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A comprehensive case study of Mumbai (Bombay), India was undertaken to investigate the economic, social and environmental impact of international trade of waste paper for recycling purposes between industrialized and developing countries. Analysis of a Western approach vis-a-vis informal policy for waste paper recovery concludes that employment is maximum under informal policy measure and public response playsan important role in maintaining environmental quality. The study further shows that income inequality is more under informal policy, andwithout policy public cost will increase continuously in the future.The net present value of the informal policy is found to be higher than that for the formal policy. Econometric study on input substitution in the Indian paper industry suggests limited substitution possibilities between domestic and imported waste paper. Results from a static material balance flow model indicate that environmental impacts are less with increased trade and economically the paper sector in India benefits from free trade. Based upon the results of the study, somepolicy recommendations have been made that may enhance the efficiency of waste paper recycling in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper foregrounds the work of the labourer in infrastructural projects. It draws upon over 6 years of ethnographic study with road construction labourers in the upper Himalayas positioning them as subaltern subjects within discourses of national development. While the subaltern studies project of the 1980s emphasized the 'writing back into history' of the non-elite, primarily peasants, tribal populations and women who too contributed to the imagination of the nation; at the contemporary moment where infrastructure defines national development we need to revisit the subaltern project to draw attention to the forgotten labourers who literally construct the nation and its infrastructure. After arguing for recognition of the labour as intrinsic to infrastructural and national constructions, I discuss possibilities for a dialogic engagement with the subaltern. Pushing the debates within subaltern geographies on the politics of representation, I argue that perhaps the way forward is not about giving voice but about making space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debate about the causes and consequences of regional deforestation in India has paved the way for calls to action and intervention, and state-sponsored afforestation has led to government claims of progressagainst land degradation. Census statistics from the arid state of Rajasthan show a tide of forests reclaiming the land. These trends obscure crucial realities that continue to undermine the claims of the state: forest ecosystems continue to disappear, expanding cover is characterized by an ecologically narrow range of species, and forest management remains rooted in a decision structure that fails to educe local knowledge and experience. More fundamentally, the flaws in the Rajasthani forest campaign reflect an entrenched pattern that has long guided authorities in the region; to govern the landscape, the state must quite literally construct forests as mental categories, discursive tropes, and material realities where none have existed before. The material conditions of tree cover are, in this way, influenced by the discursive forms of forest imported into the region. This paper surveys the contradictory trends in Rajasthani land cover, interrogating the relationship between the forests that expand on paper and those that dwindle on the ground. In the process, the paper contributes to ongoing work in post-structural political ecology by asking how discourse matters in the reconstitution of material ecologies and by linking the construction of ecological categories to the formation of landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Caste is an important and unique axis of inequality in India. Caste based digital divide can exacerbate the existing socioeconomic divisions between different caste groups. • Using non-linear decomposition method, the present paper explains the digital divide between disadvantaged and other caste groups. • We find that there is a considerable first level and second level digital divide between the disadvantaged caste groups and Others in India. • The caste-based digital divide is largely explained by the differences in education and income between the caste groups. • The study foregrounds the importance of bridging the caste-based digital gap by closing the gap between the educational attainments of the disadvantaged and other caste groups. With the increasing importance of information and communication technologies in access to basic services like education and health, the question of digital divide based on caste assumes importance in India where large socioeconomic disparities persist between different caste groups. Studies on caste-based digital inequality are still scanty in India. Using nationally representative survey data, this paper analyzes the first-level digital divide (ownership of computer and access to the Internet) and the second-level digital divide (individuals skills to use computer and the Internet) between the disadvantaged caste groups and Others. Further, this paper identifies the caste-based differences in socioeconomic factors that contribute to the digital divide between these groups using a non-linear decomposition method. The results show that there exists large first-level and second-level digital divide between the disadvantaged caste groups and Others in India. The non-linear decomposition results indicate that caste-based digital divide in India is rooted in historical socioeconomic deprivation of disadvantaged caste groups. More than half of the caste-based digital gap is attributable to differences in educational attainment and income between the disadvantaged caste groups and Others. Findings of this study highlight the urgent need for addressing educational and income inequality between the different caste groups in India in order to bridge the digital divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) affecting populations is considered a public health issue in South/Southeast Asia. The