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Indian paper industry depends on natural resources for its raw material supply, hence it has to balance both paper production and natural resource consumption for its survival and sustenance. Any imbalance in this regard can pose threat to this industry's survival on one hand and put adverse impact of this industry upon environment on the other. The present paper analyses how some of the paper industries falling under the ambit of CSR clause 135 are taking initiatives for CSR and sustainability in order to have responsible and sustained existence in the corporate world. This study tries to probe into the areas where there is more requirement of CSR expenditure and scalability/replicability of CSR projects. Gap analysis has also been done to see the gaps between the amount allocated for CSR initiatives and the amount actually spent. The paper proposes a logical framework for CSR that is based on Bertelsmann's iooi method with certain modifications by inclusion of moderators like ethics, values, legal obligations, knowledge and skills that influence decision on CSR initiatives. The various efforts taken by paper industries for CSR projects, their monitoring and evaluation shall stand as an answer to CSR clause 135. Though the clause is in its initial phase, but the study shall help analyse if organisations are living up to the spirit of the clause and contributing for the benefit of environment and community. The study concludes that with the coming up of the clause, the focus on CSR has increased. Also, there have been efforts on the part of industries to comply with the clause but standard planning and evaluation frameworks have to be followed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction conveys some data on learning in India and on designing Geography textbooks in this country. The present paper is reliant on four Geography textbooks, ranging from the 9th to the 12th grade. As regards each textbook, the study considers their learning units, then analyses their structure, the unitary way of designing them, the components of the panels of authors, the texts, illustrative materials, drills, learning activities, language, the wealth of Geography lexis, and the glossary.

Over the last two decades, education privatization has become a widespread phenomenon, affecting most education systems and giving place to a consistent increase in private school enrolment globally. However, far from being a monolithic phenomenon, privatization advances through a variety of context-sensitive policy processes that translate into multiple policy outcomes. This paper aims at understanding why and how education privatization unfolds in a broad variety of settings and, to this purpose, examines the different manifestations of education privatization on the light of Cultural Political Economy (CPE). The conceptual and analytical tools provided by CPE prove to be particularly well suited to explore such a multi-faceted and multi-scalar phenomenon. CPE has helped us to capture the intersect and tension between different drivers (global and local, material and ideational) of education privatization through the evolutionary mechanisms of variation, selection and retention. On the basis of a systematic literature review methodology, encompassing 227 research papers, the article identifies and systematizes six different paths towards education privatization--understood as groups of frequently associated circumstances, mechanisms and courses of action leading to privatization. Conceived as ideal types, these different paths ultimately allow for a richer understanding of education privatization and show that the international diffusion of education privatization norms and discourses is far from producing policy convergence at a global scale.

How much is hegemony and how much is self-determination in the higher education systems in Southeast Asia? This paper argues that while the question of centre and periphery is still relevant to the analysis of international university systems, the analytical frameworks from which it has arisen may lose viability in the long term. Southeast Asian states are making use of higher education to act in ways that will contribute to the altering of their peripheral position in the global economic and political system. While changes in Southeast Asian higher education are closely tied to global markets and follow what sometimes appears to be a dependent pattern of adaptations driven by Western developed economies, the paper argues that there is also a significant amount of resistance. As Southeast Asian countries adapt in ways that help embed economic globalisation within their national landscape, the manner in which the adaptation occurs is more selective, open, and democratic than before. Moreover, while global communication with core (centre) university systems has been more open and transparent, the system is closed to direct intervention from the outside, making hegemony a less plausible explanation for the manner in which the system is reacting within the new global environment of financial interdependency.

Major demographic changes around the world. Disproportionate sovereign debt. A shift from North America, Western Europe, and Japan to emerging economies as centers of growth. Unprecedented levels of market risk and volatility. The structure of the global economy is undergoing significant changes. Michael Oyster, managing principal of Fund Evaluation Group, explored this topic with Sam DeRosa-Farag, principal of the investment team at Morgan Creek Capital Management, and Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments.

The paper argues that access to public infrastructure plays a crucial role on the presence of private schools in a community, as it could not only minimise the cost of production, but also ensure a high return to private investment. Results using community, school and child/household-level PROBE survey data from five north Indian states provide some support to this central hypothesis: even after controlling for all other factors, access to village infrastructural facilities is associated with a higher likelihood of having a private school in the community. This is also corroborated by an analysis of household demand for private schools. The paper concludes by examining the effect of private school presence on year 5 pass rates: while all-school pass rates are significantly higher in villages with a private school, private school presence fails to have significant effect on local state school pass rates.

