Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Ordinary 'Worthiness': Sex Work, Police Raids, And Human Rights Violence In Sonagachhi, Simanti Dasgupta

Simanti Dasgupta

Based upon ethnographic research with Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), a grass-roots sex workers organization in Sonagachhi, the iconic red light district in Kolkata, India, this paper explores the relationship between police raids and human rights violation. It especially focuses on the nature of violence initiated by the construction of “corrupt” evidence to justify a raid, which in this case is not solely a state initiative; the police usually work in tandem with other rescue missions such as the International Justice mission (IJM). The raid involves a practice and a narrative commonly referred to by both the police and the …

Realising Peace Potential Of Constitution, Tatsushi Arai

Tatsushi Arai

Faith And Foreign Policy In India: Legal Ambiguity, Selective Xenophobia, And Anti-Minority Violence, Chad M. Bauman

Chad M. Bauman

Direitos Indígenas E Diversidade Cultural: Em Busca De Um Diálogo Transcontinental, Tracy Devine Guzmán

Tracy Devine Guzmán

No abstract provided.

Implications Of The Dragon’S Rise For South Asia: Assessing China’S Nepal Policy, Bibek Chand, Lukas K. Danner

Dr. Lukas K. Danner

The Power Of The Brics In World Trade And Growth, Analysing The Macroeconomic Impacts Within And Across The Bloc, Ahmed Khalid

Ahmed Khalid

Extract: The BRICS is a composition of five emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The five countries together represent about 42 per cent of the world's population, over 24 per cent of all land, and about 20 per cent of the world's total GDP, contributing a combined nominal GDP of more than US$14.9 trillion. Over the past decade trade between the BRICS and other regions such as North America, the EU and Japan has surpassed the US$2 trillion mark. Trade within the BRICS countries is growing at an average of 28 per cent per annum, reaching more …

Politically Feasible Pro-Poor Livestock Policies In Andhra Pradesh And Orissa States, India, Robin Turner

Robin L Turner

The livestock sector has significant potential for improving the livelihoods of landless people and small and marginal farmers, who comprise the majority of India’s rural poor. However, resource and institutional constraints prevent poor producers from realizing the full potential of the animals they possess. Developing effective pro-poor livestock policies requires consideration of the political context and attention to the specific characteristics of poor livestock producers.

Livestock Production And The Rural Poor In Andhra Pradesh And Orissa States, India, Robin L. Turner

Robin L Turner

This paper analyzes the political economy of the livestock sector in two Indian states, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. The aim is to identify politically feasible interventions that could have broad positive effects on poor rural livestock producers in these states. To that end, the paper assesses the relationship between land, livestock, and poverty, describes the organization of the sector, and analyzes the political and bureaucratic interests shaping livestock policy.

Inflation And Inflation-Uncertainty In India: The Policy Implications Of The Relationship, Abdur Chowdhury

Abdur R. Chowdhury

Purpose – Inflation and its related uncertainty can impose costs on real economic output in any economy. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty in India. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology uses a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model and Granger Causality test. Findings – Initial estimates show the inflation rate to be a stationary process. The maximum likelihood estimates from the GARCH model reveal strong support for the presence of a positive relationship between the level of inflation and its uncertainty. The Granger causality results indicate a feedback between inflation and uncertainty. Research limitations/implications – …

Sovereign Silence: Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act And Sex Work In Sonagachhi, Simanti Dasgupta

Simanti Dasgupta

Drawing upon ethnographic work with a grassroots sex workers’ organization in Calcutta, Durbar Samanwaya Samiti (Durbar), this article analyzes the relationship between subalternity and silence. I discuss how sex workers, especially new entrants, use silence as a subaltern strategy to resist state and non-state surveillance intended to oppose trafficking. The increased surveillance is a direct result of the global anti-trafficking narrative, led mainly by the United States, in which developing countries, like India, adopt measures to avoid being downgraded in the United States’ Trafficking in Persons Report. I contend that these national and international efforts have led to a quandary …

The Political Economy Of Export Restrictions: The Case Of Vietnam And India, Kathy Baylis, Murray E. Fulton, Travis Reynolds

Kathy Baylis

No abstract provided.

Friends Or Traders? Do Social Networks Explain The Use Of Market Mechanisms By Farmers In India?, Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis, Ashwini Chhatre, Hope Michelson, Satya Prasanna

Kathy Baylis

A farmer's long-term relationship with a trader can improve access to market information, but removes the farmer's option to sell to other traders in any specific year. Social networks could ace either as substitutes to traders, helping disseminate market information and fostering economies of scale, or as complements, where farmers help build relationships between their trader and their peers. Using a household survey from India, we investigate whether and how social networks are associated with a farmer's choice to enter into a long-term relationship with a trader. We find that peers directly affect this choice. Further, we find that network …

Regional Disparities In Rural And Agricultural Development In Undivided Andhra Pradesh, India, A Amarender Reddy

A Amarender Reddy

India is a federal union comprising of 28 states. The states are further sub-divided into districts. Andhra Pradesh is one of the largest states in India. The state was formed by merging three regions – Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra – in the year 1956. In terms of development indicators measured in the mid-50s, Coastal Andhra was considered more developed, followed by the Rayalaseema region. Now people of the Telangana region are claiming that their relative backwardness was accentuated after merging with the more developed regions. In this context, this paper examines the regional disparities in agriculture in Andhra Pradesh …

The Rise Of The Dragon And The Consequences For Neighboring Small Powers: The Case Of Nepal, Bibek Chand, Lukas Danner

Lukas K. Danner

No abstract provided.