purpose of this study was to analyze the scientometric characteristics and research trends of OSF. All the papers on OSF were comprehensively retrieved from the Scopus database. Regional comparison (India versus outside of India) and chronological comparison (before 2015 versus after 2015) were performed. Among all the 1357 papers on OSF, 930 (68.5%) were from India. In India, biology research on antioxidant, oxidative stress, angiogenesis, and extracellular matrix were distinctive keywords. Risk factors of smokeless tobacco and gutkha and the roles of saliva and blood sampling were also distinctive keywords in India. In outside of India, biology research on myofibroblast, alpha smooth muscle actin, microRNA, long untranslated RNA, and protein p53 were distinctive keywords. The trend of biology research on connective tissue, genotype, genetic predisposition, messenger RNA, and cytology before 2015 has changed to research on myofibroblast, biological marker, microRNA, epithelial mesenchymal transition, extracellular matrix, and oxidative stress after 2015. The trend of clinical aspects of surgery and mouth hygiene before 2015 has changed to the aspects of adverse event/effects, complication, and quality of life after 2015. This scientometric study elucidated the current scenario and research trends of OSF, and would help in improving in reciprocal collaboration and communication for this disease control in South/Southeast Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

• The spatio-temporal variations of BTEX across India were studied. • AQI based on BTEX pollution levels were used to categorise different zones in India. • The northern zone shows high pollution due to BTEX, and south zone shows the least. • Traffic emissions, solvent use and evaporation are the major sources of BTEX in India. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) pollution poses a serious threat to public health and the environment because of its respiratory and neurological effects, carcinogenic properties, and adverse effects on air quality. BTEX exposure is a matter of grave concern in India owing to the growing vehicular and development activities, necessitating the assessment of atmospheric concentrations and their spatial variation. This paper presents a comprehensive assessment of ambient concentrations and spatiotemporal variations of BTEX in India. The study investigates the correlation of BTEX with other criteria pollutants and meteorological parameters, aiming to identify interrelationships and diagnostic indicators for the source characterization of BTEX emissions. Additionally, the paper categorizes various regions in India according to the Air Quality Index (AQI) based on BTEX pollution levels. The results reveal that the northern zone of India exhibits the highest levels of BTEX pollution compared to central, eastern, and western regions. In contrast, the southern zone experiences the least pollution with BTEX. Seasonal analysis indicates that winter and post-monsoon periods, characterized by lower temperatures, are associated with higher BTEX levels due to the accumulation of localized emissions. When comparing the different zones in India, high traffic emissions and localized activities, such as solvent use and solvent evaporation, are found to be the primary sources of BTEX. The findings of the current study aid in source characterization and identification, and better understanding of the region's air quality problems, which helps in the development of focused BTEX pollution reduction and control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social innovation has come to be identified as a key aspect of development. Objectives related to personal and socioeconomic development often inspire this type of innovation. Relevant goals can drive societies to fulfil citizens' needs while promoting overall empowerment and inclusion. This paper analyses the emergence and development of social innovation in rural territories in the opposing socioeconomic settings of Portugal and India. By addressing social innovation in rural territories, the paper contributes to the research and provides empirical evidence from contexts and analytical frameworks that have been neglected by most innovation scholars. The paper acknowledges the context of innovation processes and dynamics - rural territories in western and non-western countries. The consideration of two different, contrasting socioeconomic contexts provides a privileged framework to analyse the dynamics involved in the emergence and development of social innovation, namely the top-down and bottom-up approaches that characterize it. • There are contrasting realities concerning the SI processes in Portugal and India. • Depending on the context, SI takes place under top-down, bottom-up or mixing the two approaches. • It is important to open the 'black box' of SI and understand the concrete modes of its emergence and development. [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]

• 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]

The impact of COVID-19 on the Global scale is tremendously drastic. There are several types of research going on across the world simultaneously to understand and overcome this dire pandemic outbreak. This paper is purely a statistical study on a distinct set of datasets regarding COVID-19 in India. The motivation of this study is to provide an insight into the rapid growth of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India. The rapid growth of COVID-19 cases in India started in March 2020. The main objective of this paper is to provide a solid statistical model for the policymaker to handle this kind of pandemic situation in the near future with nonlinear data. In this paper, the data was got from 1st April to 29th November 2020. To come up with a solid statistical model, various nonlinear data such as confirmed COVID-19 cases, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, the total population (state-wise), the total area in km2 (state-wise), and the total rural and urban population count (state-wise) have been analyzed. In this paper, six different Generalized Additive Models (GAM) was identified after a thorough analysis of other researchers' (Xie and Zhu, 2020; Prata et al., 2020) findings. In all perspectives, the