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Introduction: Existing evidence suggests a lower uptake of cervical cancer screening among Indian women. Coverage is lower in rural than urban women, but such disparities are less explored. So, the present study was conducted to explore the self-reported coverage of cervical cancer screening in urban and rural areas stratified by socio-demographic characteristics, determine the spatial patterns and identify any regional variations, ascertain the factors contributing to urban-rural disparities and those influencing the likelihood of screening among women aged 30–49 years factors residing in urban, rural, and overall Indian settings. Methods: We did a secondary analysis of the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey in India (2019-21) data with a sample size of 3,48,882 women. The coverage of cervical cancer screening was estimated using sampling weights. Urban-rural differences were compared using the chi-square test. Spatial patterns were analysed using aggregated district-level data, and the contribution of different independent variables to the urban-rural disparities was estimated using multivariate decomposition analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was conducted using STATA 17 to obtain the significant factors of reported screening in urban and rural areas. Results: The nationwide coverage of cervical cancer screening was 2.0% (95% CI: 1.9-2.0). The urban (2.4%; 2.3–2.5) participants had higher screening coverage than their rural (1.8%; 1.7–1.8) counterparts. Moran's I statistic confirmed the presence of spatial dependence and geographical gradient. Decomposition analysis depicted small urban-rural differences in the screening coverage of 0.60% (0.4–0.8). Endowment and coefficient contributed to 88.15% and 11.85% of the disparities. Compositional changes were contributed majorly by regional differences, low education, scheduled tribes, and having living children > 2. Higher odds of having screening were associated with older age (AOR 1.45, 95% CI: 1.03–1.28), higher education (1.32; 1.13–1.55), higher age of first intercourse (1.60; 1.43–1.79), married (1.25; 1.08–1.45) and diabetic (1.39; 1.17–1.65) women, and those from South India (6.76; 5.90–7.75). The odds were lower among Muslims, scheduled tribes and participants using hormonal contraceptives. Conclusion: There are significant urban-rural disparities in cervical cancer screening uptake that can be attributed to regional variation, educational inequalities, tribal groups, socio-economic inequalities and parity, necessitating the need to comprehensively design tailor-made advocacy initiatives and simultaneously address the broader determinants of health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: People with disabilities (PWDs) often face higher risk of financial burden towards healthcare. Higher out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) is a barrier towards accessing medical services, resulting in healthcare inequities between men and women. There is a lack of studies on gender disparities in healthcare burden among PWD in India. The present study examines gender inequality towards healthcare expenditure among PWDs in India. Methods: Unit level data from the Persons with Disabilities in India Survey under the National Sample Survey, 76th round that covered 118,152 households involving 576,569 individuals of whom 106,894 had at least one disability was used. We performed secondary analysis using descriptive statistics, bivariate estimates, Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition and multilevel log-linear regression to meet the objective of the study. Results: OOPE as a percent of monthly per capita expenditure was higher among males across all states of India except in Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep and Mizoram. This varied from 0.6% in Jammu and Kashmir to 20% in Nagaland. Multilevel analysis confirms that OOPE was significantly lesser among females (β = –0.070, 95% confidence interval = – 0.129 to 0.01) compared to males after controlling demographic and disability-related predictors. PWDs reported higher healthcare burden as a percent of total household expenditure in India, and relatively less amount was spent on female healthcare compared to male healthcare. Conclusion: A substantial gender inequality for healthcare expenditure is found among PWDs in India. This makes for an urgent call to health researchers and policymakers towards gender-sensitive research, policy formulation and program implementation for PWDs in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: According to the 4th and 5th rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS), there is high prevalence of hysterectomies in the three states of Andhra Pradesh Telangana and Bihar. The three said states have more than double the number of hysterectomies taking place than the national average. Our purpose is to analyse whether these rates are increasing, decreasing or have stabilized and their reasons thereof. Such an analyses will help the policy makers in recommending good clinical practices within their states. Material and methods: We used data from NFHS-4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-2021) rounds. We calculated the differences in predicted probabilities for various factors, performed a Fairlie Decomposition analyses to quantify the positive and negative contributors in the prevalence of hysterectomy across the three states over two time points, and assessed the association of various socio-demographic characteristics to hysterectomy through a multilevel logistic regression model. Results and conclusion: The results show that out of a total of 80,976 eligible respondents from the states under study, 5826 respondents self-reported that they had a hysterectomy done. It was found that older age, living in rural areas, belonging to other backward classes and higher wealth quintile, and higher parity positively contributed to the increased prevalence of hysterectomies in the three states. Higher educational attainment and previous use of family planning methods acted as protective factors. Characteristics at the household level had the highest intra-class correlation value in the prevalence of hysterectomy among women, followed by the Primary Sampling Unit and District levels, indicating high clustering in the prevalence of hysterectomy at the household level in all three states. Heavy menstrual bleeding/pain was the leading cause of hysterectomies in all three states, followed by fibroids/cysts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Uterine disorder/ prolapse in Bihar. Over 80% of hysterectomies took place in the private hospitals. Recommendations: The study recommends better, more efficient and accountable hysterectomy surveillance to ensure more sustainable woman's reproductive health services in India. Government should adopt and implement standard regulatory guidelines to prevent provider-driven avoidable hysterectomies. Moreover, we recommend informing primary care professionals about the long-term health effects of hysterectomy and promoting alternate therapies for treating uterine fibroids and heavy bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is the third-largest tobacco manufacturer and its use in India is characterised by a high prevalence of smoking and smokeless (sl) tobacco use. This results in 1 million deaths per year in the country. Given the high burden of tobacco use, this study examines the regional variations and socio-economic correlates of tobacco use in India. National Family Health Survey- 5 (2019–2020) have been analysed for the purpose of the study. A sample of 101,839 males aged 15–54 years was included in this study. Primary outcomes of tobacco use were categorised into smoking, smokeless and dual use of smoking and smokeless tobacco use. Bivariate analysis and decomposition analysis was done to study the socio-economic inequality. The prevalence of tobacco use among males in India is around 41 percent. As indicated by the results of the logistics regression, age is positively related to smoking among males. Males aged 45–54 years are 2.5 (95 % concentration index [CI]:2.30–2.63) times probable to smoke, 1.4 (95% CI: 1.30–1.47) times probable of smokeless tobacco consumption and 2.2 (95% CI: 2.10–2.35) times more prone to using both types of substances compared to the younger age group. Males who are widower use smokeless 1.69 times (95% CI: 1.44–1.99) higher with reference to unmarried males. Males belonging to Scheduled tribes are 1.2 (95% CI: 1.13–1.25) times more likely to smoke, 1.3 (95% CI: 1.24–1.37) times more likely to use smokeless substances and 1.4 (95% CI: 