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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of consumption tax on savings behavior especially on the people who are close to their retirement. Design/methodology/approach: The authors analyze the response in spending and retirement saving using a difference-in-differences regression methodology. The authors use the year since the Public Provident Fund (PPF) enrollment date for each individual as a random assignment to identify the service tax policy's causal impact. Therefore, this variable is a continuous variable defined as an individual's age until the end of the restrictions when people can withdraw money from their retirement savings account PPF without any penalty. The treatment variable is the service tax shock (increase in service tax) that happened effective 1st April 2015. Findings: The authors find a significant effect of a change in the service tax rate on individuals' spending and PPF saving behavior. On average, individuals lower their consumption by about 14% and increase their PPF savings by 16% in response to the increase in the service tax rate. The authors find substantial heterogeneity in effect across different types of individuals. The effect is more pronounced for people closer to their retirement and needy people (defined as individuals with low traditional savings account balances). Research limitations/implications: The authors studied the effect of consumption tax on one category of savings (PPF) only. There are other savings instruments available in India. The data for those were not available to us. Practical implications: This paper not only throws light on the consumption and savings behaviour of the individuals, but will also help the policy maker for framing appropriate fiscal policy. Originality/value: Using a unique and proprietary data from a large bank in India, the authors analyze the effect of a tax policy change on households' consumption and retirement savings behavior. The authors find that households reduce their consumption by 14% and increase their voluntary retirement savings (Public Provident Fund aka PPF) by 16% in response to an increase in the service tax policy. Individuals close to their retirement age (55 years of age and above) and without any withdrawal restrictions from their PPF account tend to reduce their expenditures more and save more. Individuals with financial constraints and withdrawal restrictions do not reduce their expenditures significantly. To the best of the authors' knowledge no study was done on this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to find out the genesis of the growth story of the Indian economy and analyze the quarterly GDP growth rates of India during 2011-12 to 2019-2020 to give an insight into the ongoing economic slowdown. In addition, the aim is to study the nature and causes of the current economic slowdown which is currently challenging the Indian economy. The paper has also attempted to analyze the impact of the slowdown on the economy of the country and the measures taken by the government to arrest the slowdown and kickstart the economy. Apart from this, the paper compares the current slowdown with the four previous slowdowns and studies the timeline of key events between November 2016 and April 2019. Suggestions have been given in the paper to improve the economic situation and keep the reforms process ongoing, in order to accelerate economic growth in the country. The paper concludes with the confirmation that the Indian economy despite its current challenges faces a bright future, since fundamentals of the economy remain robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity consumption is a major part of the financial crisis. Mostly in India the poor earning people and moderate salary people play a vital role in the population. This paper studies the electricity consumption of 30 different states with daily unit consumption for nearly two years on the Covid-19 situation that is 17 months of time series data with 30 plus attributes including date, and state names in India. The time series data with daily basis electricity consumption on Mega unit basis. By Data Expansion and Attribute selection, the monthly data of two different countries were compared and produced certain results as average stability of the highest peak consumption, which leads to the highest demand for electricity. The minimal usage day with the lowest demand for electricity. The statistical method helps to achieve the mean value and variance value for consumption. This shows the stability of consumption long lasted from mid to end of the month. The weather also impacts the changes in the consumption of electricity. Finally, it results in the value for a variance from one state to another state consumption in the same month with low and high demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite much research on the middle class in India, this still remains an ambiguous category. There is a range of parameters used to map class; however, the variations only reflect the numerous ways in which it can be theorized. In this paper, I turn my focus on housework to understand diversity within the middle class. I question the consumption model with a gender lens, based on women's experiences of running households. While increased capacity for purchase and greater interface with the market by the "new" middle classes may imply greater consumption, the institutions of family and marriage play a significant role in decision-making pertaining to expenditure. Although women are primarily addressed as consumers, their contribution via household chores is critical to maintaining middle class "status." By examining experiences of housework, in this paper I question existing consumption-centric frameworks of class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Post 2005 in India, a number of public policy initiatives were introduced to strengthen existing programs for welfare of the ever-increasing population aged 60 years and older. Using a National Transfer Accounts framework, this paper attempts to assess the implications of policy changes by evaluating changes in lifecycle deficit and changes in public and familial support of the elderly especially in meeting their lifecycle deficit between 2004 and 05 and 2011–12. It found that labour income of the elderly increased marginally during 2004–2012, but the level of consumption of the elderly marginally slipped down. Lifecycle deficit (LCD) of the elderly population aged 60 years and older declined due to the intertwining effect of increased labour income and declining consumption. Familial support to the elderly did not improve between 2004 and 2012, instead their net contribution to intra-household transfers is greater than their benefits. Asset based reallocation remains the main source of financing the LCD of the elderly. Benefits of the elderly in meeting their lifecycle deficit from policy changes is nominal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulses are an important ingredient in the vegetarian diet of Indian masses. These are important because these have a high value for maintaining the optimal blood sugar levels and also