results were identified and analyzed. The GAM model regarding total COVID-19 confirmed cases, total population, and the total rural population provides the best average fit of R2 value of 0.934. As the population value is quite high, the author has concise it using logarithm to provide the best p -value of 0.000542 and 0.001407 for a relation between the total number of COVID-19 cases regarding the total population and total rural population respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper revisits the Porter-Wagner dilemma about the association between environmental management (EM) and firm performance (FP). The context of informal Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) provides an interesting case since they are away from regulatory scrutiny or corporate/social obligations. The study resorts to labor productivity as the measure of FP and EM is represented by the various solid waste management practices (WMPs) adopted by the informal enterprises. Using the latest available cross-sectional data on un-incorporated firms by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 73rd round 2015-16, we found the positive impact of WMPs was higher in the case of more productive firms in the quantile, indicating the relevance of the Porter-Wagner dilemma. The direction of causality was further validated using the propensity score matching technique by decomposing the average treatment effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Satisfaction with health services affects how voters attribute policy responsibility to different levels of government within a federal system. • Less satisfied voters are more likely to misattribute responsibility – or to blame – local government when things go badly. • State and national governments receive credit from voters who are satisfied with services but are not punished by those who are dissatisfied. • A key link in the chain of electoral accountability for health is missing in India. Lines of accountability for the provision of health services in many federal systems are complex. Institutional structures and political strategies that blur lines of responsibility make it more difficult for voters to claim their rights, to assign responsibility and reward or sanction governments on the basis of their performance. Based on a survey of 1500 voters across five states in India, this paper examines how voters attribute credit and blame for health system performance. In India, central, state and local governments are involved in the delivery and financing of different elements of health care provision from running hospitals, providing health insurance to running vaccination programmes. Contrary to expectations, we find that most voters can broadly attribute responsibility to the relevant level of government for different health services and programmes, however a significant minority consistently misattribute responsibility by holding the local government responsible. We find that perceptions of health system performance matter more than partisanship in explaining when voters hold different levels of government responsible. Those who are less satisfied with the health system are more likely to blame the local government for poor performance, even where it is not constitutionally responsible. This suggests that state and national governments receive credit from voters who perceive services as functioning well but are not punished by those who are dissatisfied. In other words, political leaders are able to capture credit among voters who are more satisfied with health provision while deflecting blame from those who are less satisfied. These findings demonstrate important weaknesses in the chain of electoral accountability for health. The paper suggests possible parallels to authoritarian contexts such as China where recent research has shown that strong centralised political leadership claims credit for public goods provision while deflecting blame for corruption and inefficiency to lower levels of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of plastics in the 20th century revolutionized modern life but inadvertently exacerbated the marine litter crisis. The proliferation of wastes such as single-use plastics has escalated pollution along the coastline, demanding coordinated, decisive, and unified action. While the absence of specific national marine litter policies is concerning, there is growing recognition of urgency to address this issue. A group of experts and stakeholders was involved through a multi-staged workshop to assess the generated information based on scientific evidence and formulate a framework for the National Marine Litter Policy (NMLP). This paper proposes policy options (4 targets & 20 strategies) to address marine litter pollution, especially plastics, and aims to elucidate the urgency and significance of implementing an NMLP as a comprehensive strategy to combat plastics pollution. Implementing dedicated policies and action plans tailored to the unique challenges faced by each country is a vital step towards sustainable oceans. [Display omitted] • This paper explores and evaluates policy options for tackling marine litter pollution. • The proposed NMLP framework features 4 key targets and 20 strategic initiatives. • Science-Policy-based tailored solutions designed for the Indian context • Source and sector-specific measures are the focal points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Builds an analysis of 'political crops' under contemporary capitalism. • Explains the political ecology of cotton and paddy in the Indian Punjab. • Focuses on labour relations and market structure of the two crops. • Analyzes the nature of change in agrarian capitalism in the Indian Punjab. Unlike the rest of the state of Punjab in India, cotton remained the dominant monsoon crop in the southwest region till the 1990s. As it has been increasingly replaced by paddy in recent decades, this paper asks what this shift in cropping pattern reflects about the state's agrarian capitalism. Towards an analysis of this question, it builds on James Scott's idea of 'political crops' in the earliest states and places it in conversation with scholarship in critical agrarian studies, political ecology and commodity studies to account for relations