1.33–1.47) times more likely to have dual use of tobacco than other social groups. Manual workers (both skilled are unskilled) are likely to smoke (odds ratio [OR] = 1.1, 95% CI: 1.02–1.11), use smokeless tobacco (OR = 1.3, 95% CI: 1.23–1.34) and have dual use of tobacco (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.24–1.34) more than that of other categories. The decomposition of the concentration index shows a significant contribution from factors like a no education, ST/SC caste and wealth index. Among the states and union territories, the prevalence of tobacco is high in West Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim. This study is useful for informing target-based prevention policies since it helps in highlighting regions, socio-economic and demographic groups especially vulnerable to tobacco addiction. In India, males from poorer and vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to use tobacco. State wise, the eastern zone starting from West Bengal to the North-Eastern states have higher tobacco use than the rest of the country. There is an urgent need to frame policies for controlling the use of tobacco especially among high-risk groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Owing to the reproductive health needs of the budding adolescent and young population, the present study aims to determine the factors associated with and decomposing the gap in contraceptive use among adolescents and young women in India. Design: Cross sectional design. SettingThe present study is based in India using the appended datasets (IV and V rounds) of the Indian Demographic Health Survey (DHS), also known as National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 2015-16 and 2019-21. Sample: The adequate sample size was 475,294 adolescents and young women in NFHS-4 and 229,705 in NFHS-5, totaling 704,999 adolescents (appended for NFHS-4 and 5) for the present study. Measures: Sociodemographic, sexual and reproductive history and contraceptive measures. Analysis: Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and a binary logistic regression model were executed. Additionally, a decomposition technique called Fairlie decomposition was employed to identify the primary causes of the difference in the prevalence of contraceptive use between the two survey periods. Results: Almost 96% of young women aged 15-24 knew about contraception, but only 12% used it. Regression analysis revealed that contraceptive use was associated with higher age (AOR 1.09), higher education (AOR 1.28), married adolescents (AOR 4.08), richest wealth quantile (AOR 2.95), joint decision making (AOR 4.40), knowledge of ovulatory cycle (AOR 1.47), interaction with a health worker about any methods of family planning (AOR 3.29) and three and above children ever born (AOR 18.54). Decomposition analysis showed that factors like decision-making of contraception, age, interaction with family planning worker, the intention of last pregnancy, place of residence and age at first sex contributed to increasing the probability of contraceptive use from NFHS-4 to 5. Conclusion: A target-based approach dedicated to understanding the mindset of adolescents and keeping up with their unique needs is the need of the hour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse the education and wage gaps between Hindus and Muslims over the period 1983 to 2011–2012 in India. We find that Muslims are worse off than Hindus in terms of education and this disadvantage has increased over time. Our analysis shows that the wage gap is more pronounced at the higher end of the wage distribution which we interpret as a glass ceiling effect. We find that the wage gap has increased over time and the increase is more pronounced at the upper quantiles. Our decomposition analysis shows that difference in education has a significant contribution to the Hindu-Muslim wage gap. We find that the Hindu-Muslim gaps are more pronounced in urban areas relative to rural areas. Comparing Muslims with different Hindu castes, we find that while the disadvantaged castes have improved their condition relative to Muslims over time, the condition of Muslims relative to the advantaged castes has worsened. Dividing the sample into younger (aged 16–35) and older (36–65) cohorts, we find that the Hindu-Muslim gap in education is more acute in the younger cohort while the Hindu-Muslim wage gap is more pronounced for the older cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is a major producer of pulses around the world, which constitute an essential component of vegetarians' proteinrich diets in India. The present study attempts to apply the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and Holt linear trend model approach to investigate lentil production trends in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and India. Yearly data were collected from Agriculture Statistics at a glance, 1970 to 2019 were used for forecasting up to 2029. In comparison, the ARIMA model is the best for prediction based on the maximum value of R2 and lowest value of MAPE, MPE, RMSE, and MAE. The results showed that ARIMA (1,1,5) model for Bihar, ARIMA(0,1,4) model for Madhya Pradesh, ARIMA (0,1,5) for Uttar Pradesh, ARIMA (0,1,4) for West Bengal, and ARIMA (0,1,2) for India was found suitable to forecast the future of lentil with an 80% and 95% accuracy level and according to the analysis of instability, the instability is increasing in all three states and India, but the instability was decreasing in Uttar Pradesh. While in the decomposition analysis the area effect was an essential factor for the change in lentil production in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and India, but in Uttar Pradesh the yield effect was responsible during the overall periods. Besides this research will be essential to determining the future gap between pulse production and demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study has made a thorough investigation into the spatial clustering, trend, and intensity of multidimensional poverty in India between 2005–2006 and 2021. Data has been obtained from the global multidimensional poverty report [developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and UNDP] and the national report of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for 2021 [prepared by NITI Aayog] for India based on the NFHS-3 and NFHS-4 datasets. The study shows that, despite significant interstate disparities, multidimensional poverty in India has decreased from 0.279 in 2005–2006 to 0.118 in 2021. States like Bihar, Jharkhand continue to experience extreme multidimensional poverty. The study demonstrates that even though the intensity of poverty has remained relatively constant, the poorer states are significantly more advanced in reducing poverty than the nation's wealthier states. This suggests a pattern of pro-poor poverty reduction. Besides the study explores indicator-wise deprivation of MPI among the states and it is witnessed that Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tripura, and Bihar have made splendid progress in reducing deprivation in different indicators (antenatal care, electricity, drinking water, assets) of multidimensional poverty, while the magnitude of deprivation is acute in several indicators like nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation, and housing in these states. Based on the analysis, the present study suggests that India should undertake target-based interventions in poverty-prone regions to reduce poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in developing countries. For India, the hidden burden of undiagnosed hypertension is a major concern. This study aims to assess and explain socio-economic inequalities among self-reported and undiagnosed hypertensives in India. Methods: The study utilized data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI), a nationally-representative survey of more than 72,000 older adults. The study used funnel plots, multivariable logistic regression, concentration indices, and decomposition analysis to explain the socio-economic gap in the prevalence of self-reported and undiagnosed hypertension between the richest and the poorest groups. Results: The prevalence of self-reported and undiagnosed hypertension was 27.4 and 17.8% respectively. Monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) quintile was positively associated with self-reported hypertension but negatively associated with undiagnosed hypertension. The concentration index for self-reported hypertension was 0.133 (p < 0.001), whereas it was − 0.047 (p < 0.001) for undiagnosed hypertension. Over 50% of the inequalities in self-reported hypertension were explained by the differences in the