(Wp 2011-04) Inflation And Inflation-Uncertainty In India: The Policy Implications Of The Relationship, Abdur Chowdhury

Abdur R. Chowdhury

Inflation and its related uncertainty can impose costs on real economic output in any economy. This paper analyzes the relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty in India. Initial estimates show the inflation rate to be a stationary process. The maximum likelihood estimates from the GARCH model reveal strong support for the presence of a positive relationship between the level of inflation and its uncertainty. The Granger causality results indicate a feedback between inflation and uncertainty. With Granger causality running both ways, the Friedman-Ball and Cukierman-Meltzer hypotheses hold simultaneously in India. It provides strong support to the notion of an opportunistic …

Perceived Barriers For Implanting Microchips In Humans: A Transnational Study, Christine Perakslis, Katina Michael, M.G. Michael, Robert Gable

Professor Katina Michael

This quantitative, descriptive study investigated if there was a relationship between countries of residence of small business owners (N = 453) within four countries (Australia, India, UK, and the USA) with respect to perceived barriers to RFID (radio frequency identification) transponders being implanted into humans for employee ID. Participants were asked what they believed were the greatest barriers in instituting chip implants for access control in organizations. Participants had six options from which to select. There were significant chi-square analyses reported relative to respondents’ countries and: 1) a perceived barrier of technological issues (χ2 = 11.86, df = 3, p …

India: An Introduction, Shyam Sunder

Shyam Sunder

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mgnrega) On Rural Labour Markets, D Narasimha Reddy, A Amarender Reddy, Nagaraj N, Bantilan Mcs

A Amarender Reddy

This study has evaluated the differentiating impact of MGNREGA on the extent of fulfilment of the basic entitlements such as days of employment, wages and earnings and the extent of coverage of social groups like dalits, adivasis and women and poverty alleviation. This study has disaggregated state level data to discern the factors that make a difference to the performance. Also some micro level scenarios are presented based on the reports of focus group discussions (FGDs) in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. There is growing evidence of an increase in agricultural wages across the country over the period between 2006-07 …

Issues In Ict In Healthcare In Australia And India, Ambica Dattakumar, Julie Fisher, Linda Dawson

Associate Professor Linda Dawson

No abstract provided.

Post-Disaster Housing Recovery: The Promise And Peril Of Social Capital, Anuradha Mukherji

Anuradha Mukherji

Researchers argue that social networks based on shared values, trust, and norms can facilitate collective action, and such social capital increases the ability of communities to recover after a disaster, implying that the presence of social capital ensures collective community action after a disaster and enables recovery. Drawing from comparative case studies of Bhuj and Bachhau, urban centres impacted by the 2001 Gujarat earthquake in India, this study presents a nuanced view of the role of social capital during post-disaster recovery. It argues that it is important to consider community contexts that are inherent to the amount of social capital …

Does The Quality Of Electricity Matter? Evidence From Rural India, Ujjayant Chakravorty, Martino Pelli, Beyza Ural Marchand

Ujjayant Chakravorty

This paper estimates the returns to household income due to improved access to electricity in rural India. We examine the effect of connecting a household to the grid and of the quality of electricity, defined as hours of daily supply. The analysis is based on two rounds of a representative panel of more than 10,000 households. We use the district-level density of transmission cables as instrument for the electrification status of the household. We find that a grid connection increases non-agricultural incomes of rural households by about 9 percent during the study period (1994-2005). However, a grid connection and a …

Effects Of Export Restrictions On Domestic Market Efficiency: The Case Of India’S Rice And Wheat Export Ban, Kathy Baylis, Maria Christina Jolejole-Foreman, Mindy Mallory

Kathy Baylis

The use of export restrictions has substantially increased in recent years. While a number of papers show how these restrictions have increased world commodity prices, in this paper, we empirically estimate how one country’s export restrictions affected the efficiency of their domestic market. We use a threshold cointegration model to estimate the integration between selected wheat and rice markets in India before and during the export bans and test whether those bans exacerbated the price effects of domestic production shocks. We find that before the ban, the majority of port markets for rice and wheat are integrated with the world …

The Politics Media Equation:Exposing Two Faces Of Old Nexus Through Study Of General Elections,Wikileaks And Radia Tapes, Ratnesh Dwivedi Mr