of power under contemporary capitalism. Drawing on intensive primary research in the region, the paper contrasts the power relations generated by the production and circulation of the two crops. It shows that larger farmers are more likely to cultivate paddy due to better access to irrigation, and that the shift to paddy is threatening to make redundant the labour of landless Dalit women, who do cotton-picking, and increasing dependence on migrant male labour for paddy-transplanting. It also demonstrates how the different end uses of the two crops and the predominance of the private sector in the cotton markets versus the hitherto state-led nature of the paddy markets produce differential risks for farmers and traders. The paper concludes by suggesting that the shift from cotton to paddy represents capital intensification in response to Punjab's mature capitalist conditions in agriculture but also results in new contradictions and axes of political struggle. [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 main purpose of this paper is to introduce what affects the firm to diversify. This paper is based on an empirical analysis of a sample of 453 manufacturing companies in India. Jacquemin-Berry Entropy-Index measure has been used to measure diversification; whereas to determine the factors affecting diversification strategy, Panel Tobit Regression Analysis has been applied. The research findings indicate that firm-specific antecedents influence the decision to diversify. Corporate managers should follow a prudent behaviour while adopting strategic planning for the growth of the company. Managers should have to conduct proper statistical analyses to find out a firm's optimal level of corporate diversification for maximising the firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Pollution governance in India. • Caste. • Disasters. • Kerala. This paper draws on fieldwork conducted in the agriultural village of Kathikudam in the South Indian state of Kerala. The paper looks at the ways in which the production of knowledge of contemporary pollution governance in India is configured through the reproduction of marginalization through the devluation of knowledge held by racialized and caste/d subsistence women farmers in Kathikudam. This paper also illuminates how this production of knowledge and the attendant marginality it produces creates a sedimented form of disaster in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First longitudinal study of a FinTech ecosystem on a global, national and city level. • Network visualization of foreign and domestic investments in FinTech. • Documenting Bangalore's emergence as India's FinTech capital and the rise of New Delhi. • Demonstrating how Mumbai and Bangalore structure India's financial geography as complementary ecosystems. • Conceptualizing FinTech in India as a "Tech-Fin-State" ecosystem. This paper explores the potential of FinTech to change the geography of finance and financial centres through a longitudinal and multiscalar analysis of FinTech in India. Using a financial ecology approach, we combine quantitative data on firm creation and funding with insights from corporate interviews to unpack and examine the key elements of the Indian FinTech ecosystem. At the national scale, our results highlight how the export-oriented ICT sector, the implantation of large-scale, open digital infrastructures and enabling regulatory frameworks have enabled and shaped the growth of FinTech as a state-supported, tech-driven "Tech-Fin-State" ecosystem. At a city scale, the paper demonstrates how FinTech transforms India's financial geography in two directions. First, locational patterns and investment networks have established New Delhi and Bangalore as international FinTech hubs, ahead of Mumbai. Second, the re-intermediation of finance by FinTech firms should be understood as the connection between the two distinct yet complementary ecosystems of Bangalore, India's FinTech capital, and Mumbai, the incumbent financial capital, while advancing regional integration beyond India. [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]

This paper examines the effectiveness of the monetary policies undertaken by the central bank on economic growth during COVID-19 uncertainty in case of India and Indonesia. We use an innovative framework of Growth-at-Risk as oppose to standard macroeconomic models, which can predict the growth in a much robust way particularly when an economy is facing shocks like COVID-19. The empirical results based on Growth-at-Risk model clearly reveal that effect of COVID-19 pandemic on economic growth is much adverse in comparison to actual declines. Further, this study shows the effectiveness of monetary and financial policies undertaken by the central banks of both India and Indonesia, which have actually subsided the adverse impact of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the proliferation of smart city initiatives in the Global South, their implementation and governance mechanisms remain understudied. Using the Indian case as focus, this paper analyses the governance structures, mechanisms, and processes utilised to create smart cities as part of the Smart Cities Mission, introduced by the Government of India in 2015. The paper offers extensive empirical analysis in the three cities of Bhubaneswar, Pune and Chennai that are among the first 20 smart cities prioritised for implementation. We first analyse how the governance framework provided by the Smart Cities Mission in India unfolds at three spatial scales – national, state and local – with the intersection of the scales differing in the three cities. Second, our analysis of the new form of governance involving public–private actors shows the conflict of responsibilities on a local scale. In conclusion, we highlight the absence of collaborative governance and reduced capacity in local governments – as significant challenges for smart city development in India. [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]

