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This working paper from the annual conference of the Indian Adult Education Association briefly describes the current state of adult education in India and outlines important steps that should be taken to make adult education an integral part of national development. (SK)

Higher education is the refinement of teaching--learning and research acumen. It is the epitome of a learning system before entering the job market or venturing into new start-ups. Various studies indicate that the growth of an economy is positively associated with development in the higher education ecosystem. The state-run institutions have their inherent stereotypical challenges for propelling the essence of excellence. Barring a few, the mushrooming of private institutions has diluted its holistic objectives at par with the national standards. The quality outcome of higher education research brings momentum to all the development vectors across society, nation and the global community. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in developing countries have failed to secure top positions in various global rankings, causing concern for all stakeholders. This paper attempts to develop a comprehensive strategic model best suited to developing nations like India that can transform the higher education ecosystem par excellence to the apex institutions across the globe. The paper strongly suggests establishing a unitary institution that would pool the best talents from the existing HEIs through a stringent and unbiased scoring instrument that would augment the quality of life, resurgence of the economy, superior Human Development Index and sustainable development.

In 2015, the United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Education, which is the fourth Sustainable Development Goal, has seen some major transformations with the advent of digital technologies. Education is increasingly being imparted through these digital technologies. However, this change resulting from the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is often reported without in-depth analysis especially in emerging knowledge economies. This paper overcomes that barrier by exploring the motivating factors and de-motivating factors; as well as potential facilitators of online education. The paper also attempts to understand the enrolment, preference and awareness related to online education of the respondents with respect to country, gender, age, employment status and educational qualification, while presenting a comparative analysis of two emerging knowledge economies: India and Uganda. In the first phase, in order to explore motivating, de-motivating factors, and potential facilitators of online education, in-depth interviews were conducted with 51 learners. Data thus collected was checked for content validity through an extensive literature review. In the second phase, a questionnaire was administered to 252 respondents from both countries, drawn from a population of participants pursuing or having an intention to pursue online education. It explored any potential differences in enrolment, awareness, and preference for online-education on the basis of country, gender, age, employment status and existing educational qualification, in order to get better insights for further facilitation and improvement of online-education in emerging economies. To establish statistical validity, Mann-Whitney U-Tests and Kruskal-Wallis Tests were conducted. Based on this primary and secondary data, the paper concludes with some suggestions and recommendations on how to overcome barriers and factors which de-motivate learners from pursuing online education in order to achieve the desired Sustainable Development Goals.

This paper looks into the key aspects of the shift in the instruction of logistics as a discipline from traditional to environmentally responsible practices. The authors examine the experience of the development of scientific-educational systems in the world's more advanced societies (the European Union and North America), as well as in the BRICS countries. The paper proposes specific ways to reform the model for professional and career-broadening education by reference to the amassed global experience. The authors draw the following major conclusions: (1) both today's scientific and business communities are oriented toward the shift to environmentally responsible development, which presupposes gradually renouncing the use of hydrocarbon energy resources, embracing the use of renewable technology and recycling, and ensuring social stability; (2) we are witnessing a change in the tenor of not only the strategic concept of the development of particular scientific and business areas but of the functional one as well. Thus, for instance, the domain of logistics services is currently being enriched with the concept of "green logistics", which implies a need for relevant human resources specializing in the field. Many leading nations have already started transforming their education models, as a whole, and their methods for the instruction of logistics as a discipline, in particular, in specific alignment with the principles of environmental responsibility; (3) the education systems of certain world powers, including the Russian model for education, have not yet been fully adapted for shifting to "green logistics", one of today's latest scientific paradigms. Among the major reasons behind this delay is the failure to properly reform the scientific-educational sector, as well as the state's excessive, and rarely effective, participation in the development of this area. To help remediate this situation, the authors propose a set of recommendations aimed at helping to put together a new model for professional and career-broadening training in keeping with the latest scientific concepts and the needs of the labor market.

India and China are two fast growing economies of the world and need large skill based manpower to sustain the economic growth. The existing formal higher educational system in these countries will not be able to meet the demand of the economy. The paper will try (i) to compare the development of economy and distance education in India and China with reference to policy perspectives; (ii) to examine the course design, development and delivery of distance education programmes in national open universities of India and China i.e. Indira Gandhi National Open University of India (IGNOU) and Open University of China (OUC); (iii) to analyze the trend of enrollment in IGNOU and OUC; and (iv) to compare the recognition /accreditation and quality control process of distance learning in both these countries. The paper highlights the policy strategies of two countries towards quality control mechanism as par with conventional system.