distribution of the characteristics whereas inequalities remained unexplained for undiagnosed hypertension. Obesity and diabetes were key contributors to pro-rich inequality. Conclusions: Results imply that self-reported measures underestimate the true prevalence of hypertension and disproportionately affect the poorer MPCE groups. The prevalence of self-reported HTN was higher in the richest group, whereas socio-economic inequality in undiagnosed hypertension was significantly concentrated in the poorest group. As majority of the inequalities remain unexplained in case of undiagnosed hypertension, broader health systems issues including barriers to access to health care may be contributing to inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the large and growing number of older (45+ years) people in India, inequitable access to healthcare in this population would slow global progress toward universal health coverage. We used a 2017-18 nationally representative sample of this population (n = 53,687) to estimate healthcare inequality and inequity by economic status. We used an extensive battery of indicators in nine health domains, plus age and sex, to adjust for need. We measured economic status by monthly per capita consumption expenditure and used a concentration index to measure inequalities in probabilities of any doctor visit and any hospitalisation within 12 months. We decomposed inequality with a regression method that allowed for economic and urban/rural heterogeneity in partial associations between healthcare and both need and non-need covariates. We used the associations achieved by the richest fifth of urban dwellers to predict a need-justified distribution of healthcare and compared the actual distribution with that benchmark to identify inequity. We found pro-rich inequalities in doctor visits and hospitalisations, which were driven by use of private healthcare. Adjustment for the greater need of poorer individuals revealed pro-rich inequity that exceeded inequality by about 65% and 39% for doctor visits and hospitalisations, respectively. These adjustments would have been substantially smaller, and inequity underestimated, without allowing for use-need heterogeneity, which accounted for 11% of the inequity in doctor visits and was 373% of inequity in hospitalisations. Targeting service coverage on poorer and rural groups, and increasing their access to private providers, would both reduce inequity and raise average coverage in the older population of India. • Doctor visits and hospitalisations of older Indians are pro-rich. • Pro-rich inequalities are driven by use of private healthcare. • Adjustment for need reveals even greater pro-rich inequity. • Inequity is underestimated if unequal healthcare response to need is ignored. • Targeting poorer older Indians would reduce inequity and raise average coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A considerable body of research on inequality in India has focused on consumption inequality. This article compares inequality in consumption expenditure and income, using two waves of the India Human Development Survey. We find that while income inequality increased marginally, expenditure inequality remained stable. The article also undertakes the decomposition of income inequality by sources and finds that wage and agricultural incomes contribute most to inequality in rural areas whereas wage and business incomes are the major contributors in urban areas. Wages and government transfers arse found to be inequality-decreasing sources of income, and agricultural income is found to be inequality-increasing. While government transfers benefit low-income households, there is potential for increasing their efficacy and for attaining a more egalitarian distribution of income by better targeting. Further, we examine how expenditure and income are associated with the ownership of household assets. Our findings suggest that low consumption is a better indicator of material well-being than low income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We assess the relative importance of factors contributing to poverty reduction in rural India, between 2004–2005 and 2011–2012, a period when India was one of the fastest growing economies of the world, at the national as well as sub‐national level. We quantify the relative importance of population shifts across land size classes in determining the pace of poverty reduction vis‐à‐vis the intra‐land size class growth in average consumption and redistribution components. While we do not find population shifts to be a statistically significant factor in explaining poverty reduction, we find that growth in intra land consumption is the dominant factor accounting for poverty reduction in each Indian state as well as at the national level. While the impact of redistribution component varied at the sub‐national level, overall, it marginally impeded the pace of poverty reduction at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers to examine the decomposition of the consumption function of the male and female households in India. The decomposition of consumption function is explained by the socio‐economic and demographic variables. The dataset on the 61st round (2004–2005) and 68th round (2011–2012) of NSSO has been used for the analysis. The ordinary least squares (OLS) method is used to explain the important determinants of household consumption expenditure. Also, the Blinder–Oaxaca (B‐O) decomposition technique is used to estimate and to explain the difference of the per capita consumption expenditure of male and female households. The results find that age, household size, education, wages, occupation, and rural dummy are key determinants of the consumption function of male and female households. The results also found that the impact of education and occupation particularly in the service sector is relatively higher for female households than male households. Moreover, the results from the B‐O decomposition method are found that there is a positive gap of per capita consumption expenditure between male–female households in 2004–2005 and these differences are coming from differences of endowment effect between male and female households. But, the results from the year 2011–2012 data have shown that there is a negative mean difference in consumption expenditure of male and female households and this difference is coming from the differences of coefficient effect between male and female households. Finally, the results concluded that the per capita consumption expenditure gap is explained due to changes in education, occupation, and earnings of households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rapidly aging population is a major concern for countries, especially where cognitive health in older age is poor. The study examined the socioeconomic and health-related factors associated with cognitive impairment among older adults and the contribution of those factors to the concentration of low cognitive functioning among older adults from economically poor households.Methods: Data this study were derived from the "Building Knowledge Base on Population Ageing in India" (BKPAI) survey, which was carried out in seven major states of India. The effective sample size for the analysis was 9176 older adults aged 60 years and above. Results from descriptive and bivariate analysis were reported in the initial stage. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to explore the associations. Additionally, the concentration index and concentration curve were used to measure socioeconomic inequality in cognitive impairment among older adults. Wagstaff decomposition was employed to explore the key contributors in the concentration index.Results: Nearly 60% of older adults suffered from cognitive impairment in the study. The likelihood of cognitive impairment were higher among older adults with a low level of self-perceived income sufficiency [coefficient: 0.29; confidence interval (CI): 0.07- 0.52] compared to older adults with higher levels of perceived income status. Older adults with more than 10 years of schooling were less likely to be cognitively impaired [coefficient: -1.27; CI: - 1.50- -1.04] in comparison to those with no education. Cognitive impairment was concentrated among older adults from households with the lowest wealth quintile (concentration index (CCI): - 0.10: p < 0.05). Educational status explained 44.6% of socioeconomic inequality, followed by 31.8% by wealth status and 11.5% by psychological health. Apart from these factors, difficulty in instrumental activities of daily living (3.7%), caste (3.7%), and perceived income sufficiency to fulfil basic needs (3.0%) explained socioeconomic inequality in cognitive