Educational access in developing countries has improved significantly in recent years, but less evidence is available on learning and learning progress in comparative perspective. This paper employs data from Young Lives to examine levels and trends in cognitive skill development and the links to enrolment in school across the four study countries for pupils aged five to 15. Non-continuous patterns of enrolment are linked to lower learning levels in all countries, as are key indicators of home background disadvantage. Large differences in learning and learning progress are also found between the four countries' education sytems, with "learning gains" being typically highest in Vietnam and much lower in India (Andhra Pradesh) and Ethiopia. Inequalities linked to prior learning and home backgrounds are wide in Peru, while in Ethiopia and India relatively low levels of learning progress are a more general concern. In Ethiopia, both enrolment and quality improvements remain priorities for policy, while in India high levels of primary school enrolment, at younger ages than in the other study countries, suggest that comprehensive quality improvements may be required, nonetheless with a focus on disadvantaged pupils and those with low attainment in the early years.

In this paper, using the "2005-2006 National Family Health Survey" dataset from India, we study the likelihood of a school-age child working, combining work with schooling or being idle, rather than attending school full time. Our analysis finds that with the inclusion of household chores in the child labour definition, boys are significantly more likely than girls to be full-time students and significantly less likely to be working, being idle or combining school and work. There are also significant regional differences, with children from the north-eastern states significantly more likely to be in the idle category rather than in school. The likelihood of being in the idle category is also significantly higher for older children, children with pre-school age siblings, urban children, Muslims and children from Scheduled Tribes. Finally, parental education, household wealth and land ownership are significantly and negatively correlated with the likelihood that the child is working, but land ownership does increase the risk of a child combining work and schooling.

This paper estimates the distribution of educational returns by gender for India. While previous studies focus on mean returns, the variance of educational returns has important implications for policy-making and micro-level decision making with respect to education. If the variance of educational returns is large, it can leave large sections of the population with negative returns; if the variance of educational returns is gender specific, it can influence households' decisions to educate girls versus boys. Our econometric results provide evidence that India's labor markets are characterized by significant uncertainty and that the uncertainty is systematically larger for women. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

Although it is well known that vaccines against many infectious diseases confer positive economic externalities via indirect protection, analysts have typically ignored possible herd protection effects in policy analyses of vaccination programs. Despite a growing literature on the economic theory of vaccine externalities and several innovative mathematical modeling approaches, there have been almost no empirical applications. The first objective of the paper is to develop a transparent, accessible economic framework for assessing the private and social economic benefits of vaccination. We also describe how stated preference studies (for example, contingent valuation and choice modeling) can be useful sources of economic data for this analytic framework. We demonstrate socially optimal policies using a graphical approach, starting with a standard textbook depiction of Pigouvian subsidies applied to herd protection from vaccination programs. We also describe nonstandard depictions that highlight some counterintuitive implications of herd protection that we feel are not commonly understood in the applied policy literature. We illustrate the approach using economic and epidemiological data from two neighborhoods in Kolkata, India. We use recently published epidemiological data on the indirect effects of cholera vaccination in Matlab, Bangladesh (Ali et al., 2005) for fitting a simple mathematical model of how protection changes with vaccine coverage. We use new data on costs and private demand for cholera vaccines in Kolkata, India, and approximate the optimal Pigouvian subsidy. We find that if the optimal subsidy is unknown, selling vaccines at full marginal cost may, under some circumstances, be a preferable second-best option to providing them for free. (Contains 14 footnotes, 2 tables, and 8 figures.)

A comprehensive case study of Mumbai (Bombay), India was undertaken to investigate the economic, social and environmental impact of international trade of waste paper for recycling purposes between industrialized and developing countries. Analysis of a Western approach vis-a-vis informal policy for waste paper recovery concludes that employment is maximum under informal policy measure and public response playsan important role in maintaining environmental quality. The study further shows that income inequality is more under informal policy, andwithout policy public cost will increase continuously in the future.The net present value of the informal policy is found to be higher than that for the formal policy. Econometric study on input substitution in the Indian paper industry suggests limited substitution possibilities between domestic and imported waste paper. Results from a static material balance flow model indicate that environmental impacts are less with increased trade and economically the paper sector in India benefits from free trade. Based upon the results of the study, somepolicy recommendations have been made that may enhance the efficiency of waste paper recycling in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proportion of women in paid employment in India is very low, and working women tend to be concentrated in low-wage, low-status, unskilled jobs, especially in agriculture. Even for the few women working in the modern sector, discrimination is pervasive, and change seems unlikely to occur soon. (IS)

