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This paper proposes to observe a day's break as the Planet Day (While the proposed day can also be named as the Gaia Day (after James Lovelock), Planet Day seems to be simpler and easier name for better understanding by the masses and greater connect of the issues with them. Hence, here the proposed day is termed as the Planet Day) every month to allow the nature to heal and ensure sustainability of the planet in the long run. Based on the concept of sustainable degrowth, the paper carries out benefit-cost analysis of the proposed Planet Day and presents a framework based on extensive literature review, secondary data analysis and stakeholders' (Here, participants are referred to as one of the "stakeholders" in the sense that every human being who lives on this planet is accountable for the harm done to it and is impacted by ecological degradation. Hence, they are supposed to contribute to healing of the nature through appropriate initiatives both individually and collectively. In addition to the common residents, there are other stakeholders of the ecology as well such as the government, the business enterprises, and manufacturing firms, etc.) perceptions through a non-random convenience sample survey. The paper finds that the net benefit from the Planet Day amounts to be USD 9002.37 billion across the world and USD 102.48 billion for India per annum. The respondents also perceive the proposed Planet Day as ecologically and economically beneficial and thus support the idea of healing time for the planet. However, a critical challenge is to take different stakeholders on board, ensure their active participation, and design appropriate institutional mechanisms for its successful implementation.

This research examines the implications of rainwater harvesting structure hapa in the Bankura district of West Bengal, India. The paper finds that proper management and harvesting of surface and subsurface runoffs in hapas can facilitate groundwater recharge and increase both net irrigated area and moisture in soil leading to higher cropping intensity and yield in dryland areas. However, dissected plateau and residual hillocks can reduce irrigation efficiency of hapas. Although sprinkler or drip irrigation along with cultivation of drought and lateritic resilient, low moisture crop can help in coping up with geophysical and climatic vulnerability, appropriate crop diversification is also necessary. There is also a need for regular maintenance and desiltation of hapas. The water user groups should play an active role for this, especially for hapas in common land. Further, scientific guidance is necessary for designing appropriate structure of hapas in different geo-physical conditions.

Given that urbanization is considered as one of the most significant anthropogenic alterations of the environmental framework, the present study attempts to understand spatiotemporal characteristics of urban growth and its implications for the hydro-meteorological parameters in the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) of the Indian state of West Bengal. The empirical approach of the paper is based on land use/land cover (LULC) changes and normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) computed using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Spatiotemporal satellite images and conventional data are used to characterize the urban growth process, whereas K-Means based unsupervised classification technique is used for LULC changes. Inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation method is applied for the spatial distribution of rainfall, temperature and groundwater level analysis. In order to examine whether hydro-meteorological (e.g., rainfall, temperature) parameters have any relationship with hydrological components (e.g., groundwater level) the Kendalls Tau test was performed. It is found that the maximum urban built-up area has increased during the last two decades with fluctuations in depth to groundwater level in northern, north-western and south-western side of the city. Notably, built-up expansions have taken place from the north-eastern to the south-eastern part. There are evidences of urban sprawl or shrinkage indicating expansion of built-up area and thus causing environmental degradation in the city area. While the methodology used in the paper has the potential for understanding the urbanization process, the findings have important implications for designing necessary policies and regulations. Keywords: Urbanization, LULC change, Groundwater, Kendalls Tau, Geographically Weighted Regression, Remote Sensing, GIS

Efficient use of limited landholding in farming is the key to poverty reduction and inclusive growth in the agrarian economies like India that have a large number of land-constrained farmers. It is generally suggested that cultivation of horticultural crops in dry season can increase cropping intensity and help in better use of land leading to greater livelihood opportunities and higher farm income. However, limited scale of farming, market imperfections, lack of social and human capitals and failures of policies and institutions pose several constraints to optimum use of land and hence intensification in agriculture. This paper explores if collective farming and participation in value chains can potentially enhance scale of farming by the land-constrained farmers and strengthen their market linkages. The paper is based on experiences and insights gathered through repeated engagements and focus group discussions with land-constrained farmers and other stakeholders from two selected villages under the project Promoting Socially Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in West Bengal and Bangladesh (SIAGI) and their nearby markets of West Bengal, India. It is found that collectivization and development of diversified value chains along with off-farm activities can strengthen market linkages of land-constrained farmers. Apart from distance, market assurance and market acceptance also influence choice of markets by the land-constrained farmers. Further, given the limited scope and associated risks of collective marketing, particularly in the absence of enough aggregation opportunities, diversified crop baskets aligned with market demand appear to be more beneficial. However, the choice between crop diversification and cluster development still remains a critical issue and, therefore, requires further scrutiny.

Given persistent malnutrition, especially among children and women, promoting nutrition-sensitive farming practices among smallholder farmers is often suggested as a potential pathway. However, an important question is, do the smallholder farmers in developing countries like India consider nutritional value of crops while making their cropping decisions? This paper analyzes behaviour of such households’ towards nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) in West Bengal, India. Based on both primary and secondary data, it is found that households’ awareness about NSA depends on their landholding size. The land rich farmers are better aware about the nutritional values of crops, whereas decisions for self-consumption of nutritious vegetables by female members positively influence the awareness level. Besides, land-constrained farmers prefer to sell their produce for cash income rather than self-consumption. This can potentially undermine their nutritional status, particularly when large part of income is spent on non-food items. The findings provide important directions for intervention strategies to promote NSA through land-constrained farmers.

In India, there is a long history of protest against land acquisition, which has halted a number of development interventions. The issue has been particularly serious in the state of Odisha, which is mineral-rich but backward, economically. While ongoing debates focus mainly on the price of the land and compensation for, and resettlement of, those uprooted by the proposed changes, the present paper focuses on the potential adverse ecological consequences of mining. Through analysis of primary and secondary data, the study finds that there are more negative impacts on the environment and ecology in mining districts than in the non-mining districts of Odisha. However, potential adverse ecological consequences are a dominant cause of protests against land acquisition for mining in the state.

Several studies have explored the determinants of firms' innovative efforts, but a consensus on the conceptual underpinnings and empirical manifestations of these determinants is yet to emerge. This paper attempts to understand the role of several factors in determining inter-industry variations in research and development (R&D) efforts in Indian manufacturing sector. Using Arellano–Bond dynamic panel estimation technique and a panel data set of 34 manufacturing industries over the period from 2001–2002 to 2008–2009, the paper finds that firms in industries with greater R&D efforts in the past, larger participation of the multinational corporations (MNCs), higher capital intensity, and greater penetration in the international market through exports spend more on R&D. On the other hand, R&D efforts are less in industries with larger incidence of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and greater competition from imports. The degree of sellers' concentration in a market, size of the market, product differentiation,...

This article examines the varied impacts of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) as a development delivery institution for the tribal communities vis-a-vis other social groups across the Indian States, using the framework of new institutional economics. A number of State-specific, socio-economic institutional factors seem to be responsible for these variations. The article therefore suggests institutional reforms and convergence of the development initiatives of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with the NREGS in order to realise the optimal potential of the scheme, and, in particular, to ensure greater livelihood opportunities for these marginalised groups and their entitlement to productive resources with greater socio-economic and political empowerment.