impairment among older adults.Conclusions: Findings suggest that older adults with lower perceived income, lower levels of education, poor physical and mental health, and poor physical and social resources were more likely to be cognitively impaired. Education, wealth and psychological health are major contributors in socioeconomic inequality in late-life cognitive impairment, which may be target areas in future policy formulation to reduce the inequality in cognitive impairment in older Indian adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proportion of women experiencing premature menopause is on the rise in India, particularly in the age groups of 30-39 years. Consequently, there is a need to understand the factors influencing the prevalence of premature menopausal status among women. Our study uses the data from 180,743 women gathered during the latest Indian version of the Demography Health Survey (National Family Health Survey-5). Our results suggest that close to 5% of women in rural areas and 3% of women in urban areas experience premature menopause, and this figure varies across Indian States. The regression results show that surgical menopause, lower levels of education, poorer wealth index, rural residence, female sterilization, and insurance coverage are key drivers of premature menopause. One of the striking factors is that the prevalence of premature menopause among those with the lowest levels of education (6.85%) is around seven times higher than those with the highest level of education (0.94%). We conducted a decomposition analysis to delve into the factors contributing to this inequality. The results show that undergoing a hysterectomy (surgical menopause) account for 73% of the gap in premature menopausal rates between women with the lowest and highest levels of education. This indicates that women with poor education are more likely to undergo hysterectomy at a younger age. This finding warrants further exploration as we would expect that women from lower socio-economic background would have limited access to surgical care, however, our results suggest otherwise. This perhaps indicates a lack of awareness, lack of alternative treatment options, and over-reliance on surgical care while neglecting conservative management. Our results have implications for addressing the diverse needs of the increasing number of women in their post-menopause phase and for focusing on conservative treatment options for these women., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Forensic entomology plays a significant role in the estimation of Post-mortem submersion interval (PMSI), and also helps in verifying the alibi of the suspects where the death of an individual is under question. The carcass decomposition and insect succession is highly affected by environmental factors such as the variation in season and altitude, that leads to variation in PMSI estimation. Methodology: To study the effect of season and altitude variation on insect succession and decomposition process, the rabbit has been used as animal model. The rabbit carcasses were subjected to aquatic habitats in the West Himalayan region of India during May, 2016-Jan, 2018. Results: During this study a total of 4 species belonging to two orders i.e. L.Cuprina, Sepsis (genus), M. Scalaris and Silphidae (family) were recorded, and only L.Cuprina was found to be of forensic importance that can help in estimating PMSI, as they oviposit and subsequently completed their life cycles on the carcass. It has also been observed that altitude and seasonal variation affected the arrival time, oviposition, life cycles, stages of decomposition and consequently alters the estimation of PMSI significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The incidence of preterm birth and subsequent low birth weight (LBW) are vital global public health issues. It contributes to high infant and child mortality in the early stages of life and later on in adult life; it increases the risk for non-communicable diseases. The study aims to understand the socio-economic status-related inequality for LBW among children in India. It hypothesises that there is no association between the socio-economic status of the household and the newborn's LBW in India.Methods: The study utilised data from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey, a national representative cross-sectional survey conducted in 2015-16 (N = 127,141). The concentration index (CCI) and the concentration curve (CC) measured socio-economic inequality in low birth status among newborns. Wagstaff decomposition further analysed key contributors in CCI by segregating significant covariates.Results: About 18.2% of children had low birth weight status. The value of concentration was - 0.05 representing that low birth weight status is concentrated among children from lower socio-economic status. Further, the wealth quintile explained 76.6% of the SES related inequality followed by regions of India (- 44%) and the educational status of mothers (43.4%) for LBW among children in India. Additionally, the body mass index of the women (28.4%), ante-natal care (20.8%) and residential status (- 15.7%) explained SES related inequality for LBW among children in India.Conclusion: Adequate attention should be given to the mother's nutritional status. Awareness of education and usage of health services during pregnancy should be promoted. Further, there is a need to improve the coverage and awareness of the ante-natal care (ANC) program. In such cases, the role of the health workers is of utmost importance. Programs on maternal health services can be merged with maternal nutrition to bring about an overall decline in the LBW of children in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both skilled and unskilled workers are employed formally and informally in developing economies. However, workers employed informally are often discriminated – they receive lower returns to their individual characteristics compared to those employed formally. What would be the skilled-unskilled wage gap if there were no such discrimination in the labour market? We show that the with-discrimination wage gap is more if the unskilled workers are discriminated more in their employment-share weighted terms. We propose a methodology based on Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition technique to estimate the without-discrimination wage gap, apply it to four rounds of Indian NSSO employment data and find that (i) both types of workers face discrimination, and (ii) the without-discrimination wage gap is significantly less. We also check for the possibility of female workers getting discriminated more in informal employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimate carbon mitigation cost (CMC) and the factors determining change in CMC using environmental production function. The CMC index is defined as the ratio of maximum production of electricity under unregulated and regulated production technology. Change in CMC index is decomposed into technical change, scale change and change in the level of CO2 emissions. The production function is estimated for 45 coal-fired thermal power plants over the period of 2008–2012 using data envelopment analysis. Decomposition of CMC change reveals that impacts of changes in scale of operation and CO2 emissions were more than the reduced costs realized due to technical changes. We find that the sample plants in Indian coal-fired thermal power sector had to sacrifice about 3.5% of electricity production amounting to 2005US$ 1702 million of revenue loss over the 5 years due to regulation of CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its fast rise on the world stage and rapid economic growth, there has been a dramatic increase in wealth inequality in India in recent years. Nonetheless, the issue of wealth inequality and wealth distribution in India has been relatively less explored. In this context, we use an extension of Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method based on the recentered influence function (RIF) proposed by Firpo et al. (Econometrics 6(2):28, https://doi.org/10.3390/econometrics6020028, 2018) to analyze the role of household characteristics such as location, household's composition by age, social groups, as well as education or employment on various wealth distributional measures during the period 1991–2012. We examine the effect of changing distribution of different household characteristics on wealth at various distributional measures (like ventile, Gini index, and variance). In our analysis, we observe the effect of household characteristics on wealth at different ventiles. Using counterfactual distribution analysis, we decomposed the inter-period