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All over the world, waste and its disposal are becoming a more prominent issue, as landfills swell up and growing evidence points to its contribution to climate change and environmental degradation. In the developing world, waste pickers sort through solid waste and sell it to vendors, who will recycle the product into something consumable. The work they do is vital to climate change mitigation, as well as urban cleanliness. In a way, waste pickers, especially in India, are vehicles of environmental justice, but they are often discriminated against and subjected to inhumane working conditions. In this environment, the pandemic hit, making waste pickers' already precarious life even worse. This paper attempts to fill the gap in the academic literature by compiling a systemized literature review of the impacts of COVID-19 on waste-pickers' lives using an environmental justice perspective. The review also uses a Feminist Political Ecology perspective to illuminate the double jeopardy that female waste pickers face in the era of COVID-19, which academia often ignores. Ultimately, this paper shows that COVID-19 exacerbated the preexisting injustices that the waste picker community face and created an immense burden on women. This paper will show that it is important to notice the differentiation between female and male waste picker challenges, especially at the crux of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper has important policy implications as well as research considerations for both environmental justice and feminist political ecology scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As Covid-19 became a pandemic, numerous people were forced to stay at home, leading to increased intimate partner violence (IPV) in many countries, particularly in developing and least-developed ones. This paper aims to highlight the IPV based on 15 different cases formed from the practical evidence of five developing countries. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed 15 women from five countries who were the victims of IPV during the early periods of Covid-19 outbreak. Due to geographical remoteness, the authors conducted informal telephone interviews to collect the participants' personal experiences. The conversations were recorded with participants' permission; afterwards, the authors summarized participants' experiences into 15 different cases without revealing their original identities (instead, disguised names were used). Findings: It was revealed that the women were the primary victims of such violence, particularly from their intimate partners (husbands). In most cases, such IPV, as reported by the interviewees, originated or increased after the pandemic when they were forced to stay at home, losing their partners' jobs or income sources. Originality/value: The authors summarized the causes of IPV and put forward a few action recommendations based on the interviewees' practical experience and existing literature. This paper will open a new window for research investigations on IPV during emergencies such as Covid-19 outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic created one of the biggest disruptions in human life. We were all confined within the walls of our homes or offices with day-to-day life worldwide seriously affected. In this context, access to and efficient use of technology determined the course of daily life for vast sections of the world's population. However, there was (and still is) a severe pre-existing global divide between the Global North and Global South vis-à-vis digital access. This paper attempts to understand this digital divide and how it has widened during the pandemic in the Global North and Global South with reference to India and the United States (US). This is initiated by analyzing certain factors within each country, namely positional and personal categorical inequalities. Through the cases of the US and India, the authors conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the global digital divide between the two worlds, affecting core social sectors like education and health. The larger implication of this is a broadening inequality between the Global North and Global South in leading development indicators like the Human Development Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent phase of services digitalisation in the global South, reflected in the widespread adoption of Internet and smart-phone technologies, has given rise to an emergent gig economy that employs tens of millions of workers across its diverse urban centres. Pre-eminent frames of analysing the global gig economy have thus far focussed significantly on issues related to platform regulation, employment relations and labour organisation. While important, these frames tend to overlook the wider informal, unwaged and self-organised foundations of gig work and labour in the global South. This article addresses the limitations of existing analytical frames by drawing upon the analysis of 55 telephonic interviews with migrant and non-migrant gig workers associated with well-known ride-hailing and home-delivery apps across two Indian cities about their experiences of the COVID-19 crisis. The article offers novel insights into the various uncertainties and challenges that gig workers in India faced during the COVID-19 national lockdown, as well as their attempts to cope with the new post-pandemic realities. Contextualising these experiences through the lens of 'digitally organised informality', the article reveals that in the absence of formal and institutionalised systems, India's gig workers rely significantly on informal socio-spatial