India desperately needs good governance in colleges and universities so as to create a culture of innovation, and entrepreneurship so as to become and remain competitive in world market. Poor governance and poor leadership is observed to be the root cause for all ills in university education. Indian students and professors are brilliant but unfortunately they have to work today under poor governance. Governance and leadership both at central and state levels are mainly responsible for poor educational standards. It seems like all the governing bodies, namely MHRD, UGC, AICTE, Board of Governors (BOG), executive councils, are not well familiar with the global winds of change. Truly, they are behind time. No wonder, Indian universities in spite of brilliant students and brilliant professors do not stand high in the world list. Thousands of students every year are flying abroad for education. To rectify the ills and to ensure educational quality; India urgently needs to go first on priority for modernising governance systems, make them effective, imaginative and competent. They ought to engage fruitfully with the Vice Chancellors, Principals and especially listen to the voice of students. In globalization, education can best be shaped by adopting role models of only world best universities. National budget allocation to university education which creates vital human capital, which is a driving force for national development, is unfortunately observed to be dwindling. This is a major problem, and a challenge too. So as to build colleges and universities innovative, creative, and qualitative by world standards some suggestions are made in this paper. Strong leadership, distributed leadership and autonomy at the institution level is recommended. What kind of impact a professor makes on society and the profession of his/her specialization is of vital importance to take the nation to greater heights. Are professors competent by global standards? How can they be? Do the systems enable them to be so? Importance of education is outlined by Nobel Laurate Dr. Amartya Sen needs to be borne in mind. He says there is no better way for economic development of India than to educate people well. If India does not provide better education, and instead even if it implements reforms in all other sectors like food, water, electricity, etc. that is not going to matter much.

South Asian economies has witnessed very slow growth over the years and the gap has widened manifold between other nations of Asia particularly East Asian nations and South Asian nations. This paper examines co-integration between the economic growth and reach of higher education in South Asian nations explaining this disparity. The research employed an econometric panel co-integration investigation to analyse the long run relationship of higher education and economic growth among these nations. The research confirmed positive long run causality between the economic growth of the South Asian nations and gross enrolment ratio of higher education. So, if the South Asian nations continue with their existing pattern of paying less attention to higher education by allocating low share of investment on it, poor human capital formation would result in growing further economic disparity between developed and South Asian nations where rich nations would remain richer and poor nations would remain poor with the gap remaining unabridged. This research will serve as an aid to policy makers, educators and financers of South Asian nations to bridge the gap between high- and low-income nations. The focus on the quantum of spending on higher education by the government will help improve the reach of tertiary education and build economic prosperity in these nations.

The concept of Southern Theory is a response to Northern sociological theory, which is considered to be incomplete because it does not consider global dynamics, which would include the life-experiences of people of the South and the impact of socio-cultural changes brought about by colonialism and globalization. Raewyn Connell introduced the term Southern Theory to emphasize the intellectual power and political relevance of social thought emanating from formerly colonized countries. The term Southern Theory can be confusing, overarching theories that incorporate new ideas that would represent the experiences of unequal development are imperative in a globalized world. The ideas of non-violence and moral togetherness that Gandhi represented are discussed in this paper along with his education experiments and theories. Being radical, his educational ideas were not accepted in India after independence because the country needed to "catch-up" with the development of industrialized countries after centuries of colonial subjugation. But his profoundly different ideas of achieving social/political change through non-violence, and his ideas on education for working towards a social order free from exploitation and violence, represented local needs and a new way of looking at society and education.

Purpose: The study aims to explore the extent to which human resources development quantifies the economic growth of BRICS countries under the globalization era by controlling country differences. Design/methodology/approach: The study used the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and Scheffe pairwise comparison tests to quantify the impact of the variables and the level of difference among the BRICS countries onto human Resources development. Findings: The study observes that the impact of human resources development on economic growth of BRICS counties is significant but limited to few countries. The study reveals that countries such as India and South Africa are unable to utilize their human resources efficiently to promote economic growth, as compared with Russia, China and Brazil. The study further argues that there is urgent need of amalgam of various economic development theories keeping in mind the regional needs to extract the positive impact from human resource on economic development. Research limitations/implications: The single limitation of this research is that it was not possible to compare the results with other developing countries to unleash the capabilities of human resources development with regard to economic growth at the universal level. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to analyze human resources development at a much deeper level. The paper has chosen variables which are important from the policy perspective of government rather than the working perspective, which is a great contribution. Further, for human index the variables chose covering major aspects of human development from spending perspective.

The primary purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate the causes of educational poverty in less developed countries. The basic intent in carrying out such a study is to define and derive the role of governing agencies in deliberately creating educational poverty in the country, so that the private interest of the rich and powerful ruling class can be fully safeguarded. This study is of crucial interest to the common man because majority of the people living in less developed countries are poor in spite of the fact, that almost all these countries own ample human and material resources. However, the common man in these countries is continuously suffering, generation after generation, and has been denied access to basic amenities of life. The rich and powerful ruling class, in majority of the less developed countries, has intentionally denied basic education facilities to its people for keeping them ignorant and unaware of their fundamental rights to share national resources and to gain competence for comfortable living in the society. The paper advocates a complete reversal in economic growth policies of the less developed countries so that top priority is given to those projects and programs that directly benefit the common man in the society. In this respect, the author calls for awareness among the people to exercise their economic and social rights so that people of all the strata can share equally the fruits of growth and prosperity.