difference in inequality into characteristics (explained) and coefficients (unexplained) effects. We then decompose changes in wealth at each ventile, Gini index, the variance of log of wealth, 90–10 percentile wealth gap, 50–10 wealth gap, and 90–50 wealth gap during 1991–2002 and 2002–2012 to see the composition effect and wealth structure effect. The composition effect shows the effect of change in the considered household characteristics, whereas the wealth structure effect shows the effect of change in returns to these characteristics. We noticed that during 1991–2002, wealth at lower quantile has decreased whereas it has increased for other quantiles, whereas during 2002–2012, we observe that wealth increase is highest at lower quantiles and is positive for all ventiles. In the case of inequality measures, we observe that all inequality measures have increased during 1991–2002, whereas during 2002–2012, only Gini and 90–50 gap has increased while other measures have decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low- and middle-income countries in Asia have seen substantial improvements in infant mortality over the last three decades. This study examines the factors contributing to the improvement in infant survival in their first year in six Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. I decompose the overall improvement in the infant survival rate in the respective countries from the 1990s to the 2010s into the part that can be explained by the improvements in circumstantial environments in which infants develop and the remaining part that is due to the structural change in the hazard functions. This decomposition is achieved by employing the random survival forest, allowing me to predict the counterfactual infant survival probability that infants in the 2010s would have under the circumstantial environments of the 1990s. The results show that large parts of the improvement are explained by the improvement in the environments in all the countries being analyzed. I find that the reduction in family size, increased use of antenatal care, longer pregnancy periods, and improved living standards were associated with the improvement of the infant mortality rate in all six countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing emphasis on fostering green growth and lowering carbon emissions in order to achieve sustainable economic development. This study uses the Tapio decoupling model and analyzes the factors influencing changes in carbon emissions from manufacturing in India utilizing the log mean Divisia index (LMDI) techniques. Furthermore, the nexus between carbon emission intensity, information and communication technology (ICT), total factor productivity (TFP), skill, and energy intensity has been analyzed using the system-GMM approach. It is based on the plant-level Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) datasets for the organized manufacturing sector of India from 2001 to 2002 to 2019 2020 for the major 21 Indian states/UT. The findings reflect the presence of weak decoupling in the manufacturing sector both at the aggregate level and in states. This indicates that both output and emissions are increasing; however, output growth surpasses emission growth, which signifies an effort to transition towards more environmentally friendly production methods and enhanced energy efficiency. The output and population effect are found to be leading factors in carbon emissions, while energy intensity is found to be reducing the effect. Further, the system-GMM estimates show that ICT and energy intensity positively affect total factor productivity, while with an increase in carbon emission intensity, productivity declines. The study confirms the existence of an inverted N-shaped Kuznets curve in the sector. This present study will contribute to formulating energy and environmental strategies to reduce emissions and promote adopting cleaner energy sources. These efforts will facilitate the attainment of carbon neutrality and enhance energy efficiency within the sector., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The aquatic ecosystem harbours a variety of micro-organisms, among which water-borne conidial fungi occupy an important place. Their occurrence in freshwater habitat has great significance in the decomposition of submerged plant materials, nutrient release and productivity. Their occurrence and frequency to extreme temperatures and pH may have a profound effect on fungal community composition and metabolic activities. The present paper deals with the diversity of conidial aquatic fungi from different unexplored freshwater bodies flowing through different elevations (1000-1500 m) in district Nainital, Kumaun Himalaya. Comparative study of species composition in different seasons, sporulation temperatures and pH conditions was also carried out. In all, 18 species of conidial fungi belonging to 14 genera were recorded, out of which maximum species (11 species) were recorded in both rainy (July to September) and winter seasons (November to December). Anguillospora crassa, Beltrania rhombica, Campylospora chaetocladia, Cylindrocarpon aquaticum, Helicomyces roseus and Tetracladium setigerum were isolated only during rainy season; Alatospora acuminata, Clavariopsis aquatica, Clavatospora tentacula, Lemonniera pseudofloscula, L. terrestris and Tetrachaetum elegans were isolated only during winter season while Lunulospora curvula, L. cymbiformis, Setosynnema isthmosporum, Tetracladium marchalianum and Triscelophorus acuminatus were isolated in both rainy and winter seasons. The preferred pH and the sporulation temperature ranged from 6-7 and 15-20 °? respectively. The results of the present study are clearly indicating fungal species composition variations along pH, temperature, seasonal and altitudinal gradients and the sites selected for this exploratory investigation are being undertaken for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managed forests, dynamic with activities of harvest and afforestation, have become an area of imminent research opportunity to understand the effects of these disturbances and regrowth dynamics. As low frequency polarized radar signals have the ability to penetrate forest canopies, the fully polarized Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data gives an ideal representation of conditions in the forest. However, this valuable information has not been optimally utilized in understanding the forest disturbances and regrowth dynamics. Several forest change monitoring studies have been performed using single or dual polarization SAR data, whereas limited studies utilized full polarimetric information. In this study, L-band ALOS/PALSAR and ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 fully polarimetric data is used to study and understand the behavioural dynamics of homogeneous and heterogeneous forest compartments having single and multiple species composition, respectively. Radar scattering pattern of different species, and its variation with respect to phenology, disturbances, harvesting and plantation regrowth are analysed to understand the trend in scattering components with respect to above said forest changes. Based on the scattering properties and their analyses, a two stage rule based classifier has been developed to categorize the forest based on its disturbance and regrowth status into disturbed, re-growth, stable/no change and non forest classes. The classifier performed with, considerably, high accuracy having an overall accuracy of 85.39% and a kappa coefficient of 0.8. The classifier developed in this work presents the potential of fully polarimetric data in understanding the level and extent of disturbances and regrowth dynamics of a forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) earlier known only as the Wuhan virus, expanded its circle and finally spreading its routes to India. The guidelines/considerations published by various government organizations for management of dead bodies in context of COVID-19 were reviewed. The problem arrived when experts found some loopholes in government guidelines and other social issues were raised in different parts of country regarding the final rituals of deceased died due to suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. Some cases were also observed in neighboring countries also. In this article, light was thrown on utility of body bags for handling dead bodies, environmental cleaning, autopsy & embalming related issues, precautions in case of community deaths etc. We tried to discuss the issues in light of available guidelines by government of India and other international guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two forensically essential species of