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The Asian Financial Crisis during the late 1990 s revealed the fault lines of foreign currency loans of corporates. It starkly demonstrated that a combination of semi-pegged exchange rates and unregulated foreign currency borrowing could expose corporates and, subsequently, the entire economy to heightened vulnerability. To mitigate these risks, implementing certain capital account restrictions emerged as a potential remedy. Against this backdrop, this paper investigates the changing contours of vulnerability arising from the rising foreign currency leverage of 818 non-financial corporates in India during 2004–2022. In particular, this paper examines the impact of exchange rate shocks and changes in certain key macroeconomic policy variables on the financial vulnerabilities of these firms. Our findings unequivocally indicate that during exchange rate depreciation, unhedged exposures significantly amplified the vulnerability of Indian firms. While our study centres on India, the overarching conclusions and insights derived from our analysis possess broader ramifications for emerging economies grappling with capital account restrictions. The policy implications of our research underscore the need to proactively strengthen the macroprudential toolkit to address the risks associated with foreign currency borrowing and ensure more robust risk management practices to prevent the buildup of systemic vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Cyclicality in aggregate productivity predicts the efficiency of resources reallocation. • Aggregate productivity growth originates from within-plants, allocative efficiency gain, and due to entry and exit. • We exploit the Great Recession to analyse the validity of the 'Cleansing' or 'Scarring' effect of recession and 'Schumpeterian Darwinian Selection' for Indian manufacturing. • The contributions to aggregate productivity growth from within-plant and net-entry effects are procyclical. • Plants in export-oriented industries are crucial in explaining the pro-cyclicality. • The exporting sectors during 2008-09 shifted resources from more productive to less productive plants. • The relatively productive exporters exited the markets following the global crisis, scarring the economy. • The positive contribution from the net-entry exit effect of plants during the economic downturn validates the 'Schumpeterian approach of Darwinian Selection'. Understanding the cyclicality in aggregate productivity helps answer whether the economy allocates resources efficiently or not. The paper analyses the sources of aggregate productivity growth, such as direct efficiency gain within-plants, allocative efficiency gain, and gains due to entry and exit during economic fluctuations. In particular, we exploit the economic shock of the Great Recession to analyse the validity of the 'Cleansing' or 'Scarring' effect of recession and 'Schumpeterian Darwinian Selection' for Indian manufacturing. The rise and fall of within-plant and net-entry effects during the economic fluctuations explains the pro-cyclicality of productivity growth. Plants in export-oriented industries are crucial in explaining the pro-cyclicality. Negative external shock to exporting sectors during 2008–09 shifted resources from more productive to less productive plants. The relatively productive exporters exited the markets following the global crisis, scarring the economy. Nonetheless, the positive effect from the net-entry exit of plants during the economic downturn makes the 'Schumpeterian approach of Darwinian Selection' valid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evidence of gender peer effects in high schools in India using new administrative data. Identification of gender peer effects is achieved by exploiting variation induced by idiosyncratic changes in gender composition across cohorts within schools, in addition to controlling for past scores. The proportion of female classmates in a student's cohort has a sizeable positive effect on the test scores of both male and female students. We find that peer effects vary non-linearly with the proportion of female students. Finally, we provide suggestive evidence on plausible mechanisms. We show that achievement spillovers are not the main driver of positive gender peer effects. Using a supplemental dataset, we show that a greater proportion of female students leads to an improved classroom environment in the context of Indian schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: The adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) system is gradually increasing. However, various time–motion studies reveal conflicting data regarding time effectiveness on workflow due to computerization. One of the major issues for physicians is their uncertainty with EMRs’ potential impact of time on workflow. A tertiary eye hospital in south India was in the process of implementing an EMR system in their ambulatory care unit. Many of the staff did not have previous computing experience and there were conflicting views on the time effectiveness of the computerized system after implementation. The management was thus interested to know the real time effectiveness of EMR in their hospital. The study compliments existing studies of this type by comparing the time efficiency of documentation time using EMR system with paper documentation in a hospital in a developing country where a transition between paper and EMR documentation was currently in progress. Methods: Ten randomly selected optometrists documented the time they spent during consultation with both paper and EMR documentation. The time spent was documented for a total of 200 records (100 EMR and 100 paper records). The independent-samples t-test and analysis of variance were used to compare the means of the consultation time and calculated documentation time spent between the electronic and paper records. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in the time spent for documentation between electronic and paper records. The mean time spent in documenting electronic records was 0.92min (95% CI −3.06 to 1.14) longer than in paper records. Conclusion: EMR systems can be adopted in eye hospitals without having significant negative impact on duration of consultation and documentation for optometrists. More time–motion studies that include ophthalmologists are however needed in order to get a more complete picture of time impact of the EMR system on clinical workflow in eye hospitals. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The CPR school has successfully rebutted Hardin''s pessimistic Tragedy of the Commons model. However, in recent years, critics have focussed on the inward orientation and lack of contextual analysis characterising the writings of the CPR school.Oakerson [A Model for the analysis of common property problems. Working Paper R86-13. Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University, 1986] and Ostrom [Governing the Commons. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990] have detailed the list of variables that have to be studied to understand the mechanics of collective action. However, these factors are internal to the community. Recent critics'' point out that the actions of individual agents are also influenced by the alternatives embedded outside the system. These variables are collectively labelled contextual factors.In our paper, we have analysed the case of a fishermen''s cooperative in the Calcutta Metropolitan District to show how the historic and economic context shapes targets of resource users and affects the feasibility of alternative courses to achieve the target by determining opportunity and transaction costs of actions. This indicates the importance of contextual factors in explaining the formation and evolution of the resource regime. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Financial barrier is an encumbrance for eco-investment for firms. • The linkage between environmental behavior and credit accessibility is driven by the ownership structure. • The paper also investigates the relationship between credit access and corporate environmental behavior according to the pollution intensity of firms. Firms play a major role in facilitating green growth in developing nations by promoting environmental protection investment to control pollution caused during the manufacturing process. The paper explores whether the financial vulnerability of firms curbs their investment towards environmental practices that eliminate the creation of wastes or pollutants and hence acts as a deterrent towards green economy. Using firm-level data for manufacturing firms from 2010 to 2019, it is confirmed that financial barrier is an encumbrance for eco-investment by firms. We also focus on the environmental behavior of firms classified according to their ownership structure observing that government-owned firms (GOFs) tend to rely less on their internal and debt capital to finance their environmental investment, whereas private-owned firms (POFs) rely mainly on their internal capital. However, internal financing methods have generally no significant impact on the eco-investment decision of foreign-owned firms (FOFs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examines women's use of courts to claim their shares in ancestral property, as promised by India's 2005 Hindu inheritance law. • Probes High Court judgements over 2005–2020 across regions, using online databases. • Identifies opposing parties, type of property disputed, regional variations in cases, time taken for case disposal. • Analyses case outcomes, source of property granted, and gender bias in language of judgements. • 77% of rulings grant women some property, but only half of these grant their direct share in coparcenary Joint Family Property. Recent decades have seen progressive reform of inheritance laws towards gender equality, both globally and in South Asia. Yet, a wide gender gap persists in actual ownership due to family resistance to endowing daughters with property. Given this, do women use courts to claim their rights across regions? Who are the opposing parties? What kind of property is most disputed? How long do cases take? To what extent do judgements favour women, and does the language of judgements reveal gender stereotypes? No prior study has addressed these questions. This paper does so for India. Here, under the Hindu Succession Amendment Act of 