This paper seeks to examine the relationship between competitivenessand environment-friendly behaviour of producers under an economic liberalisation regime. For that purpose, it employs a probit model and estimates the influence of the prime movers of industrial growth suchas technical change and economies of scale on environmental degradation. The empirical results of the study of pulp and paper industry, identified as one of the most polluting industries in India, indicate that these variables, as the key players of competitiveness improvement, have positive influence on environment-friendly behaviour. Such findings, therefore, fail to provide support to a view that articulates ruthless exploitation of the environment under economic liberalisation programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a few studies have assessed the economic outcomes of palliative care in India. The major areas of interest include hospice care, the process and structure of care, symptom management, and palliative chemotherapy compared to best supportive care. At present, there is no definite health-care system followed in India. Medical bankruptcy is common. In situations where patients bear most of the costs, medical decision-making might have significant implications on economics of health care. Game theory might help in deciphering the underlying complexities of decision-making when considered as a two person nonzero sum game. Overall, interdisciplinary communication and cooperation between health economists and palliative care team seem necessary. This will lead to enhanced understanding of the challenges faced by each other and hopefully help develop ways to create meaningful, accurate, and reliable health economic data. These results can then be used as powerful advocacy tools to convince governments to allocate more funds for the cause of palliative care. Eventually, this will save overall costs and avoid unnecessary health-care spending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of poverty has bothered Indian economists, policymakers, and politicians alike. The rapid economic growth was unable to trickle down to the poorest which has led to the persistence of poverty both in urban and rural India even after 75 years of independence. Keeping this in view this paper has tried to examine the regional variations in the spatial pattern of incidence of urban poverty in India across 17 major states using data from the 28th and 68th NSS rounds. It also attempts to isolate the key determinants responsible for these variations. The objective of this paper is twofold; one is to bring out changes in the pattern of regional variations in urban poverty across 17 major states of India from 1973 to 74 to 2011–12 and the second is to identify the determinants responsible for these variations. The selection of regional units is based on the availability of comparable data as well as on theoretical considerations. For this study, therefore, we have considered each state as a single regional unit as they are home to largely homogeneous populations with common history and language, topography, institutions, and laws and at the same time each state is different from the other on account of unique factors. Therefore, interstate variations in this paper imply regional variations across 17 major Indian states. The results obtained through an instrumental variable estimation suggest that this effect is causal and is largely attributable to the positive spillovers of urbanization on the rural economy rather than to the movement of the rural poor to urban areas. Concerning the growth process, both urban–rural and sectoral (output) growth poverty relationships are suggestive of stronger intersectoral linkages in the economy, whereby growth in one sector transmits its gains elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Market efficiency leads to transparent and fair price discovery of commodity markets, thus enhancing the value chain for competitive benefit. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the market efficiency of Indian agricultural commodities at spot, futures and mandi markets apart from exploring price risk management in these markets. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses Johansen co-integration, vector error correction model and granger causality for analyzing market efficiency of the nine most liquid agricultural commodities across three markets, namely, spot, futures and mandi. All these nine commodities are traded on National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange. Findings: The statistical results indicate price discovery exists in the mandi market and spot market leading to futures prices. Mandi price returns are seen to negatively influence futures returns in the case of cotton seed, guar seed and spot returns in the case of jeera, coriander and chana. For castor seed, the three markets are seen to have no long run relationship. The results of Granger causality reveal short run relationship between all the three markets in the case of soybean seed and coriander. In these commodities, prices in all three markets are capable of predicting the prices in the other markets. For the case of cottonseed, Rape Mustard seed, jeera, guar seed, the results indicate unidirectional causality between the mandi markets and the other two markets. Research limitations/implications: These results shall facilitate policymakers to explore intervention through integrated agri-platform (IAP) in price discovery and market efficiency. Practical implications: The results of this study are useful in understanding the price discovery of mandi markets and its role in the spot and futures market. Agricultural commodities price discovery depends upon the integration of all these three markets. Introduction of IAP as described in the paper shall facilitate price risk management apart from improving the efficiency of price discovery. Originality/value: To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study considering mandi, spot and futures prices in the price discovery process in India. In addition, this study found the role of mandi markets in serving the economic function of price discovery and price risk management. Hence, suggests for policy intervention for Indian agricultural commodities to manage price risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the consequences of the hugely successful expansion of South-South Cooperation since the new millennium. For all the achievements, variations and change over the 1950s-late 1990s, 'SSC 1.0' was characterised by relative neglect within the 'international' development community, and by many orthodox and critical scholars. In the chronological schema of the paper, 'SSC 2.0' refers to the period of remarkable expansion from the early 2000s to the present. The emergence of 'SSC 3.0', I suggest, is currently revealed by a discernible set of shifts driven in large part by the expansionary successes of SSC 2.0, as well as other turns in the global political economy. Three contemporary trends are identified: cooperation narratives that are increasingly 'muscular', nationalistic and pragmatic; difficulties sustaining claims to 'non-interference' in partner countries; and the further erosion of ideational and operational distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the relationship between land revenue systems and returns to agricultural labour in colonial India. I provide the first district‐level comparative estimates of agricultural labour returns relative to average income, on the basis of wage/income ratios for 1916. I then use those estimates to analyse the impact of the land revenue systems established by the British colonial authorities. Results show that districts with a larger proportion of non‐landlord land revenue systems presented higher relative wages, closer to the average income. This effect was mainly driven by differences in land concentration connected to the type of landownership introduced by land revenue systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the effectiveness of insider trading enforcement actions in India and international dimensions.Design/methodology/approach The research is based on the insider trading regulations and amendments made during the period 1992-2015.Findings The notable observation of the study is the dearth of insider trading conviction and the paucity of prosecution for insider trading offences in India. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that surveillance and enforcement matter more than the drafting of the relevant statutes and regulations in emerging markets. Whereas, developed countries have a better record of prosecution than emerging markets.Research limitations/implications Future research may explore the factors that hinder effective regulation and recommend new methods to increase the impact of Securities and Exchange Board of India insider trading regulation.Originality/value The current paper presents guidance for the foreign institutional investors, regulators and market participants on insider trading regulation and prosecution in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about transnational cancer care in Asia. People with terminal diseases such as cancer increasingly escape devastating prognosis of their local regimes of clinical diagnostic truth by traveling to destinations where medicine is more advanced, yet affordable for them, and hence offers a broader scope for hope. The paper suggests that transnational cancer care provides an instructive case of the enormous geographical disparities in the availability of therapies and how this, combined with economies of hope and the marketization of health care, affects patients and their family caregivers. The primary contribution of the paper is the introduction of the concept of relational subjectivities to the health mobilities literature. The findings presented proof that the concept provides a fruitful analytical lens, yielding not only fresh empirical insights but prompting re-conceptualizations of medical travel itself as hopeful, yet risky transnational acts of family care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses three important questions. First, what are the trends, levels and sources of income inequality in India? Second, how have been the patterns of income mobility? And finally, exploring the relationship between income mobility and income inequality in the context of India. Results, based on recent India Human Development Survey (IHDS) longitudinal data, advocate that not only is income inequality very high, nonetheless, it has increased - mainly attributable to different income sources - in India. The paper also focused on whether or not this income mobility equalizes longerterm incomes. Results suggest income mobility has resulted in-albeit not robust- equalizing longer-term incomes. Thus, based on imperative findings, the paper suggests, the nature of longer-term wellbeing is crucial to designing policy interventions to effectively tackle inequality and in this context, economic mobility can be seen as an avenue to long-term equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trickle-down has been addressed, so far, using income-based measures of inequality and poverty. However concerns over the inequality in access to other dimensions important for quality of life remains. I revisit trickle-down using the Alkire and Foster (J Public Econ 95(7-8), 2011) class of measures to estimate multidimensional poverty in India. Using NSS data estimates are presented for the 16 major states and are compared to income-based measures. Adding dimensions in poverty measurement results in the reversal of several income-based conclusions about poverty across regions. The paper also finds that contrary to income-based findings, Muslims are less poor than Hindus under the multidimensional criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Resource allocation decisions for disease categories can be informed by proper estimates of the magnitude and distribution of total spending. In the backdrop of a high burden of Non-Communicable Diseases and Injuries (NCDI) in India, and a paucity of estimates on government spending on NCDI, this paper attempts to analyse public sector expenditure on NCDI spending in India. Methods: Various recent budget documents of the Centre and States/Union Territories have been used to extract expenditure on NCDI. The aggregates thus arrived at have been analysed to estimate aggregate and state level per capita spending. State level spending have been compared against disease burden using DALYs. Patterns of spending on NCDI across states were also analysed together with state level poverty to observe possible patterns. Findings: The total spending on NCDI by the government is low at less than 0.5% of GDP. NCDI spending is little more than one-fourth of total health spending of the country and most spending takes place at the state level (80%). The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s share in Central spending on NCDI is around 65%, and currently it spends 20% of its total health spending on NCDI. The gap between spending and DALYs is the most for the economically vulnerable states. Also, the states with high poverty levels also have low per capita expenditure on NCDI Interpretation: India does not depend on donor funding for health. It will have to step up domestic funding to address the increasing disease burden of NCDIs and to reduce the high out-of-pocket expenditure on NCDI. Policies on NCDI need to focus on UHC, service integration and personnel gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the industry sector on the voluntary environmental disclosure and the association between the firm's carbon-related risk exposure and the cost of equity. Design/methodology/approach The study covers ET top 20 Indian firms from seven different industry sectors over the period 2011-2014. Environmental Disclosures Model is developed to test the industry sector effect on the voluntary environmental disclosure. Further, a regression model is developed to investigate the association between