flies; Boettcherisca nathani Lopes, 1961 and Boettcherisca bengalensis Nandi, 1992 are reported for the first time from northwest India. Earlier, these species were reported from Gujrat, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu states of India. The experiment was conducted in winter and monsoon season of the year 2015 in a rural area of Punjab (North India). Both of the species were collected during different decomposition stages and from different environments as well. Boettcherisca nathani was collected during the fresh stage from submerged pig carcasses (winter), while B. bengalensis was collected during bloated and fresh stage of outdoor & indoor environments (monsoon). The present work embraces the morphological characteristics and detailed explanations of the internal and external genitalia of both the species. Both of the species are different from each other by the structure of paraphallus, ventralia, inner & outer forceps, and styli. These species have not been reported from this part of India earlier. These species has a great importance in the field of forensic entomology as they are the earlier visitors of carrion after calliphorids. These flies are also of medical importance as they are responsible for causing myiasis in humans and useful in the estimation of Post mortem interval (PMI). Genus Boettcherisca itself is a subtribe, belonging to tribe Sarcophagini and family Sarcophagidae. This genus was established by Verves in 1990. The genus comprises total 18 genera and 72 recognized species worldwide, but from India total, 4 species have been reported till now, i.e., Boettcherisca nathani Lopes,1961; Boettcherisca karnyi Hardy, 1927; Boettcherisca peregrina Rohdendorf, 1937 and Boettcherisca bengalensis Nandi, 1992. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey of polypores was conducted from January 2013 to December 2015 in the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) main campus garden lands, botanical gardens, and plantations visited during pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post monsoon periods. A total of 43 polypore species in 28 genera belonging to seven families were recorded during the study. Their distributions were analyzed by family, rot, and habit. Polyporaceae dominated with 29 species, followed by Hymenochetaceae with nine, Meruliaceae with five, Ganodermataceae with three, and Meripilaceae & Fomitopsidaceae represented by two species each. Forty species were white rot polypores and three were brown rotters; annuals and perennials were represented by 28 and 15 species, respectively. This survey emphasizes the importance of university campuses in biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrimination along lines of caste, religion, gender, region, language, etc. is a reality in India today as it has been for most of its history. The fault lines in the approach to understanding wage disparity are exposed in its once-too-often overlooking of the sociopolitical realities of their subjects. The paper aims to bring out the wage discrimination in Indian labour market in both rural and urban areas belonging to different occupational activities using the simple ordinary least square regression analysis and Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method to show that the wage disparity among different social groups can be attributed to discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to assess dry matter dynamics of forests along treeline ecotone concerning environmental variability, and four representative forests, birch, kharsu oak, Himalayan fir and mixed forest along treeline ecotone (3250–3400 m asl) were selected in Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary, Western Himalaya. Temperature, precipitation and humidity data were recorded for complete 3 years (2008–2010). Field inventory for assessment of forest structure and dry matter was carried out in a 200 m transect in each forest along treeline using quadrats of different sizes for tree, shrub and herb layers. The biomass and net primary productivity (NPP) of woody vegetation was estimated using region-specific allometric equations and of the herb layer, by harvesting. Litter quantity and decomposition rates were assessed using litter traps and litter bags, respectively. The dry matter budget of treeline ecotone was represented using a compartment model. The mean annual temperature at treeline was recorded 6.6 ± 0.68 °C with warmest month average temperature of 12.6 ± 1.2 °C. The average forest biomass at ecotone was 33.27 ± 16.97 Mg/0.1 ha, ranged between 8.87 Mg/0.1 ha in open and early successional birch forest to 44.98 Mg/0.1 ha in dense canopy mixed forest. NPP ranged from 1.49 to 2.11 Mg/0.1 ha year−1. The birch forest exhibited the highest efficiency in annual dry matter accumulation in the canopy layer among all forests. The leaf litter decomposition rates (% weight loss) was highest for kharsu oak (74%) after 3 years. The study revealed that Western Himalayan treeline exhibit warmer summer and higher amounts of dry matter storage, production and decomposition rates. These treeline forests showed a higher dry matter assimilation rate and so the potential for carbon sequestration under a warming climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's most populous country and the second largest emerging economy, India has become the third largest CO 2 emitter in the world for many years. While India has proposed to achieve carbon neutrality target by 2070, previous studies have not systematically investigated factors that influence national and regional CO 2 emissions. Thus, we decompose energy related CO 2 emissions at national and regional levels based on the panel data of 32 states during the period 2013–2021 using Logarithmic Mean Divisibility Index (LMDI) method and disclose the different driving mechanisms of energy related CO 2 emissions across five regions in India. Results show that, the economic output effect majorly promotes national and regional energy related CO 2 emissions, followed by the energy structure effect and the population size effect. However, the energy intensity effect and industrial structure effect obviously inhibit national and regional CO 2 emissions. Additionally, the population distribution effect inhibits energy related CO 2 emissions at the national level (−4.67%), while this effect on regional emissions varies. For instance, the population distribution effect promotes energy related CO 2 emissions in the densely populated northern and western regions (2.04% and 0.12%, respectively), but inhibits emissions in the sparsely populated southern, eastern, and northeastern regions (−33.97%, −8.15% and − 1.18%, respectively). Our results suggest that formulation of appropriate economic and population growth plan specifically for India's northern and western states as well as improvements of national and regional industrial structure and energy use structure would be needed. • We decompose CO 2 emissions in India at the national and regional levels. • Population distribution effect of India is incorporated into the framework. • Economic output effect majorly promotes national and regional CO 2 emissions in India. • Energy intensity effect inhibits national and regional CO 2 emissions in India. • Population distribution effect reduces CO 2 in sparsely populated regions of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "alternative", "atypical" or "informal" workforce has grown in developed and developing countries alike. One of the more recent evolutions of informal employment has been of informal employment within formal enterprises. In the interest of flexibility and cost‐reduction, many formal firms increasingly resort to hiring workers on a temporary or informal basis. Alongside, and perhaps, as a result of the persistence and pervasiveness of informal employment, issues relating to inequality have come to the fore. This paper is motivated by these two intertwining aspects of Indian labor market—informality and wage inequality. Using nationally representative sample data, the paper examines trends in wage inequality among various forms of informal workers, overlaying these findings with broader trends in inequality. Using a regression based inequality decomposition, the paper compares the sources of wage inequality across different employment groups and the reasons for differences in wage inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts at verifying the pattern of the wage gap between gender in India's urban labour market using NSS 50th (1993–1994), 61st (2004–2005), and 68th (2011–2012) Employment and Unemployment Surveys. The wage gap between sexes in the urban labour market is verified among the regular and