2005 (HSAA 2005), Hindu women achieved legal equality in inheritance rights over all property, including agricultural land and coparcenary joint family property (JFP) in which they now have direct shares by birth. To analyse women's use of courts to claim their coparcenary shares, we draw on the four main online data sources to extract 505 cases (from over 2900 examined) relating to women coparceners, where judgements were delivered in High Courts over 2005–2020. Brothers were the most commonly listed opponents to women's claims and most of the disputes related to land, especially agricultural. In 77% of the cases filed by women or against them, the rulings granted women some share in parental property. But only in 52% of these positive rulings did they receive their direct shares in JFP, while receiving property through other rights in the rest. The legal route thus holds some promise of positive outcomes, but progress specifically in the implementation of the HSAA 2005 remains limited. This will require activating new channels of support for women. Located in the interface of social science and law, this paper would also have relevance for other countries, both methodologically and in substance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Off-grid, decentralised water infrastructures are increasingly being promoted to help cities meet their water delivery targets and build resilient water systems in the face of changing water availability. Against this background, this paper examines how integrating off-grid, decentralised groundwater systems with centralized piped supply helps water utilities and urbanites achieve transformative resilience under conditions of chronic water scarcity in the secondary city of Tiruppur, India. Empirical findings on users' water access practices from off-grid systems like municipal or private borewells to remain resilient, their role in the everyday governance of these systems, and the costs of building resilience through borewells—obtained through a participatory action research project where 94 households recorded month-long water access using a 'water and waste calendar'—reveal that Tiruppur's public borewells are an affordable and mostly inclusive resilience building measure but are far from being transformative. Moreover, diverse arrangements for their everyday governance unevenly enable user participation, impose invisible costs on female members of borewell-reliant households, and create differentiation in service quality across the city. The paper argues that the potential to achieve transformative resilience through off-grid sources like borewells remains untapped in Tiruppur and concludes with some reflections to pursue just and inclusive resilience. • Off-grid decentralised water infrastructures help cities meet water delivery targets. • Decentralised water infrastructures like borewells make users resilient. • Resilient water systems with decentralised infrastructures are not always transformative. • Users' resilience comes at a cost for female and low-income water users. • Everyday governance of public borewells creates variations in service quality and inequalities in water access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper examines the effect of social identity on learning for adults under a hierarchical social setting. • Using primary data from a randomized controlled experiment in India where illiterate adult female learners were randomly assigned to a free technology-based literacy program, we found positive and significant impact of matching an upper caste teacher with a lower caste student on literacy scores. • We find suggestive evidence of an increase in students' confidence measures when matched with an upper caste teacher. The paper examines the effect of social identity on adult learning within a hierarchical social setting— an important yet often understudied issue for effective adult education. We leverage the random matching of students and teachers from a randomized controlled experiment in India, where illiterate adult female learners aged 18–45 were randomly assigned to a literacy program. We find a positive and significant impact of matching an upper caste teacher with a lower caste adult student on literacy scores. We also find suggestive evidence of an increase in students' confidence measures when matched with an upper caste teacher, indicating a plausible impact mechanism. Our findings highlight the need for future research on social identity and its influence on adult learning, particularly in countries with existing deep-rooted hierarchical social constructs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between financial development and access to electricity for rural and urban India by incorporating economic growth, trade, and foreign direct investment in energy production function. In doing so, we have applied autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing to examine long run cointegration between the variables by accommodating structural break(s) stemming in the series. Our empirical results indicate the presence of cointegration association between access to electricity and its determinants. We note that financial development enhances access to electricity in rural India but declines it in urban India. Economic growth has positive effect on access to electricity. Trade openness and foreign direct investment lower access to electricity in rural India. In urban India, trade openness and foreign direct investment increase access to electricity. The association between financial development and access to electricity is inverted-U shaped for rural and urban India. This paper would present new policy direction for Indian government to enhance access to electricity by using financial development as an economic tool. • Financial development and access to electricity have a strong linkage. • In India financial development enhances access to electricity in rural area but has adverse effect in urban area. • Rise in economic growth of India has increased the access to electricity. • Growth of Trade Openness and Foreign Direct investment increase access to electricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver transplant surgery has been performed in India for the last 25 years. We aimed to analyse the trends, characteristics, and key elements in the field of liver transplantation research from India. On April 23, 2023, we conducted a search of the Scopus database for the literature on liver transplantation research, using a well-defined search strategy. MS Excel and VOS viewer software programs were used to examine the articles for organisation, author, journal, keywords, and high-cited literature. This analysis examined a total of 556 papers, which constituted only a 1.55% share of the global output. These papers involved 442 organizations, 1575 authors, and 147 journals. External funding was received in 4.13% and 23.56% were involved in international collaboration. Three Delhi-NCR organizations, namely the Medanta–The Medicity (n = 63), Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences (n = 60), and Indraprastha Apollo Hospital (n = 48) led in publication productivity. M. Rela (n = 90) and A.S. Soin (n = 63) were the leading authors in publication productivity, while S. Sudhindran and P. Bhangui were the most impactful authors. Liver Transplantation (n = 96) and Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hepatology (n = 65) published the maximum number of these papers, whereas, Annals of Surgery and Journal of Hepatology led in the citation impact per paper. The most significant keywords were "Liver Transplantation" (n = 484), and "Living Donor" (n = 254). Only 1.80% (n = 10) of the papers were highly cited papers that received 50 to 142 citations and they together registered 69.9 citations per paper. Although the number of publications on liver transplantation from India started growing recently, it forms only 1.55% of the global report. There is an unmet need to increase government-supported research and multicenter collaborative studies at national and international levels for high-quality patient care. [Display omitted] • A total of 556 papers on liver transplantation research from India constitutes a 1.55 % share of the global output. • This is the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of India's liver transplant research over the last 25 years. • Delhi-NCR authors and institutions were the leaders in this area of research. • There has been a continuous rise in publications, with the maximum surge seen in the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenhouse gas emissions and PM2.5 pollution from vehicular exhausts and the consequent negative externalities underline the urgency of investigating low-carbon pathways for the freight sector. This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis to determine the implications of a modal shift in the freight sector for the environment, energy systems and the economy. Stakeholder consultations are used to develop the qualitative narratives that are further used to set the parameters in energy-economy optimization models for deriving quantitative pathways. Our analysis includes four scenarios: Current Policy (CPS), Road Focused (FROAD), Rail Technology (TRAIL) and Harmonized Multimodal (HMML). The HMML scenario follows a balanced approach harmonizing the twin goals of reducing imported fuels and carbon emissions that can simultaneously assist in achieving development and decarbonization targets. Our results show that the HMML scenario based on the multimodal approach of creating a level playing field for all modes can reduce fossil fuel imports by 87.6% and CO 2 emissions by 96%, relative to CPS in 2050. The HMML scenario also envisages significant macroeconomic benefits – the cost of logistics as a percentage of GDP falls to 11%, and there are cumulative foreign exchange savings of 3.8 trillion USD from 2016 to 2050. However, electrification, the leading technology for the respective decarbonizing modes, will need policies that enhance research and innovation on batteries and infrastructure investments for charging along national and state highways. The main policy insight from our analysis is that multimodal logistics policy needs to be designed in alignment with clean energy-based electrification policy and national rail plans so that uniform rules from the origin govern all modes to the destination of goods transport. • Modelling