voluntary environmental disclosure and the cost of equity. Findings Using panel data regression analysis, this paper finds a positive association between the carbon-related risk exposure and the cost of equity capital. Firms with carbon-related risk exposure in capital market have a greater cost of equity. This study also found that the firms, which are operating in the highly environmental-sensitive industry sectors, are more likely to disclose carbon information publicly compared to those, which are operating in the less environmental-sensitive industry sectors. Originality / value Previous literature confirmed that the firm's carbon-related risk exposure adversely affects corporate entities' cost of equity financing in developed economies. Yet, an important question remains unanswered that how investors in developing countries use firm's carbon-related risk exposure in their investing decisions. In this paper, we tried to answer this question within the context of the Indian equity market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The changing population age structure has a significant influence on the economy, society, and numerous other aspects of a country. This paper has innovatively applied the method of compositional data forecasting for the prediction of population age changes of the young (aged 0–14), the middle-aged (aged 15–64), and the elderly (aged older than 65) in China, India, and Vietnam by 2030 based on data from 1960 to 2016. To select the best-suited forecasting model, an array of data transformation approaches and forecasting models have been extensively employed, and a large number of comparisons have been made between the aforementioned methods. The best-suited model for each country is identified considering the root mean squared error and mean absolute percent error values from the compositional data. As noted in this study, first and foremost, it is predicted that by the year 2030, China will witness the disappearance of population dividend and get mired in an aging problem far more severe than that of India or Vietnam. Second, Vietnam’s trend of change in population age structure resembles that of China, but the country will sustain its good health as a whole. Finally, the working population of India demonstrates a strong rising trend, indicating that the age structure of the Indian population still remains relatively “young”. Meanwhile, the continuous rise in the proportion of elderly population and the gradual leveling off growth of the young population have nevertheless become serious problems in the world. The present paper attempts to offer crucial insights into the Asian population size, labor market and urbanization, and, moreover, provides suggestions for a sustainable global demographic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the applicability of Bradford law of scattering of the publications of India and China. The data for the study collected from WOS database, 887 journals publishing 1924 economics subject publications from India and 1627 journals published 4427 Chinese economics publications. The ranked list of journals prepared for both the datasets and the applicability of Bradford's law was tested. The journals distribution pattern of the economics literature fit Bradford's distribution pattern. The applicability of Egghe's model (modification of Leimkuhler's model) was also tested and found valid for both the datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impressive growth rates in rice and wheat yields achieved in Asia during the 1960s and 1970s were not maintained in the 1980s and 1990s. Cereal yields are still increasing, but the rates of increase have slowed and many farmers are applying larger amounts of purchased inputs to maintain and extend earlier gains in productivity. The declining growth rates are caused largely by declining soil fertility, insufficient use of phosphorus fertilizer, waterlogging, salinization, and groundwater depletion. This paper describes how subsidy programs implemented to motivate adoption of Green Revolution technologies have contributed, over time, to the inappropriate use of inputs and the resource degradation that may be causing the declining rates of growth in crop yields. Alternative policies that encourage farmers to consider the true costs of scarce resources and the long-term impacts of their decisions may be helpful in restoring positive rates of growth in crop yields. Those policies are described within the context of a dynamic, farm-level input use, and decisions made in one year may have long-term impacts on land and water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to examine the impact of initial public offerings (IPO)-year opportunistic earnings management on long-term market and earnings performance.Design/methodology/approach A sample of 150 book-built IPOs over 2001-2006 are analysed based on industry adjusted return on sales and industry adjusted return on assets for six post-IPO years. The quality of earnings is measured in two ways using discretionary accruals and Beneish manipulation score. Modified Jones model is used to estimate the expected accruals and to compute the discretionary accruals for each IPO firm year. Regression model is used to examine the impact of IPO-year quality of earnings on future earnings performance.Findings The paper finds that earnings and market performance of IPO companies are abnormally higher in the IPO-year, as compared to the post-IPO years. Similarly, the quality of earnings during the IPO-year is lower than those in the post-IPO years. The results also show that the opportunistic earnings management in IPO-year has significant negative impact on the long-term adjusted earnings and market performance.Research limitations/implications The present study is confined to the period from 2001 to 2006 for the purpose of post-IPO analysis for a period of six post-IPO years. Thus, the conclusions of this study are to be viewed with this limitation.Originality/value This paper is the first study based on the Indian context to examine the relationship between the quality of earnings of the IPO firm and long-term earnings and market performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of rental housing in India has declined significantly over the years for various reasons, including the nature of the rent control laws. This paper assesses the impact of rent control for Mumbai, where it has created a shortfall in formal, affordable rental housing and contributed to distortions in the land market. The paper describes how "first-generation" rent control in Mumbai has led to deterioration of the existing rental housing stock, virtually halted the construction of new housing for rental in the city, and given rise to informal practices such as pagdi or key money. It also analyses the spatial concentration and composition of rent-controlled tenements in the city. It proposes reforms that would allow a gradual move towards rationalized rent controls, arguing that such second-generation controls will help incentivize investments in the rental sector and reduce the demand in the housing market at large, with implications for prices and affordable housing in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