Which government does not want to generate hi-tech employment, high pay international jobs, spur industrial growth, and make education globally competitive? Then it must install research parks, incubators, Patent & IPR to facilitate commercial exploitation of sunrise technologies. Industries world over are seen flocking round the advanced knowledge centers to obtain brand new ideas for global competitiveness. Role of higher education has emerged central to industrial and economic development. Association with industry, venture capital firms, international agencies who succeeded in this cause is essential. The paper prescribes "dream big" for universities and colleges. They should aim at technology generation, technology diffusion, which is achieving high significance in enabling a nation to win. The paper emphasizes adoption of new organizational inventions like Research Park, which when implemented will contribute to India's international competitiveness. The institutions should have now to look beyond the traditional lines of teaching and learning and adapt to corporate development, and help industry to win. They should have to restructure themselves to become fountain heads of new knowledge and new technology. They should deserve the status of "Light House" for industry. People demand world class education. How can this be done? Synergy between industry and academics in this cause is vital. Parks have enhanced the scholarship of universities. They jointly can give economic and political stability to India. Will industry-institute interaction become a national priority? The paper recommends reforms in the light of experience elsewhere in the world.

Field of education is associated with herculean task and innate responsibility of escorting societies forward. Across space and time, it has been an unambiguous synthesis that education should precede any progress or change. It helps humans to understand themselves and better their interaction with rest of the society. Hence the field of education and dissemination of knowledge is very much a pivotal entity in the evolution of human civilisation. No country in the globe over centuries could afford to flourish on the paths of growth and development while ignoring the crucial role of education. Country like India where in there has been a perpetual struggle over the decades to overcome perils of colonisation and social stigmatisation reflective in terms of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. In order to overcome these bottlenecks 'knowledge dissemination' must spearhead the change. Apart from other funding inadequacies, infrastructural lacunae, education sector in India has also been grappling with certain innate contradicting and counterproductive structures. Hence in this paper we have made an effort to address and assess the nature and impact of these dichotomies over the field of Education in India.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and determine the effectiveness of university education on the economy of various countries. Design/methodology/approach: To determine the necessity and expedience of making provision for the effectiveness of university education on the market economy, this work uses the method of regression and correlation analysis. Evaluation of effectiveness of the system of university education is performed separately for students, state, and employers by taking as example countries with specially developed formulas. Findings: The authors substantiate the necessity for provision of effectiveness of university education on the market economy, view the effective system of university education as a basis for the development of a knowledge economy, determine approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of university education on the market economy, perform evaluation of effectiveness of the system of university education by the example of various countries, determine its connection with indicators of economic growth and development, and provide recommendations for provision of effectiveness of the system of university education on modern market economies. Practical implications: The practical value of results of the conducted research consists in the possibility to use the developed formulas for determining the level of effectiveness of the system of university education on various countries of the world. Originality/value: Theoretical value of this paper consists in the possibility for the application of authors' conclusions and recommendations in the process of development of the policy of management of effectiveness of university education system.

How much is hegemony and how much is self-determination in the higher education systems in Southeast Asia? This paper argues that while the question of centre and periphery is still relevant to the analysis of international university systems, the analytical frameworks from which it has arisen may lose viability in the long term. Southeast Asian states are making use of higher education to act in ways that will contribute to the altering of their peripheral position in the global economic and political system. While changes in Southeast Asian higher education are closely tied to global markets and follow what sometimes appears to be a dependent pattern of adaptations driven by Western developed economies, the paper argues that there is also a significant amount of resistance. As Southeast Asian countries adapt in ways that help embed economic globalisation within their national landscape, the manner in which the adaptation occurs is more selective, open, and democratic than before. Moreover, while global communication with core (centre) university systems has been more open and transparent, the system is closed to direct intervention from the outside, making hegemony a less plausible explanation for the manner in which the system is reacting within the new global environment of financial interdependency.

This paper is an attempt to examine the relationship between higher education and economic growth by taking a country case of the Republic of Korea and comparing this with the Republic of India to show how political educational decisions impact economic growth. Even though both countries began as relatively underdeveloped economies at the time of independence in the 1940s, this literature study shows that these two countries took different trajectories in organizing their higher education systems. Korea's strategic and sustained investment in education (along with the private sector) has eventually helped the economy to soar. India's economy, on the other hand, is still held back from strategizing and channeling its resources for the development of higher education in general. India appears to have been fallen prey to a competency trap of the general presumption among many policy makers that secondary and higher education may not be as necessary for economic growth. As a result, the economy will continue to suffer until the political commitment shifts toward investing in higher education and working with the private sector of vast potentials.

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the role of human capital (HC), human resource development (HRD) and vocational educational and training (VET) in the emerging Indian economy. How may we define the HC, HRD and VET in India? To what extent and how as HRD investments in India contributed to India's recent economic development? What were the investments and what were the returns? Who invested and who obtained the returns? Is India really different from other countries? Design/methodology/approach: To achieve that goal, the authors use a model of the HC, HRD and VET national market. Specifically, they divide the analysis in four broad stages: stocks, investments and outcomes; supply, demand, price and quantity; needs; and private and public forces. Findings: The authors conclude that the India's HC, HRD and VET have been growing and will have to grow even more, for India to become developed. Currently, the urgency is even greater in the HRD and VET side than in the education side. The government goals for 2022 are immense, and the raise in the HRD and VET in India that is aimed will effectively change India's economy and society. Research limitations/implications: The authors only use secondary data. They believe that a deeper and very detailed study on all the States of India could be made, following this paper. Also, the analysis could be replicated for the other BRICS. Practical implications: India HRD and VET market is described as being one of the major India's problems of today and promises of tomorrow. Social implications: Today, only around ten million of India's citizens receive HRD and VET annually. This number is to be multiplied between 20 and 50 times. This change will change India's economy and society. Originality/value: Also, the authors believe that the paper is original because it analyzes India's HC, HRD and VET with a new conceptual model.

