553 research outputs found
Chanchal Kumar Majumdar
No full textChanchal Kumar Majumdar, a leading condensed matter theorist in India, died on 20 June 2000 in Calcutta following a heart attac
IPS866845_Online_Supplementary_Material_Statistical_Appendices – Supplemental material for Economic governance: Does it make or break a dominant party equilibrium? The case of India
No full textSupplemental material, IPS866845_Online_Supplementary_Material_Statistical_Appendices for Economic governance: Does it make or break a dominant party equilibrium? The case of India by Chanchal Kumar Sharma and Wilfried Swenden in International Political Science Review</p
The Federal Approach to FiscalDecentralisation: Conceptual Contours for Policy Makers
No full textChanchal Kumar Sharma,in his paper demonstrates that in order for fiscal decentralisation to be effective, it must be approached federally. A federal approach is not a decentralised approach but a dynamically balanced approach; one that constantly keeps on adjusting the contrasting forces of centralisation and decentralisation to create a system that can ensure good governance in accordance with the rapidly changing global and local scenario. According to the author, the good governance of the present time has to be federally flexible and dynamically decentralised and institutions of fiscal federalism are crucial for achieving such a dynamic equilibrium. Fiscal decentralisation cannot be detached from the broader principles of fiscal federalism if it is to be successful, irrespective of the fact of whether it is being carried out in a federal or non-federal country. He argues that too much decentralisation or an overly strong central federal government precludes the survival of a constitutional federal state.Federalism; Fiscal Decentralization; centralization
The Federal Approach to FiscalDecentralisation: Conceptual Contours for Policy Makers
No full textChanchal Kumar Sharma,in his paper demonstrates that in order for fiscal decentralisation to be effective, it must be approached federally. A federal approach is not a decentralised approach but a dynamically balanced approach; one that constantly
keeps on adjusting the contrasting forces of centralisation and
decentralisation to create a system that can ensure good governance in
accordance with the rapidly changing global and local scenario.
According to the author, the good governance of the present time has to
be federally flexible and dynamically decentralised and institutions of
fiscal federalism are crucial for achieving such a dynamic equilibrium.
Fiscal decentralisation cannot be detached from the broader principles
of fiscal federalism if it is to be successful, irrespective of the fact of
whether it is being carried out in a federal or non-federal country. He
argues that too much decentralisation or an overly strong central federal
government precludes the survival of a constitutional federal state
ICT Governance: Towards Federalized Structure and Solution
No full textThe ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Governance means actively identifying the service needs of the Government and her customers and to focus on planning and delivering these services to meet availability, performance, and security requirements. It also aims at managing service level agreements to meet agreed-upon security, quality and cost targets. Successful operation of an ICT unit of the government would require it to be fully integrated with the complete lifecycle of Government’s processes, improving service quality and Government agility. The paper identifies appropriate international standards for ICT Governance, and ICT Management around which solutions for ICT governance should be built.ict; governance; management; service delivery
The political economy of global outsourcing
No full textWhat is outsourcing and why India is being considered as BPO destination of the world? Why jobs are coming to India and why there is a downturn in the US economy and loss of jobs in that country. Even though these are two different things that happened simultaneously, they sadly managed to be mixed up. Academicians are groping to understand the phenomenon and are still in the process of disentangling themselves from the wave of confusion that exists. Politicization of the issue has made the concept of outsourcing a highly debatable, perplexing and controversial. The debate has conceptual, moral, economic,
political and policy dimensions. The debate centers on the
theoretical issue of globalization verses protectionism. In
addition, it has a moral and human dimension that compels one to ponder over the hopeless uncertainty and misery that has dawned upon of those displaced due to outsourcing in the developed countries. Apart from these, there are certain practical policy issues that have become part of the debate such as theft of crucial information by the offshore workers, threat to the safety of Intellectual Property and the concern over the quality of services being delivered by the BPO companies in India and other developing countries. Finally the political dimension of this contentious issue that has forced the federal government of USA to make a law against outsourcing of the government contracts cannot be ignored. A fall out of Globalization, outsourcing is being discussed around the world from a renewed perspective, sometimes with delight and at other times with fury, depending upon which side of outsourcing the person is supporting. Taking exception from the subjective and partial treatment as the supporters and opponents of the phenomenon around the globe
are offering, like six blind men trying to expound the outlines of an elephant the paper deals with the theme in its totality, while avoiding the prejudiced approach of a religious enthusiast. To the supporters the problem of job loss is not very serious thus they oppose protectionist attitude of the U.S government. But the fact is that the problem of job loss is quite critical yet pursuing protectionism as stipulated by the opponents is not a solution. Supporters have relied upon the traditional ‘job replacement argument’ to dissipate the fears regarding job loss. But it has been argued that the problem of job loss is serious and no replacements are going to take place in near future to substitute the quantum of jobs being lost. Thus unemployment, intended or unintended, will be the consequence. But protectionism, far from solving the problem, will create the new ones. Paper suggests certain alternatives on the basis of the model of job-protection
exemplified by the British government
Geographical Imaginations: Literature and the ‘Spatial Turn’ by Indranil Acharya and Ujjwal Kumar Panda