T.S. Papola, who passed away in November 2015, was one of the founding members of the Editorial Board of the International Labour Review in 2007. But he was above all a pioneering figure of labour economics in India, whose influential work has gained wide international recognition. Drawing on the author's personal acquaintance and collaboration with Professor Papola, this short article highlights some of his major contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper examines two state-led public-private demand-side financial support programs aiming to raise hospital delivery rates in two neighbouring Indian states-Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The national Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) was complemented with a public-private partnership program Janani Sahayogi Yojana (JSaY) in Madhya Pradesh in which private obstetricians were paid to deliver poor women. A higher amount was paid for caesarean sections (CS) than for vaginal deliveries (VD). In Gujarat state, the state program Chiranjeevi Yojana (CY) paid private obstetricians a fixed amount for a block 100 deliveries irrespective of delivery mode. The two systems thus offered an opportunity to observe the influence of supplier-induced demand (SID) from opposite incentives related to delivery mode. Methods: The data from the two programs was sourced from the Departments of Health and Family Welfare, Governments of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, India. Results: In JSaY program the CS rate increased from 26.6 % (2007-2008) to 40.7 % (2010-2011), against the background rate for CS in Madhya Pradesh, of only 4.9 % (2004-2006). Meanwhile in CY program in Gujarat, the CS rate decreased to 4.3 % (2010-2011) against a background CS rate of 8.1 % (2004-2006). Conclusions: The findings from India are unique in that they not only point to a significant impact from the introduction of the financial incentives but also how disincentives have an inverse impact on the choice of delivery method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss the opportunities and challenges that India offers in terms of leveraging the cultural and economic potential of the fairs and festivals. Design/methodology/approach – This paper sets the tone for the theme by evaluating “fairs and festivals” being organized all year round in different parts of the country, as drivers of economic growth and cultural continuity. Findings – The paper probes the key opportunities and challenges with respect to leveraging the cultural and economic potential of fairs and festivals in India. Practical implications – There are a number of practical implications for practitioners and policymakers that will allow India to optimally leverage the huge cultural and economic potential that the various fairs and festivals offer. This requires a holistic understanding that will ensure that aspirations and concerns of all key stakeholders are taken into account. Originality/value – The research through this theme issue will document the cultural and economic impact of a range of specific fairs and festivals in India. Can these cultural resources be sustained and deployed effectively to have a positive economic impact on the lives of communities connected? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India’s coal demand is forecast to increase at a rapid pace in the future due to the country’s economic and population growth. Analyzing the scope for future production of India’s domestic coal resources, therefore, plays a vital role in the country’s development of sound energy policies. This paper presents a quantitative scenario analysis of India’s potential future coal production by using a negatively skewed curve-fitting model and a range of estimates of the country’s ultimately recoverable resources (URR) of coal. The results show that the resource base is sufficient for India’s coal production to keep increasing over the next few decades, to reach between 2400 and 3200 Mt/y at 2050, depending on the assumed value of URR. A further analysis shows that the high end of this range, which corresponds to our ‘GSI’ scenario, can be considered as the probable upper-bound to India’s domestic coal production. Comparison of production based on the ‘GSI’ scenario with India’s predicted demand shows that the domestic production of coal will be insufficient to meet the country’s rising coal demand, with the gap between demand and production increasing from its current value of about 268 Mt/y to reach 300 Mt/y in 2035, and 700 Mt/y by 2050. This increasing gap will be challenging for the energy security of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the political complexities of retail liberalization in a developing country such as India in the overall context of liberalization of trade in services. Drawing on the experiences of other developing countries and India's experiences in the past decade of allowing FDI in retail, the paper found that retail modernization is a part of economic development and it will continue to happen. The governments of developing countries have to take into account multiple perceptions related to retail liberalization and design a policy that is non-discriminatory and transparent. Appropriate policies should be in place to support the traditional retailers to face competition. Developing countries should be willing to bind their unilateral liberalization in trade agreements and this will enhance their bargaining power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the recent global financial crisis and the afterwards economic slowdown of the major trading associates of India have brought about one of the most difficult challenges to the international trade of India. Export and import, severely declined, leading to serious reductions in economic growth of India. Global trade volume growth rate declined to 2.8% in 2008 which was 7.3% in 2007. India's foreign trade also dropped parallel to global trade volumes. In the year 2007-08, India's exports and imports growth rate was 28.87% and 35.38% respectively, which reduced to 12.21% and 18.85% respectively in year 2008-09. Further the exports and imports growth rate had turned negative to -2.21% and -3.50% respectively in financial year 2009-10. In this paper, an analysis of India's foreign trade has been undertaken to see the impact of global financial crisis on international trade. The paper studies India's foreign trade by analyzing