restoring energy over a long period of time after the meals because the carbohydrates provided by pulses are released slowly as compared to cereals. In general, pulses are one of the most sustainable crops as it utilizes only 359 liter of water to produce one kg of pulses as compared to 1,802 liter for soybeans and 3,071 liters for groundnut. They play a significant role in contributing to soil quality by fixing nitrogen in the soil. India is one of the largest producer as well as consumer of a wide variety of pulses that is dominated by the tropical and sub-tropical crops such as chickpea, black gram, pigeon pea, green gram, lentil & so on. In this study, analysis has been done to help out the researcher and policy makers to take decisions regarding future initiatives and programs. In India during 2017-18 pulses were grown over an area of 29.99 million hectare producing 25.23 million tones with yield of 841 kg / per hectare. The cropping area of pulses in Haryana as compared to India is almost decreasing. The trend of contribution of pulses by Haryana at national level is also decreasing which reduces from 0.10 million tons in 2000-01 to 0.06 million tons in 2016- 17. In India, about 5.63 to 10.90 percent share of food grains production is of pulses. The percentage growth rate in the cropped area as well as in production of total pulses in India shows much fluctuation but serious downfall in case of Haryana. The present study tries to review and analyze the current policy environment and suggests ways and means to improve the pulses production scenario in the country and Haryana as well. It advocates the need to diversify from cereal–based cropping systems to pulses-based cropping system with certain policy decisions like crop diversification, improving seed replacement rate, improved crop production techniques etc. This paper analyses status of pulse crop in India as a whole and Haryana in particular along with paradigm shift required in policy decision, pulse research, technology generation & dissemination, commercialization along with capacity building of farmers and frontier areas of research & extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindful consumption is an evolving concept that explains the role of consumers' mindful mindset (such as caring of self, caring of nature, and caring of community) on their consumption choices. Consumers are increasingly engaging in various kinds of social media to gather opinions and reviews of customers which helps them in making more 'informed' consumption choices. And then we have the construct of mindfulness which is a meta-cognitive capability of every individual which determines their degree of attention to any new information and the way they interpret those information. In this paper, we will present the findings of a qualitative study which has been conducted on Indian consumers to arrive at a conceptual model and a set of propositions which depict the direct and indirect relationship between mindfulness and consumption. Based on the qualitative study, we also list a set of research questions that could direct future empirical research on mindful consumption in emerging markets (e.g. India). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much of the literature on future food consumption in India in the decades ahead focuses on cereals, this paper presents estimates of potato demand to the year 2030 according to three different scenarios. Estimated increases in total food demand for potato range from 20 to 30 million metric tonnes and from 5.5 to 15 kg capita−1 year−1, with modest, if any, increases in foreign trade. These estimates highlight the potato's growing importance in Indian diets as food consumption patterns continue to evolve while maintaining their traditional roots. They also call for a series of public and private initiatives to facilitate the realization of the potato's potential future contribution to food consumption and nutrition in India. These include renewed support for research and development as relates to improved technologies for the potato sector both on and off the farm. It also involves opportunities for industry to combine market-driven innovations to achieve commercial success with benefits for growers, consumers and the environment as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The role of fiscal policy, especially taxation, though has been proved to be an effective instrument of tobacco control, its application is limited in India due to several reasons. This paper examines the tax structure, price and affordability of SLT products in order to provide evidence on how to strengthen the role of fiscal policy in tobacco control. METHOD: Secondary data on tax structure and revenue from tobacco products were collected from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. In order to measure the rise of prices corresponding to the increase in tax rate, the retail price index (RPI) and Whole Price Index (WPI) of SLT products were compared with the price index for all commodities for the period 2006-2012. The affordability of tobacco products is calculated by dividing prices of tobacco products by per capita income. RESULTS: During the last 6 years, the tax rate on SLT has gone up leading to a rise in the prices of SLT products more than the general price rise. However, the price rise is less than the per capita income growth indicating increasing affordability. The study observed a decline in the consumption of zarda and kahini due to the price increase during 2008-2013. However, the decline in the consumption of zarda is less compared with khaini due to a very low rise in its price. CONCLUSION: The prices should be raised more than the growth in income to influence consumption. Tax administration is a major challenge for SLT products and strengthening it could enhance revenue collection from SLT products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, labour income, consumption and the life-cycle deficit (LCD) by gender for India is considered. From the individual's perspective, private and public consumption for education, health and other goods and services has been taken into account. For either sex, the share of public consumption is about 17 per cent of the total consumption for health, education and others. Throughout the life cycle, the per capita annual labour income of a woman is lower than that of a man; even at the peak age of earning, it is only about one-sixth of a man's per capita labour income at the corresponding age. Though a male consumes more for health, education and other goods and services, the gender gap is not as wide as that of income from labour. At the per capita level, a male experiences a monetary surplus during the working age range of 20 to 64 years and faces a life-cycle deficit only before entering the labour market and during old age, but a female must deal with a life-cycle deficit all through the life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to assess the contribution of Indian households to the increase in carbon footprint. Hence, this cross-sectional study was conducted in the Kalyani subdivision of Nadia district, West Bengal, India. Data were collected from 610 households, comprising 