This paper examines the key socioeconomic and cultural-demographic factors that determine rural women's labour contributions in agriculture in India, both on family farms (either as cultivators or as family labour) and as agricultural wage labourer. Based on the analysis of primary data derived from a survey of 800 households from the two Indian states of Gujarat and West Bengal, it establishes that women's work in the farm sector cannot be homogenized. Women's work as additional hands in family farms differs from that as wage labourers which is casual in nature; their work also differs across different regions. In the commercialized, relatively more developed state of Gujarat, women's labour contributions are significantly different from West Bengal's less commercialized agrarian economy. The paper concludes that feminization of agriculture in India is distress-led where it has both class (defined with income in Gujarat) and caste (social groups) connotations in Gujarat, while mainly economic factors influence women's work in the farm sector in West Bengal. • Feminization of agriculture in India is distress-led. • Feminization of agriculture varies depending upon the nature of cropping, family income and other social factors. • In areas of relatively low incomes, increase in cash incomes does not reduce women's work on family farms or as wage labour. • Male migration is an important factor that determines women's role on farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the global South, agricultural cooperatives are increasingly promoted as part of participatory rural development strategies and means for the enhancement of women's economic and social empowerment. But in cooperative decision making and the acquisition of leadership positions women are often marginalized. It has been argued that women-only groups may help to counter this problem. They may increase women's active participation and, thereby, increase the benefits of cooperative membership. This paper reviews relevant literature and studies the effect of gender homogeneity on women's active participation. We apply a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to a sample of ten Indian village-level dairy cooperatives. The results from our comparative case study confirm that gender homogeneity is not a sufficient means to ensure active participation. It is only in combination with other factors, that women-only groups can enhance women's participation. Our paper identifies and discusses combinations of such factors and draws conclusions for development programs and further research. • Qualitative Comparative Analysis to study women's active participation. • Women face structural barriers in cooperative formation and management. • Gender homogeneity contributes to women's active participation. • Caste homogeneity or the absence of elite control facilitate active participation in women-only cooperatives. [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]

Since the 2000 s the demand for sand has proliferated at the coastal-land interface to fill up the increasing demand straining Blue Economy (BE) activities and provision of water-energy-food resources. Recent studies have revealed that increased sand mining in both coastal and freshwater zones has continued to impact livelihood-ecological systems threatening the provision of livelihood goods and services. These impacts are exacerbated by a lack of comprehensive frameworks to regulate sand mining and trade; creating the need to develop micro and macro-frameworks and guidelines for sustainable sand mining. This paper uses a non-systematic literature review approach to build on this gap to develop an understanding of the resource nexus perspectives and trade-offs due to sand mining. The paper proposes a novel framework based on the Ecosystem Service Assessment advanced from the review of the literature to guide risk assessments toward more sustainable sand mining. In order to add evidence, the paper analyses in-depth the state of Kerala - one of India's coastal states that has experienced unprecedented rates of sand mining since the 1990 s especially along the Chavara coast albeit with less research on the intersectionality of mining on the resource nexus. Both the framework and our case study highlight how sand mining stresses local ecosystems and livelihoods thus increasing vulnerability to both human and environmental impacts. The paper brings to the fore seven (7) key steps that local institutions can use to guide sustainable sand mining and build integrated governance systems that promote interaction among natural capitals in a given area and livelihood considerations. The article further documents that the use of coherent guidelines and the framework can help in amalgamating the various actors in a given system that can guide local participation in local resource management and the development of cooperative agreements for the sustainable utilization of resources among coastal communities. This could further help understand the resource nexus from the perspective of the synergies and trade-offs in the BE. • The Blue Economy and Resource Nexus offer new pathways for sustainable livelihoods. • But, the proliferation of sand mining is increasing trade-offs thus livelihood and ecosystem vulnerability. • A lack of a comprehensive sand mining governance framework increases such vulnerability. • The developed novel framework based on Ecosystem Service Assessment can help reverse these externalities and trade-offs. • Our framework integrated new insights on sand mining governance that could be leveraged at all levels [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Racial and extractive capitalism intersect with devastating effects in India. • Exploitation occurs via the extraction of land and labour under discriminatory laws. • Racial and extractive capitalism are distinctly gendered. • The idea of racial capitalism correlates with caste and tribal oppression. • Extractive and racial capitalism are enabled through humiliation and disgust. • Adivasi and Dalit resistance to humiliation and extractivism provide hope. While the Government of India has made numerous statements about its 'green' credentials, extractive capitalism continues at an escalating pace across the country under increasingly brutal authoritarianism. This paper provides a case study of extractive capitalism in Adivasi and Dalit communities in Birbhum, West Bengal, in an area dominated by stone crusher industries. Through this example, this article argues that extractive capitalism