imports, exports and direction in detail. The analysis has been done by comparing all variables before, during and after the global financial crisis. Data for this purpose have been taken from the handbooks of statistics compiled by the RBI and Ministry of Commerce & Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to examine event sponsorship decision making by the Indian drinks industry, comparing the non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks sectors. Design/methodology/approach – Data regarding event sponsorship activity, perceptions of event sponsorship, motives to sponsor, form of investment and structure of sponsorship was obtained from a sample of 61 drinks producers in India through a questionnaire. Mann-Whitney and logistic regression were employed to compare the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic sectors. Findings – The results suggest that the alcohol and non-alcohol drinks sectors sponsored a similar level of events, but in investment volume terms, sponsorship from the non-alcoholic sector is far greater than that of the alcoholic sector. While the two sectors are similar in many ways, the emphasis placed on certain motives for sponsoring events was different, with alcoholic drinks businesses placing greater importance on reaching niche audiences and increasing media coverage than non-alcoholic ones. Research limitations/implications – A limited number of areas of the sponsorship decision-making were covered, yet the study provides insights into the decision making of one of the key sponsoring industries: the drinks industry. Practical implications – Securing sponsorship is becoming more difficult and complex. By understanding how sponsors make decisions, including potential variations between companies within an industry, event organisers will be in a better position to tailor sponsorship proposals, enhancing the likelihood of obtaining the desired sponsorship contracts. Originality/value – Most sponsor decision-making research focuses on how sponsorship decisions can be improved so that they work better for the sponsor. This paper, in contrast, emphasises that by understanding how clients make decisions (i.e. sponsors), sellers (i.e. the sponsored) will be in a better position to win over competition and secure the desired sponsorship deals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decomposing the GDP growth from 1981 to 2004, this paper finds that innovation capacity has contributed significantly to the economic growth of China and India, especially in the 1990 s. Outputs of the national innovation system, measured by patents and high-tech/service exports, demonstrate the considerable progress China and India have made in innovation capacity. The enhanced innovation capacity of China and India is primarily due to their heavy investment in the inputs of innovation system, i.e., R&D expenditure and R&D personnel, in recent decades. This paper emphasizes the role that the governments have played in promoting innovation capacity and their contribution to economic development. Both governments have transformed their national innovation systems through linking the science sector with the business sector, providing incentives for innovation activities, and balancing import of technology and indigenous R&D effort. Using case studies of domestic biotech firms in China and India, this paper also offers micro-level insights on innovation capacity and economic development: (1) innovation capacity has become essential for domestic firms' market success and (2) global institutional factors and national government policies on innovation have considerable influence on the choice of innovation at the firm level, i.e., to conduct indigenous R&D or to import foreign technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sought to find the long-run relationships between international tourist arrivals in India with economic variables such as GDP, transportation costs and the exchange rate for the period from 2002-2006. The cointegration techniques used was based on Panel Cointegration Test as well as both the OLS estimator and DOLS estimator were used to find long-run relationship of the international tourism demand model for India. This paper used the five standard method test for Panel Unit Root Tests such as Levin, Lin and Chu (2002), Breitung (2000), Im, Pesaran and Shin (2003), Maddala and Wu (1999) and Choi (2001) and Handri (1999). The long-run results indicate that growth in income (GDP) of India's major tourist source markets has a positive impact on international visitor arrivals to India. These empirical results imply that when GDP of international major tourist source market such as England, America, Canada, France, German, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and Korea increasing 1% then the number of international visitor arrivals to India increasing about 3% to 4%. As well as when transportation cost of these country increasing 1% then the number of international visitor arrivals to India increasing about 0.3% to 0.6%. Finally when the value of India's currency strong than the value of these country's currency increasing 1% then the number of international visitor arrivals to India decreasing 0.003% to 0.006%. Furthermore mostly findings were consistent with economic theory and the implications of the model can be use for policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To reveal inequity in health in India. Subject and methods: The global paradigm of the knowledge economy propounds that growth and equity will occur if there is a free-market economy without state intervention and if patents are provided as incentives for innovation. In this paper, we explore the veracity of this thesis by investigating growth in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors in India, and by looking at equity issues through the lens of gender health and health costs for poor consumers. We used data from current publications to support this thesis. Results: We found that growth has been characterized by multiple handicaps and oligopoly, with the nature of expansion not having relevance for the disease profiles in India. The scenario of gender health and health costs of the poor is grim due to state retrenchment and neglect of the provision of public good, such as in health matters. Conclusion: One can conclude that equity has not occurred under a growing pharmaceutical sector. This finding has huge implications for public policy in India and other emerging nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent growth pattern of India is set in the context of the parallel experience of China, the experience of poverty reduction is reviewed, and a number of papers illuminating India's development are introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper questions the effects of the financialisation of