299 rural and 311 urban households, to analyse energy consumption patterns for various purposes. To summarize the dependent and continuous data, descriptive statistics were employed, while for inferences, independent sample t-test, Pearson correlation and regression were used. A significant difference was observed in total annual household carbon footprint between the urban and rural households due to varied energy consumption (t = 15.60, p < 0.05). The urban households were emitting twice (2325.20 kgCO2e) as much as the rural ones (1125.77 kgCO2e). It can also be inferred that emission was determined by the increase in household size, income, and improvement in the standard of living. Thus, in addition to several determinants, a complex cultural system, social practices, and awareness of green consumerism should also be incorporated and studied through an interdisciplinary approach to reduce the overall household carbon footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a number of case studies from Tamil Nadu, this paper shows that bonded labour is not a relic of the past, but surprisingly contemporary. Refuting the tenets of the semi-feudal thesis, we argue that unfree labour can go hand in hand with capitalism, and that it can be initiated and sustained by capital itself in order to accumulate surplus value. Going against the tenets of the de-proletarianization thesis, we suggest that bonded labour is not always the preferred working arrangement for capitalism. Bonded labour should be examined in connection with specific historical contexts, the changing nature of the economy, the evolution of political forces and modes of socialization. I argue that bonded labour results from a specific regime of accumulation characterized by cheap labour, increased domestic demand sustained through household debt, as well as modes of conflict, contestation and worker identity formation that engage with both governmental programmes and consumerism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how contemporary cultural producers in Indian academia, under the impact of corporate capitalism, have transformed resistance and 'marginality' into valuable commodities within their own unique spheres of influences. By converting an oppositional ideology into a valuable and an exchangeable commodity, and creating a fetish for the center-margin tension tactically these market players have found for them a platform for greater selfpromotion and a vehicle for reaching a more diversified audience of readers, investors, and spectators. By adopting a trans-disciplinary approach to studying contemporary Indian cultural production within a global framework, the paper examines the upsurge of marginality studies which embody what Saskia Sassen has termed "the locational and institutional embeddedness of the global economy." The paper concludes by suggesting us from becoming 'genetically programmed' consumers of 'beautiful corporations'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a research study examining the acculturation and identity of second-generation Indian Punjabis. It focuses on how they balance their lives between two cultures and reflects on the nature of second-generation integration in light of cultural context, situational factors, ethnicity and consumption, presenting the conflicts and tensions experienced by participants. The paper reviews existing propositions with regard to acculturation, ethnicity and consumption and presents an initial conceptualization of the many factors influencing the second generation's consumption process. This conceptualization is refined in light of two key outcomes which emerged from the empirical research. First, we recognize that participants' identities are in constant negotiation. This negotiation is dealt with by harnessing economic, social and cultural capital. This capital is self acquired as well as passed on by the first generation. Second, we suggest the strength of family ties and the strong Punjabi influence in the socialization of these participants causes tensions, leading them to span two, sometimes contradictory, cultures on a daily basis. In particular, we highlight the influence of izatt (family honor) on Punjabi decision making. A revised conceptualization aims to capture the complexities of the acculturative process for the participants. The paper aims to contribute to the current discussion regarding the complexities of acculturation in the twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global energy requirement has grown at a phenomenon rate and the consumption of primary energy sources has been a very high positive growth. This paper focuses on the consumption of different primary energy sources and it identifies that coal will continue to remain as the prime energy source in foreseeable future. It examines the energy requirement perspective for India and demand of coal as the prime energy source. Economic development and poverty alleviation depend on securing affordable energy sources and Indian coal mining industry offers a bright future for the country’s energy security, provided the industry is allowed to develop by supportive government policies and adopts latest technologies for mining. It is an irony that in-spite of having a plentiful reserves, India is not able to jack up coal production to meet its current and future demand. It discusses the strategies to be adopted for growth and meeting the coal demand. But such energy are very much concerned with environmental degradation and must be driven by contemporary managerial acumen addressing environmental and social challenges effectively The paper highlights the emissions of greenhouse gases due to burning of fossil fuels and environmental consequences of global warming and sea-level rise. Technological solutions for environment friendly coal mining and environmental laws for the abatement of environmental degradation are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global energy requirement has grown at a phenomenal rate and the consumption of primary energy sources has been a very high positive growth. This article focuses on the consumption of different primary energy sources and it identifies that coal will continue to remain as the prime energy in the foreseeable future. It examines energy requirement perspectives for India and demands of petroleum, natural gas, and coal bed methane in the foreseeable future. It discusses the state of present day petroleum and petrochemical industries in the country and the latest advances in them to take over in the next few years. The regional pattern of consumption of primary energy sources shows that oil remains as the largest single source of primary energy in most parts of the world. However, gas dominates as the prime source in some parts of the world. Economic development and poverty alleviation depend on securing affordable energy sources and for the country's energy security; it is necessary to adopt the latest technological advances in petroleum and petrochemical industries by supportive government policies. But such energy is very much concerned with environmental degradation and must be driven by contemporary managerial acumen addressing