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Using an unexpected government regulation that restricted the ability of microfinance institutions to recover loans in one Indian state, I examine whether this intervention affected bank loan performance. The bank loan delinquency rate significantly increased as a result. In response, the ex post bank credit supply declined by more than half. For identification, I compare loans from branches located in regions subject to this intervention with loans from nearby branches of the same bank located in regions not subject to the intervention. I conclude that political interventions in credit markets could have significant spillover effects. Received October 29, 2016; editorial decision November 28, 2017 by Editor Philip Strahan. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper generally explores the role of legislative counsel within the lawmaking process. It considers different ways that legislative counsel work to strengthen the democratic principle within that process. It also considers how the context of a small maturing government may impact this role. The case of underdeveloped instructions is explored throughout this paper as a means to investigate how legislative counsel can ensure that, in working with clients, their actions strengthen the democratic principle as oppose to weaken it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade nanotechnology entered the policy arena as a technology that is simultaneously promising and threatening, and with a similar Janus-like face, nanotechnology entered the development agenda. How does a developing country like India deal with nanotechnology? Combining a quantitative and qualitative approach, this paper outlines the developments, discussions, and silences concerning nanotechnology in India. The nanotechnology landscape in India is dominated by government initiatives. Government investments led to a steady rise in global publication rankings, scientific collaborations and the number of institutions involved. This growth is mainly rooted in fundamental research and public research institutes. Industry involvement and patenting activity are at a nascent stage and developing slowly. Issues that were raised in the Indian context relate to funding, capacity, commercialization, regulation of risks, and the distribution of benefits. Nanotechnology is positively viewed across the board, with notable silences on ethical issues and the relation to the public. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Indian law ministry released a consultation paper in April 2010 inviting comments on proposed amendments to the Indian Arbitration Act. While based on the Model Law, the interpretation of the Indian Act in 15 years since enactment has created serious divergence from transnational standards. A unique absurdity is the delimited application of the Act to even arbitrations seated outside India. Merits review has crept in through innovative means. Public policy defence is read as the repository of all residual powers. The proposals identify the problems, but do they walk the talk? This article analyses the contours of these problems in detail and puts the proposals to test. The conclusion in most cases is that the proposal covers a fraction of the whole issue it attempts to deal with. This article contains suggestions that could help complete the task and align Indian arbitral regime to transnational standards on these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

What factors determine the nature of political opportunism in local government in South India? To answer this question, we study two types of policy decisions that have been delegated to local politicians—beneficiary selection for transfer programs and the allocation of within-village public goods. Our data on village councils in South India show that, relative to other citizens, elected councillors are more likely to be selected as beneficiaries of a large transfer program. The chief councillor's village also obtains more public goods, relative to other villages. These findings can be interpreted using a simple model of the logic of political incentives in the context that we study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The concentration index is the most commonly used measure of socio-economic-related health inequality. However, a critical constraint has been that it is just a measure of inequality. Equity is an important goal of health policy but the average level of health also matters. In this paper, we explore evidence of both these crucial dimensions—equity (inequality) and efficiency (average health)—in child health indicators by adopting the recently developed measure of the extended concentration index on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) data from India. An increasing degree of inequality aversion is used to measure health inequalities as well as achievement in the following child health indicators: under-2 child mortality, full immunization coverage, and prevalence of underweight, wasting and stunting among children. State-wise adjusted under-2 child mortality scores reveal an increasing trend with increasing values of inequality aversion, implying that under-2 child deaths have been significantly concentrated among the poor households. The level of adjusted under-2 child mortality scores increases significantly with the increasing value of aversion even in states advanced in the health transition, such as Kerala and Goa. The higher values of adjusted scores for lower values of aversion for child immunization coverage are evidence that richer households benefited most from the rise in full immunization coverage. However, the lack of radical changes in the adjusted scores for underweight among children with increasing degrees of aversion implies that household economic status was not the only determinant of poor nutritional status in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has announced the ambitious program to transform the current primary healthcare facilities to health and wellness centres (HWCs) for provision of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC). We undertook this study to assess the cost of this scale-up to inform decisions on budgetary allocation, as well as to set the norms for capitation-based payments. The scale-up cost was assessed from both a financial and an economic perspective. Primary data on resources used to provide services in 93 sub-health centres (SHCs) and 38 primary health care centres (PHCs) were obtained from the National Health System Cost Database. The cost of additional infrastructure and human resources was assessed against the normative guidelines of Indian Public Health Standards and the HWC. The cost of other inputs (drugs, consumables, etc.) was determined by undertaking the need estimation based on disease burden or programme guidelines, standard treatment guidelines and extent and pattern of care utilization