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How Much Could South Asia Benefit from Regional Electricity Cooperation and Trade?
No full textThe South Asia region is lagging behind many regions in the world in regional electricity cooperation and trading, despite the huge anticipated benefits. This study uses an electricity planning model that produces optimal expansion of electricity generation capacities and transmission interconnections in the long-term to quantify the benefits of unrestricted cross-border electricity trade in the South Asia during 2015–40. The study finds that the unrestricted electricity trade provision would save US9 billion per year) of electricity supply costs over the period. The ratio of the present value of benefits, in the form of reduction of fuel costs, to the present value of increased costs due to generation and interconnection would be 5.3. The provision would reduce regional power sector carbon dioxide emissions by 8 percent, mainly because of substitution of coal-based generation with hydro-based generation, although regional emissions would be well above current levels absent other policy interventions. To achieve these benefits, the region is estimated to add 95,000 megawatts of new cross-border transmission interconnection capacity
Understanding the Informal Justice System: Opportunities and possibilities for legal pluralism in Pakistan
No full textThis report deals with the legal system in rural Pakistan. The author analyzes how common people resolve their disputes and conflicts the subject of this report is the opinion of pakistanis with regard to the systems of Justice in Pakistan
Republic of India - Livelihoods in Intermediate Towns: Social Dynamics of Non-farm Economy
No full textThis report is based on a field study of two large settlements, Satghara (a census town) and Bhagwatipur (a rural cluster with 10,000 plus population) in the Madhubani district of Bihar. The study explores the social dynamics of the rural non-farm economy by empirically mapping non-farm occupations in both the settlements. It examines the dynamics of caste, community, and gender within the social organization of the non-farm economy in terms of their economic and social hierarchies and the differential incomes and status they provide. The study also looks at the relationship of the local non-farm economy with patterns of outmigration. It further attempts to understand the manner in which the changes in the regional structures of power and domination have influenced the local economic processes and are being influenced by them with a specific focus on the non-farm economy in the two setting. The study also attempts an assessment of the possible development and urbanizing effects of the rather rapid growth of nonfarm economy in rural Madhubani
Democracy and National Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Towards a Peaceful Equation?
No full textThe essay deals with the current situation in Sri Lanka after the civil war
Poverty Dynamics in India between 2004 and 2012: Insights from Longitudinal Analysis Using Synthetic Panel Data
No full textRecent National Sample Surveys point to significant poverty reduction in India since 2004/05, with a marked acceleration between 2009/10 and 2011/12. This paper enquires into important aspects of income mobility between 2004/05 and 2011/12, based on new statistical methods to convert the three pertinent National Sample Survey rounds into synthetic panels. The analysis draws on the synthetic panels to derive a vulnerability line for India that can be used to separate out a population subgroup comprising non-poor households facing a heightened risk of falling into poverty. The paper documents a strong pattern of upward mobility out of poverty and vulnerability into the middle class, with a noticeable acceleration between 2009/10 and 2011/12. The paper further undertakes a careful investigation into the comparability of the survey rounds, prompted by the observation that fairly significant modifications had been made to survey questionnaires. The findings suggest that changes in questionnaire design have not compromised the comparability of the data
Quality and Accountability in Healthcare Delivery: Audit Evidence from Primary Care Providers in India
No full textThis paper presents direct evidence on the quality of health care in low-income settings using a unique and original set of audit studies, where standardized patients were presented to a nearly representative sample of rural public and private primary care providers in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Three main findings are reported. First, private providers are mostly unqualified, but they spent more time with patients and completed more items on a checklist of essential history and examination items than public providers, while being no different in their diagnostic and treatment accuracy. Second, the private practices of qualified public sector doctors were identified and the same doctors exerted higher effort and were more likely to provide correct treatment in their private practices. Third, there is a strong positive correlation between provider effort and prices charged in the private sector, whereas there is no correlation between effort and wages in the public sector. The results suggest that market-based accountability in the unregulated private sector may be providing better incentives for provider effort than administrative accountability in the public sector in this setting. While the overall quality of care is low both sectors, the differences in provider effort may partly explain the dominant market share of fee-charging private providers even in the presence of a system of free public healthcare