environmental and social challenges effectively. Environmental laws for the abatement of environmental degradation are discussed in this paper. The paper concludes that energy security leading to energy independence is certainly possible and can be achieved through a planned manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer durables involve any type of product purchased by consumers that is manufactured for long-term use. As opposed to many goods that are intended for consumption in short term, consumer durables are intended to endure regular usage for several years or longer before their replacement is required. Just about every household contains at least a few items that may be considered to be of consumer durable nature. With India being the second fastest growing economy having a huge consumer class, consumer durables have emerged as one of the fastest growing industries in India. With the increase in income levels, easy availability of finance, increase in consumer awareness and introduction of new models, the demand for consumer durables has increased significantly. This paper makes an attempt to study the consumer behaviour of 150 consumers towards durable goods and their awareness while making such purchase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meat eating in India cannot be analysed simply as a marker of ritual impurity: the culinary experiences of South Indian Christians also indicate the importance of meat in forging positive identities. In this paper, I draw out some of the fine-grained distinctions made by my informants in relation to meat eating, which suggest that its consumption is shaped not only by caste and religion, but also in relation to gender, age, status and other personal considerations. Second, I attempt to situate these practices within wider contexts: the cross-cutting influences of national anti-cattle slaughter campaigns and reactions against them; a growing movement of environmentalists and food activists; and the economics of meat production, which are rapidly changing in relation to new farming methods and other ecological shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to examine Raunch culture, a strand of post-feminism in the recent Bollywood movies, The Dirty Picture and Grand Masti. Both these movies critique the perception that the investment in raunch feminine sexuality empowers female characters, but if observed profoundly, they celebrate the commodification of women’s body. Frequently revolving around sex and consumption, it celebrates female agency through its discernment that women in such movies are provided the capacity to “have it all” (Genz, 98). Drawing upon Levy’s notion of “Female Chauvinistic Pigs” and McRobbie’s notion of “double entanglement”, the focus is that this apparent empowerment is hollow for celluloid females; their actions incite cultural anxieties about the ways women are to be represented and simply reinforce the patriarchal norms that envisage women as objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite rapid economic growth, India has not seen the improvements in food and nutritional security that other developing countries have had. This “Asian enigma” has generated a wealth of economistic analyses seeking to explain the persistence of poor nutrition, yet few studies have looked at everyday experiences of changing food systems, and how this impacts nutritional practices as well as the processes of subject formation. In this paper, I draw on qualitative research conducted in Uttarakhand, North India and examine how state-led shifts in agricultural production have resulted in changing food consumption practices and diminished perceptions of health. Villagers link this decreased health to increased chemicals in home-produced food, greater dependence on the market for food purchases, and generational changes in dietary preferences. Despite villagers’ cognizance of the negative health effects of these practices, they largely view these byproducts of capitalistic development with an air of inevitability. Following Mansfield (2011) this paper contributes to the political ecology of health literature by employing the concept of food as a “vector of intercorporeality” (Stassart and Whatmore, 2003:449) and bringing this into conversation with a poststructuralist understanding of subjectivity. I argue that within shifting landscapes of agriculture production and food consumption, notions of diminished health are indicative of the complex and always incomplete processes of subject formation. I view shifting health perceptions as intimate bodily resistances to agricultural development, and conclude that within agricultural development programs a focus on bodily health and well-being is a fecund platform for further experimental research that seeks to imagine development differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opening up of the Indian economy through a series of neoliberal reforms since 1991 ushered in processes of globalization that have led to a rapidly changing socio-cultural environment in India. Economic growth, globalizing discourses, and new consumer choices have driven desires for new global-yet-Indian identities. An emerging consumer agency has allowed for the embodiment and performance of these identities at the site of the body, even as new spaces of consumption have necessitated new bodily dispositions and practices. In this paper, I focus on how access to new commodities and discourses has affected understandings of the modern Indian body. In particular, I concentrate on appearance and the notion of exercising consumer agency to be ‘presentable’ as a lens through which to examine broader aspects of the body in the creation of neoliberal subjects in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian dietary pattern has undergone major changes over the past 40 years. Many of these changes involve modification in dietary intake of fats and oils. In developing countries like India, vegetable oils are replacing animal fats because of the cost and health concerns. A wide range of vegetable oils are available in the market but the choice of healthy cooking oil has been a controversial subject since ideas keep on changing as new evidence accumulates. One of the factors holding back the increased use of value-added healthy oils in India is that most potential consumers are genuinely not aware of their health benefits. Edible oil consumption is primarily a community-driven phenomenon in India. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the current scenario of edible oils in India, their composition, health benefits, food applications, stability issues and future aspects as buying the right oil for health has become of great importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies the representations of C.K. Nayudu in cricket news and other writings. It begins by analysing the reaction of Indians to his performances to understand how Nayudu, who was utterly disliked by his team mates, aroused popular fantasy, and exemplified and transformed the discourses of public culture more than any other contemporary sportsperson in his country. Then it examines biographies and newspaper representations of Nayudu to track the social forces that produced his heroic status and study what socio-economic ramifications such portrayals led to, drawing particular attention to how contemporary accounts nationalised his body as a stand against the European attributes of masculine behaviour. Then it explores why newspapers and advertisers used the persona of Nayudu as a cultural intermediary between production and consumption. It further ponders, in the context of rising middle class consumerism in Bombay in the 1930s, on how the news media promotes individual players as stars, dramatizes their notable feats and even their failure to perform, and turns the on-field behaviour into the bricks to build a market around the game they represent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • I examine whether households' consumption is influenced by that of their peers using Indian data. • I employ an instrumental variables/fixed effects approach. • I find robust evidence of peer effects in consumption. • Thus policies that influence household consumption are likely to have social spillovers. Abstract This paper examines peer effects in consumption in context of a less developed country. Specifically, the question that I seek to answer is whether consumption expenditure of a household is influenced by that of its peers in a less developed country. To examine this question, I use newly available household level data from India. I define a household's peer group as other households living in its village/neighborhood. In assessing the influences of peers in this context, there are two key empirical challenges including shared group-level unobservables, and simultaneity of peer influences. I address these issues by using an instrumental variables/fixed effects approach that compares households in the same district but different villages/neighborhoods who are thus exposed to different sets of peers. In particular, I use plausibly exogenous variation in idiosyncratic expenditure shocks – which are accidental and negative in nature – faced by peers as instruments for peers' consumption expenditure. Preferred specification suggests that a one standard deviation increase in average consumption expenditure of a household's peers causes the household's own consumption expenditure to increase by 0.42 standard deviations. Falsification tests and robustness checks support the validity of my results. My findings suggest that policies that influence a household's consumption will also affect the consumption of the household's peers through social interactions. This implies traditional analyses of consumption intervention programs that do not take into account such spillover effects will understate the total social impact of the programs, and hence lead to inaccurate evaluation of cost-effectiveness of such programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines micro-level price dynamics of the major dietary sources of protein in India, based on demand-supply fundamentals. As levels of affluence increase, the demand for proteins increases. But some categories show a long-term decline in availability, others show volatile growth due to structural imbalance between demand and supply, raising the prospect of price surges. Persistent price increases in commodities for which there are no effective substitutes raise wages and the potential rate of inflation over a period of time, warranting a monetary tightening. To the extent diets are affected human resources are weakened. Improving the agricultural supply response is urgent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, I investigate the religious notion of self-realization or self-actualization in the context of sustainability, and argue that sustainability is the means to this end. I am particularly interested in Hindu perspectives on self-realization or the Purusharthas. The Purusharthas provide an interesting sustainability critique because they consider the satisfaction of material want as an important step to self-actualization; the reconciliation of want and need is a fundamental sustainability tension. The issue of growing want is doubtless an important one, given the rapidly growing middle classes in the developing world that aspire to Western material dreams, as illustrated by the case of Delhi. The Purusharthas may be seen to give consumption legitimacy; however, I argue that it is the selective understanding and institutionalization of the religious message that causes the sustainability problem. Viewed in their entirety, the Purusharthas provide the correct prescriptions for the sustainable enjoyment of want, and take the adherent beyond sustainability into greater transcendence or self-awareness. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of organic food has been regarded for a long time as being synonymous with ecological regional production systems. However, the increased production of organic food products has led to an ongoing industrialisation and also to a global spread of network structures within this segment of agriculture. This paper provides a case study of the integration of organic pepper farmers from an indigenous tribe in Kerala, India, into global agro-food networks, linking them to a German producer of organic meat products. The results of this study show that the importance of the territorial embeddedness and the abandonment of the exercise of power can be crucial for the success of global organic agro-food networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether spending on tobacco crowds out expenditure on basic needs and whether it has implications on nutrition intake and household resource allocation in India. The paper uses a household sample survey from India for the year 1999–2000. A system of quadratic conditional Engel curves was estimated for a set of 10 broad groups of commodities. The results suggest that tobacco consuming households had lower consumption of certain commodities such as milk, education, clean fuels and entertainment which may have more direct bearing on women and children in the household than on men suggesting possible ‘gender effects’ and biases in the allocation of goods and services within the household. Tobacco spending was also found to have negative effects on per capita nutrition intake. The nature of crowding out was found to be similar in low- and high-income households. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose — The main purpose of the paper is to propose an empirical analysis of the relationship between total consumption of different key metals (aluminium, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc) and per capita income of some important developing countries (Brazil, China and India) today present in the international scenario with very different perspectives from in the past. Design/methodology/approach — The research is carried out investigating a double aim. Mainly, whether the environmental Kuznets' Curve (EKC) model related to material consumption (and hence ‘renamed’ as material Kuznets' Curve) could be used — in empirical terms — as a possible explanatory pattern of past and current trends for these three important countries. Second, whether the observable trends in industrialised countries is similar to those already implemented in the developing ones. After a brief, but ineluctable, premise considering the theoretical basic assumptions to define the issue and regarding general statements, the specific cases for Brazil, China and India are proposed. Findings — Results do not closely fit the theoretical expectations but, as has already been seen for industrialised countries in previous research work, there is a prevailing trend in the lowering of material intensities with rising per-capita income levels. Originality/value — Without pretending to be exhaustive, this paper can be useful in improving the understanding of such developing economies, considering features not yet included in the international literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crop diversification is considered as an important tool for acceleration of agricultural growth in India by promoting food and nutritional security, income and employment generation, poverty alleviation, judicious use of natural resources and ecological management. Important factors determining crop diversification, pattern of crop diversification, and problems and prospects associated with crop diversification are discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do representations of 'India' shape the lives of members of a diasporic community, the identities they forge, and the politics they negotiate? This paper examines how grocery stores in the San Francisco Bay Area enable the construction of India and Indian culture, and argues that (1) Indian grocery storesin the diaspora form a crucial node in the transnational circulation of texts, images, and commodities between India and the diaspora; (2) the objects sold in these stores create varying regimes of value in different contexts; (3) gender (as it intersects with class and race) offers an important lens to examine the kinds of social practices facilitated by these stores. Throughout, the author wishes to foreground the on-going and contested construction of a transnational set of images, discourses, and institutions that engender what different people mean by 'India.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study carried out in 2021-2022 investigates fresh and dried fish consumption patterns and factors influencing fish purchase among Koragas and Soligas; two major tribes of Karnataka, India. 400 fish-consuming tribal households were surveyed and per capita fish consumption was estimated at 1.04 and 2.02 kg/person/month for Koragas and Soligas respectively. Mackerel and Sardine were the two most important species preferred by the Koragas while Tilapia and Catla were the preference among Soligas. Among the 15 factors studied; the ones that were ranked with the highest contribution towards the fish purchase of Koragas were the 'price of fish' (7.68) and the 'availability of favourite fish' (7.36). Soligas ranked the 'availability of favourite fish' (10.42) as the most contributing factor followed by 'convenience perception' (6.69). Increasing awareness about the health benefits of fish consumption and building the capacity of tribes to prepare culturally compatible fish-based products can aid in improving fish consumption. The results of the study will be of utility to health department officials and policymakers in planning strategies to increase fish consumption and alleviate malnutrition among these tribes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Production-to-consumption linkages are important to improve consumption of nutrient-rich foods to tackle malnutrition. However, understanding specific contextual factors influencing production, distribution, and consumption in rural communities is necessary. Objective: To explore household-, farm-, and market-level factors affecting consumption of nutrient-rich foods among producer and nonproducer households in Bihar, India. Methods: We conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs) in producer and nonproducer households of Gaya and Nalanda districts in Bihar to examine factors affecting production and consumption of red lentils, green leafy vegetables (GLVs), milk, eggs, and chicken. Through the KIIs, we identified distribution chains and elicited market-level challenges faced by producers, sellers, and consumers. Data were translated, transcribed, and analyzed thematically using NVivo version 9. Results: Findings from 27 FGDs indicate that consumers and producers were aware of the importance of nutrient-rich foods to health and the necessity of prioritizing their consumption in children. Food preferences, social factors, seasons, religions, and livestock epidemics influenced consumption. Among producers, consumption was mainly dependent on own production. Nonproducers perceived that production could help overcome the barrier of affordability and improve consumption. Data from 69 KIIs indicated that markets were unfavorable in terms of profitability for producers, spoilage and losses for market players, issues of accessibility, and availability for consumers. Conclusions: A local context-specific multipronged approach such as understanding sociocultural factors, own production, and local markets influencing consumption needs to be examined further to improve consumption of nutrient-rich foods among agricultural communities in India. Plain language title: Constraints and Facilitators in Production, Markets, and Consumption of Nutrient-Rich Foods in Bihar, India Plain language summary: Consumption of nutrient-rich foods such as red lentils, green leafy vegetables, milk, eggs, and chicken are essential to maintain balanced diet intake. In this qualitative study, we examined household-, farm-, and market-level factors that affected consumption of nutrient-rich foods among households that produced and not produced these food items in Bihar state, India. Group discussions were conducted among members of households that produced nutrient-rich foods and those that did not produce these food items. The group discussions helped identify challenges in production and consumption. Interviews were conducted with people involved in selling the nutrient-rich food items in the markets. These interviews enabled us to map the various levels food items have to pass from the food producer till it reached the consumer and the challenges faced during the course. From the group discussion, we found that consumers and producers were aware of the importance of nutrient-rich foods to maintain good health and the necessity of prioritizing their consumption in children. Food preferences, social factors, seasons, religions, and livestock epidemics influenced consumption at the household level. Producers of a particular food item were dependent on own production for consumption. Affordability was a key barrier to consumption, particularly among nonproducers. The common perception was that if they were able to produce a food item, it could help overcome the barrier of affordability and improve consumption. There were various unfavorable components in markets that interfered with the profitability for producers, including spoilage and losses, accessibility, and availability for consumers. We conclude that there is a need to understand local-context