Growth is a concept of particular interest for economic discourse. This paper sets out to explore a small corpus of economic growth, which consists of articles from "The Economist". The corpus software used in this study is a web-based tool Wmatrix, an automatic tagging software able to assign semantic field (domain) tags, and to permit the extraction of key words and key semantic domains by applying the keyness calculation to tag frequency lists. The results show that at 99% confidence (or p < 0.01), the cut-off of 6.63 (log likelihood value) indicates that there are 1051 positive keywords (including multiword expressions) and 80 key semantic domains generated from the corpus. It is evident that BRICs or the emerging economies/markets, in particular China and India, are a big concern regarding economic growth over the past years. A number of examples of possible ways forward in teaching methodology are presented.

Skills acquisition is vital for any economic growth, particularly in an era of economic and technological changes. The need for skill development is a vital challenge, foremost for a developing nation, such as India. Therefore, vocational education and training (VET) is a direct means of providing workers with skills more relevant to their livelihood needs and generating a harmonized condition that should be linked directly to industry's needs and requirements. Skilling half a billion of India's population by 2022 is the biggest challenge and most ambitious goal ever set by the country in the field of education and training. On the one hand, there are millions of people in India who have a considerable level of skill in a particular area but they do not have any formal certification to verify their existing skills, and on the other hand they are unable to further improve upon this already acquired skill to be commensurate with industry's needs. Hence, there is a need for a way to credit these already acquired skills through a qualifications framework, against which individuals' skills could be mapped. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is a relatively new concept for India. Presently no system has been developed in the skill training sector for assessment, accreditation and certification of prior learning. During 2013, the Government of India entrusted the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) with the responsibility for developing a robust system for assessment, accreditation and certification of prior learning by educational institutions, both in the formal and nonformal education sectors. A concerted effort has been made by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), an examining body at the school level, devoted to disadvantaged groups using open distance learning (ODL) mode, under the auspices of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, for assessment, accreditation and certification of skills in the informal sector workforce with industry partners. An attempt has been made through this paper to portray the framework developed by NIOS, and to discuss the issues and challenges related to implementing RPL in a socio-economic environment as diverse as India's.

Merit Goods have always received handsome attention and allocation from countries which have witnessed a congruence between high significant economic growth and Human Development Index (HDI). The Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) have become significant manufacturing hubs by universalizing education and improving their Incremental Capital Output Ratio (ICOR). Allocational priority to sectors like education, health and sanitation and their easy accessibility and affordability to people Below Poverty Line (BPL) hold the key to inclusive growth. The paper brings out how our poor development records in terms of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), and Gini Coefficient can be substantially mitigated by better allocational commitment, high Research & Development, allocation, improvement in factor productivity and global collaboration.