combines with racial capitalism, resulting in devastating consequences in modern India. These effects can be seen in the concurrent violence enacted against Adivasi and Dalit land and labour under a law which is discriminatory and disciplinary. Drawing on Dalit feminist literature and the work of scholars on caste and racial capitalism, this paper illustrates that exploitation can only occur through mainstream disgust for Adivasis and Dalits – attempting to extract not only from their land, but from their bodies also. Yet these findings show that Adivasis and Dalits also clearly demonstrate resistance to psychological subjugation. This paper thus provides unique insights into the way that racial and extractive capitalism intersect in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power constitutes one of the largest forms of renewable energy in India. Many operational models have predicted wind energy in India, but most rely on satellite reanalysis data. In contrast, this paper examines historical generation data at an unprecedented granularity to understand its potential and variance. We find actual wind capacity factor (CF) during the Indian Summer Monsoon to be less than half that predicted in NREL's recent landmark production cost modeling study. Further, we find that the yearly moving average of aggregated CF exhibits a +0.640 correlation with the ENSO SOI, a widely-used climatological parameter. At the feeder level, we confirm an expected exponential relationship between average CF and turbine hub height. However, this effect is 261% more pronounced during the monsoon, a finding with troublesome implications for grid planning. We also test the assumption that higher wind turbines perform proportionately better outside of the monsoon and find no evidence to support it. Finally, we present a new method to measure the geographic smoothing effect that reduces inherent variability by 18% when compared to normalized standard deviation. We find limits to the effect of decreasing variability through geographic diversity; the effect mostly disappears at about 125 km. • Historical wind energy capacity factor is half that predicted by recent models. • Wind energy in Karnataka exhibits strong correlation with El Nino cycles. • Higher hub height leads to higher capacity factor, disproportionately during the monsoon. • New method improves method of measuring geographic smoothing effect. • Geographic smoothing in Karnataka disappears at about 125 km. [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]

• Debt as a material transaction, a power relation and a lived experienced. • Debt bondage results from chronic debt, not employment scarcity. • Market debt and interpersonal debts may feed each other rather than substitute. • Debt as exploitation but also protection and emancipation. • Market debts may promote emancipation when they are articulated and subordinated to other forms of interdependence, which ensure the protection and recognition of debtors, and some form of equality. This paper proposes the concept of the 'socio-economy of debt' to explore the ambivalence of debt, its multiple facets and its capacity to exploit, protect or emancipate. This socio-economy of debt conceives of debt as a material transaction (defined in terms of prices, modalities of repayment, and collaterals), as well as a power relationship (inseparable from an overall set of interdependencies, protection and social differentiation) and as a social and moral experience (imbued with subjectivities, felt-obligations and also aspirations). This framework sheds a new light on the issue of "debt bondage", applied to seasonal migrants from South-India. These workers are tied to their employer through a wage advance while enjoying widened access to market debts. Paradoxically, such widened choice has reinforced their dependence on their employers and other forms of interpersonal debt. These various forms of debt, both market and interpersonal, bring about various forms of exploitation, and the dispossession of time and bodies. But these debts equally allow those workers to break with the past and imagine a new future, partially liberated not from caste hierarchies but from their local forms of expression. They offer a source of hope, confidence and courage to act. It also allows some debtors to make investments and improve their lives. Within this analytical framework, it is not the market or non-market-based quality of a debt that explain its emancipatory or alienating potential, as long argued by economic anthropology, but how a particular debt bond is articulated with other forms of interdependence and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stone tools in association with Pleistocene elephant remains were recovered from Pampore, Kashmir, India, in 2000 from channel deposits in the Pampore Member of the Upper Karewa Group of sediments, which are interpreted as Middle Pleistocene in age. In March 2019 the elephant remains were re-examined to establish taxonomy, cause of death and evidence of human intervention, alongside study of the stone tools and age of the site. This paper reports the results of this work. Most of the elephant remains, including skull and tusks, are from a large adult, but at least two other elephants are also represented. Taxonomic analysis shows that the adult belongs to the genus Palaeoloxodon , but with a mix of features not seen in typical Palaeoloxodon skulls from the Indian Subcontinent. Pathology of the skull indicates severe sinusitis, which may have contributed to the death. No cut-marks from butchery were found on the elephant bones, although three elephant bone flakes were identified, linking human intervention with elephants at the site. The small lithic assemblage is in fresh condition with some refitting artefacts, both suggesting minimal post-depositional movement. Most of the artefacts consist of flakes, flake tools and cores, but with several points and blades suggestive of an early Mode 3 prepared core technology. This might indicate a late Middle Pleistocene age for the site. Further dating evidence using amino acid racemisation on elephant tooth enamel is ongoing, but consistent with this age. The association of stone tools with humanly-modified elephant remains is rare, while prepared