1,397 research outputs found
Female headship, poverty and child welfare: A study of rural orissa, India
No full textFirst, on the basis of primary data collected in a rural setting in the State of Orissa, an attempt has been made in this paper to compare the socioeconomic status of male- and female- headed households. Subsequently the differences in the use of resources (time and money) between male-headed and female-headed households have been analysed. Finally, the paper explores the relative well-being of the children between the two groups, i.e., to what extent female headship influences children's access to social services, and children's actual welfare outcomes, measured in terms of health and education indicators. The results suggest that poverty and female headship are strongly linked in rural Orissa, India. For eample, if we draw a poverty line that corresponds to 15 per cent of the population who are poor, 12 per cent of people living in male-headed househols are poor as compared with 33 per cent of people living in female-headed households. This result is based on per capita consumption as the welfare indicator. When 40 per cent poverty line is used, the differences are still large in economic terms and are statistically significant. Moreover, when we use adjusted consumption as the welfare indicator, the comparisons show a much higher incidence of poverty among female-headed households. This is true for both masures of poverty line, i.e., 15 per cent and 40 per cent. Thus, we conclude that female headship can be a better targetting indicator for poverty alleviation in rural Orissa. The results further suggest that the use of resources are significantly different between the two types of households. Labour force participation data indicate that female heads are more likely to work in the market place than women who are spouses of male heads of household. The differences are large: on average 74 per cent verus 54 per cent. The comparison of household expenditures indicates that, female-headed households spend relatively less on higher quality food items such as meat, vegetables, milk and other dairy products. However, there is some evidence that they spend less on personal consumption such as alcoholic beverages. Overall, the differences are pronounced between these households. Finally, the findings show that children in female-headed households are disadvantaged both in terms of access to social services and actual welfare outcomes.female headship, poverty, child welfare, gender,differential resource use, social services, household
Inefficiency and institutional issues in the provision of merit goods: A case study of public water supply in rural Kerala
No full textThis paper discusses the issues of inefficiency in the provision of merit goods, taking the case of public water supply in rural Kerala. The analysis has identified two source of inefficiency in the provision of merit good. First, is due to the fact that the state and its agencies autonomously decide the nature and characteristics of the merit good. If the nature of good provided is not preferred by the people, or its consumption require effort on the part of citizens, these may lead to the non-consumption of the good by a large number of people. Thus, the definition of safe water as pipe water (from a centralised system) in the case of Kerala, lead to its effective non-use by a significant part of rural population. The second source of inefficiency in the provision of merit good, is in the selection of the institutional framework. The acquisition and free distribution of water by the state agency, is the prevailing institutional framework in Kerala, and this is inappropriate in efficiently solving the drinking water problem of different localities, taking their specific characteristics into account. The paper outlines a logical framework, which can be used to identify the necessary mechanism of government intervention in water supply in different localities.merit good; rural water supply; institutional choice and inefficiency; new institutional economics; Kerala
Government intervention in industrial R & D: Some lessons from the international experience for India
No full textThere is now substantial empirical evidence, based essentially on the experience of developed countries, that there is underinvestment in industrial R&D consequent to the gradual withdrawal of the state. It is generally observed that government can solve this problem of underinvestment in two ways: by increasing the profits of innovators, or by undertaking R&D in areas where the private sector underinvests. An examination of the nature of government intervention in developed countries show that it is increasingly moving towards the latter variety. However, contrary to normal impression, the extent of government intervention in industrial R&D in India is of the former variety. The state has been using tax incentives as the major instrument for stimulating R&D by production enterprises. Direct grants, which has become the dominant instrument of intervention in the west, is considered to be better as it can be targeted towards specific projects. In fact the efficacy of tax incentives to encourage R&D requires further scrutiny. The state in India also have to intervene for making available technically trained manpower to engage in industrial R&D radically redesigning the higher education system, by improving the incentive system for those working in the R&D system etc. The paper thus underscores the fact that there is enough space for the Indian state to increase its interventionist role in industrial research contrary to the arguments for its gradual withdrawal.appropriability, government intervention, industrial R&D system, technology policy
FIGURE 2. A–I. Memecylon ponmudianum. A. Habit, B. Inflorescence, C. Mature flower bud, D. Flower, E. Calyx with gynoecium, F. Petal, G. Anther, H in A new species of Memecylon (Melastomataceae) from the Western Ghats, India
No full textFIGURE 2. A–I. Memecylon ponmudianum. A. Habit, B. Inflorescence, C. Mature flower bud, D. Flower, E. Calyx with gynoecium, F. Petal, G. Anther, H. Cross Section of ovary, I. Infructescence with fruits (all drawn from Sivu 65150 by T. Shaju).Published as part of Sivu, Ambikabai Raghavanpillai, Narayanan, Matalai Kokkaramath Ratheesh, Pradeep, Nediyaparambu Sukumaran & Pandurangan, Ettickal Sukumaran Santhosh Kumar And Alagramam Govindasamy, 2014, A new species of Memecylon (Melastomataceae) from the Western Ghats, India, pp. 44-50 in Phytotaxa 162 (1) on page 46, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.162.1.4, http://zenodo.org/record/513195
Long term implications of low fertility in Kerala