from nationally representative sample surveys. The financial cost is reported in terms of the annual incremental cost at health facility level, as well as its implications at national level, given the planned scale-up path. Secondly, economic cost is assessed as the total annual as well as annual per capita cost of services at HWC level. Bootstrapping technique was undertaken to estimate 95% confidence intervals for cost estimations. Scaling to CPHC through HWC would require an additional ₹ 721 509 (US$10 178) million allocation of funds for primary healthcare >5 years from 2019 to 2023. The scale-up would imply an addition to Government of India's health budget of 2.5% in 2019 to 12.1% in 2023. Our findings suggest a scale-up cost of 0.15% of gross domestic product (GDP) for full provision of CPHC which compares with current public health spending of 1.28% of GDP and a commitment of 2.5% of GDP by 2025 in the National Health Policy. If a capitation-based payment system was used to pay providers, provision of CPHC would need to be paid at between ₹ 333 (US$4.70) and ₹ 253 (US$3.57) per person covered for SHC and PHC, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People, practitioner and policy-makers share a tumultuous relationship fraught with expectations and frustrations. In this article, the author delves into her own experience of working with mineworkers, subaltern voices and the issue of mining in Rajasthan, India, and the role of civil society in the form of non-government organisation (NGO). The article traces the challenges of mobilising people for collective action, engaging with policy-makers and the constraints of a formal structure of an NGO. It focusses on the mineworkers engaged in minor mineral extraction and employed as informal labour. The article begins with familiarising readers with the situation of mineworkers and administration of minor mineral mining. In the next section, a brief overview on social work practice using the genesis of the NGO is provided where the author worked and engages with even today. The final section, explains the challenges in collective action for policy-making. The author has used the word organisations, NGO and social worker interchangeably, as also the words mineworkers, community and service users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses approaches and strategies in criminal justice social work that assert the claims of criminal justice clients over welfare and entitlements, in a context where their voices are compromised. It discusses claim-making and the dynamics underlying the process. The article reflects on the field experiences of a social work intervention project that the authors are associated with, that promotes legal rights and social re-entry of marginalised populations in criminal justice. The project's work highlights the need for claim-making and participatory approaches towards development of policy and programmes in the neoliberal era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers have been influential policy makers due to their understanding of the sociocultural–political scenario of the state and core social work values of social justice and social change. In India, the engagement of social workers in policy and political change has been restricted due to various internal and external work challenges. The authors in this article present two case studies of challenges faced by social workers in policy making in India. In the first case, the social worker dons the role of a change agent for setting up a social welfare system based on policy practice for persons with psychiatric disability in the rural community. In the second example, the social worker acts as a policy expert who is a catalyst between the service users (of psychiatric disability in urban community) and the state in influencing disability policy making. The lessons learnt and the way forward from the challenges faced in the two case studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Policy is concerned with minimising poverty and inequality through redistribution of goods and services. In the twentieth century, after the Second World War, European parliamentary democracies enlarged its ambit by making social policy an important instrument to create equality setting the benchmark for other countries. For the new independent countries in the global South, such as India, social policy followed different trajectories. In the aftermath of independence, India relied on preventive instruments to address the effects of famine, de-industrialisation and high levels of deprivation. Despite achieving high economic growth and rapid poverty reduction in the following decades, its dependence on targeted poverty reduction programme has remained. Recently, there has been some attempt to replace these strategies by rights-based programmes supported by legal framework advocated by civil society groups. Through a case study of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (referred to as FRA 2006), this article analyses the successes and failures in realising the goal of linking welfare provisions with the ideas of social citizenship and democratic rights. The article finds widening gulf in the interests of state actors and local community arising from the compromised interpretation of the social justice vision enshrined in FRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work theorists have begun talking about a fundamental shift in social work education, marked as the rise of decoloniality and decolonial thinking. Within this context, distinct social work formulations that make a fundamental break from past paradigms are being posited in the form of decolonial social work. In India, decolonial social work is constituted primarily by two theories—Tribal Social Work and Dalit Social Work. The former arising directly out of British colonialism and the latter premised on an anti-caste social work perspective. Taking the case of tribal policy with specific reference to principles of governance vis. tribes an attempt is made to historicise the same from a decolonial social work lens. The article contextualises tribal policy in India, lays the framework of decolonial social work, historicise principles of governance from a decolonial lens, draws out the underlying political structure that embeds these principles and throws new light on key theoretical debates concerning policy practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1907, Lt.