Indian real estate markets with a focus on the Bangalore city-region. Research on Southern cities has concluded that globally connected but locally embedded real estate developers contribute to anchoring transnational investment. Yet, the acknowledged dearth of studies on the real estate industry in post-liberalisation India limits our understanding of the ongoing empowerment of local urban actors, including developers. Adopting a cultural political economy perspective, the paper analyses how developers leverage finance capital to achieve greater economic and political agency and thus contribute to the material, symbolic and political transformations of cities. It first demonstrates that finance capital has sustained Bangalore-based developers' growth strategies throughout Southern India. Subsequently, developers shape the materialities of metropolises via a piecemeal juxtaposition of medium-sized developments. Although this may occasionally meet government strategies for modernising their cities, it more often than not constitutes an understudied obstacle to States' mega-projects that are outdone by developers' ability to work through the intricacies of local land markets and bureaucracies. Furthermore, having become dominant city-builders, developers are in a situation to circulate representations concerning what the desirable city should be. Such narratives aim at inserting local real estate markets into globalising financial commodity chains while also legitimating developers' own role. Consequently, developers attempt to promote -- with some success -- prescriptions in favour of State reforms and the adoption of pro-urban growth policies. The ongoing financialisation of urban production thus participates in the selfempowerment of developers in India's cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about forest governance in India and presents a unique, federalism perspective on the subject. While forest governance and federalism have both been deeply researched in academic scholarship, there is little work that deals with the linkages between the two. In addressing this gap in scholarship, the article explains forest federalism through a focus on three dimensions. The first is the Constitutional construct of the forest sector, and its interpretations through legislative provisions. The second is the administrative, financial and institutional linkages between the Centre and States, including the influence of the Indian Forest Service. The third looks at vertical and horizontal asymmetries in the sector, and the ways in which these relate to administrative and resource concerns in federal functioning. The paper concludes with a reflection on the relevance of forest federalism in on-going international environmental debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight an Indian festival’s contribution to cultural and economic well-being. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilizes a qualitative approach to analyze the impacts of Ganesh Chaturthi festival, which is annually celebrated over a period of two weeks across the nation. Findings – The study shows that the Ganesh Chaturthi festival fosters national cohesiveness, promotes communal harmony, preserves family values, helps maintain national identity, revitalizes the economy and fosters cultural tourism. Research limitations/implications – This paper provides useful insights for policy makers, local government, businesses and community leaders for deriving optimal benefits from the annual Ganapati festival. Originality/value – The Indian economy is developing very rapidly, and yet there is limited published literature available on the contribution of festivals to these developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Understanding past trends and forecasting future changes in health spending is vital for planning and reducing reliance on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. The current study analyzed health expenditure patterns in India and forecasted future trends and patterns until 2035. Methods: Data on health expenditure in India from 2000 to 2019 was collected from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) iLibrary and National Health Accounts 2019 databases. Gross domestic product (GDP) data from the World Bank was also utilized. Descriptive statistics analyzed the composition and pattern, while the exponential smoothing model forecasted future health expenditures. Results: The findings revealed that expenditure made by OOP is the primary health financing source, followed by government and pre-paid private spending. The percentage of GDP allocated to total health expenditure remains stable, while the per capita health expenditure fluctuates. Variations in expenditure among states are observed, with Karnataka relying heavily on pre-paid private coverage. Future projections suggest a decline in per capita and total health expenditure as a share of GDP, with a slight increase in the government's share. Pre-paid private expenditure per capita and OOP health expenditure as a share of the total is projected to remain relatively constant but still high in absolute terms. Conclusion: The study highlights variations in health spending in India, characterized by high OOP spending, limited public coverage, and a need for investments, and reforms to improve healthcare access and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is currently experiencing a demographic and epidemiological transition characterized by an aging population and an increase in chronic diseases, resulting in a greater demand for home healthcare services. Despite the critical nature and expansion of this area, home healthcare delivery in India remains under-researched. There is a dearth of information about the services, providers and organizations that offer services at home. There are various concerns in the provision of home healthcare services. These relate to accessibility and availability, information on providers, regulatory issues, standards of care, costs, safety concerns, and grievance redressal mechanisms for providers and users, which are among the topics discussed in this article. The article concludes that there is a need to recognize the "home" as a place for providing healthcare and as a "workplace" of care providers, develop standardized processes and guidelines for delivering care for different conditions at home, adopt standard human resource practices in deployment of care providers, bring transparency in the calculation of the cost of services and regulation of costs, and establish grievance redressal mechanisms for users, providers, and organizations. Further research is recommended on aspects such as user and provider perspective, training and supervision of providers, and financing, accreditation, and quality of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]