Sri Lanka: Ending Poverty and Promoting Shared Prosperity
No full textBetween 2002 and 2012-13, most of the reduction in poverty was due to increased earnings, as opposed to higher employment or higher transfers. Although it is hard to be certain, increases in earnings are associated with: (i) a slow structural transformation away from agriculture and into industry and services that led to productivity increases; (ii) agglomeration around key urban areas that supported this structural transformation; (iii) domestic-driven growth, including public-sector investment that led to increases in labor demand, particularly in industry and services; and (iv) a commodity boom that led to higher labor earnings for agricultural workers in the context of lower agricultural employment. Sri Lanka’s has had impressive development gains but there are strong indications that drivers of past progress are not sustainable. Solid economic growth, strong poverty reduction, overcoming internal conflict, effecting a remarkable democratic transition in recent months, and overall strong human development outcomes are a track record that would make any country proud. However, the country’s inward looking growth model based on non-tradable sectors and domestic demand amplified by public investment cannot be expected to lead to sustained inclusive growth going forward. A systematic diagnostic points to fiscal, competitiveness, and inclusion challenges as well as cross-cutting governance and sustainability challenges as priority areas of focus for sustaining progress in ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity
Job Opportunities along the Rural-Urban Gradation and Female Labor Force Participation in India
No full textThe recent decline in India’s rural female labor force participation is generally attributed to higher rural incomes in a patriarchal society. Together with the growing share of the urban population, where female participation rates are lower, this alleged income effect does not bode well for the empowerment of women as India develops. This paper argues that a traditional supply-side interpretation is insufficient to account for the decline in female participation rates, and the transformation of the demand for labor at local levels needs to be taken into account as well. A salient trait of this period is the collapse in the number of farming jobs without a parallel emergence of other employment opportunities considered suitable for women. The paper develops a novel approach to capture the structure of employment at the village or town level, and allow for differences along six ranks in the rural-urban gradation. It also considers the possible misclassification of urban areas as rural, as a result of household surveys lagging behind India’s rapid urbanization process. The results show that the place of residence along the rural-urban gradation loses relevance as an explanation of female labor force participation once local job opportunities are taken into account. Robustness checks confirm that the main findings hold even when taking into account the possibility of spurious correlation and endogeneity. They also hold under alternative definitions of labor force participation and when sub-samples of women are considered. Simulations suggest that for India to reverse the decline in female labor force participation rates it needs to boost job creation
The Effect of Metro Expansions on Air Pollution in Delhi
No full textThe Delhi Metro (DM) is a mass rapid transit system serving the National Capital Region of India. It is also the world’s first rail project to earn carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism of the United Nations for reductions in CO2 emissions. Did the DM also lead to localized reduction in three transportation source pollutants? Looking at the period 2004–2006, one of the larger rail extensions of the DM led to a 34 percent reduction in localized CO at a major traffic intersection in the city. Results for NO2 are also suggestive of a decline, while those for PM25 are inconclusive due to missing data. These impacts of pollutant reductions are for the short run. A complete accounting of all long run costs and benefits should be done before building capital intensive metro rail projects
Kunduz - beyond the battleground
No full text"There is life in the old dog yet! This simplistic slogan demonstrates how wrong international media and many analysts were by assessing the latest trajectories within the Taliban and the future path this movement might take. To be precise, the tendency to announce the ushered disappearance of the Taliban, as they are commonly known on both sides of the Durand line, the much troubled Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) border, turned out to be a disastrous, consequential misunderstanding of the facts on the ground. There are no doubts that the Taliban had to face serious challenges after the fall of their Islamic fundamentalist terror regime in Afghanistan (1996-2001). (...).