The paper critically dissects the contemporary policy landscape and its ability to counter precarious work for construction workers in the Indian context. By focusing on the governance challenges faced by welfare institutions and the pre-existing fault lines exposed by the pandemic, the paper argues that social policies are languishing and inefficient to respond to the challenges of growing precarity. The paper uses Breman's conception of 'Footloose labour' to understand informality related to construction workers and Gilbert and Terrell's social policy analytical framework to understand the institutional response. The two major arguments that make the social policy languish are the inability of the policy to alter neoliberal employment relationships and the operational challenges that institutions face in implementing welfare schemes for many footloose labourers. Moreover, the situation is further exacerbated by inherent contradictions of the state which is entangled between promoting economic growth through neoliberal policies while consecutively ensuring labour welfare. If the Institutional challenges persist along with the persuasion of neoliberal reforms, footloose labour is only going to be further marginalized and pushed to limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial inclusion has done its best across the world to bring unbanked people to the mainstream of financial and banking services. However, the metamorphosis is slow and needs some shots in the arm. This paper attempts to explore ways to expedite the process of economic development of the poor through financial inclusion. A newer technology, Open API for banking (OAB), can support financial inclusion for economic development and the growth of the poor. There are two main reasons for the success of OAB. Many mobile-based applications use OAB. Therefore, OAB can easily piggyback on the success of mobile penetration. The meager cost and simple technology of OAB is another reason for its success, primarily when OAB is aimed at unbanked people of the world. Structured Equation Modelling is applied to successfully and empirically test the mediation role of OAB between financial inclusion and economic development of the poor. OAB is found to have complete mediation. This work is the only study that links OAB with financial inclusion and the economic development of the poor. OAB stands out among all the other digitalisation tools of financial services due to its exclusive features. OAB has considerable implications to expedite the execution of financial inclusion for the economic development of the poor. But, to extend its full impact on the economic development of the poor, OAB should be clubbed with financial inclusion as a policy. Otherwise, a good opportunity will remain confined mostly as an effective solution for digitalising payment services. The digital divide is supposed to be bridged by OAB. However, this paper has not addressed this issue empirically. Besides this, the synergetic effect of FI and OAB, which is strongly recommended in the study, needs empirical testing. Both the limitation of the study is the future scope of the topic. No other study was observed on the topic, where OAB is suggested to bridge the gap between financial inclusion and economic development of the poor. The study has immense potential to change the course of action of the policy on Financial Inclusion. Using the findings of the study, the policymakers can embark upon using the new innovative technology in a more concerted way for the social upheaval of the poor in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we identify factors which improve the quality of technical education using the data from World Bank's Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP) in India. We evaluate the success of TEQIP in improving the quality of technical education in the country. Our findings show significant impact of this intervention on the quality of the technical education. The design, strategy, and implementation of TEQIP have crucial lessons for developing countries who want to build their technical education sector for rapid economic growth.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to systematically examine and draw attention to the potential benefits of solar power generation for access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) aimed at sustainable development in emerging economies. Design/methodology/approach: Electricity plays a crucial role in the development and use of ICT and in the process of striving to achieve sustainable development in emerging economies. It has been shown that electrical energy is intrinsically linked to economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. An extensive analysis of the major contribution of solar electricity in various sectors such as economic, social and environmental benefits is provided. The paper concludes with a discussion on current status of solar electricity in major emerging economies, their planning policies and strategies for promoting solar power generation for increased access to ICT by people and sustainable development of society. Findings: The demand for electricity in residential, commercial and industrial sectors in developing countries (emerging economies) is likely to increase, both as a result of increase in population and expanding industrialization. It remains amongst others, a growing challenge for these nations to obtain and put in place reliable and secured electricity supplies, for accessing ICT and to work towards achieving sustainability. The important issues that must be considered and addressed for the successful implementation of solar electricity programs for sustainability and wellbeing in developing nations are pointed out. Practical implications: The paper shows that the problems of lack of qualified solar technicians and established Photovoltaic (PV) markets and business modes, renewable (solar) energy education have to be addressed. Other issues include appreciation of solar electricity as one of the major energy component, lowering initial cost of the PV technology, availability of finance mechanisms for customers, import tax exemption and regarding electricity as one of the basic needs like food, shelter and clothing. Overhaul of existing systems needs to take place in order to provide the means to deal with some of these issues. Originality/value: Availability of power remains crucial for development in emerging markets. Solar electricity is of major interest for the energy sector in developing or emerging economies because it offers the possibility of generating renewable electricity using sunlight: a resource that is widely and freely available in most, if not all, developing countries. This paper raises awareness about this in a unique way and identifies problems faced by the sectors. To address some of these challenges without compromising the goal of sustainability and development, it is important that low carbon emitting electrical energy sources such as solar electricity are given high priorities by policy makers, industries and research and development institutions in emerging countries. Some innovative suggestions are provided for achieving this. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

This paper discusses the grassroots level understanding of poverty and wellbeing. There is rich debate and ever expanding literature on the meaning of wellbeing and poverty and their relationship in developing countries. In recent times wellbeing and poverty have been scrutinised within the discourse on multidimensionality of poverty. Most research outputs though are grounded in quantitative data. Investigations that focus on the perceptions and understandings of poor people about their situations remain sparse in the literature. The current study is an attempt to address this gap. The paper explores the common grounds and the points of departure between the researchers' views of poverty and wellbeing and the perception at the grassroots. The paper presents findings of primary research conducted by the author in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh and Madhubani district of Bihar in India. Semi-structured survey instruments were deployed to interview a selection of poor, marginal and non-poor households. In addition to identifying the commonalities in grassroots and researchers' understandings of poverty, the paper draws attention to factors that may be outside the radar of the researchers. It is envisaged that mapping a more holistic understanding of poverty and wellbeing will have important long-term policy implications for poverty reduction.

The Food Safety Knowledge Network (FSKN) is a collaboration between Michigan State University, the Global Food Safety Initiative of the Consumer Goods Forum, and other food industry and public sector partners. FSKN's goal is to help strengthen the food industry's response to the complex food safety knowledge and training challenges that affect emerging markets by providing free access to high-quality, standardized learning resources. The resources were designed to be available on demand and as a structured learning experience which can support face-to-face training and fully online training. The pilots thus far have shown that participants in FSKN training demonstrate a significant increase in knowledge. The paper will share the processes used to set up an efficient open educational resources initiative including understanding licensing, using open software, establishing competencies and working with corporate and other international partners. (Contains 2 figures.)

Criticality is the ability to question current theories and practices in any sector to make them more receptive to social realities. Empathy is the ability to identify with what someone else is thinking or feeling. Empathy forms the foundation for welfare state and its liberal social welfare programmes. The state-led development strategies during the post-war period stemmed from a belief in the idea of welfare state and in the redistribution of resources and opportunities in favour of the deprived groups. The market-led globalisation process has put brakes on the scope of welfare provisions even in democratic societies. The public-funded stimulus packages during the recent economic crisis helped save economies from market failure and reinforced the need for state intervention even for an efficient functioning of markets. Based on an analysis of global trends and Indian context, this paper argues for the need of the educational processes to develop criticality in thinking and empathy in action to help develop a support base for public policies benefiting the poor and the disadvantaged.

