1,721,184 research outputs found
Walking along Prince Anwar Shah Road, Kolkata
No full text-- Epsita Halder Image 1: A flag of Ashura procession on Prince Anwar Shah Road Prince Anwar Shah Road, stretched between Jadavpur Police Station to the east and Tipu Sultan Shahi Masjid to the west, where Anwar Shah Road meets Deshapran Shasmal Road, has a unique demography consisting of multiple neighbourhoods, economic zones and a complex juxtaposition of urban deliberations. In its 2.4 km stretch, in multiple phases of community settlement and urbanisation, the diversification of th..
A Practitioner´s Guide to Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers
Get PDFIntergovernmental fiscal transfers are a dominant feature of sub-national finance in most countries. They are used to ensure that revenues roughly match the expenditure needs of various orders (levels) of sub-national governments. They are also used to advance national, regional and local area objectives such as fairness and equity and creating a common economic union. The structure of these transfers create incentives for national, regional and local governments that have a bearing on fiscal management, macroeconomic stability, distributional equity, allocative efficiency and public services delivery. This paper reviews conceptual, empirical and the practice literature to distill lessons of policy interest in designing the fiscal transfers to create the right incentives for prudent fiscal managment and competitive and innovative service delivery. The paper provides practical guidance on the design of performance-oriented transfers that emphasize bottom-up, client- focused and results-based government accountability. It cites examples of simple but innovative grant designs that can satisfy grantors’ objectives while preserving local autonomy and creating an enabling environment for responsive, responsible, equitable and accountable public governance. The paper further provides guidance on the design and the practice of equalization transfers for regional fiscal equity as well as the institutional arrangements for implementation of such transfer mechanisms. The paper concludes with negative (practices to avoid) and positive (practices to emulate) lessons from international practices.
Governing for Results in a Globalised and Localised World
Get PDFThis paper addresses three complementary themes in bringing about responsive and accountable public governance in developing countries—namely globalisation, localisation and a results oriented management and evaluation (ROME). The first theme recognises interdependencies in an interconnected world and discusses how these influences would shape partnership within and across nations. The second theme is concerned with public sector realignments within nations to meet the challenges associated with heightened expectations from an informed citizenry. The third theme relates to creating a new culture of public governance that is responsive and accountable to citizens. The paper argues that a road to ROME holds significant promise of overcoming the ills of a dysfunctional, command and control, overbearing and rent seeking public sector in many developing countries. ROME de-emphasises traditional input controls and instead is concerned with creating an authorising environment in which the public officials are given the flexibility to manage for results but are held accountable for delivering public services consistent with citizen preferences. Further under ROME incentive mechanisms induce public and non-public (private and nongovernment) sectors to compete in the delivery of public services and match public services with citizen preferences at lower tax cost to society per unit of output.
Life and works of 'Allamah Muhammad Anwar Shah Kashmiri.
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.'Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri (d.1933) was one of the most distinguished Islamic scholars of the Indo-Pak Subcontinent. He was recognised as an authority on 'Ilm al-Hadith (the science of Hadith). His works on Hadith won him the title of Shaykh al- Hadith (an expert in the field of Hadith) and was also acclaimed as a Muhaddith (scholar of Hadith). Although 'Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri's speciality was primarily in the field of the science of Hadith, he was equally competent to teach and write in other relevant Islamic sciences such as, al-Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) and 'Ulum al-Qur'an (Qur'anic Sciences), etc. His research and findings sometimes led to him engaging into intense intellectual debates with other Muslim scholars in various parts of India. He had a passion for Hadith and he spent all his life teaching the Sihah Sittah (The Six Authentic Collections of Hadith). Students used to flock to the institutions where he taught and it was considered an honour and privilege to study under him. 'Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri's contribution in the field of Hadith benefited and continue to benefit scholars and students alike to this day. To date no systematic study on the life and works of 'Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri has as yet been accomplished in the English language. Biographies on him exist in the Urdu language and they are mostly of a popular nature and have generally not discussed in detail his academic uniqueness and peculiarities. Thus, the objectives of this study will be to: 1. Discuss the evolution of the Islamic institutions of Islamic learning in India and what impact it had in moulding and shaping the intellectual pursuit of 'Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri. 2. Analyze his literary works and assess his contributions in the field of the science of Hadith and Hadith literature. 3. Examine his unique position and individual stance on matters pertaining to Tafsir al-Qur'an (Qur'anic Exegesis), 'Ilm al-Hadith (the Science of Hadith) and some Fiqhi (legal) issues
Demanding to be served : holding governments to account for improved access
Get PDFThis paper presents an overview of the constitutional-legal provisions on access to services in developing countries and shows that rights to public services are not justice-able. It further documents the performance record to show that governments'response to such a weak accountability framework has been predictable - poor performance in service delivery with little accountability. The paper also shows that while there has not been a shortage of ideas on how to deal with this problem, most approaches have failed because they could not diagnose and deal with the underlying causes of government dysfunction. The paper presents an analytical perspective on understanding the causes of dysfunctional governance and the incentives and accountability regimes that have the potential to overcome this dysfunction. The paper also documents practices that have shown some promise in improving access. The paper then integrates ideas from successful practices with conceptual underpinnings for good governance and presents a citizen-centric (rights based) governance approach to access. It further explores how such a citizen empowerment and government accountability framework can be implemented in practice, especially in the context of developing countries, where most governments still operate in a command and control environment with little or no orientation to serve their people. It also presents ideas on how to overcome resistance to such reforms.National Governance,Public Sector Corruption&Anticorruption Measures,Governance Indicators,Public Sector Expenditure Analysis&Management,Banks&Banking Reform