networks of care and support that also link internal urban-rural geographies, lives and livelihoods. Conceptualising these informal networks as fundamentally contextual in understanding the development of gig labour and its social reproduction in the global South, the article however also provides a critical evaluation of their partial and contradictory nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the U.S. reportedly online sales hit $791.70 billion in 2020, up 32.4% from $598.02 billion in the prior year, according to Commerce Department figures. With an eye on the pandemic ecommerce seems to have thrived in 2020 because of store closures and shoppers' fear of contracting the Corona virus in public. This was largely because with the corona virus cases spiking in January, 2021, many of the consumers were avoiding direct contact at stores and purchasing online. Focus: This paper looks into the market reports and surveys conducted by various government, non-government and civil society bodies. There were several factors that contributed to the rapid adaptation of online shopping by population across the developed and developing world and especially in India. Method: The current research work is based on primary and secondary data. The tools of research were a telephonic interview of a sample of Punjab's college going youth. The students of the Science and Humanities streams of two colleges were taken up for the study randomly. Snowball sampling was done to take up influences of opining leaders who were emulated as examples by most other students. Scope: The research would enhance the market understanding of the online shopping trends and benefit the retailers greatly. In a way the pandemic presented online shopping as a genuine step up from the traditional retail measures. It has equally boosted the small time business houses as well as large chain retailers of the world. Results and Findings: On line shopping has presented a world-class shopping experience supported by the best shopping opportunities technology to the urban and rural youth of Punjab who are entrenched in utilizing the best post the Lockdown and the pandemic. As their expectations are growing they are including more adherents to this mode of shopping. In the case of India the on-line shopping range of consumables has grown from bare necessities to essentials and finally to luxury goods like branded clothes and gadgetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated the world of work, particularly labour. Worldwide economic crises and unemployment present a difficult road ahead in ensuring the sound health and productivity of labour. Among developing countries, India has been at the centre stage of this catastrophe, with millions of labourers suddenly losing their jobs and in desperate need of livelihoods to survive. Emergency policy measures undertaken to sustain industrial growth in the crises may not be comforting to the labour in India in the long run. This paper is intended to help policymakers and the civil engineering community in meeting the urgency of resolving the adverse impacts of the Covid-19 crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sector infrastructure, especially in terms of health and education, is critical to the development process. Enhancement of capabilities largely comes from adequate health and educational attainment of people, which hinges on the infrastructural development in these sectors. World Development Report (WDR), 2013 observed that economies like India, with low human development base, require investing in key services like health and education, which can further help creating quality jobs apart from contributing to inclusive growth and improved standard ofliving. However, the presence of vast inter-state disparities in education and health infrastructure cannot be ruled out in the country. Using data from the secondary sources, this paper examines the level of interstate disparity among major states with respect to health and education indicators. PCA, Cluster Analysis, Dendrogram have been used to find out variations in the above-mentioned indicators. The paper finds wide interstate disparities in these indicators. The lagged regions therefore need to boost up expenditure on education and health sector. This assumes particular significance in the event of COVID-19 pandemic and in order to meet future challenges in these sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is threatening economic globalization. Global production networks are being disrupted on a never-before-seen scale as a result of simultaneous shocks to supply and demand caused by containment measures. The pandemic has highlighted how globally interconnected the flow of goods and services has become vulnerable, and countries are now reframing their international trade strategies to handle economic shocks post pandemic. The drop in FDI will be especially hard on developing countries. FDI inflows to developing countries are expected to fall even more than the global average, given that sectors severely impacted by the pandemic account for a larger share of FDI inflows in developing countries. Also, over the last few decades, developing countries have become more dependent on FDI. Between 1985 and 2017, FDI inflows to developing countries increased from 14 billion to 690 billion US dollars (in current prices). This represents an increase in share of global FDI inflows from 25% to 46%. The rise in FDI to developing countries is being supported by an increase in offshoring and global fragmentation of economic activities, particularly in the manufacturing and services sectors. The drop in global FDI is thus closely related to