This paper briefly introduces Early Intervention (EI) issues in five countries including Zimbabwe, Poland, People's Republic of China (PRC), India, and the United States of America (USA). In the overview section the national background, including religious, socio-economic development, and political systems, its policies, laws and acts, are delineated, since all of these factors combine together to impact the EI development in each specific country. Next, different approaches used in these five countries are introduced and compared. Lastly, a matrix is used to contrast EI development in five countries. In conclusion the author, taking into account cultural norms and other issues, points out strengths and weaknesses in each country and suggests ways in which countries might benefit from others practices and experiences. (Contains 1 figure.)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force in various sectors, offering both opportunities and challenges, particularly in a rapidly developing nation like India. This paper explores the dual aspects of AI as a boon and a bane, analysing its impact on economic growth, employment, healthcare, education, and ethical concerns. While AI promises enhanced productivity and innovation, it also poses risks such as job displacement, privacy violations, and algorithmic bias. This study aims to provide a balanced perspective on the implications of AI in India, highlighting the need for strategic frameworks that maximize benefits while mitigating risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present stimulated business environment, power sector is playing a major role in the economic growth of India. During the last 20 years, the country had been facing a poor supply of energy and this supply-demand gap is increasing continuously. So, it is important for power plants to improve its power generation capacity drastically by reducing the failure rate. In the present paper, to analyze the causes of poor availability, thermal power plant has divided into six different systems and a system comprising of waste gases heating system has been considered. With the help of transition diagram, mathematical equations have been used to find out the availability. After analyzing, it was found that the value of availability is very low and boiler tube failure is one of the most critical factors for this low availability of system. Economizer zone has identified having long existence time of failures and frequency of occurrence is very high. So, minimizing the failure rate with the help of a proper maintenance schedule will result in decreasing the shutdown period of the plant and increasing the system availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world has achieved massive economic progress in the past few decades, along with population explosion and rapid urbanization/industrialization, the effects of which are being realized across the world in the form of global climate change with huge environmental impact. Though climate change is a natural phenomenon, the release of several greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere through human activities has made a greater contribution to global warming. The present paper is a review of Indian climate features/trends and their consequences across the country. Recent countrywide trends in some selected climatic parameters like rainfall and temperature have been depicted. India is an agrarian country and is exposed to various hydro-ecological vulnerabilities, particularly successively occurring, extreme, climatic hazards like drought, flood and cyclone. Based on some indices, possible vulnerable areas due to the effect of climate change have also been depicted. Although the analyses are based on national level secondary data on selected parameters, some region-specific micro-level studies may better reveal the significance of these vulnerabilities. The present paper an attempt to map the climate variability across the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this introductory paper of the Special Issue, we explore how India's political economy is moving in a new direction by focusing on three key political economy issues: development, welfare, and governance. India has undergone a substantial political transformation in recent years, especially since Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi formed the first majoritarian government in three decades in 2014. In this paper, we first demonstrate that this political transformation has a significant impact on the Indian political economy, given that the country is witnessing the rise of a new developmentalism, a new welfarism, and the new modes of governance. After that, we summarize the collections of articles of the Special Issue and situate them in relation to our central theme, new directions in the Indian political economy. This paper, and this Special Issue more broadly, seeks to contribute to the existing literature by introducing new analytical frameworks to understand recent changes in the Indian political economy and providing new empirical evidence on this topic drawing on content analysis and field research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the feasibility of India achieving its stated objective of getting to net zero carbon emissions by 2070 and outlines a possible strategy for the next 10 years consistent with this goal. It recommends a combination of price-based measures and several sector-specific interventions. The ideal price-based measure would be a carbon tax. This may not be feasible for various reasons, but in its absence a well-designed emissions trading system, as described in the paper, could make a major contribution in reducing emissions. On sectoral interventions, the critical areas over the next 10 years would be (i) accelerated expansion of various forms of renewable energy capacity, which will require several policy changes, (ii) electrification of transport, and (iii) a shift from private to public transport in urban areas and from road to rail for freight. Action will also be necessary in other sectors such as industry, agriculture, and buildings, but a detailed strategy for these may take more time to put in place. Since responsibility for action in all these areas is spread across different ministries in the central government and, in many cases, state governments, evolving an internally consistent and cost-effective strategy will present a major challenge. There is a case for setting up a high-level commission chaired by the Prime Minister to approve a national strategy. The paper estimates that the additional investment needed to make this transition will be about 2 per cent of India's GDP by 2030, much of which will have to come from additional public and private savings. In this context, some form of carbon pricing would help generate additional revenue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The promotion of US-Indian higher education partnerships affects those students who are most marginalized. This article explores the development, implementation, and reception of such partnerships to meet the needs of students who remain on the borders of educational access in India. This article addresses the ways higher education policies systematically universalize the marginalization of certain students, explores the impact of how policies of partnerships will address the needs of such students, and seeks to explore how administrators in higher education institutions see the growth of such partnerships shifting the status quo of privilege and power. Through the evaluation of policy papers, historical documents, media reports, survey data and informal conversations with stakeholders, the findings will address the underlying consequences and effects on higher education policy development in India. This article seeks to deconstruct the directions such relationships might take and consider the impact on students who remain on the periphery of higher education in India.