energy economy to analyse implications of modal shift. • Combining stakeholder consultations with quantitative evaluations. • Multimodal approach achieves development and mitigation goals at the same time. • Over 80% of savings on imports of fossil fuels are possible by 2050 relative to the current policy scenario. • Cumulative foreign exchange savings of 3.8 trillion USD can be achieved from 2016 to 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses ongoing work on the Palaeolithic archaeology of the Wainganga basin, Central India, focusing on investigating the nature of the occupation, technological changes, and transitions through time, with a view towards understanding Palaeolithic behaviour. Surveys conducted over an area of 19,696 sq. km in this region, led to the discovery of 30 sites of the Acheulian and Late Palaeolithic with sparse evidence, as yet of the Middle Palaeolithic. Acheulian sites are deeply stratified within regoliths, but owing to recent exposures, several sites could be investigated in detail. This paper addresses preliminary research at a few of the Acheulian sites in this region, establishing their stratigraphic context and lithic assemblage structure. The assemblages studied suggest deliberate choices in the selection of raw materials involving the transport of tools/flakes for more than 15 km to specific sites where they were used. This is reflected by the absence of giant cores and sparse waste products at several sites studied. There is a preference for cleavers and the use of Kombewa technologies. The paper discusses the technological aspects of the assemblages and the importance of studying micro-regions when investigating broader patterns of hominin behavioral changes in the South Asian Acheulian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is the largest public-works based rural livelihood programme in the world. One of the important policy objectives of the Scheme is to curb rural out-migration by guaranteeing demand-driven employment opportunities for 100 days in a year in rural areas. This paper uses a large sample survey-based nationally representative data set and different probability models to investigate how MGNREGS influences individuals' seasonal rural out-migration decisions. The results reveal that contrary to the policy objective, participation , the extent of participation and earnings from the Scheme increases an individual's propensity to out-migrate. However, the Scheme serves broader and equally critical socio-economic goals of empowerment through income security and positive network effects. MGNREGS, on the one hand, significantly drives the decisions of aspirational migration of rural individuals, particularly females and the relatively advantaged. On the other, it curbs distress migration of the relatively disadvantaged by providing them with basic livelihood opportunities within the rural areas. Based on the findings, the paper draws several policy implications and discusses key policy imperatives towards expanding the scale and scope of the public-works Scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impacts of COVID-19 in maritime transportation and its related policy measures have been investigated by more and more organizations and researchers across the world. This paper aims to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on seaport transportation and the maritime supply chain field and its related issues in India. Secondary data are used to analyze the performance indicators of major seaports in India before and during the COVID-19 crisis. We further explore and discuss the expert's views about the impact, preparedness, response, and recovery aspects for the maritime-related sector in India. The results on the quantitative performance of Indian major seaports during the COVID-19 indicate a negative growth in the cargo traffic and a decrease in the number of vessel traffic compared to pre-COVID-19. The expert survey results suggest a lack of preparedness for COVID-19 and the need for developing future strategies by maritime organizations. The overall findings of the study shall assist in formulating maritime strategies by enhancing supply chain resilience and sustainable business recovery process while preparing for a post-COVID-19 crisis. The study also notes that the Covid-19 crisis is still an ongoing concern, as the government, maritime organizations, and stakeholders face towards providing vaccine and remedial treatment to infected people. Further, this study can be expanded to the global maritime supply chain business context and to conduct interdisciplinary research in marine technical fields and maritime environment to measure the impact of COVID-19. • With the outbreak of COVID-19, maritime industry accounting to 90% of the international trade has been impacted. • The major seaports of India handle about 60% of the country's total cargo traffic. • This paper examines implications of COVID-19 on Indian major ports by identifying patterns for quantitative performance data before & during the COVID-19 crisis. • This study explores & discusses expert's views about impact, preparedness, response, and recovery aspects for the maritime-related sector in India. • The results for quantitative performance data for major seaports in India indicate negative growth in during COVID-19 compared to pre COVID-19 period. • The expert survey result suggests a negative impact of COVID-19, and there is a need to develop future strategies by maritime organizations. • The overall findings of the study assist in formulating maritime strategies by enhancing supply chain resilience and sustainable business recovery process while preparing for a post-COVID-19 crisis in Indian maritime Context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The growth of solar energy usage and solar power generated in India is exponential. • Theoretical and experimental research efforts in India on solar ponds are elaborated. • The possible scopes of applications of solar ponds in India are detailed. • Problems faced by the solar pond researchers are discussed. • Future of solar pond research in India is illustrated. Solar pond is generally a shallow artificial pool of water in which considerable temperature can be established within its lower layers by suppression of convective transport. Generally, for prevention of convection, some suitable salt solution is used. In this paper, various aspects of solar pond, in terms of both simulation and experimental research advances, practical applications, economic features, challenges faced and future prospects, particularly with respect to Indian context have been reviewed. In general, the importance and the position of India at global level in terms of solar energy harvesting potential have been discussed. Apart from conventional uses of solar ponds in process heating and salt production, their applications in water distillation and thermoelectric power generation are also highlighted. Besides, stability aspect and its importance are revisited from simulations and experimental observations. Important identified areas requiring future research and development to recognize more technically feasible solar pond-based systems include organic Rankine cycle for electrical power production, crop drying, building cooling and air-conditioning based on absorption systems, thermoelectric cooling, and integration of solar ponds with other renewable energy resources. The present literature is proposed to offer guidelines in policy making aimed at addressing various societal requirements in a sustainable and affordable manner by utilizing available natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Studies residential relocations and travel behaviour. • Primary data from Hubli-Dharwad twin cities in India. • Descriptive analysis and structural equations modelling. • Variations in the impact of built environment on travel behaviour. • Travel attitude is not related to self-section. • Self-selection effect due to gender varies between cities. This article simultaneously analyzes residential relocation, vehicle ownership changes, and travel demand changes while accommodating potential self-selection effects to unravel the causal impacts of built environment features on vehicle ownership and travel behavior. Earlier studies on residential mobility have not considered the causal link from objective built environment features to subjective built environment, and rarely control for attitudes and objective built environment features in the empirical analysis. Besides, the literature has not discussed how households perceive neighborhood in terms of children's/women's travel and how that changes by residential relocation and impact mobility decisions. The paper compares built environment impacts on mobility decisions in two adjacent areas in India, Hubli-Dharwad twin cities, that vary by socio-economic and land use contexts. The study notes that Dharwad residents acquired more personal vehicles than Hubli residents, while the proportion of households who relinquished their vehicles is high in Hubli. Post movement, Dharwad residents opted for areas with higher diversity and density than their counterparts in Hubli. In Hubli, households find that their current location does not help their children use active modes to schools, and women find jobs closer to home. The statistical analysis revealed that Hubli residents prefer locations with improved travel conveniences for women and children. With improvements in the children's travel friendliness, households of both cities decreased vehicle ownership, whereas household vehicle ownership of both cities increased with improvements in women's travel friendliness. In Dharwad, moving to residential areas characterized by high land-use diversity reduces commute travel, while an inverse association is noted in Hubli. The statistical analysis did not confirm self-selection effects due to travel attitudes. In Dharwad, the latent factor on women's travel friendliness featured in self-selection and shows an independent effect on vehicle ownership. In Hubli, the factor did not have independent effects on vehicle ownership after accommodating travel attitudes and socio-demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes access to finance based on the usage of financial services by Indian households. Based on two rounds of nationally representative All India Debt and Investment Survey (AIDIS) for 2002 and 2012, we examine