core technology is currently scarce further north or east in Asia in the late Middle Pleistocene. The significance of the discovery is discussed in the wider context of Middle Pleistocene elephant-human interaction. • The Pampore elephant, Kashmir, India, from the Pampore Member of the Upper Karewa Group, dates to the Middle Pleistocene. • New investigations by an Indo-British team in 2019 attribute the elephant to Palaeoloxodon. • It is the only Middle Pleistocene elephant site from India to be found in association with an in situ lithic assemblage. • The lithic assemblage is probably attributable to a Mode 3 industry, which suggests a late Middle Pleistocene age. • Elephant bone breakage and flaking shows exploitation of the bones by humans, but no evidence of hunting or butchery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution control has emerged as one of the key concerns of recent times and business firms are one of the significant stakeholders in deteriorating the quality of the natural environment. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the factors affecting the adoption of air pollution control measures across firms and contribute to the existing knowledge on pollution control among firms in the context of an emerging market. The analysis shows a significant association between enterprise characteristics and the adoption of air pollution control measures and about 44.3 percent firms have reported the adoption of air pollution control measures. Further, the marginal effect analysis indicates that firms older in age, larger in size and having shareholders' equity are more likely to adopt air pollution control measures. Similarly, firms practising lean operations, investing in research & development, availing bank credit, having quality certification and having better capacity utilisation are more likely to adopt air pollution control measures. Finally, firms perceiving obstacles related to business licensing & permits, tax administration, political instability, and business closure due to COVID-19 outbreak are more likely to adopt air pollution control measures. Our study provides useful implications for managers, policymakers and researchers for encouraging air pollution control technologies across business firms. The study also motivates undertaking future research on pollution control measures across various sectors of the economy. [Display omitted] • Air pollution control is becoming a critical agenda across the globe. • About 44.3 percent Indian firms reported the adoption of air pollution control measures. • Firms' characteristics are significantly associated with adopting air pollution control measures. • Business operations, regulatory mechanisms and obstacles influence the adoption of air pollution control measures. • These insights help develop strategies for reducing air pollution by involving managers, policymakers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education policy in India has long included a focus on the need to address teacher absence from lessons. Using multilevel regression analysis of secondary data from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, this paper quantifies the impact of teacher absence, finding that the most marginalised students are more likely to be affected. Yet analysis also indicates the importance of understanding teacher absence in context, with absence rates highest among those with the most power and influence and those with the least. These findings suggest that efforts to tackle teacher absence must begin at systemic levels, rather than the level of the individual teacher. • Teacher absence is contextual and relates to structures of power and influence. • Teacher absence is strongly associated with learning outcomes and progress. • Patterns of teacher absence reinforce existing educational inequalities. • Understanding teacher absence requires considering systemic processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Nightlights proxying the urban continuum are linked with improved diet diversity for both genders. • Women's nutritional empowerment is significant for women's diet diversity. • The empowerment – diets pathway is stronger for households at lower income levels. • Urbanization is significant for diet diversity at higher income levels for both genders. • Heterogeneity in level of urbanization & empowerment should inform policy responses. Women's empowerment has been associated with improved nutritional outcomes in various settings. However, the gains from empowerment do not necessarily accrue to different members of the same household in the same manner. Furthermore, the relationship between empowerment and nutrition itself is likely to be shaped by the overall level of development in a given region. This paper investigates the heterogeneity in the association between women's empowerment in nutrition index (WENI) and quality of intra-household diets between men and women when spatial variations in the levels of urbanization are accounted for, in India. We use intrahousehold dietary intake data for 60,000 men and women from the fourth round of India's National Family Health Survey and conceptualize women's empowerment using the women's empowerment in nutrition index (WENI). We use geospatial data on nightlights as a proxy for the urban continuum. Nightlights intensity (NTL) captures the growth of smaller towns (between large urban cities and rural areas) that has characterized urbanization in India. A multilevel modeling approach indicates that a unit increase in WENI scores is associated with an improvement in women's diet diversity scores by 0.19 units, with no significant association for men's diet diversity. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this finding holds at all NTL terciles. Alongside the role of WENI, we find that a doubling of NTL is associated with an increase in diet diversity scores by atleast 7–8% for both men and women, across wealth quintiles. These results emphasize the need for targeted approaches based on spatial heterogeneity in growth and development within a country when investing in the empowerment-nutrition pathway. [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]