Purpose: This study aims to provide a critique of the institutional framework of the National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL), India's "bad bank." Design/methodology/approach: The approach followed is the development of an economic model of the gains to trade of an Asset Reconstruction Company. Findings: Using an economic model, the paper shows that the rules of the game create an uneven playing field and are likely to lead to a systematic overpricing of nonperforming loans (NPLs). While this might increase the upfront cash received by the bank, it will come at the cost of higher liabilities for the government on account of the sovereign guarantee that is part of the proposed structure. The overpricing is also likely to act as an obstacle to efforts aimed at the revival of the distressed company. The NARCL could become a warehouse for NPLs subverting the objective of reconstruction. Practical implications: Solutions to create a vibrant market for NPLs are proposed. Originality/value: The Indian case is unique in the sense that a bad bank backed by the government has been introduced after almost two decades of the existence of similar entities in the private sector. To the best of the author's knowledge, this paper is the first that addresses the design of such a market using economic modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 10 aims at reducing inequalities in different aspects. The Niti Aayog of India has been monitoring progress achieved by different states and sets out a collaborative agenda. This paper specifically looks at the trends in Gini coefficient in different states, impact of high-income inequality on index of health in developed economies and how political ideology and progressive taxation policy can play a decisive role in thwarting the present disturbing trends. The paper brings out how income share of the 40% middle class in national GDP has come down after economic liberalization, while the share of top 10% has gone up significantly. In developed countries, acute income inequality seems to dampen the index of health and general well-being. The paper looks at Kuznet's inverted U curve hypothesis, which contends that after achievement of a high level of per capita income, inequality will come down, was proved to be un-true by Thomas Piketty. The paper brings out, how the Laffer Curve (1986) mooted by Arthur Laffer provided the economic justification for bringing down tax rate on top rich from 71% to 35% in the USA. The paper rebuts the general assumption that high tax rates would disincentive investment. The author recognizes that substantial increase in tax rates and high wealth tax in a market oriented political economy may not be a feasible proposition. In order to achieve distributive justice, greater attention to tools like progressive taxation, increasing investment in merit goods and ensuring shared prosperity must be seriously addressed. Also, a more proactive approach towards tax collection, rather than increasing borrowing would help to reduce income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is regularly pointed out that despite impressive economic growth India has the largest number of malnourished children in the world. It also has the largest number of people with diabetes despite moderate levels of obesity. These two observations may in fact be linked; poverty breeds malnutrition in children and chronic diseases in adults. This article reviews evidence on the critical role of early nutrition both for long-term health and also for reducing the intergenerational transmission of poverty. (JEL codes: I12, I14, O15) [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The quality of institutions indicates the level of economic development in the country. Institutions are a part of a system that is based on human interactions and that leads to the generation of incentives. These incentives can deal with uncertainties and foster economic, social, political growth, provided the human interactions are moderated well. This paper reflects on the strength of the interventionalist institutions like cooperatives in India and promotes institution building for a better future. The base of the paper focuses on the lessons learnt from dairy cooperatives in Gujarat state and discusses the current situation of the cooperatives and challenges faced by them. The cooperatives in India have been old institutions with a great history of success as also failures. Though there are various types of cooperatives in India, the dairy cooperatives have been able to gain more attention in the international market due to the Operation Floods I, II, and III. India has secured its position as one of the largest milk producers in the world. At present, India produces 20% of the total milk production in the world. This paper is a blend and analysis of theoretical perspectives and ground realities of the dairy cooperative sector in India. The paper follows theoretical perspectives from institutional theory to analyse the present scenario of dairy cooperatives in India. It addresses the gaps in the dairy cooperative development sector with an in‐depth analysis of ground realities and contributes to future policy formulation and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the complex interplay between economic development and environmental sustainability in the context of India's pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It examines the inherent contradictions and trade-offs involved, particularly in agriculture, industrialisation, and infrastructure sectors. The paper highlights how economic growth, essential for improving living standards, often conflicts with environmental objectives. The paper underscores the importance of integrating economic, environmental, and social objectives to achieve a sustainable and inclusive future for India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies have examined only the unidirectional impact of cultural diversity on the economic performance of countries, regions, and cities, not the other ways. They have assumed the diversity as given, while it may also grow, due to in-migration of workers and entrepreneurs, with economic growth and may be dependent on it. This paper models diversity and economic growth in a bi-directional causal frame and demonstrates that economic growth has a substantial impact on religious, language, and overall cultural diversities in the major states of India. However, the Granger causality between economic growth to language diversity and overall cultural diversity is found to be stronger and more widespread across the states than the causality from economic growth to religious diversity. The findings of this paper may have significant theoretical and empirical implications, as mainly the unidirectional way the impact of cultural diversity on economic growth has been advocated and the empirical studies have been modelled to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the evolution of the Indian State's role in governance, and the implications this has for goal setting. We find that the Indian government's activist role in governance marked a change from the colonial period. This, we suggest, was not due to changes in the relative influence of different stakeholder groups. It was instead due to new national developmental goals, particularly industrialization. Fairly quickly after independence, we find that higher education governance came to be exercised in different ways between the center and the states. Control over the system's governance was to later become an arena of contest between the national (central) government and the provinces (states), leading to disagreements on strategies, such as on funding and regulation. In later phases, particularly in the third phase that began in 1984 and continues to the present, the disagreements intensified because educational priorities started changing due to the changes in the relative influence of stakeholder groups and new forces such as globalization.

