Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Farmers’ Willingness To Adopt Agricultural Best Management Practices To Control Nonpoint Source Pollution In The Lower Bhavani River Basin, Tamilnadu, India, Sacchidananda Mukherjee

Sacchidananda Mukherjee

The role of stakeholders and their voluntary participation in agri-environmental management in general and water resources conservation in particular is a new area of research, at least for a developing country like India. This study attempts to understand the factors influencing farmers’ willingness to adopt agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) to protect groundwater from nonpoint sources of pollution. Based on long term groundwater nitrate concentration and source(s) of irrigation six villages selected in the Lower Bhavani River Basin, Tamilnadu and detailed questionnaire survey (face-to-face interviews) has been carried out among 395 farm households. The results of binary choice Probit models …

Does The Journal Impact Factor Help Make A Good Indicator Of Academic Performance?, Sudhanshu K. Mishra

Sudhanshu K Mishra

Is journal impact factor a good measure of research merit? This question has assumed a great importance after the notification of the University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2009 on September 23rd 2009. Now publication of research papers/articles in reputed journals has become an important factor in assessment of the academic performance of teachers in colleges and universities in India. One of the measures of reputation and academic standard (rank or importance) of a journal is the so-called …

Rescuing The Doha Development Round: Role Of India And China In Multilateral Trade Governance, Suparna Karmakar

Suparna Karmakar

This paper examines the changing contours of the engagement of developing countries in the global trade regime, with special reference to the important role India and China can play in the 21st century WTO system of trade governance.

It argues that emerging developing countries today need to pick up the leadership mantle and play a constructive role in furthering the cause for multilateral trade integration. This will be in the larger interests of protecting their international market access as well as the much needed domestic reforms.

The paper tries to identify the role and responsibilities of emerging hegemonic powers like …

Consumer Behavior And Competition In Retailing (A Short Note), Mohammad Amin

Mohammad Amin

Drawing on a small but growing literature, this note argues that consumer behavior may be as important as firm behavior for the level of competition in consumer industries such as retailing. We use data on 1.948 retail stores in India and contribute to the literature in three ways. First, we find that the number of non-workers in the household, a proxy for time cost of shopping, has a large effect on competition. Moving from the city with the least to the most number of non-workers increases competition by 84% of its mean level. Second, as suggested in the literature, we …

Women Head Of The Village Councils And Water Borne Diseases, Ambrish A. Dongre

Ambrish A Dongre

This paper examines the relation between prevalence of water- borne diseases and gender of the head of the village councils by exploiting a `natural experiment' in local governance in India. A constitutional amendment in early 1990s ensured that only women could be the head in at least one- third of the village councils selected randomly. Utilizing a unique sample survey, we show that having a woman as the council head seems to have no effect on the prevalence of water borne diseases. But if we look into the sub- categories of the women council heads, we find that the women …