disruptions in global supply chains, which we have also seen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper is an attempt to review the impact of current pandemic on FDI inflows in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health diplomacy has gained significant importance and undoubtedly remained high on the agendas of many nations, regional and global platforms amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Many countries have realized the importance of the health sector and the value of a healthy workforce. However, there is little control on issues related to trade that impact on human health due to the dominance of profit-oriented business lobbies. A balance, however, needs to be struck between economic profits and a healthy global population. This paper aimed to highlight the importance of building capacity in global health diplomacy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic so that health personnel may effectively negotiate on the multisectoral stage to secure the resources they need. The recent proposal to waive off certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19 by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO) presents an important opportunity for all governments to unite and stand up for public health, global solidarity, and equitable access at the international level so that both developed and developing nations may enjoy improved health outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore the respective risk perception toward the Covid-19 pandemic among the elderly in two developing countries and their lifestyle change and adaptation behavior as a result of that. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted among people aged 60 to 85 in Iran and India. The interview guideline was based on two constructs inspired by the study of Gerhold (2020) – risk perception of the pandemic and change in lifestyle and adaptation to the pandemic situation. Findings: The results showed that although the majority of the interviewees initially experienced fear and anxiety during the stay-at-home order and the pandemic situation at large, they quickly adapted to the new situation with behavioral and attitudinal changes in ways relevant to the new normal. The results confirmed the maturation hypothesis proposed by Knight et al. (2000). Originality/value: This paper is an original study of the researchers and among the first contributing to the literature of the elderly studies in developing countries. It contributes to the knowledge required for future behavioral studies concerning the Covid-19 pandemic by evaluating the experiences, risk perception and adaptation approaches of the older people in India and Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food delivery platforms are designed to match on-demand workers with jobs and then manage, monitor, and assess their performance. These platforms provide workers with a digital representation of delivery work. Once a worker accepts a delivery job they need to deal with the complexities of an unsettled urban landscape with varied infrastructures, traffic, and regulations. In particular, the Global South presents a demanding context for this type of work, given less clearly mapped addresses alongside other socio-cultural intricacies. In order to understand how food delivery workers bridge gaps and mismatches between the demands of the app and the realities encountered in situ, for this paper we shadowed six delivery workers over the course of their working day delivering food in Pune, India. The six workers included a complete novice and more experienced riders. We used helmet mounted cameras to record the delivery work, and how our participants managed the extra demands of food delivery work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our moment-by-moment analysis of the video data is informed by the methodological traditions of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. While the food delivery platform imposes a detailed workflow expected to be performed alone by the worker, our detailed video analysis reveals the collaborative nature of delivery work. We highlight how workers draw upon their ability to participate in ‘fleeting alliances’ and produce ‘frugal collaboration’ with co-located others, such as other delivery workers or security guards. This allows them to resolve everyday troubles, often learning or imparting ‘the tricks of the trade’ in the process. While gig platforms have commonly been presented as disruptive technologies for coordinating, regulating, and assessing gig workers individually and independently, our findings highlight collaboration as a critically important aspect of food delivery work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several research evaluating the connection between sustainability and the bottom line of firms, the existing research is inconclusive. In addition, most studies focus on multinational firms based in the United States or Europe, while research in the context of emerging economies is scant. This paper endeavours to investigate the strength of the association between Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure scores and the financial performance of 272 Indian firms listed on National Stock Exchange for the period 2015 to 2021 by employing panel data regression techniques. The results indicate that organisations having better ESG performance outperform their industry peers financially and are valued more by the market. Moreover, the data indicates that financial markets for lenders consider ESG disclosure when determining creditworthiness. In accordance with this, businesses can examine their operations and become more