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Does Land Fragmentation Increase the Cost of Cultivation? Evidence from India
No full textAlthough a large literature discusses the productivity effects of land fragmentation, measurement and potential endogeneity issues are often overlooked. This paper uses several measures of fragmentation and controls for endogeneity and crop choice by looking at inherited paddy and wheat plots to show that these issues matter empirically. While crop choice can mitigate effects, fragmentation as measured by the Simpson index increases production cost and fosters substitution of labor for machinery, especially for small and medium farmers. Greater distances between fragments have a smaller effect. Creating opportunities for market-based consolidation could be one step to limit fragmentation-induced cost increases
Der Maurya-Staat ( 4.-2. Jh. v. Chr.): Gesamtindisches Großreich oder Imperium?
No full textDie frühstaatliche Entwicklung Nordindiens, die Romila Thapar treffend als „from lineage to state", beschrieb, nahm ihren Ursprung in der Ganges-Ebene. Sie durchlief mehrere Phasen von den vedischen Häuptlingstümern (janapada-chiefdoms) zu den frühen Königtümern (mahajanapadas) und deren beginnender Urbanisierung und den erbitterten Kämpfen um Vorherrschaft, aus denen das Königreich von Magadha im heutigen Bundesstaat Bihar siegreich hervorging. Im frühen 5. Jh. v. Chr. stieg Magadha unter der Nanda-Dynastie zum Kerngebiet des ersten indischen regionalen Großreiches auf, das alle mahajanapada-Königreiche Nordindiens und Teile des nördlichen Dekkans und das nordöstliche Küstenland von Kalinga im heutigen Bundesstaat Orissa durch eine aggressive Expansionspolitik unterwarf
SAI-Newsletter, no. 4 (January 2014)
No full textThe SAI-Newsletter presents what the South Asia Institute offers: A fascinating unity in a variety of academic topics on South Asia, a unique group of highly qualified academics, numerous best practice examples for research and teaching and last but not least a sound degree of public attention. Apart from looking back at what has happened at the institute the newsletter will also point at upcoming activities and events. By doing so the SAI-Newsletter combines the important task of documentation while at the same time looking ahead to what the future will bring
China’s Strategic Interests and its impacts on Bangladesh
No full textThe paper deals with China's foreign and security policy and its impacts for Bangladesh
Spatial Dynamics of Electricity Usage in India
No full textIndia's manufacturing sector has undergone many spatial adjustments since 1989, including, for example, the organized sector's migration to rural locations, the powerful rise of informal manufacturing within cities, and the development of intermediate cities for manufacturing. This paper investigates the impact of these spatial adjustments for electricity usage in India s manufacturing sector. Striking spatial differences in energy usage exist, and whether spatial adjustments exacerbate or alleviate energy consumption strains is important for issues ranging from reducing India's power blackouts to stemming rising pollution levels. Using detailed surveys for the organized and unorganized sectors, the analysis finds that electricity usage per unit of output in urban plants declined steadily during 1989-2010. In the rural areas, by contrast, electricity consumption per unit of output for organized sector plants peaked in 2000 and thereafter declined. Decomposing the observed trends in aggregate electricity usage from 2000 onwards, the paper finds that most reductions in electricity usage per unit of output came from reductions in existing sites of activity (defined through state-industry-urban/rural cells). The second biggest factor leading to reduced usage was lower usage in fast-growing sectors. By contrast, spatial movements of manufacturing activity across India did not significantly change usage levels and may have even increased them. This appears to have been in part because of the split nature of the mobility, with organized and unorganized sectors migrating in opposite directions
Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Policy Harmonization in Bangladesh
No full textOver the past 30 years, Bangladesh has achieved significant economic and human development progress, and demonstrated impressive policy as well as programmatic commitment to lowering the fertility level. However, its future socioeconomic prospects may be hampered by its population growth rate, depending on how quickly the fertility rates decline and at which point they stabilize. Projections estimate that the total population of Bangladesh in 2051 could increase to 218.1 million under a laissez faire projection scenario and 201.3 million under an accelerated fertility transition (AFT) scenario. This difference would have significant impacts on public spending, public services, and job creation. An AFT scenario would enable the country to improve the dependency ratios possibly resulting in economic benefits from harnessing the demographic dividend for several decades. To accelerate the demographic transition, the government will need to revitalize high-level coordination to ensure multisectoral engagement