• Evolution of innovative agricultural credit policies to solve the problem of farmer indebtedness continue to be shaped by a consistent narrative of eliminating informal lending. • Informal lending is a barrier to capitalist accumulation. • State policy to eliminate informality perpetuates a class struggle over farmer surplus. Debt is fundamental to agrarian life across the world. In India, over half of agricultural households are indebted and borrow from myriad credit sources. Formal institutional credit (e.g., bank loans) has historically, and up to the present day, been proposed as a tool for rural development and to eliminate exploitative informal moneylenders. This is true in India, where despite decades of state policies to displace informal lending using formal credit, informal lending persists and increasing debt is an ever-present symptom of the agrarian crisis. Informal lending made up 30% of farmers' credit sources in 2019; for farmers who owned less than 0.01 ha of land, this was 71.8%. In this paper we provide an historical examination of the numerous state responses to the proliferation of agrarian debt, surveying lending policy as a state development tool in India. We analyze how moneylending has been treated in different historical periods and the increasing participation of the state (from colonial to present times) in agrarian debt and use a Narrative Policy Analysis to synthesize the underlying "narratives" that characterize evolving policy forms. In the process, we reveal not only a consistent narrative assuming the displacement of informal credit with formal credit, one contradicted by the situation on the ground: an absolute increasing trend in borrowing, and a crucial propagation of the number and variety of credit sources. This we observe to be precisely a result of the largely fruitless state effort to formalize credit and to eliminate informal lending. This persistent discourse that posits formality as a solution to informality, we further conclude, is not only a cultural project of the colonial, post-colonial, and modernization state, but one essential for the circulation and accumulation of capital, enhancing its urgency. The failed effort to eliminate informal lending has resulted, furthermore, in a decline in farmer autonomy and the creation of a state-underwritten struggle − between multiple actors in the credit sector − over the redistribution of agrarian surplus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's power sector is transforming rapidly, marked by rising demand and a growing share of renewables. The short-term power market provides option for power distribution utilities to meet demand exigency. The paper presents trends and perspectives of short-term electricity trading of select states of India. Market transactions reflect seasonal demand variations, higher during summer-monsoon months, dipping in winters. Analysis of data highlights substantial share of short-term power in the total procurement. Quantum of power traded correlates inversely with operational performance of thermal plants as well as grid share of renewable energy. Suggested policy measures include honing of demand forecasting skills using advanced metering infrastructure, deploying energy storage technologies, including decentralized solar, ensuring sustained supply of coal and preventive maintenance of thermal power plants, initiating seasonal procurement contracts with merchant power plants, encouraging power banking arrangements and including storage component in solar and wind tenders. Power markets, if employed appropriately, can help minimize the demand-supply gap, facilitate energy access, and accommodate higher quantum of green power, thus fulfilling SDG-7 targets. • Strong role of climate in influencing power demand. • Distinct patterns of short-term power trading across Indian states. • Market inversely correlates with thermal PLF and RE penetration. • Need to enhanced forecasting skills. • Tenders clauses can include seasonal procurement and storage. [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]

• A critical reading of the archive gives voice to more-than-human actors within history. • Water worlds emerge through hydraulico-political configurations. • Water management policies have the power to bring water realities into being. • Colonizing the rains speaks to the ways some water worlds are made real and other less real. • A decolonial technopolitics engages with water beyond its liquid form. Preoccupations for the widening gap between irrigated and rainfed areas are central to debates addressing the agrarian crisis in semi-arid India. Yet policies are driven by a catch-up mentality that points towards an irrigated model of agriculture, demarcating rainfed areas as spaces of rural marginality. To unpack the historical causes behind this 'irrigation at all costs' mindset, the paper traces how the rainfed/irrigated gap became constituted through policies of drought-protection during British colonial time. Focussing on the Bombay Deccan after the establishment of the British Raj, it frames drought-protection as a more-than-human technopolitics to explore the performative power of technopolitical practices to bring water worlds into being. Through a critical reading of the colonial archive, we trace the ontological work of drought-protection as a practice that rearranged existing human-water relations to materialize a reality of water 'as irrigation'. Grounded on linear and predictable flows, this irrigated ontology divided the landscape along an irrigated-as-protected and rainfed-as-unprotected logic. Encountering a world that followed geographies of water 'as precipitation' however created sites of contestation blurring the partition envisioned by engineering plans. Rather than the imposition of hydrological power from above, colonizing the rains represents a contested project whereby certain water worlds became present and real while others discarded and less real. Contributing to scholarship shaking the ontological ground underneath water management regimes, we suggest a reflexive turn for these practices, as they must confront their power to materialize (water) realities and the possibility to enact a decolonial technopolitics beyond water's liquid form. [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]

• 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]