how access to credit is associated with a household's socioeconomic and demographic characteristics using Heckman's two-step approach procedure. Our results show that belonging to higher asset quintile groups has a statistically significant positive effect on the household's decision to take loans only from the formal sector in both rounds and significant negative effects on taking a loan only from the informal sector. Similarly, social and religious groups play a significant role in the decision of the household to take a loan. Households with more educated adults are more likely to take a loan. Households involved in regular wage-earning occupations in urban areas are more likely to take a loan from formal sources. Thus, the importance of policy placing greater emphasis on demand-side barriers rather than on improving the physical availability of formal financial services to promote financial inclusion in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• I am conducting a long-term study on how Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India take their place and deal with space. • This paper examines the stages between refugeehood and citizenship. • The results suggest that refugeehood is about complex day-to-day living practices that shape identities. • The refugee camp is more than a humanitarian space of assistance, more than a space of exception and biopolitical control. This article looks at subjectivities and regimes of homing from a position of liminality and questions the placements dynamics displayed by Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, India. Based on long-term and longitudinal fieldwork conducted in Keezhputhupattu refugee camp near Pondicherry between 2010 and 2023, this study analyses the experience of the refugees, which combines a "know-how" that they have developed due to a life in exile since 1983, which is linked, among other things, to a sometimes well-developed diasporic network; and a restrictive agency that has been granted to them by the Indian and Tamil Nadu authorities, which places them in a regime that is intended to be exceptional. The results of the study are significant and show how families spanning three generations may reproduce their new normalcy and negotiate their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban mobility infrastructures are crucial in connecting people to a city and the prospects it provides. Through a critical review of literature on growth of cities in South Asia, transport initiatives and policies, and the existing transport situation, this paper highlights barriers which impact accessibility to transport and thus, ridership. As Delhi gears up to become the world's most populated city, how does its transport infrastructure fare in enabling users' ease of movement and providing opportunities to access work, education, healthcare, and social life? The paper explores how challenges to access transport are a result of interactions between several inter-sectional factors. These include an individual's social and spatial position in the city, role of transport policies in shaping road-based transport, and Delhi's growth in the form of urban sprawls which has resulted in uneven distribution of and access to services. At the core of these inter-linked factors lie the users through whom the challenges or opportunities to access transport become operationalised. By highlighting transport-related constraints, including who is considered a user and who is not, this paper pushes for more inclusive discussions on the future of transport planning, and interventions for improving accessibility. Identifying opportunities for actions and addressing gaps is imperative as Delhi witness's continuous growth and migration. This review of existing transport literature is beneficial for policy recommendations and strategies for meaningful change. • Transport policies focus on physical infrastructure over intersectional differences. • Timelines of transport use in Delhi since 20th century and transport policies since the 1950s. • 'User' is perceived as pre-dominantly male, able -bodied and adult. • Private vehicles dominate roads although higher dependence on public transport. • Transport planning focuses on physical infrastructure to combat pollution and traffic congestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper re-focuses attention on the big picture question of the persistently low level of female labour force participation in India. • We show how attention on a binary indicator (in the labour force or out of it) misses a crucial aspect of women's economic/productive work. • We suggest that women's work in developing countries should be viewed in terms of at least three categories. • We find that the social norm that places the responsibility of domestic chores exclusively on women is primarily responsible for women's inability to participate in paid work. • We demonstrate the existence of 'virtuous cycles' within families: a history of working women in the family increases the probability of the woman being in paid work. Based on primary data from a large household survey in seven districts in West Bengal in India, this paper analyses the reasons underlying low labor force participation of women. In developing countries, women who are engaged in unpaid economic work in family enterprises are often not counted as workers, whereas the men are. We show that for women, not being in paid work is not synonymous with not being in the labour force. Women are often involved in expenditure saving activities i.e. productive work within the family, over and above domestic chores and care work. We document the fuzziness of the boundary between domestic work and unpaid (and therefore invisible) productive work that leads to mismeasurement of women's work and suggest methods to improve measurement. Counting women's expenditure-saving activities yields a substantially higher estimate of women's participation in economic work. On social norms, we show that religion and visible markers such as veiling are not significant determinants of the probability of being in paid work. We find that being primarily responsible for domestic chores lowers the probability of "working", after accounting for all the conventional factors. Our data shows substantial unmet demand for paid work. Given that women are primarily responsible for domestic chores, we find that women express a demand for work that would be compatible with household chores. We demonstrate the existence of 'virtuous cycles' within families: a history of working women in the family (mother or mother-in-law ever worked) increases the probability of being in paid work between 18 and 21 percentage points. This suggests that the positive effects of increasing women's labour force participation today are likely to have positive multiplier effects on the prospects for work in future generations of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• India is a least likely case for welfare expansion, challenges dominant explanations and offers a new case. • Welfare expansion accompanied by deepening of democratic state is a legacy of civil society mobilization. • State-civil society dynamics can converge into sustained patterns of both policy and institutional transformation and defending the reforms against political attacks. In the past two decades India experienced an unprecedented expansion of the rights-based welfare. This expansion cut across a range of sectors − education, employment, public health, poverty reduction − but was also accompanied by a dramatic expansion and deepening of state institutions and a shift from patronage politics to citizen empowerment. In this paper we show that India was a least likely case for welfare expansion and that contrary to what the traditional welfare state literature suggests, civil society was a key driver of reform, but even more vitally has played a significant role in institutionalizing reforms, especially at the local level. We focus on the case of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the world's largest public works program, to discuss how civil society in India effectively framed welfare issues, mobilized to defend the law, helped institutionalize new governance structures like social audits by working with the state and are ensuring continuous accountability by cultivating what we call "user publics". We draw on the existing literature, fieldwork on village level welfare reform in different subnational regions of India, direct involvement in civil mobilization around rights based laws for over a decade and an ongoing project in which we are collaborating with some of the key architects of the reforms including an archive of over 3000 primary documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first comprehensive hourly-resolution scenario study of the Indian electricity system with a view to investigate the transition from fossil to renewable energy-based power generation. Currently, India is 76% dependent on coal for power generation, however ambitious goals exist. Energy organisations including International Renewable Energy Agency and The Energy and Resources Institute, have presented scenarios but neither with support of dynamic simulation nor with assessment of optimal renewable energy contributions. In this paper, the optimal electricity system is analyzed in comparison with these. Results show that an optimal scenario could supply the hourly electricity by (i) increasing production capacity to about 615 GW, which is a 98.3% increase compared to the 310 GW in 2016, (ii) improving capacity factor of wind power and photovoltaic to 27% and 21% respectively, (iii) increasing wind power production to 433 TWh/yr (from 46 GWh/yr in 2016), solar photovoltaic to 290 TWh/yr (12 GWh/yr in 2016), river hydro to 42 TWh/yr (7.7 GWh/yr in 2016), biomass and nuclear power of 15 GW each. The costs of the identified optimal scenario are lower than of the previous scenarios. Finally, simulations show that inclusion of optimal proportion of biomass and nuclear could avoid any import dependency. • Design and analysis of renewable energy scenarios for India. • Evaluation of the cost structure of renewable energy scenarios. • Comparison with official Indian scenarios. • Proposes the Renewable Nuclear Dependency Index (RNDI) for evaluating scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Identified 30 agro-ecosystem specific sustainability indicators. • Sustainability