specific factors such as sociocultural factors, own production, and local markets that influence the consumption of nutrient-rich foods among agricultural communities in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Health promotion has long recognized the ecological determinants of health, underscoring the interconnections between planetary health, economic systems and human health. Despite calls for synergy across them, these domains are governed by fundamentally divergent paradigms leading to unaddressed conceptual and institutional gaps. Sustainability, meanwhile, is reduced to personal responsibility and behaviour change. This qualitative research explores ecological determinants through a focus on sustainable consumption in the under-researched context of the global south where rapid modernization has profoundly impacted the natural environment. The article uses the theoretical framework of 'practice'—namely, the social routines, values, conventions and norms that drive consumption—to critically examine everyday household sustainable consumption in India's southern state of Kerala. The findings show that in most households, sustainability is a health promotion practice. People practice sustainability fundamentally for its beneficial health outcomes. However, the institutional structures set up in favour of economic development continue to dominate society and is the paradigm that contextualizes everyday social life for consumers. The findings suggest that the practice of sustainable consumption is complex and caught in the space that is neither 'upstream' or 'downstream'; instead, the focus on the 'mid-stream' reveals complex calculations that go into everyday negotiation of healthy living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary It is well known that consumption patterns change with income. Relative price changes would therefore affect rich and poor consumers differently. Yet, the standard price indices are not income-specific, and hence, they cannot account for such differences. In this paper, we study consumption inequality in India, while fully allowing for non-homotheticity. We show that the relative price changes during most of the period from 1993 to 2012 were pro-poor, in the sense that they favored the poor relative to the rich. As a result, we also find that conventional measures significantly overstate the rise in real consumption inequality during this period. The main lesson from our study is the importance of accounting for non-homotheticity when measuring inequality. The price index literature has, as of yet, paid relatively little attention to this. In our application, however, it turns out that the allowance for non-homotheticity is quantitatively much more important than much discussed adjustments, such as those for substitution in consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the background of the onslaught of the great depression, John Maynard Keynes identifies consumption spending and investment spending as the major driving forces of the growth. Economists from the subsequent schools of thought raised concerns that Keynes failed to realise that a great deal of trade-off is involved between these two activities. In order to invest more today, we have to save more and consume less which depresses the growth than accelerating. Identification of real factor- whether consumption spending or investment spending as the growth driver- is currently debated and unresolved issue, which has paramount policy implications. The present study is an attempt in addressing the ambiguity created by the theories of Keynes. The study is driven by secondary data from India for the post economic reforms period of 1991-92 to 2014-15 employing Keynes GDP identity with modification. The study estimates the multiple linear regression model to elicit the factors governing economic growth in India. Variance decomposition technique and impulse response function have been approached to address the objectives of the study effectively. Results demonstrate that in the given growth model of Keynes, consumption spending and investment spending appear to be the significant growth governing factors. From the study it seems that economic growth of India is not sensitive to the government spending and exports. Furthermore, among consumption and investment spending, the variations in the GDP is defined largely by the consumption spending. Hence, the government may design and implement policies towards building up sound consumption practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article starts from the assumption that the ingredients of success in the case of the Indian cultural products are based on their "cultural value". India's value of cultural products is multidimensional and it does not strictly reside at the language level known by the public or by just part of it. Our analysis shows that the success of India's popular culture is based on the perception of Romanian audiences of them as a cultural "mix" between the "local" (that is, Indian) elements and the appeal at a set of "global" (universal) values. More precisely, in the case of Romanian audiences for India's cultural products (TV series) there was a validation of theories regarding the cultural hybrid motivations involved in media consumption, theories about the importance of cultural proximity in the consumption of popular culture's products and theories emphasizing globalism and of these cultural products, making them desirable and wanted world-wide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Maruti Suzuki joint venture between the Government of India and the Japanese Suzuki Motor Corporation in 1983 launched India's first 'people's car' – the Maruti 800. This article argues that the conceptualisation and promotion of the Maruti 800 as the ideal car for a small, middle class family revealed subtle continuities with the controversial family planning programme of the state which had reached its peak during the internal 'Emergency' of 1975. By associating the Maruti 800 – an object of aspiration for an emerging middle class and of at least potential mass consumption – with a small family, the state reiterated its message of population control albeit subliminally. The article further suggests that the adoption of Japanese management practices at Maruti, which laid emphasis on hard work and loyalty to the company-family, was in line with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's desire to enforce discipline and enhance labour productivity, a notion also vocalised during the Emergency. Finally, the article illustrates how the 'people's car' project placed the Indian state as the 'driver' of middle class aspirations and mobility in 1980s' India, a full decade before the liberalisation reforms of 1991. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent dimension of India's nation-branding project, by which it aims to attract investment, trade, human resources, and tourists to the country, has been a focus on a 'green' India as a global leader in sustainable development. As part of this strategy, messages aimed at a national and external audience are aligned, and a line is drawn between the country's putative ecologically sensitive past and a green future. Such messages highlight selective, sanitised, and idealised Hindu texts and praxis related to the environment as evidence of India's innate ecological sensitivity. The environment thus becomes a domain for the permeation of a seemingly apolitical strand of Hindutva rhetoric, which emphasises the civilisational wisdom of Indian (coded as Hindu) thought and presents it for consumption by national and global audiences. In this article, using anti-plastics discourses as a lens, I investigate the cultural politics of this emerging stream of Hindutva-linked 'ecotraditionalism'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct a peer effects model where mean expenditures of consumers in one's peer group affect utility through perceived consumption needs. We provide a novel method for obtaining identification in social interactions models like ours, using ordinary survey data, where very few members of each peer group are observed. We implement the model using standard household‐level consumer expenditure survey microdata from India. We find that each additional rupee spent by one's peers increases perceived needs, and thereby reduces one's utility, by the equivalent of a 0.25 rupee decrease in one's own expenditures. These peer costs may be larger for richer households, meaning transfers from rich to poor could improve even inequality‐neutral social welfare, by reducing peer consumption externalities. We show welfare gains of billions of dollars per year might be possible by replacing government transfers of private goods to households with providing public goods or services, to reduce peer effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The present study aims to evaluate the aggregate consumption function from the perspective of the Euler equation using Indian macroeconomic data. Further, to examine the robustness of the findings for India, other developing nations are also studied. Design/methodology/approach: Quarterly time-series data from 1996:1 to 2020:3 on consumption and income in India are used to evaluate the alternative model proposed by Campbell and Mankiw (1989). The alternative hypotheses in the present study are tested by estimating models using the instrumental variable approach. The lagged changes in the quarterly average of 91-day Treasury bill yields are used as the nominal interest rate instrumental variables along with other lagged instrumental variables. Findings: The evidence presented in this study suggests that aggregate consumption is better explained when the permanent income model incorporates rule-of-thumb consumers, that is, individuals who consume their current income along with those who consume their permanent income. Practical implications: The new rule-of-thumb framework better explains some of the observed phenomena, such as why the expected changes in consumption are related to the expected changes in income, why the expected changes in consumption are unrelated to real interest rates (i.e. why the intertemporal elasticity of substitution is near zero) and why a high consumption/income ratio is usually followed by an increase in income growth. Originality/value: This study adds to the limited literature on the Euler-based consumption function in developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the natural-gas ecosystem in India through a statistical outlook. It presents the status of natural gas in India. Energy robust strategy and economic situation compared with major gas players like China and Russia are presented. Gas allocation and pricing systems have been examined through relevant statistics along with problems. The policy options of India have been discussed along with challenges, recommendations, and future which can potentially help the country achieve the vision of increasing the contribution of natural gas in the primary energy mix from 6% to 15% by 2030 as envisaged by the honourable prime minister of India. • The natural gas ecosystem in India presented through a statistical outlook. • Status of unconventional resources like Shale Gas, Coal Bed Methane, and Gas Hydrates. • Comparison with major gas players like China, Australia, and Russia. • Aspects of challenges faced and future of the natural gas ecosystem in India. • Recommendation to achieve the target of gas demand from 6 to 15%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young urban Indian women have made women's rights to seek pleasure and have fun, especially in public, central to a new repertoire of feminist resistance and also as a way of demarcating themselves from "joyless" feminisms of the past. Concerns around pleasure, fun, and joy appear far removed from the everyday lives of poor and marginalized rural women. In this contribution, the author foregrounds rural women's pleasure-seeking practices, in consumption, fun, and friendship, which were the unanticipated outcomes of their involvement with a local NGO seeking to empower poor women. These were primarily lower-caste, lower-class women who were partially included in the aspirational futures of a globalized India, through poorly paid and precarious development work. Their participation in such work—a disciplinary domain imbued with its own regulatory potentials—enabled the development of new skills, techniques, and capacities in an entirely other domain, of nonwork or fun. The fact that fun, pleasure, and self-making relied on cultures of enterprise, empowerment, and aspiration also brings into view some of the contradictions at stake in neoliberal India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine how shocks emanating from changes in the stock wealth affect the consumption demand in India using a Bayesian VAR framework. The effect of the stock market wealth shock on consumption demand in India is relatively small in magnitude. The estimates suggest that a 10% increase in the real stock wealth raises the consumption demand by 0.3%, which seems to be consistent with some empirical estimates for the emerging market economies given a relatively low share of stock wealth in the household asset portfolio and its asymmetric distribution. The stock market wealth effect being short run in nature does not have a large and persistent effect on consumption demand since consumers may not perceive the changes in the stock wealth to cause a permanent shift in their wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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With increase in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease in emerging economies, it is important to understand the impact of acquiring these health issues on household income and consumption. Using a panel data of Indian households, we show that acquiring diabetes, hypertension or heart disease results in increased medical and non-medical expenses for high-income households. However, affected low-income households, to meet their increased medical expenses, had to divert resources from non-medical expenses. Our findings add to the extant marketing literature on impact of crises on consumption behaviour and the marketing implications of such changes in consumption behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]