-Col. Andrew Buchanan, IMS, began to argue for the keeping of cats as the most effective form of public health to combat the annual outbreaks of plague. From then until about 1913 he vigorously promoted the scheme. He soon won some powerful international supporters such as Robert Koch and Shibasaburo Kitasato. Through their support, between 1908 and 1918, a number of countries both within and outside the British Empire adopted cats as tools of public health. Many within the Empire, however, remained opposed to the use of cats. Buchanan’s cats, I argue, were a special form of ‘animal technology’. Use of animals as technologies has been almost entirely neglected in the historiography on public health. Furthermore Buchanan’s scheme, I contend, constituted a rare, alternative vision of public health that challenged dominant forms of imperial public health by proposing a form of ‘public health from below’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We quantify the extent to which India's success in stabilizing its wheat and rice markets affects other countries in South Asia. We deal with the variability of Indian trade and price policies by analyzing market outcomes during periods of low and high world prices; we also conduct stochastic simulations where Indian policies endogenously adjust to fluctuations in domestic and world supplies. South Asian wheat and rice markets operate near autarky, and therefore, intra-regional price transmission is limited. However, we find that when India's policies result in implicit export subsidies, consumers in countries that import from India benefit; meanwhile implicit producer taxation harms consumers elsewhere. Pakistan--the only country in the region that competes with India in foreign markets--would see gains in market shares when India reduces its export subsidies. We also find that the low intra-regional trade shields India's neighbors from the excess volatility caused by Indian policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We assessed uptake of isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) among child contacts of smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) patients and its implementation challenges from healthcare providers' and parents' perspectives in Bhopal, India.Methods: A mixed-method study design: quantitative phase (review of programme records and house-to-house survey of smear-positive TB patients) followed by qualitative phase (interviews of healthcare providers and parents).Results: Of 59 child contacts (<6 years) of 129 index patients, 51 were contacted. Among them, 19 of 51 (37%) were screened for TB and one had TB. Only 11 of 50 (22%) children were started and 10 of 50 (20%) completed IPT. Content analysis of interviews revealed lack of awareness, risk perception among parents, cumbersome screening process, isoniazid stock-outs, inadequate knowledge among healthcare providers and poor programmatic monitoring as main barriers to IPT implementation.Conclusion: National TB programme should counsel parents, train healthcare providers, simplify screening procedures, ensure regular drug supply and introduce an indicator to strengthen monitoring and uptake of IPT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the fundamental public policy of Indian Law in arbitration and conciliation jurisprudence. Topics discussed include enactment of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1996 based on Commission on International Trade Law for governing law of arbitration in India; Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd v. Western GECO International Ltd court case on same; and judicial intervention in the merits of the award.

Introduction: In high-income countries, secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure is higher among disadvantaged groups. We examine socioeconomic inequalities in SHS exposure at home and at workplace in 15 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).Methods: Secondary analyses of cross-sectional data from 15 LMICs participating in Global Adult Tobacco Survey (participants ≥ 15 years; 2008-2011) were used. Country-specific analyses using regression-based methods were used to estimate the magnitude of socioeconomic inequalities in SHS exposure: (1) Relative Index of Inequality and (2) Slope Index of Inequality.Results: SHS exposure at home ranged from 17.4% in Mexico to 73.1% in Vietnam; exposure at workplace ranged from 16.9% in Uruguay to 65.8% in Bangladesh. In India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Uruguay, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, and Egypt, SHS exposure at home reduced with increasing wealth (Relative Index of Inequality range: 1.13 [95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.22] in Turkey to 3.31 [95% CI 2.91-3.77] in Thailand; Slope Index of Inequality range: 0.06 [95% CI 0.02-0.11] in Turkey to 0.43 [95% CI 0.38-0.48] in Philippines). In these 11 countries, and in China, SHS exposure at home reduced with increasing education. In India, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Philippines, SHS exposure at workplace reduced with increasing wealth. In India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Poland, Russian Federation, Turkey, Ukraine, and Egypt, SHS exposure at workplace reduced with increasing education.Conclusion: SHS exposure at homes is higher among the socioeconomically disadvantaged in the majority of LMICs studied; at workplaces, exposure is higher among the less educated. Pro-equity tobacco control interventions alongside targeted efforts in these groups are recommended to reduce inequalities in SHS exposure.Implications: SHS exposure is higher among the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in high-income countries. Comprehensive smoke-free policies are pro-equity for certain health outcomes that are strongly influenced by SHS exposure. Using nationally representative Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2008-2011) data from 15 LMICs, we studied socioeconomic inequalities in SHS exposure at homes and at workplaces. The study showed that in most LMICs, SHS exposure at homes is higher among the poor and the less educated. At workplaces, SHS exposure is higher among the less educated groups. Accelerating implementation of pro-equity tobacco control interventions and strengthening of efforts targeted at the socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are needed to reduce inequalities in SHS exposure in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In principle, the global development discourse increasingly views people as 'agents of change' rather than 'recipients of services'. In practice, however, people's participation has been limited to project implementation and has been pursued without building people's critical consciousness about their problems, and the means of solving them. This becomes particularly relevant for marginalized communities, such as sex workers and sexual minorities in India, who face further problems of discrimination and widespread stigma. Although global policy-making spaces have sought participation to ensure representation, there seems to be a strong tendency among dominant stakeholders to maintain systems and processes that legitimize and perpetuate the exclusion of marginalized groups. This article explores how these communities have seized opportunities offered by an HIV prevention programme and a global, post-2015 participatory