No full textThe publication of the book Geographical Imaginations: Literature and the Spatial Turn co-authored by Indranil Acharya and Ujjwal Kumar Panda is timely and significant in view of the fact that, despite the emergence of geocriticism as a modern critical framework in contemporary times, there has been little application of spatial concepts in the field of literary studies. Tracking the latest developments in geocriticism, the book straddles texts belonging to British, American, Indian English, Dalit and subaltern literatures while engaging with the romantic, the realist, the modernist, the postmodernist and the postcolonial perspectives. The depth and immediacy of the book is evinced by its sustained endeavour to navigate the depths of ‘social space’ and relate that fictional social space to the realities of life
Neutrophil extracellular traps in inflammatory disorders
No full textA novel feature of polymorphonuclear granulocyte (PMN) biology is their ability to generate neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) via a distinct process of cell death termed NETosis. NETs consist of chromosomal extruded DNA decorated with granular components that include antimicrobial peptides and proteases. The molecular pathways leading to NETosis involve generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), calcium mobilization, nuclear delobulation involving the enzymatic activities of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and neutrophil elastase (NE), and chromatin modification via the citrullination of histones by peptidyl arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4). A number of studies have implicated NETs in the etiology of auto-inflammatory or autoimmune conditions such as preeclampsia (PE), Felty’s syndrome, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), multiple sclerosis (MS), and, most recently, rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In the context of RA these findings are especially interesting, as NETs have been proposed to contribute to the generation of anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) auto-antigens, and may also be a target for autoantibodies. As we have previously detected significantly increased concentrations of cell-free DNA in the sera of RA patients compared with healthy controls, we were intrigued whether the elevation in this material involved NETosis. The premise for this investigation was that a link between circulating cell-free DNA levels and NETs has previously been made in a number of conditions including preeclampsia, sepsis, cancer, thrombosis or even storage of blood transfusion products. In view of these findings and reports on the complex involvement of neutrophil NETs in autoimmunity, we sought to investigate the NETotic response of PMN in RA, with particular regard to the underlying signal transduction cascade, and whether the products of overt NETosis could be diagnostically useful. Our data confirm and extend upon these observations in that we examined for changes in the underlying signal transduction cascade required for the induction of NETosis. These findings indicate that the propensity of circulatory PMN in RA patients to undergo NETosis is associated with elevations in members of this cascade including increased intracellular ROS production, enhanced expression of NE and MPO, and increased nuclear translocation of PAD4 and citrullination of histones, notably H3. Furthermore, by examining kinetic changes during extended in vitro culture it was observed that PMN from RA cases exhibited different nuclear morphometric characteristics, having a lower proportion of the classical lobulated phenotype. In the presence of a secondary stimuli, RA PMN also progressed more rapidly and extensively to a NETotic spread phenotype than controls, a finding confirmed by analysis of culture supernatants for the products of NETosis. Akin to what has been observed in an array of other pathological conditions ranging from SLE to cancer, PMN from RA patients exhibited an increased response to further stimulation. This response is in part mediated via the action of PAD4, as the effect of PMA could be significantly reduced by treatment with Cl-amidine, an inhibitor of PAD4. In addition, PMA treatment lead to an increased nuclear presence of this enzyme, where it presumably could be able to carry out a more extensive citrullination of histone proteins, thereby speeding up the induction of NETosis. A very intriguing and novel feature of our data is the detection of the extracellular presence of PAD4 on extruded NETs. The concomitant extracellular presence of this enzyme on NETs may increase the spectrum of citrullinated proteins and their local concentration significantly, a feature which could be important in the generation of ACPA. It is furthermore possible that the extracellular localisation of PAD4 may play a role in the development of anti-PAD4 antibodies observed in cases with RA. Hence, our data support and extend upon recent reports indicating that NETs can be a source for citrullinated autoantigens, or react with ACPA. Further presence of NETs in the intervillous space of preeclamptic placenta was previously reported by our lab. Using in vitro experiments, we have shown that trophoblast micro-debris could stimulate neutrophils to form NETs. However the effect of such phenomena remained elusive. Recent data suggests, NETs could act as a lattice, to stimulate platelet adhesion, promotes coagulation and thrombotic events. Given that PE, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and even fetal loss are broadly related to elevated thrombotic events causing dysfunctions at the interface between innate immunity and haemostasis, it is of cardinal importance to investigate whether NETs could elucidate such a response. In this study, we adopted mice sFLT-1 overexpression model, to elucidate the impact of NETosis in murine pregnancy outcome. Preliminary results indicates significant drop in pregnancies after sFLT-1 overexpression although there was only a partial induction of PE phenotype characterized by minor elevation in blood pressure and proteinuria. Staining of placentas from mice that retained pregnancy after sFLT-1 overexpression indicates heavy neutrophil infiltration in the feto-placental junction, with zones positive for NET specific markers. Plasma isolated from sFLT-1 treated mouse also indicates elevation of NET specific markers compared to healthy pregnant controls. Minor increase in plasma TAT complexes (although not significant), along with a drop in platelet count, indicates elevated thrombotic events. Further ongoing experiments will compare the impact of sFLT-1 overexpression in normal WT mice to those that are unable to form NETs
International Experiences with Decentralisation
No full textEffective decentralisation requires the clear assignment of duties and responsibilities (functions); sufficient resources (funds) and staff (functionaries) needed to carry out public duties at each level of government. The 3Fs as they are commonly known are critical to the design of any decentralised system and must be carefully sequenced to ensure their success. This paper looks at how three countries – Bolivia, Switzerland and Uganda – have devolved the 3Fs to local governments.Decentralization; local governance; federalism
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