical significance of providing implications for the customs policies regarding items deemed pernicious to public morality.

This study aims to focus on studies that qualitatively explore prison food experience. The goal is to elaborate a framework to better understand how prison food shapes the worldwide carceral experience.

This systematic literature review was based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement. It consists of four phases: identifying the studies, screening the studies, evaluating the eligibility of screened studies and inclusion of studies. After the four phases, ten studies (nine qualitative studies and one with mixed methods) were included in the review.

There is a consensus among the researchers in the reviewed literature that prison food shapes the carceral experience. More specifically, four themes that encompass the experience of people with prison food emerged from the reviewed literature: food appreciation (taste of the prison food and perceived nutritional value), food logistics (preparation, distribution and consumption), food variety (institutional menu and commissary store) and food relationships (symbol of caring or power or punishment).

The literature reviewed demonstrated that when incarcerated individuals have a negative view of prison food, the carceral experience is negatively impacted. This systematic review identified four dimensions that encompass the food experience within the prison environment, providing a framework for navigating this subject.

The chapter explores how gender has been an integral part of the nation building project in post-liberalisation Hindi cinema, popularly, known as Bollywood.

This chapter is based on primary data gathered through interviews with prominent members of the Hindi film industry along with a detailed content analysis of commercially successful post-liberalisation mainstream Hindi films.

It highlights how the representation of gender has been a central axis around which the tension between tradition and modernity has been played out in Hindi Cinema. The construction of Indianness post-liberalisation has questioned gender politics but proposed easy resolutions which fit into the larger nationalist narrative. In doing so, it has used the diaspora as a category to produce a nationalist account which is simultaneously essentialised and transnational in the quest for projecting India’s aspirations on the global platform.

The chapter provides important insights into the role of popular Hindi cinema, often brushed off as frivolous, in contributing to the mainstream discourse on nationalism post-liberalisation.

India gained her political independence in 1947 from British rule. The new democracy chose non‐alignment, installed a large national government and legislated protectionist policies, which kept out most foreign products that almost led to economic isolation. The political leaders believed that protectionism would make India self‐reliant and eventually improve the standard of living especially for the poorer Indians. While other Asian countries were encouraging foreign capital and multinationals, India was doing its best to keep them out (Business Asia, 2000). Although India moved towards self‐reliance, the lack of competition hindered the country’s own economic and technological developments. As a result the market was forced to accept local products that were often inferior or old‐fashioned. For example, until recently the leading car on India’s road was “Ambassador”, a reproduction of a British design from the early 1950s that was bulky and a gas‐guzzler.

The abolition of slavery in the British Empire demanded a complete transformation of the global legal and political order. Focusing on British India, this chapter argues that this restructuring was, in and of itself, a vital racial project that played out on a global stage. Examining these dynamics over the nineteenth century, I trace how this project unfolded from the vantage point of the Bombay Presidency and the western coast of India, tightly integrated into Indian Ocean networks trading goods, ideas, and, of course, peoples. I show how Shidis – African origin groups in South Asia and across the Middle East – were almost the sole subjects of British antislavery interventions in India after abolition. This association was intensified over the nineteenth century as Indian slavery was simultaneously reconfigured to recede from view. This chapter establishes these dynamics empirically by examining a dataset of encounters at borders, ports, and transit hubs, showing how the legal and political regime that emerged after abolition forged novel configurations around “race” and “slavery.” Documenting these “benign” encounters shifts attention to the racializing dimensions of imperial abolition, rather than enslavement. Once “freed,” the administrative and bureaucratic apparatus that monitored and managed Shidis inscribed this identity into the knowledge regime of the colonial state resulting in the long-term racialization of Shidis in South Asia, the effects of which are still present today.