No full textIn recent years, Kerala has made remarkable progress in its demographic transition. The State has achieved below replacement level of fertility two decades ahead of the all-India target year of 2011 and India is likely to achieve the replacement level only by 2021. The TFR declined from a high level of 5.6 in 1951-61 to about 1.7 in 1993, a level which is very much below the replacement level of 2.05. The State's IMR has touched a low level of 13 in 1993, a level comparable to that of some of the developed countries of the world. The population growth rate has declined to about 1 per cent per annum in 1995 from a high level of 2.3 per cent per year during 1961-71. Thus Kerala's demographic trends in the first half of the 21st century will be dramatically different from that of the second half of the 20th century. Total population of the State is expected to increase by 170 percent in the second half of the present century (from 11,723,000 in 1951 to 31,553,000 in 2001), the growth (if any) in the next half a century will be very negligible. The crude death rate declined from about 20 to about 6 in the last half a century, but it is likely to increase from 6 to 13 in the next century. The crude birth rate decreased from 40 to about 16 in the last half a century, but it is likely to remain more or less stable in the next half a century. While Kerala experienced varying degrees of net out-migration and net emigration in the last half a century, migration trend in the next half a century is somewhat uncertain. It will depend more on socio-economic developments than on demographic trends. The socioeconomic implications of the reversal of the demographic trends will be far reaching: (a) To begin with, the pressure on schools and colleges will be a thing of the past, giving ample opportunities for the educational system to concentrate on the quality of education rather than on quantity. (b) This is also true of hospitals and health personnel catering to the health needs of the children. It will be easier to bring about the needed improvement in the quality of their services. (c) In the transitional period, parity between the number of girls and boys in their respective marriage ages will be maintained. But this is a temporary respite. (d) Other things being equal on the economic front, unemployment among the young working age population will be greatly reduced. The educated young workers might be able to pick and choose the job they want. But this is not the case with older workers. The number of older working population would almost double in a short period of 20 years between 2001 and 2021 (e) In the last half a century the major socioeconomic problems were related to the schooling, maintenance of health and nutrition and finding employment for the youngsters. In the next half a century, the major socio-economic problems would be finding gainful employment for the older working age population, maintenance of the health and nutrition of the elderly, and providing them with means of subsistence through social security and pension, etc.Kerala, fertility, mortality, migration, projections, aging, labour force, social security, pension, marriage
The State of Teacher Education in France: A Critique
No full textPradeep Kumar Misra, The State of Teacher Education in France: A Critique, FMSH-WP-2014-58, january 2014. Pour télécharger ce document sur HALSHS The author Dr. Pradeep Kumar Misra is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Allied Sciences of M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, India. His research specializations are Teacher Education, Educational Technology and Lifelong Learning. Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful to the Fondation maison des Sciences de l'Homme (FMSH..
Exogenous Growth Regulators and Water Stress Enhance Long-Term Storage Quality Characteristics of Onion
No full textExogenous growth regulators (GRs) play a crucial role in alleviating water stress and sustaining crop yields in water-stressed areas. However, their effects on onions post-harvest quality, particularly post-monsoon onion—often preferred for long-term storage—were never studied. Therefore, this led us to investigate the interaction between water stress and GRs on the physiochemical and functional quality attributes of onions during long-term storage (9 months, at 25 ± 1 °C and 65 ± 5% RH). Onion crop was raised under four water stress levels i.e., 1.00–0.85, 0.84–0.70, 0.69–0.40, and 0.39–0.10 IW: CPE, designated as no, low, medium, and severe water stress, respectively, using a line source sprinkler system (LSS). GR treatments include potassium nitrate (PN, 15 g L−1), sodium benzoate (SB, 100 mg L−1), thio-urea (TU, 450 ppm), and gibberellic acid (GA, 25 ppm). Results reveal that the significant temporal changes in the dry matter, rehydration ratio, total soluble sugar (TSS), protein, and total phenolics content (TP) of the onion bulbs during storage, indicate the cumulative impact of the treatments on overall physicochemical status. Water stress increased onion biochemical attributes, especially pyruvic acid content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD) activity. Storage quality of onions progressively decreased with the increase in storage period. Stressed onions, especially those produced under severe water stress condition, showed high weight losses, presenting poor keeping quality. However, application of GRs, especially SB, TU, and PN, reduced bulb weight losses together with maintaining slightly better bulb physicochemical properties, thereby improving the overall storage quality, particularly with a moderate level of water stress (0.69–0.40 IW:CPE). The exogenous application of GRs with moderate water stress is suggested as a key strategy in improving the keeping quality of onion bulbs and ensuring its availability during the lean season
The State of Teacher Education in France: A Critique
No full textPradeep Kumar Misra, The State of Teacher Education in France: A Critique, FMSH-WP-2014-58, january 2014. Pour télécharger ce document sur HALSHS The author Dr. Pradeep Kumar Misra is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Allied Sciences of M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly, India. His research specializations are Teacher Education, Educational Technology and Lifelong Learning. Acknowledgements I am extremely grateful to the Fondation maison des Sciences de l'Homme (FMSH..
The irrelevance of methodology and the art of the possible: Reading Sen and Hirschman
No full textEconomic methodologists have observed that economists do not practice what they think their methodology is. Two positions follow from this. One insists on the need for `better' practice in maintaining `scientific' standard, while the other takes the literary turn. Following the second route we argue that appraisal of economic theories cannot be done by applying a general `scientific method' apart from practice. Methodological conversations, which are shaped by various strategies taken by practitioners to persuade each other, can only be studied and improved by reading the most persuasive of the authors in the discipline. Writings of Albert Hirschman and Amartya Sen are chosen to be read following our approach.Methodology, positivism, rhetoric, methodological conversation, internal criticism
An analysis of the marketing strategy of American motors corporation from a local frame of reference, 1969
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