in population policies, including increasing the age at marriage, and improving education, skills development, job creation, and social safety nets for the vulnerable population groups. In addition, a sustained decline in fertility through increased access and coverage of family planning (FP) services is crucial, mainly by focusing on lagging regions and hard-to-reach areas, and by expanding the supply and provision of FP long acting and permanent methods. Strengthening the synergy and coordination of service delivery between the Health and FP directorates by building capacity for systems strengthening; promoting cross-referral between programs; and efficient provisioning of FP and reproductive health services through community clinics need to remain at the forefront of the government s health improvement efforts in Bangladesh
The Economic Cost of Stigma and the Exclusion of LGBT People: A Case Study of India
No full textHuman rights and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are usually considered through a social, cultural, or ethical lens, but equality and inclusion of LGBT people are also economic development issues. This report develops a model to estimate the economic cost of stigma; negative attitudes toward LGBT people and the exclusion of LGBT people in social institutions such as education, employment, families, and health care. The model is applied to a case study of India. Three major findings emerge from this report. First, there is clear evidence of stigma and exclusion exists for LGBT people in India. Data on public opinion from 2006 shows that 41 percent of Indians would not want a homosexual neighbor, and 64 percent believe that homosexuality is never justified. Negative attitudes have diminished over time, however. Second, the effects of stigma and exclusion are potentially costly to economies. A conceptual model links exclusion of LGBT people and economic development through (1) lower productivity and lower output as a result of employment discrimination and constraints on labor supply; (2) inefficient investment in human capital because of lower returns to education and discrimination in educational settings; (3) lost output as a result of health disparities that are linked to exclusion; and (4) social and health services required to address the effects of exclusion that might be better spent elsewhere. Third and lastly, in India, existing research does not allow for a precise estimate of the cost of LGBT exclusion, but the cost could be substantial. The loss of labor productivity and output because of employment discrimination and the loss of life years due to early death or disability will reduce the economic output of the Indian economy. With better research on the lived experiences of LGBT people, researchers could use existing analytical tools to estimate the total cost of LGBT exclusion
Sri Lanka Country Opinion Survey Report (July 2012 - June 2013)
No full textThe Country Opinion Survey for FY2012 in Sri Lanka assists the World Bank Group (WBG) in gaining a better understanding of how stakeholders in Sri Lanka perceive the WBG. It provides the WBG with systematic feedback from national and local governments, multilateral/bilateral agencies, media, academia, the private sector, and civil society in Sri Lanka on 1) their views regarding the general environment in Sri Lanka; 2) their overall attitudes toward the WBG in Sri Lanka; 3) overall impressions of the WBG s effectiveness and results, knowledge work and activities, and communication and information sharing in Sri Lanka; and 4) their perceptions of the WBG s future role in Sri Lanka
Zum Konzept der religiösen Minderheit im Hinduismus
No full textFür den Philologen, der sich in den historischen Dokumenten einer fremden Kultur zuhause fühlt, ist die Frage nach religiösen Minderheiten unter Umständen ein Problem. Im Hinduismus der Vormoderne wäre es sehr schwer, auch nur einen Begriff zu finden, der dem der religiösen Minderheit nahekäme. Worauf der Philologe beharren muss, wäre also zunächst eine genauere Bestimmung dessen, was eine religiöse Minderheit ausmacht: Denn natürlich muss es auch im vormodernen Indien schon statistisch religiöse, wie auch andere Minderheiten gegeben haben, doch diese Tatsache muss dort nicht notwendigerweise zur Ausbildung eines Konzepts geführt haben, welches dem modernen unmittelbar vergleichbar wäre. Was sich in Indien natürlich als ein einheimisches Konzept zur Beschreibung religiöser und sozialer Minderheiten aufdrängt, ist das der Kaste
A Pandit’s Journey: Peri Sarveshvara Sharma in Germany
No full textThe following pages are devoted to one aspect of Sanskrit Studies in Germany, which has remained mostly undocumented, that is, the presence of traditional Indian scholars of Sanskrit in many Indological Institutes in Germany during the second half of the 20th century. Such a collaboration with Indian “lecturers”, employed often for modern Indian languages, but working at the same time in Sanskrit Studies, was a feature so much taken for granted that now, with that system falling away through the radical downsizing of most departments of Indology in Germany, one is slowly realising the unique working environment it had provided to all who had the advantage of studying in it