research process to move from addressing symptoms of their problems towards tackling root causes, while using contextual knowledge to influence global policy making. When given an opportunity, community members have demonstrated the ability to deliberate, negotiate and advocate for their own agenda in meaningful ways and to challenge beliefs held by policy makers. This article makes the case for a shift in development practice and research, such that it provides people living on the margins the space and opportunity to analyse their own situations and consider alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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India's nuclear breakout in 1998, foreshadowed as early as 1974, may have been understandable for reasons of global nuclear politics, a triangular regional equation between China, India and Pakistan, and domestic politics. Yet the utility of India's nuclear weapons remains questionable on many grounds. Nuclear deterrence is dubious in general and especially dubious in the subcontinent. Nuclear weapons are not usable as weapons of compellence or defence. They failed to stop the Pakistani incursion in Kargil in 1999 or the terrorist attack on Mumbai in 2008. They will not help India to shape the military calculations of likely enemies. And India's global status and profile will be determined far more crucially by its economic performance than nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, they do impose direct and opportunity costs economically, risk corrosion of democratic accountability, add to global concerns about nuclear terrorism, and have not helped the cause of global nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Because the consequences of a limited regional war involving India could be catastrophic for the world, others have both the right and a responsibility to engage with the issue. For all these reasons, a denuclearized world that includes the destruction of India's nuclear stockpile would favourably affect the balance of India's security and other interests, national and international interests, and material interests and value goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of whether Australia should change government policy to permit the export of uranium to India has divided Australians, arms control advocates and scholars. This article does not take a position for or against Australia's export of uranium to India. Instead, it argues that the concept of 'the national interest' is misleading as the analytical framework for assessing this important foreign policy decision, and leads to a distorted analysis and policy prescription. It is not all that difficult for the government to justify a decision to sell uranium to India as being in the national interest. But a more nuanced and complicated analysis results when the issue is discussed using a novel analytical framework of 'a balance of interests'. 'The national interest' is erroneous as a description of the empirical reality, substitutes tautology for explanation and is unhelpful as a guide to policy. 'A balance of interests' is superior on all three counts of description, explanation and prescription. In addition, it captures human agency and allows for human error and multiple balances as weighed by different people reflecting their personal predilections, professional backgrounds, life and career experiences, party philosophy, and institutional interests and perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard approach to modelling the relationship between world and producer prices of coffee does not incorporate the effects of changing government policies and market structures. These changes have led to large structural breaks in the relationship between the prices implying the standard estimates are biased. We model coffee prices in Brazil, Guatemala and India allowing for the structural breaks and show that the liberalisation of coffee markets has benefited producers substantially both in terms of a higher share of the world price of coffee and higher real prices. This suggests that calls to re-regulate coffee markets may be misplaced. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is based on research with community organizers in India. We illustrate that community organizers in India have done a thorough analysis with respect to the impact of globalization on the communities with which they work. We argue that community practitioners have a clear political understanding of their practice that is tied to the perception that global change has led to increasing marginalization of communities in India. As a result of these changes, the guiding principles of community practices in India need to be rethought. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

India is fast emerging as an important player in regional and international arenas. However, it continues to be beset by a number of security challenges, both internally and externally. On the assumption that India's foreign policy has evolved in step with its domestic politics, this article briefly surveys the evolution of Indian domestic politics and foreign policy before discussing some of the domestic and international (including regional) security challenges India faces today. The article concludes that although economic diplomacy does at present serve India well in projecting power internationally, achieving great power status in the future will rest on the resolution of key political and security challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented on the impacts of foreign threat on the formation of indian and chinese nationalism. It elaborates the different forms of nationalism which has influenced the two countries by presenting three independent variables. It mentions the potential triggers for mass nationalist movements and increased foreign threat for both China state nationalism and India's ethnic nationalism. It also notes on the divergent manifestations of nationalism for both countries.

Presents issues associated with church-state affairs in several countries. Details of the charges filed against Lyova Margaryan for his activities as a Jehovah's Witness in Armenia; Conditions given by the Superior Court of Quebec for the wearing religious ceremonial sword to school; Examples of religious violence in the state of Gujarat, India; Information on the report 'The Talibanization of Nigeria: Sharia Law and Religious Freedom,' issued by Freedom House.

The article provides an overview of forced migration in South Asia where majority are victims of the policies of governments. It mentions that people have been displaced in South Asia by the structural violence inherent in the states' development policies than by human rights violation by the forces of the state. It states that within the borders of India has more than 21 million displaced persons, in which majority were displaced by development projects enforced by the government.