Ratnesh Dwivedi

The important identity of a responsible media is playing an unbiased role in reporting a matter without giving unnecessary hype to attract the attention of the gullible public with the object of making money and money only.After reporting properly the media can educate the public to form their own opinion in the matters of public interest. Throughout the centuries, the world has never existed without information and communication, hence the inexhaustible essence of mass media. The government has the power to either make or reject whatever that will exist within its environment. It also determines how free the mass media …

Trends In Rural Wage Rates: Whether India Reached Lewis Turning Point, A Amarender Reddy

A Amarender Reddy

After liberalisation of Indian economy in early 1990s, India’s GDP growth rates have been picked up and there is a sign of speeding up of structural transformation in Indian economy with the share of agriculture in GDP reduced to 12%. However, still about 50% of the labor force depends on agriculture, which shows that the structural transformation in employment is slower and productivity differences between agriculture and non-agricultural sector is growing. Some studies that the high economic growth has not been able to translate itself into increase in the wages and earnings of the workforce. Some other studies find that …

Exporting Expertise: A Note On Singapore's Gambit In Bangalore, India, Caroline Yeoh, Amrit Vaidyanath, Siang Yeung Wong

Caroline Yeoh

Infrastructure can be unreliable and administration subject to corruption in Asia’s rapidly emerging economies. This context presented Singapore with unique opportunities to export its ‘positive reputation’ to locations where these attributes are less certain, through the provision of superior infrastructure, the ability to negotiate investment concessions and, where existing, through the links to influential business groups in the investment location. This strategic initiative is premised on the perception that Singapore’s good relations with multinationals, as well as “connections” with Asian business networks, will give the industrial-township projects a marketing advantage. To complement the extensive literature on Singapore’s flagship projects in …

The Singapore "Advantage" In India: A Perception Or A Premium?, Alexandra Si-Lan Wee, Ai Lin Leong, Caroline Yeoh

Caroline Yeoh

Singapore’s regionalisation strategy has been applied in various countries, such as China, Vietnam and India, through the establishment of industrial parks. The parks are marketed as a winning combination of the host country’s unique location advantages and Singapore style efficiency and management know-how. Singapore’s foray into India was marked by the setting up of the ITPL in Bangalore, and furthered by its venture into a future phase of HITEC City, based on her success in Bangalore. However, with global businesses shifting interests towards India, and competing industrial parks emerging to meet the increasing demand, ITPL is faced with stiff competition …

The Singapore-India Connection: A Tale Of Two Industrial Parks, Caroline Yeoh, Wongso Kevin, Wee Tan

Caroline Yeoh

In recent times, Singapore has, as part of its regionalisation strategy, established industrial parks in various countries, including China, Vietnam, and India. The parks are marketed as a winning combination of the host country’s unique location advantages and Singapore-style efficiency and management know-how. Singapore’s foray into India, in particular, was marked by the setting up of the ITPL in Bangalore; a development that met with great success. However, with global businesses shifting interests towards India, and competing industrial parks emerging to meet the increasing demand, ITPL is faced with stiff competition from other industrial parks; and Singapore has since announced …

Foodgrain Price Policies In India: The Effects On Foodgrain Production And Rural Poverty, E J. Wilson

Edgar Wilson

There is a large research literature which quantifies the important contributions of public, private and human capital to economic growth and poverty reduction.

Why Are There Delays In Seeking Treatment For Childhood Diarrhoea In India?, Nisha Malhotra

Nisha Malhotra

Abstract Aim To examine the barriers and facilitating factors for seeking treatment for childhood diarrhoea and to determine the main causes for delay in seeking treatment.

Methods Data from Indian Demographic and Health survey 2005–06 (NFHS-III) was used. Mothers were asked if their children (<5-years) had suffered from diarrhoea during the two weeks preceding the survey. Data were collected on the time of seeking treatment after start of the illness, and days waited to seek treatment after the diarrhoea started. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to find the determinants of seeking treatment at the health facility and the factors responsible for the “delay” in seeking advice/treatment.

Results Out of a sample of 41,287 children, 3890 (9.4%) reportedly had diarrhoea. Sixty percent of children with diarrhoea were taken to a health facility. Mother's education till higher secondary and above (OR 1.65; 95% CI, 1.08 – 2.54), richest (OR 1.76; 95% CI, 1.24 – 2.48) wealth index, mother's lack of knowledge of oral …

To Compete Globally, Brics Nations Need Reputation, Not Imitation, Ahmed E. Souaiaia

Ahmed E SOUAIAIA

The economic, political, and social rise of the Western block of nations was founded on the single most enduring currency: reputation. Reputation, the source of credibility and trust, is the real asset that allows the U.S. to project its stature around the world. BRICS nations cannot rise to prominence by mimicking developed countries. They must build their reputation first. Wealth is only a byproduct of this more precious commodity, and countries who have it can squander it just as emerging economies can acquire it. For either of those results to happen in any country, circumstantial conditions and principled actions must …