Equalisation and Local Taxation in Denmark, Norway and Sweden
Get PDFEducation is one of the most important services provided by public governments in almost every country worldwide. However, the most important cross-country observations about education ? like the PISA report by the OECD or the TIMSS by the IEA ? focus only on international benchmarks to compare the knowledge capacity of pupils. This paper provides a general overview of the different forms to finance education in the framework of intergovernmental transfers as well as educational providers in ten European countries. We observe the educational system in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and point out the similarities and national distinctions in the respective transfer system regarding education financing or the allocation mechanism for primary and secondary schools as well as universities.Fiscal Federalism, Grants, Fiscal Autonomy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden
Fiscal decentralization in developing and transition economies: progress, problems, and the promise
Get PDFThe author discusses the revolution in public sector thinking that is transforming the public sectors of developing and transition countries. Countries are reconsidering their fiscal systems and searching for the right balance between central government control and decentralized governance. Political decentralization has advanced in most countries. Subnational expenditures in developing countries as a percentage of total public expenditures have also increased over the past two decades. However, the process is far from complete. In many countries, the central government is still involved in the delivery of local services, local governments have few sources of own-revenues, local governments have limited access to borrowing for capital projects, and the design of intergovernmental transfers does neither address regional fiscal equity nor convey appropriate incentives for fiscal discipline, improved service delivery performance, and accountability to citizens. Decentralized public governance can help realign public sector incentives through greater accountability to citizens, and attenuate the"democracy deficit"caused by globalization and the role of supranational institutions and regimes. However, this requires careful examination of the entire fiscal system. Elements of a comprehensive package of fiscal system reforms would include: (a) Clarifying roles of various levels of government in public service delivery; (b) Reassigning taxing responsibilities to ensure local revenue autonomy, accountability, and efficiency without endangering an internal common market; (c) Designing fiscal transfers to ensure regional fiscal equity and to create an enabling environment for innovative and competitive service delivery; (d) Facilitating responsible credit market access to subnational governments; (e) Designing institutional arrangements for intergovernmental fiscal relations to better coordinate policies; and (f) Aligning operational capacity with the authorizing environment through the"accountability for results"framework of public management.National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies
A fiscal needs approach to equalization transfers in a decentralized federation
Get PDFThe author reviews the conceptual basis for fiscal equalization transfers, analyzes the theoretical implications for optimal design of equalization transfers, and suggests quantitative approaches for assessing the fiscal needs of subnational governments and determining their entitlement to transfers. The author illustrates proposed methods using data for local and provincial Canadian governments. The proposed methods could be useful tools, he says, for undertaking systematic objective reviews of aggregate and sectoral public spending in developing countries. The author argues that in a decentralized federation, fiscal inefficiencies and inequities arise because of subnational governments'differing levels of ability to provide comparable public services at comparable tax rates. Fiscal equalization transfers that reduce or eliminate differentials in net fiscal benefits create a rare instance in economics when considerations of equity and efficiency coincide. These transfers must allow for differences in the spending needs and revenues-raising abilities of the various subnational governments. The author argues for a two-tiered approach to equalization. The first tier would be a federal responsibility to equalize the burden of federal taxes. The second tier would be an interprovincial equalization fund to be administered by the Council of Provincial Finance Ministers. It would entail a comprehensive equalization system that takes into account provincial spending needs. The standard of equalization would be negotiated.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Environmental Economics&Policies
Fiscal health of selected Indian cities
Get PDFThis paper provides an overview of the fiscal problems faced by five urban agglomerations in India, namely, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, and Pune. It analyzes the fiscal health of the five urban agglomerations, quantifies their revenue capacities and expenditure needs, and draws policy recommendations on the means to reduce the gaps between revenue raising capacities and expenditure needs. The main findings suggest that, except for five small urban local bodies in Hyderabad, the others are not in a position to cover their expenditure needs by their present revenue collections. All the urban agglomerations have unutilized potential for revenue generation; however, with the exception of Hyderabad, they would fail to cover their expenditure needs even if they realized their revenue potential. Except in Chennai, larger corporations are more constrained than smaller urban local bodies. The paper recommends better utilization of"own revenue"through improved administration of property taxes, implementation of other taxes, and collection of user charges. It recommends that state governments should explore the option of allowing local bodies to piggyback a small proportion on their value-added tax collections. Another way to reduce the fiscal gap would be to earmark a portion of the sales proceeds from land and housing by state governments sold through their development agencies for improvements in urban infrastructure. The paper also recommends that the State Finance Commissions should develop appropriate norms for estimating expenditure needs, based on which transfers from the state to local governments can be decided.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Debt Markets,Municipal Financial Management,Public Sector Management and Reform,Banks&Banking Reform
The Methodology and Reasoning of Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri in Hadith Studies (In the Light of Al-Arf Al-Shadhi): علمِ حدیث میں علامہ انور شاہ کاشمیری کا منہج و استدلال (العرف الشذی کی روشنی میں)
No full text"The importance of the Prophetic word/ Hadith is an outstanding topic in Islamic studies being a basic source of Islamic teachings. In this way, the science of Hadith has its own significance and there is found a lot of excellent literature produced in this regard. Among the people who contributed in this field, the name of Anwar Shah Kashmiri is also included. He wrote a book entitled "العرف الشذی" in this regard, a unique one. In the following article, this book is focused on analysing the methodology of argumentation of the author for the purpose of understanding the technicalities of the science of Hadith.
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