aligned with eco-friendly methods. Even though ESG disclosure appears to be associated with improved financial success, this is not the case across all industries and during COVID-19 pandemic. This study is relevant due to the growing significance of sustainability and the role of emerging nations in international commerce. It helps managers prioritize resource allocations to ESG-related activities that may affect financial performance differently across industry sectors, thus adding to the literature on the financial effects of ESG disclosures, particularly industry-specific aspects. This research represents a pioneering effort by assessing the impact of ESG disclosure on the profitability, market value, and cost of financing of Indian firms using both aggregation and disaggregation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for agile and adaptable health systems to cope with disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic is well established. Developing countries' health systems are a mix of market, hierarchy, and collaborative arrangements. Collaborative arrangements are considered superior in responding to a crisis, but a comparative assessment of the three modes in the face of a crisis needs to be improved. Further, very little is known about the adaptation of collaborative arrangements that existed before the crisis, as extant research has primarily examined arrangements that emerged in the wake of the crisis. We assess the response of three governance modes to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. A mixed-method approach has been adopted: structured interviews with the domain experts, secondary data, and Twitter analytics framework. Both hierarchy and markets demonstrated adaptability, but market arrangements were mal-adapted to exploit the situation. Contrary to expectations, hierarchy arrangements responded with agility and delivered services substantially. Preexisting collaborative arrangements had limited adaptability due to non-convergence of expectations and reduced dependence, leading partners to choose alternative venues rather than engaging in bargaining and negotiation. The findings contribute to the limited literature on the comparative assessment of modes of governance and adaptability of preexisting collaborative arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The movement toward systems thinking and complexity-informed evaluation has been ongoing for some time. COVID-19 has increased the salience of contextually aware, adaptive forms of evaluation. Purpose: Drawing very specifically upon experiences in the Global South, this article presents our reflections on competencies that have been integral to a collaboration involved with developmental health systems evaluation in India. Setting: This work is based on our experience over 3 years of providing monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) to a large philanthropic organization's portfolio of health systems work in India. Intervention: Not applicable. Research Design: Not applicable. Data Collection and Analysis: Not applicable. Findings: We identify three types of evaluator competencies that derive from complexity-driven practice in a developing country. The first competency relates to deriving evidence in contexts where there are very few traditional forms of data. The second competency is related to skills required to play a convening role across varied stakeholders. The final competency relates to operational adaptiveness while evaluating an ecosystem with few constants. The pandemic created a natural experiment that required a reexamination of priorities in the unique context of reliable donor support in uncertain times. These three capacities are in fact interdependent and could only be developed iteratively, over time. Building competencies isn't simply about capacity building but rather requires a recognition of the diversity of skills and worldviews that need to be encompassed within our MERL functions for today's complex, discontinuous health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater‐based surveillance can be used as an early warning system to identify COVID‐19 outbreaks because the viral load can be observed in sewage before it is clinically verified. Wastewater surveillance of SARS‐CoV‐2 can trace the transmission dynamics of infection in communities when using the scale of a wastewater diversion and treatment system. Using this early detection method can help protect human health and mitigate socio‐economic losses. It can help quantify the epidemiological data of a given population in real‐time and circumvent the need for other epidemiological indicators. There are challenges in using this technique in areas with underdeveloped sewerage infrastructure. It is especially the case in developing nations where uniform protocols for viral detection are lacking, and wastewater is heterogeneous because of environmental and operational conditions. This article explains the need for and importance of wastewater‐based surveillance for SARS‐CoV‐2. It lays out the most recent methodological approaches for detecting SARS‐CoV‐2 in municipal wastewater and outlines the main challenges associated with wastewater‐based epidemiology (WBE). The article includes a case study of surveillance work across India to demonstrate how a developing nation manages research and locational challenges. The socio‐economic, ethical, and policy dimensions of WBE for SARS‐CoV‐2 are also discussed. This article is categorized under:Engineering Water > Water, Health, and SanitationEngineering Water > Sustainable Engineering of WaterEngineering Water > Methods [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As