indicators help in mapping the climate resilience of agriculture. • We propose a framework, "Climate Risk Management Package for Agriculture (CRiMPA)", to aid in planning interventions. The impending threats of changing climate have been well documented across sectors. The climate risks are best addressed through increasing adaptive capacity and building resilience. Ever since the global call during the Rio Summit in 1992 for establishing sustainability indicators across sectors, there have been several studies across the world on developing indicators for sustainability, vulnerability and climate resilience. Agriculture, the most vulnerable system to changing climate, depends on the resilience of both social and ecological systems. This paper focuses on integrating the variability of climate into the agricultural sustainability measurement with a broad base of indicators and bringing in the localized factors for representing the agroecosystem specificities. The paper also aims at identifying indicators for measuring climate resilient agriculture in Indian sub-continent and developing a conceptual framework for profiling the spatial resilience across various agro-ecosystems for appropriate location-specific policy interventions. In the current study 1209 indicators used in various research studies were screened, grouped for similarity and purpose and classified based on the various dimensions viz., social, economic, ecological, etc. After a critical review based on their appropriateness as a measurable indicator, extent of overlap, relevance in Indian context and possible data availability, 41 indicators were shortlisted for validation through a comprehensive structured online survey among subject matter specialists (n = 225). The responses from the experts (n = 36) were analysed using weighted sum model (WSM) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The study identifies a list of 30 sustainability indicators for climate resilient agriculture in India, that are particularly suitable for different agro-ecosystems of the sub-continent. The authors advocate an action-oriented model called Climate Risk Management Package for Agriculture (CRiMPA) to aid in planning spatial/agro-ecosystem specific interventions, which in turn could strengthen the National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) of Government of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biogas is a locally accessible and renewable energy source that can be generated from organic feedstocks under anaerobic conditions. This paper aims to assess the future biogas potential in India from varied sources (crops residues, animal manure, municipal solid wastes, municipal and industrial wastewater). The study uses a bottom-up, resource focused approach for the assessment of biogas potential. The paper assess agriculture and animal residues as well as generation, collection and availability of municipal and industrial waste for biogas production. The results show considerable potential of biogas in the next two decades due to rising waste generation and deployment of infrastructure for improving waste collection efficiency. The analysis estimates that the biogas potential ranges from 310 to 655 billion m3/year in the year 2040 depending upon availability of different resources. The estimated biogas potential in the year 2040 is around 36% of India's current (2015) total primary energy supply in the high availability scenario. Finally, the paper offers policy recommendations aimed at realizing the biogas potential. • Future Biogas potential from animal and agricultural based waste resource in India is estimated. • Bottom-up resource based approach is used for assessment. • Estimated future biogas potential is around 12.8 EJ in 2040. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that sustainable Smart Cities cannot be delivered by profit-driven visions, but through a process that integrates the diverse aptitudes and needs of the city stakeholders. The study uses mixed methods to examine democratic participation in governance and the emerging notion of Smart City Citizenship in the context of India. Benchmarking and assessment of 21 smart cities reveals the existing participatory processes being "tokenistic" and a substantial deficit in democratic stakeholder participation mechanisms. A deeper assessment in Kochi and Nagpur exposes the existing barriers to citizen participation and reveals that the capacities of capable stakeholders and citizen groups can be channelised more effectively. This study promotes advancing the notion of 'citizenship' beyond the market to the commons. It suggests transforming urban governance into a more accountable and collaborative governance model with a stronger role and power to local government, residents, and democratic stakeholders. • Benchmarking and assessment of 21 smart cities and case studies of Kochi and Nagpur reveal that the existing participatory processes being "tokenistic" and a substantial deficit in democratic stakeholder participation mechanisms • The cities need to break the barriers of bureaucracy, corruption, marketisation, and capacity limitations. • This study promotes advancing the notion of 'citizenship' beyond the market to the commons. • The study suggests transforming urban governance into a more accountable and collaborative governance model with a stronger role and power to local government, residents, and democratic stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several research evaluating the connection between sustainability and the bottom line of firms, the existing research is inconclusive. In addition, most studies focus on multinational firms based in the United States or Europe, while research in the context of emerging economies is scant. This paper endeavours to investigate the strength of the association between Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosure scores and the financial performance of 272 Indian firms listed on National Stock Exchange for the period 2015 to 2021 by employing panel data regression techniques. The results indicate that organisations having better ESG performance outperform their industry peers financially and are valued more by the market. Moreover, the data indicates that financial markets for lenders consider ESG disclosure when determining creditworthiness. In accordance with this, businesses can examine their operations and become more aligned with eco-friendly methods. Even though ESG disclosure appears to be associated with improved financial success, this is not the case across all industries and during COVID-19 pandemic. This study is relevant due to the growing significance of sustainability and the role of emerging nations in international commerce. It helps managers prioritize resource allocations to ESG-related activities that may affect financial performance differently across industry sectors, thus adding to the literature on the financial effects of ESG disclosures, particularly industry-specific aspects. This research represents a pioneering effort by assessing the impact of ESG disclosure on the profitability, market value, and cost of financing of Indian firms using both aggregation and disaggregation methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The association between social diversity and state-provided public goods is a central political economy problem. This paper highlights how status inequality is a distinct political channel when diverse groups are spatially segregated. Social status impacts citizens' ability to petition the state successfully and modulates state favoritism or discrimination. We use data from nearly 600,000 Indian villages to show that caste-based status inequality modifies the effect of diversity on local public goods politics. Diversity only negatively impacts local public goods in units where lower-caste groups are numerically preponderant. Such diversity deficit is further amplified when higher-caste groups numerically dominate larger administrative units and lower-caste groups are segregated. • We revisit the theoretical and empirical relationship between status-inequality and development, at a local scale. • We show that when local units are dominated by lower-status groups, public goods are negatively associated with diversity. • The association reverses when higher-status groups are numerically preponderant. • We also show that spatial segregation modulates diversity-development association much to the detriment of low-status groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature has highlighted the existence of a gap in clean fuel usage between the social groups in most emerging nations across the world, which is detrimental to global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 (access to clean energy) and SDG 10 (reducing inequalities) and just energy transition with recognition justice. This paper, assesses the clean fuel gap across social groups in India using three rounds of representative data (2004, 2014, and 2018) by applying the logit model, exogenous switching treatment effect regression (ESTER), and the Blinder–Oaxaca Decomposition Model. Such an analysis is instrumental in identifying the clean energy usage gap and its causes, thereby providing insight to policymakers to design policies to achieve just energy transition and carbon neutrality by 2060. The results show a substantive clean fuel gap between social groups in India, which is a cause of concern for just energy transition. Clean energy utilization gaps among social groups are alarming across geographical locations and consumption quartiles, highlighting the importance of recognition justice for just energy transition. The results show that in rural areas, only 19.6 % of the General Caste households and 14.5 % of the disadvantaged social groups (Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and Other Backward Class) in quartile one use clean energy, while in urban areas, the shares are 60.4 % and 46.3 %, respectively. To achieve a just distribution of the benefits of energy transition, energy policies should focus on disadvantaged social groups and simultaneously target General Caste households from a lower economic status and those residing in rural areas, indicating the need for targeting the neglected regions. [Display omitted] • Clean energy use has steadily increased among all social groups in India, indicating some improvement in energy justice. • Clean energy access gap