This paper estimates the distribution of educational returns by gender for India. While previous studies focus on mean returns, the variance of educational returns has important implications for policy-making and micro-level decision making with respect to education. If the variance of educational returns is large, it can leave large sections of the population with negative returns; if the variance of educational returns is gender specific, it can influence households' decisions to educate girls versus boys. Our econometric results provide evidence that India's labor markets are characterized by significant uncertainty and that the uncertainty is systematically larger for women. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

Primary education is essential for the economic development in any country. Most studies give more emphasis to the final output (such as literacy, enrolment etc.) rather than the delivery of the entire primary education system. In this paper, we study the school level data from an Indian district, collected under the official DISE statistics. We use several indicators to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of primary school education system in India. Our analysis reveals serious discrepancies in deprivation, social and policy indicators that infringes upon efficiency in a negative way. (Contains 7 tables.)

Developing nations including Bangladesh are significantly lagging behind the millennium development target due to the lack of science, technology and engineering education. Bangladesh as a least developing country has only 44 engineers per million people. Its technological education and gross domestic product growth are not collinear. Although limited progress was made in humanities, basic sciences, agriculture and medical sciences, a vast gap is left in technical and engineering education. This paper describes the present condition of engineering education in the country and explores ways to improve engineering education in order to meet the national as well as global skills demand. (Contains 3 tables and 7 figures.)

India aims to become the world’s third largest economy (US$ 5 trillion) by 2025, a dream which was derailed to a certain extent because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are several ways to achieving the target set, albeit with some time lag. One way to support the economy in such a high-pressure situation is through infrastructure development. A positive correlation between infrastructure development and economic development has been proved beyond doubt. Infrastructure development also supports socio-cultural development. The present paper is an attempt of understand the trends and status of infrastructure development in India. It is very important to take stock of the domestic situation in a global context, to have a more realistic picture and understand the gaps. The second part of the paper presents a comparative picture of infrastructure development in India and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports on a field experiment conducted among poor women organized in self-help groups in the north-east of India. The experiment tests in a simple game whether overly optimistic expectations with respect to the benefits of exercising agency reduces one's appreciation of remaining with agency in the future. If so, unrealistic expectations may trigger behaviour that jeopardizes empowerment processes. It is hypothesized that negative emotions, such as disappointment, bring about such risks. We find that overstretched expectations may indeed work against empowerment if the gap between achieved and expected outcomes following increased agency is sufficiently wide. However, modest expectation gaps have the opposite effect and tend to promote attitudes conducive to empowerment. A tentative explanation for this result is offered by combining insights from recent work on the role of aspirations.

While higher education is regarded a high priority for economic development in many countries, public budgets often fall short to support desired levels of expansion in higher education. This leads to cost-sharing: students and their families are required to contribute more to the costs of higher education. This paper explores worldwide trends to cope with this issue based on the following questions: Is it fair to ask for larger contributions from students? What are the global patterns and forms of higher private shares in the costs of higher education? And what is the impact of cost-sharing on higher education access and equity? (Contains 4 tables and 2 footnotes.)

This paper analyses and compares the measurement of indicators and variables in the construction of education index in Human Development Index (HDI) at the global, national and 18 sub-national human development reports in India since 1990. The results show non-comparability of measurement of the education indicators and variables. This implies that vertical and horizontal comparability of HDI may not be plausible for India. Implications of these analyses are highlighted for measurement of quality of life indices with special reference to physical quality of life index. Policy lessons are derived for future measurement of education index for India in particular, and other developing countries in general.

The Indo-Pacific region is believed to be of immense strategic significance given the dynamism of the region in propelling economic growth and cooperation between nations. However, the region has attracted significant attention from major powers and is being reimagined as a contested geo-political space. The emergence of the term has led to a restructuring of the popular perception in which the world has traditionally and strategically perceived this geographical area. This paper delves into the manner in which the India and Australia as important actors in the region conceptualize the 'Indo-Pacific' and how it has shaped India-Australia relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic profile of women in any country reflects the overall status of women. Economic development of any country significantly depends upon the participation rates of its women. Women's empowerment is crucial for raising their living standards and well-being. India is a country of diversity regarding the wide geographical, cultural and social variations. Haryana is known as one of the developed states of India, but even then there is prevailing much gender-based inequality and male dominance in all dimensions of life. The position of women in Mahendergarh district of Haryana is no better than the other districts of Haryana. The objective of the paper is to understand the demographic profile of women status in Mahendergarh District, Haryana as per Census 2011. It reveals the three main indicators sex ratio, women literacy and her work participation in the process of their empowerment with special attention to the gender perspective. This paper will examine the regional disparity of sex ratio, literacy rate and female work participation and the improvement of empowerment of women in the Mahendergarh district state of Haryana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the transition from a national focus on food security during the last half of the 20th century to an emerging strategy on helping small-scale farm households increase farm income to reduce rural poverty. The basic proposition is that if extension is going to help increase farm incomes and rural employment, then it must shift from being a "supply-driven" to a more "market-driven" extension system. This shift requires at least three major institutional changes. First, extension must give higher priority to high-value, labor-intensive crops/products where there is real demand in domestic and/or export markets. Second, small-scale producers must get organized into groups to achieve economies of scale and to become linked with the "value chains" that supply these markets. Third, extension planning and decision-making must become decentralized to determine the most suitable crops and/or enterprises vis-a-vis the interests and resources of different farmer groups, in light of agro-ecological conditions and available markets for different products.