a developing country, India initiated several labor measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. This study analyzes the impact of the Covid-19-induced comprehensive labor measures by Indian states on the Case Fatality Ratios and Recovery Rates. Such an analysis will provide deeper insights into the importance of labor measures during a health emergency. It will also be a reality check to the existing National Health Policy. Design/methodology/approach: The study examines the four major aspects of labor measures on migration, social security, state-specific needs and health and human rights. The authors use these to formulate a composite labor measure index to comprehend the Covid-19-induced various labor measures. Additionally, the authors apply pooled ordinary least squares and panel random-effects models with the state-wise monthly data to examine the impact of Covid-19-induced labor measures on the severity of the pandemic. Findings: Covid-19-induced comprehensive labor measures reduce fatalities and increase recovery rates. In particular, the measures on labor migration, state-specific needs and health and human rights adopted by the Indian states successfully reduce the Covid-19 fatalities and improve the recovery rates. However, the measures taken to address social security have been ineffective in reducing the severity of the pandemic. The study results are robust to various other specifications. Research limitations/implications: The time period covered in this research is very brief and does not account for the qualitative impact of labor measures on the severity of the pandemic. This study specifically addresses the number of Covid-19-induced labor measures and not the resources allocated to their implementations or the number of people who benefited from the measures. Practical implications: This study emphasizes the need for subnational comprehensive labor measures to reduce the severity of the pandemic in developing countries. The study confirms the need for effective Covid-19-induced social security measures to cope with the pandemic in India. This study also ascertains the beneficial impact of the measures on migration, state-specific needs and health and human rights. Originality/value: The authors make a composite labor measure index that captures state-level Covid-19-induced labor measures on diverse aspects, namely migration, social security, state-specific need and health and human rights, hitherto unexplored. In addition, the authors analyze the impact of these labor measures on the severity of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study surveys the mental behaviour and purchase behaviour of Indian consumers, especially their online purchase behaviour, during a lockdown. Also, it studies their perceptions of job security during a lockdown. Primary data were collected using judgement sampling, and the sample size was 328. Demographic variables such as age, gender, and income affect online purchases in the present study. An increase in the purchase of essentials and hygiene products during COVID‐19 has been observed due to a change in mental behaviour. Government have imposed total lock down and prevented people to come out from their houses which resulted in to uncomfortable position. The theory of fear (Ruiter, et. al., 2001) has been applied to explain the purchase behaviour during COVID‐19 in emerging markets like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV-2, which is known for the multiple mutations and forms that have rapidly spread across the world. With the imminent challenges faced by low- and middle-income countries in curbing the public health fallbacks due to limited resources, mucormycosis emerged as a fungal infection associated with high mortality. In this rapid review, we explored MEDLINE, Cochrane, Web of Science, WHO Global Database, and the search engine—Google Scholar for articles listed until July 2021 and presented a narrative synthesis of findings from 39 articles. The epidemiology, causative factors, incidence parameters, pharmacological treatment, and recommendations for low- and middle-income countries are enlisted. This study concludes that a majority of the globally reported COVID-19 associated mucormycosis cases stemmed from India. Individuals receiving systemic corticosteroids or who have a history of diabetes mellitus are more prone to contracting the disease. Public health authorities in LMIC are recommended to strengthen antifungal therapies for COVID-19 associated mucormycosis and to strategize reduction in diabetes mellitus prevalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the present study is to compare and assess the socio‐economic implications of the 1918 influenza pandemic and the COVID‐19 pandemic in India. Both pandemics are similar in the nature of their disease and spread, and have had a far‐reaching impact on society and economies worldwide. To achieve their objective, the researchers adopted the method of systematic literature review (SLR). The findings of the review have been categorised in four subsections: comparison of 1918 influenza and COVID‐19 pandemics in a global context; economic consequences of a pandemic in India; social consequences of a pandemic in India; and the pandemic mitigation measures adopted by India. The findings suggest there are similarities in the socio‐economic implications of the two pandemics and also indicate that developing countries face more severe implications of such pandemics as compared to developed countries. The research findings from the review of literature are followed by the recommendations made by the researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]