among social groups has declined, but this gap still persists. • Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are the most disadvantaged social groups in terms of clean energy. • All social groups from low-income families have limited access to clean energy. • All social groups from households with low education have limited access to clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, monitoring and predicting the air quality is very much needed to identify and control the adverse health effects due to the low air quality, especially in developing countries like India. Recently, it has been an interesting research topic to predict the air quality index (AQI) values and levels using machine learning algorithms. In this paper, we proposed a multimodal imputation based stacked ensemble (MISE) model to classify and predict the quality of air. The multimodel imputation is constructed using various imputation techniques such as KNN Impute, MICE and SVD Impute. We experimented the proposed model with various tree based algorithms such as Random Forest, XGBoost and Extra Tree to identify the best classification and regression model for the dataset. The Stacked ensemble is developed using above algorithms for classifying the AQI bucket. Based on the experimentational study, it is observed that stacked ensemble performed better in classifying AQI with an accuracy of 96.45% using SMOTE method. The proposed stacking model also performed better than other classifier with an accuracy of 91.13% on the imbalanced data. The proposed method MISE is also applied on the dataset for identifying the AQI score using tree based regression algorithms. The stacked ensemble performed better with an R2 score of 0.9687, MAE of 0.1052 and MSE of 0.0272 compared to existing models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender gaps in skills exist around the world but differ remarkably among countries. This paper uses a unique data set with more than 20,000 adolescents in rural India to explore gender gaps in cognitive and noncognitive skills. We find that boys have considerable advantages over girls on several indicators of cognitive and noncognitive skills that remains robust to a wide range of controls and specification choices. We also examine the correlates of cognitive and noncognitive outcomes, paying close attention to socioeconomic status (SES) and pro-female gender attitudes. We find a steep positive gradient in SES as well as for pro-female gender attitudes, with stronger associations between the SES gradient and skills. Further, high socioeconomic status and more pro-female gender attitudes are both strongly correlated with reducing the gender gap in cognitive and noncognitive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are the physical embodiment of power, capital and state control. Yet urban centres are heterogeneous and multiple counter-cities are created within the bounds of the city – contesting the mainstream logic of capital accumulation and hierarchical relationships of power. While one may first envision counter-cities as large sites of protest and consciously alternative communities, everyday counter-cities are also possible. This article combines three theories to develop a framework of everyday counter-cities, drawing together subaltern urbanism, prefiguration and reciprocal relations of care. This paper uses this framework to analyse qualitative research conducted with communities in two informal settlements of migrant communities in Kolkata to explain how these seemingly ordinary places form counter-cities. This paper draws on these examples to argue that a counter-city founded on an ethos of care and anticipatory action for the future is possible, even within situations of high income disparity and inequality. • Everyday subaltern communities create counter-cities based on hope and care. • A counter-city illustrates reciprocal care, prefiguration and subaltern urbanism. • A counter-city represents the intersection of social relations, space and temporality. • Migrant communities in Kolkata are ostracised but resist the label of 'slums' of despair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the understudied yet greatly relevant relationship between entrepreneurship and skills development for refugees in India from five different communities: Afghan, Rohingya, Tibetan, Chin, and Somali. Building on interviews, focus groups and participatory drawings from 66 refugees and staff respondents, it foregrounds the compounded interplay of skills development with intersectional oppression of refugees and their socio-political freedoms in navigating livelihoods and entrepreneurship avenues. By combining capabilities with intersectionality, the paper argues that the idea of entrepreneurship for refugees should seek to move beyond the neoliberal agenda of self-employment and self-reliance and towards well-being, social integration, and holistic development. • Restricted freedom and agency of refugees in attending and utilising skills training. • Intersectionality of multiple refugee identities and multidimensional refugee poverty. • Multiple and overlapping factors and freedoms shaping skills utilisation for refugees. • Differences in refugee capabilities to convert skills into entrepreneurial functioning. • Emphasising diverse and quality opportunities for training and entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We estimate macroeconomic shocks using a medium scale new Keynesian model for India. • Our smoothed estimates of shocks mimic the actual transition of the economy during 1997–2019. • We find that the interest rate remained contractionary during 2013–16 despite falling inflation, characterized as policy error. • If supply side shocks (adverse productivity or mark-up) dominate, such policy errors tend to occur. • Such large-scale policy error can disrupt financial intermediation by creating bad assets in the banking sector. In the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis, the monetary policy in India became accommodative as in other major economies, but the policy subsequently turned highly contractionary despite falling inflation, which we characterize as policy errors. Government expenditure also had similar pattern. This paper therefore estimates a medium scale New Keynesian model (with earnings and assets based collateral constraint) to explore the impact of such policy errors on Indian business cycles, capturing the prevailing narrative on both monetary and fiscal policies along with the actual inflation scenario. Our smoothed estimates of mark-up, productivity, interest rate and government expenditure shocks mimic the actual transition of the economy, with both policy shocks moving together in a similar pattern in the post crisis period. We find that the interest rate policy was highly contractionary during 2013-2016 which led to significantly lower output. We rationalize that if supply side shocks (adverse productivity or mark-up) dominate, such policy errors tend to occur, suggesting that policy makers need to pay attention to the sources of inflation in a developing economy while setting demand-management policies. Given the current pandemic as more of a adverse supply shock, similar policy errors are likely to occur if interest rate responds to this type of inflationary shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we elucidated deformational and kinematic characteristics of the NW-SE trending Vigodi Fault (VF) and its associated subsidiary faults in the western Kachchh basin. We applied paleostress inversion technique to understand the past stress regime from the acquired fault slip data. The subsidiary faults strike NW-SE and NE-SW and slickensided surfaces are well developed on the Fault planes. We present slip analysis and changes in the stress reorientation using the plane solutions to identify the principal stress axis (σ1) position regionally. To obtain Pressure Tension and Null axis (PBT), stress ratio, and principal (σ1) axis we used the right Dihedron Method using the Win-Tensor and T-Tecto software's respectively. Geomorphologically, the VF zone comprises of bedrock strath terraces towards the upthrown block and fill terraces on the downthrown block of the fault. Development of fault scarps, warped Quaternary sediments, slit canyons within Quaternary sediments, river nick-points, and deflected rivers are the major striking features observed along the strike length of the Vigodi Fault. The analyses indicate that NE-SW compressional stress dominates the regional area and the local area is affected by transpressional stress exhibiting oblique slip motion. The combined observations made from the present investigation can be used to estimate seismic hazard and mitigation planning of the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lack of information about health risks may limit the adoption of improved nutrition and other new healthy behaviors. This paper studies the effect of a nutrition-information intervention on household dietary behavior, hemoglobin levels, and cognitive outcomes of children in rural India. Using experimental data and a regression discontinuity design that exploits the exogenous cutoff of hemoglobin level for anemia, we find statistically insignificant treatment effects on dietary improvements, child health, and cognitive outcomes of children. Our findings suggest that light-touch nutrition information alone, even when parents are informed about the health risk of their children, may not induce adoption of healthy behaviors. Our findings also imply that factors other than information might constrain households in making nutritional investments for their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study makes an attempt to contribute to the ongoing policy debate on whether OFDI has a complementary or substitution effect on domestic investment and hence, growth. For the purpose, the current paper uses panel data analysis to understand the impact of OFDI for 14 emerging economies in the period 1981–2019. We supplement the cross-country evidence with a time series analysis for India, given that FDI outflows from the country have been steadily increasing over the years. The results confirm the positive effect of OFDI on economic growth, but the substitution effect for domestic investment. This indicates that the OFDI positively affects growth through its effect on trade and other positive spillover effect, rather than domestic investment. However, in case of India, the findings support the complementary effect of OFDI on domestic investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Disruptions during the COVID-19 lockdown caused children to miss immunizations. • Government catch-up efforts substantially reversed these effects. • Yet, children that were due vaccinations during the lockdown remained 10–15% less likely to be immunized 4–5 months later. • Catch-up was more likely to be incomplete among children of low socioeconomic status. • Ensuring all children are fully immunized requires careful tracking and disaggregated data. Governments around the world suspended immunization outreach to control COVID-19 spread. Many have since resumed services with an emphasis on catch-up vaccinations. This paper evaluated immunization disruptions during India's March-May 2020 lockdown and the extent to which subsequent catch-up efforts reversed them in Rajasthan, India. In this retrospective observational study, we conducted phone surveys to collect immunization details for 2,144 children that turned one year old between January and October 2020. We used logistic regressions to compare differences in immunization timeliness and completed first-year immunization status among children that were due immunizations just before (unexposed), during (heavily exposed), and after (post-exposure) the lockdown. Relative to unexposed children, heavily exposed children were significantly less likely to be immunized at or before 9 months (OR 0.550; 95% CI 0.367–0.824; p = 0.004), but more likely to be immunized at 10–12 months (OR 1.761; 95% CI 1.196–2.591; p = 0.004). They were also less likely to have completed their key first-year immunizations (OR 0.624; 95% CI 0.478–0.816; p = 0.001) by the time of survey. In contrast, post-exposure children showed no difference in timeliness or completed first-year immunizations relative to unexposed children, despite their younger age. First-year immunization coverage among heavily exposed children decreased by 6.9 pp to 10.4 pp (9.7% to 14.0%). Declines in immunization coverage were larger among children in households that were poorer, less educated, lower caste, and residing in COVID red zones, although subgroup comparisons were not statistically significant. Disruptions to immunization services resulted in children missing immunization during the lockdown, but catch-up efforts after it was eased ensured many children were reached at later ages. Nevertheless, catch-up was incomplete and children due their immunizations during the lockdown remained less likely to be fully immunized 4–5 months after it lifted, even as younger cohorts due immunizations in June or later returned to pre-lockdown schedules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, conventional and renewable energy sources for sustainable development of energy sector in India are evaluated from multiple perspectives including economic, technical, social, environmental, political, and flexible criteria. An integrated Shannon's entropy multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method has been used for the evaluation and assessment of these sources. Thermal, gas, nuclear, solar, wind, biomass, and hydro energy options are used as the alternatives in the decision model. Shannon's entropy method is applied to determine the weights of decision criteria, and fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method is applied to prioritize sustainable energy alternatives. The output of the proposed model was compared with six different fuzzy MCDM techniques for the establishment of correlation index. Solar energy was shown to be particularly well suited for India followed by wind and hydro energy sources. Later, the study has developed fourteen scenarios, considering the first five sustainable energy sources (solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and gas power), to evaluate the optimal energy mix scenario for the sustainable development of energy sector in India. An optimal energy mix scenario carries the heroic development of solar, wind, and hydro energy with cross border import-export facility for the time frame of the year 2030. • Reviewed the overview, challenges and development of Indian energy sector. • Developed integrated Shannon entropy fuzzy MCDM approach. • Evaluated the most sustainable energy alternatives in India. • Results validated with six fuzzy MCDM approaches and correlation coefficients. • Evaluated the optimal energy mix scenario in India for the time frame of 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The odd-even restrictive driving policy to reduce smog pollution in Delhi, India was implemented for the third time from November 4–15, 2019. This policy aimed to not only reduce personal vehicles on the road, but also motivate commuters toward sustainable transportation. In this paper, we examine public perception toward odd-even restrictive driving and its acceptance based on value-belief-norm (VBN) theory. Further, this study investigates the role of trust in local government in relation to the acceptance of the restrictive driving transport policy. Survey data from 317 responses from the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) was analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling, and results indicate that personal norms, policy effectiveness, and policy complexity significantly influence policy acceptance. The findings suggest that trust in local government reduces the inverse relationship between policy complexity and acceptance. The results emerged as possible insights for policymakers in the effective design of restrictive driving policies and sustainable transportation. [Display omitted] • Presents survey results of public perception towards Delhi's odd-even restrictive driving policy. • Environmental awareness positively impacts acceptance of restrictive driving policy. • Complexity of policy hinders the acceptance of restrictive driving policy. • Trust in government is vital for acceptance of restrictive driving policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Prior appropriation rights have played a unique role in expansion of Greater Mumbai since the 1970s. • Institutions play a key role in the evolution of resource geography in large metropolitan regions in Asia. • Contestation around water has intensified given the new emphasis on urbanization and industrialization in India. Animating the contemporary politics of water governance in India is a combination of institutional path dependence and a neo-liberal restructuring that has extended the ability of Indian cities to establish new forms of water entitlement in rural and peri-urban areas. This paper explores the politics of rural–urban water conflicts that are occurring in this changing political context. Building upon Schlager and Ostrom's conceptualization of operational and collective choice rules, it examines the role of agrarian institutions (primarily in the form of land rights) in shaping the politics of rural–urban water transfers in Mumbai and Chennai, two of India's largest and fastest-growing cities. By doing so, it makes the case that Mumbai's ability to secure water entitlement has been facilitated by an institutional legacy of prior appropriation that has been applied in a context of weak and limited tribal authority over land and resources. Chennai by contrast has become far more dependent upon the commodification of water in the form of quasi-market and allocation contracts, reflecting the riparian rights of commercial farmers in the Chennai region. The paper generates theoretical and empirical insights about the ways in which variations in urban and agrarian institutions affect the politics of rural–urban water allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Our paper explores the link between women's self-help groups and public entitlements. • It further examines the effect of SHG membership on social networks and mobility. • Empirical strategy employs matching methods to correct endogeneity of SHG membership. • Using data from rural India, we find that SHG members are more politically engaged. • SHG members are more likely to know of certain public entitlements than non-members. • SHG members are also more likely to avail of these public entitlement schemes. • SHG members also have wider social networks and greater mobility than non-members. Abstract Women's self-help groups (SHGs) have increasingly been used as a vehicle for social, political, and economic empowerment as well as a platform for service delivery. Although a growing body of literature shows evidence of positive impacts of SHGs on various measures of empowerment, our understanding of ways in which SHGs improve awareness and use of public services is limited. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper first examines how SHG membership is associated with political participation, awareness, and use of government entitlement schemes. It further examines the effect of SHG membership on various measures of social networks and mobility. Using data collected in 2015 across five Indian states and matching methods to correct for endogeneity of SHG membership, we find that SHG members are more politically engaged. We also find that SHG members are not only more likely to know of certain public entitlements than non-members, they are significantly more likely to avail of a greater number of public entitlement schemes. Additionally, SHG members have wider social networks and greater mobility as compared to non-members. Our results suggest that SHGs have the potential to increase their members' ability to hold public entities accountable and demand what is rightfully theirs. An important insight, however, is that the SHGs themselves cannot be expected to increase knowledge of public entitlement schemes in absence of a deliberate effort to do so by an external agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Detailed description of various industrial applications of XPS in India. • Elemental composition, chemical environment identification are primarily used. • Contains table of institutes in India with XPS spectrometers. • Contains table of industries that have used XPS in their research activities. Abstract This review paper summarizes the industrial applications of XPS in India from open literature. Many industrial research and development centers in India, except for a few, do not have in-house XPS systems, and leverage either the instruments available at many government laboratories or universities across various locations in India, or their in-house instruments in other parts of the world for their research activities. While XPS is being used for a wide range of applications, based on an exhaustive literature search by the author, an understanding of the scientific basis of the technique as well as related analytical techniques such as X-ray Excited Auger Electron Spectroscopy (XAES) and depth profiling, the instrumentation, the measurement, and interpretation of the results could be improved. This could potentially avoid artifacts as well as misinterpretation of results. This paper also highlights a few key points that must be considered while measuring and interpreting XPS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on how neighborhood amenities such as parks relate with active ageing. It draws attention to this relationship in the context of developing country - India where with changing demographics, population ageing is emerging as a major challenge. It builds on empirical evidences from a neighborhood park in the city of Pune - a metropolis of 3.5 million people in western India. Employing a mixed research approach, the paper explains how a neighborhood park plays a significant role in promoting healthy living among older persons by offering various perceived health benefits. Although various physical characteristics of park encourage physical activities, it is found that social connections such as groups formed in the park encourage regular participation in physical activities and thereby provide psychological health benefits and social support for older users. The paper argues for considering the important role of parks in fostering social participation critical for active ageing while designing cities that are friendly and supportive to ageing populations. Highlights • Parks help in active ageing by offering physical, mental and social benefits • In neighborhood parks, older persons are dominant and regular users with women outnumbering men • Older persons use parks differently at different times of the day and prefer absence of noisy activites • Park use facilitates social participation at various levels leading to perceived health benefits • Social interaction in parks follows existing groupings amongst people of same age, gender and status [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper estimates the ability of farmers in India to adapt to high temperatures. • The analysis uses short-term weather fluctuations and spatial variation in long-run climate. • Results suggest that adaptation is modestly effective for moderate levels of heat. • Results suggest that adaptation to extreme heat is much more difficult. Abstract Projections suggest that the damages from climate change will be substantial for developing countries. Understanding the ability of households in these countries to adapt to climate change is critical in order to determine the magnitude of the potential damages. In this paper, I investigate the ability of farmers in India to adapt to higher temperatures. I use a methodology that exploits short-term weather fluctuations as well as spatial variation in long-run climate. Specifically, I estimate how damaging high temperatures are for districts that experience high temperatures more or less frequently. I find that the losses from high temperatures are lower in heat-prone districts, a result that is consistent with adaptation. However, while adaptation appears to be modestly effective for moderate levels of heat, my results suggest that adaptation to extreme heat is much more difficult. Extremely high temperatures do grave damage to crops, even in places that experience these temperature extremes regularly. The persistence of negative impacts of high temperatures, even in areas that experience high temperatures frequently, underscores the need for development policies that emphasize risk mitigation and explicitly account for climate-change-related risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Understandings of success among artists in emerging scenes are highly contextual. • Disavowal of economy is not a universal organizing principle of artistic fields. • Institutional composition of artistic fields affects career strategies. • Dominance of noncommercial art institutions can hinder art market development. • Lack of noncommercial art institutions promotes market development at early stages. Abstract This paper examines early career strategies and understandings of success among artists in the two emerging art scenes of Russia and India. It argues that differences in these understandings and strategies are shaped by the institutional composition of the artistic fields in the two countries. The paper is based on in-depth interviews with early career professional artists conducted in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, New Delhi, and Mumbai. It argues that the Bourdieusian disavowal of economic interests is no universal organizing principle of cultural fields but should instead be seen as highly contextual. In particular, it is less prominent in art scenes where few noncommercial contemporary art institutions exist. Thus, in India, where art dealers are the most powerful gatekeepers, artists' career strategies are informed by market logic. Meanwhile, early career professional artists in the Russian art scene do not see the market as a potential driver of their careers. They engage in close relationships with noncommercial art institutions that provide artistic recognition and promote an anti-market orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper studies the impact of the nonfinancial disclosure on firm value for a large sample of Indian firms, arguably emerging market with poor investor protections and legal enforcement. We proxy the nonfinancial disclosure by the Bloomberg score on the extent of a firm's Environmental, Social, and Governance disclosures, and find positive valuation effects associated with the nonfinancial disclosure. We find the nonfinancial disclosure is more valuable to standalone firms compared to business group firms. This paper shows that the positive valuation effects associated with the nonfinancial disclosure are attributable to lower cost of funds and higher operating cash flows. Highlights • We study the impact of the nonfinancial disclosure on firm value Indian firms. • We find positive valuation effects associated with the nonfinancial disclosure. • Nonfinancial disclosure is more valuable to standalone firms than business group firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary urbanization, as experienced in India, is accompanied by increasing motorization and commuting lengths. A spatially unequal distribution of employment opportunities leads to important differences between urban and rural areas. Making use of newly released data at the district level on home-to-work commuting, this article examines the determinants of commuting patterns in the largest rural-urban megaregion of India. This paper finds that short trips and non-motorized travel are still predominant in the region. The residents of higher-income districts more often choose to commute by private motorized modes, including cars, whereas residents of poorer areas are tied to non-motorized modes and public transport, and they often must commute longer distances. One problem seems to be the low provision of rail service in the region compared to roads, which is more pronounced in rural areas. Overall, the socio-demographic, economic, infrastructure and area-based variables help explain the variation in the commuting patterns. This paper emphasizes that policy aiming at sustainable future transport in the National Capital Region requires (i) a shift in government policies from promoting road-based transportation to promoting transit, (ii) the regional integration of rural and urban areas by public transport, and (iii) investment in the provision of rural transport (roads and rail network) for regional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper analyses relationships between private supplementary tutoring and mainstream schooling in urban Maharashtra, India. The role of private tutoring progressively expands from the lower to the higher grades, and is especially visible in Classes 11 and 12 when it seems to supplant rather than supplement mainstream schooling. The paper notes the complex interplay of social, economic and educational factors in the shifting relationships, and has relevance not only for other parts of India but also other countries. The dynamics of private tutoring should be considered when conceptualising educational processes and devising policies for schooling, especially in relation to social inequalities and the efficiency of school systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and applies a novel interdisciplinary framework to study peri-urban land use dynamics in India, which is theoretically embedded in the concepts of land use transition, land change science and neoliberlisation of nature. The framework is operationalised by a mixed methods approach cutting across scale and time to provide a comprehensive understanding of land use transitions. The paper proves the applicability of land use transition theory in India by establishing that the core state Delhi is in the "urbanised/industrialised" stage of land use transition, whereas the peripheral states are in a transition from "frontier" to "agricultural" stage of land use transition. The paper also provides evidence for different political economy-derived logics of nature's neoliberalisation. Field visits as well as expert and household interviews uncover a nexus between the state, civil society and economy in exploitation and degradation of natural resources for their vested interests. The use of local and global open access data in the framework makes it transferable to similar regions of the Global South facing data constrains. • Interdisciplinary framework is applied to India's land use transition analysis. • Theoretical approach is embedded in land change science and political economy. • Mixed methods approach cutting across scale and time is applied. • Stages of land use transition trajectory are detected for peri-urban areas in India. • Urban expansion is faster than population growth and depleted arable land and water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]