casual workers over a period of two decades (1993–1994 to 2011–2012). Using Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition as well as Recentered Influence Function (RIF) quintile decomposition analysis, it is observed that there is a male bias in wages in both the categories, namely, regular and casual workers. Female workers are also at a disadvantaged position via-a-vis male counterparts, and there is considerable disparity exists with regards to employment and earning standard between sexes. The decomposition exercise shows that the role of the discrimination component effect is larger than that of the endowment component across the regular and casual workers. Controlling for characteristic homogeneity, it is observed that female workers have a systematic wage disadvantage against their male counterparts in the urban labour market of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the dynamic of periphytic diatom colonization and litter decompositional pattern in an intermittent stream of South India. Litter bags containing 5 g of fresh fallen leaves (belongs to five different species of angiosperms) were fixed in the five stream pools and they were collected after 7, 14, 21, and 28 days of incubation. This experiment showed the diversity, richness, and abundance of diatoms developed on leaf litter. In total, 131 µl−1 cells of diatoms under four species in three families were collected from decomposing leaves in benthic area of stream pools. During experiment, 142 µl−1 cells representing 11 taxa in 10 families were observed in litter bags. The colonization of epiphytic diatom was rapid in early stage of litter decomposition. The higher number of colonization made by Asterionella and Stenopterobia found in litter bags of all experimental weeks. These findings suggest that the rapid microbial colonization (ephiphytic algae) was occurred in the early stage of litter decomposition in an intermittent tropical stream and a comprehensive ecological investigation in perennial natural streams in India is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to deal with a closer look into the nature and extent of consumer expenditure inequality in India to identify the major contributions those are embedded, particularly after the economic reforms. Relative contributions of major consumption items/sources to the overall expenditure inequality are quantitatively examined in terms of a decomposition exercise. Eventually, the paper investigates the relative marginal effects of expenditure components/sources on overall inequality.Design/methodology/approach Gini index is used to measure the degree of inequality in consumer expenditure. Contribution of each expenditure sources to overall inequality is estimated by using source decomposition technique of Gini index contributed by Lerman and Yitzhaki.Findings The study observes that the inequality in consumer expenditure has increased in both the rural and the urban parts of India during the post-reform period. Non-food expenditure is more unevenly distributed, and it has been found to be more pro-rich in nature. Expenditure on cereals and pulses still exhibits higher inequality-reducing effect in rural and urban India. Education and health-care expenses have been inequality-increasing in the country. Contribution of expenditure on miscellaneous consumer services, durable goods, education and health care to the overall expenditure inequality is significantly higher.Originality/value The study identifies the capacity of different expenditure sources towards increasing or decreasing the overall inequality which is crucial for better redistributive policies to be adopted to enhance the well-being of the economy in real sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: China and India are the world's two most populous countries. Although their populations are growing in number and life expectancies are extending they have different trajectories of economic growth, epidemiological transition and social change. Cross-country comparisons can allow national and global insights and provide evidence for policy and decision-making. The aim of this study is to measure and compare disability in men and women, and in urban and rural dwellers in China and India, and assess the extent to which social and other factors contribute to the inequalities.Methods: National samples of adults aged 50 to 79 years in China (n = 11,694) and India (n = 6187) from the World Health Organization (WHO) longitudinal Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 1 were analysed. Stratified multiple linear regressions were undertaken to assess disability differences by sex and residence, controlling for other biological and socioeconomic determinants of disability. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition partitioned the two-group inequalities into explained and unexplained components.Results: In both countries women and rural residents reported more disability. In India, the gender inequality is attributed to the distribution of the determinants (employment, education and chronic conditions) but in China about half the inequality is attributed to the same. In India, more than half of the urban rural inequality is attributed to the distribution of the determinants (education, household wealth) compared with under 20% in China.Conclusions: Education and employment were important drivers of these measured inequalities. Overall inequalities in disability among older adults in China and India were shaped by gender and residence, suggesting the need for policies that target women and rural residents. There is a need for further research, using both qualitative and quantitative methods, to question and challenge entrenched practices and institutions and grasp the implications of global economic and social changes that are impacting on population health and ageing in China and India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has two research objectives: first, it derives and analyses energy intensity trends for seven energy intensive manufacturing industries and the aggregate manufacturing sector in India for the period 1973-1974 to 2011-2012 and compares the same with best practice benchmarks. Second, based on Index Decomposition Analysis, it studies the extent to which the energy efficiency has contributed in the decoupling of industrial activity growth from growth in energy use. The study finds faster decline in energy intensity in all the seven industries during the recent years (1998-1999 to 2011-2012). Aluminium, cement and fertilizer industries are found to operate close to the global best-practice energy intensities with transformational changes in process technology. Iron and steel and pulp and paper are found to be lagging behind with only incremental transformation in technology in place. The decomposition results show that activity growth is the major driver of growth in energy demand with marginal impact coming from structural change. However, declining energy intensity has been able to neutralize a major portion of the growing energy demand resulting in decoupling trends, especially in recent years, with more energy efficiency-related voluntary and mandatory policies in place). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of Mortality is an essential component for demographic studies and public health administration. When comparing the CDRs between any two situations, it is important to understand the contribution of various factors towards the difference in CDR; this can be done through the method of decomposition. The present study examine the decomposition of difference between CDR of India and some of its selected states from various zones of India for the period 1971 and 2011 for both sexes. We use Kitawaga (1955) decomposition method which gives an additive contribution of age compositional difference and age specific mortality rates. It has been found that Andhra Pradesh has the highest decline of CDR (4.81 points) for males which is due to the highest contribution of age specific mortality rate whereas Haryana for females (27.74 points) which is due to the contribution of both age specific mortality rates and age compositional difference. The outcome of the study at national and state level of India was rather meaningful as we observed the improvement of females' mortality rates over males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the overall morbidity prevalence and their differentials among emigrants' and non-emigrants' wives in Kerala, India. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on the third round of The Kerala Migration Survey-2007 data. The third round of KMS was perhaps the first survey which has collected data on Indian emigration and morbidity scenario during 2007 at the household and individual level. Descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression models, and Oaxaca decomposition models were used to examine the disease differentials among emigrants' and non-emigrants' wives. Findings: The paper shows that household size is negatively associated with chronic disease and incidence of morbidity is much lower among emigrants' wives. The result also shows that among women, those who stay with a husband or whose husbands are elsewhere in India show a higher incidence of morbidity than those whose husbands are abroad, owing to the limited scope of activity as well as freedom in lifestyle and for taking independent decisions. Thus, it can be concluded that for women, the scope of activity and the freedom to live are important factors contributing to the level of morbidity. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition results show that non-poor households and non-Muslim religion are in a disadvantageous position in terms of chronic morbidity. Research limitations/implications: This paper is based on the cross-sectional nature of data; this is an obvious limitation on the effect of emigration on morbidity differentials among emigrants' and non-emigrants' wives. Originality/value: There are few or rare studies conducted so far to investigate the effect of migration on the health of the spouses or families left behind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time series data at all India level on area, production and productivity of foodgrains, production and per capita availability of milk and eggs and production of meat were compiled and a decade wise analysis of growth rate, instability index and decomposition analysis was done to study the performance of agriculture sector. During the overall period, the area under food grains showed negative growth whereas production and productivity growth was positive. For milk and egg, both production and per capita availability showed positive growth. Meat production showed a positively significant growth rate. Growth rate in area, production and productivity of both vegetables and fruits was positive. In general, for foodgrains, the yield effect was higher than the area effect which could be attributed to increased use of high yielding varieties. For vegetables and fruits, the contribution of area effect was more than that of yield and the interaction effect suggesting that measures should be taken to improve their productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we decompose the difference between the weight of a child and the weight of a reference child into the difference between the height of the child and the height of the reference child and the difference between the weight per unit height of the child and the weight per unit height of the reference child. The decomposition provides the theoretical justification to the classification of the nutritional status proposed by Svedberg and by Nandy et al. An application of the decomposition framework to the Indian data shows that the level, depth and severity of the faltering of the growth of the body mass in Indian children are primarily due to the level, depth and severity of the faltering of the ponderal growth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: While there is a substantial body of research on inequalities in child nutrition along the axes of gender and socioeconomic gradient, the socio-religious differences in health and nutrition outcomes remain grossly understudied. The handful of studies on the socio-religious differential in child health outcomes has found a Muslim advantage in chances of survival and nutritional status over Hindus despite their comparatively lower socioeconomic status, which undeniably warrants investigating the pathways through which this paradoxical Muslim advantage manifests., Methods: Using data from the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16, we quantify the inter-group differentials in child undernutrition (stunting, wasting, and underweight) between Muslims and caste-disaggregated Hindus. We further decompose the gap to delineate its major contributory factors by employing Fairlie's decomposition method., Results: The analysis revealed that, compared to the Hindus as an aggregated group, Muslims have a higher rate of stunting and lower rates of wasting and being underweight. However, the differences get altered when we disaggregate the Hindus into high and low castes. Muslims have a lower prevalence of all three measures of undernutrition than the low-caste Hindus and a higher prevalence of stunting and underweight than the high-caste Hindus, consistent with their levels of socioeconomic status. However, the prevalence of wasting among Muslim children is lower than among high-caste Hindus. This nutritional advantage is paradoxical because Muslims' relatively poorer socioeconomic status compared to high-caste Hindus should have disadvantaged them. In the decomposition analysis, the Muslim advantage over the low-caste Hindus could only be partially attributed to the former's better economic status and access to sanitation. Moreover, the poor performance of Muslim children compared to the high-caste Hindus in stunting and underweight could mainly be explained by the religious differentials in birth order, mother's education, and wealth index. However, Muslim children's comparatively better performance in wasting than the high-caste Hindus remained a puzzle., Conclusion: The Muslim advantage over high-caste Hindus in wasting and low-caste Hindus in all the indicators of undernutrition may have been rendered by certain 'unobserved' behavioural and cultural differences. However, further exploration is needed to make a definitive claim in this respect., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Caste plays a significant role in individual healthcare access and health outcomes in India. Discrimination against low-caste communities contributes to their poverty and poor health outcomes. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a national health insurance program, was created to improve healthcare access for the poor. This study accounts for caste-based disparities in RSBY enrollment in India by decomposing the contributions of relevant factors., Methods: Using the data from the 2015-2016 round of the National Family Health Survey, we compare RSBY enrollment rates of low-caste and high-caste households. We use a non-linear extension of Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and estimate two models by pooling coefficients across the comparison groups and all caste groups. Enrollment differentials are decomposed into individual- and household-level characteristics, media access, and state-level fixed effects, allowing 2000 replications and random ordering of variables., Results: The analysis of 480,766 households show that scheduled tribe households have the highest enrollment (18.85%), followed by 14.13% for scheduled caste, 10.67% for other backward caste, and 9.33% for high caste. Household factors, family head's characteristics, media access, and state-level fixed effects account for a 32% to 52% gap in enrollment. More specifically, the enrollment gaps are attributable to differences in wealth status, educational attainment, residence, family size, dependency ratio, media access, and occupational activities of the households., Conclusions: Weaker socio-economic status of low-caste households explains their high RSBY enrollments., (© 2022. W. Montague Cobb-NMA Health Institute.)

The decomposition of leaf litter of four selected dominant tree species, Vatica lanceaefolia, Artocarpus chaplasha, Lagerstroemia speciosa and Magnolia hookeri was studied during July 2011-June 2012 in a semievergreen forest of Assam, North East India. The weight loss pattern and concentration of N, P and K were evaluated. The annual decomposition constant (k) ranged from 3.23 to 7.8 year-1 and was positively correlated with rainfall, soil temperature, soil moisture content and total N. Litter quality and initial chemistry affected the rate of decomposition. L. speciosa having highest initial N, decomposed at a relatively faster rate. Rapid weight loss was observed during the monsoon period. The present findings indicate that rapid nutrient cycling is enhanced by fairly high decay rates of the dominant tree species maintaining proper nutrient cycling in this tropical semi-evergreen forest ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – At the turn of twenty-first century, India is facing rapid population ageing coupled with consequential socio-economic development changes. Against the backdrop of such changes, its traditional familial support system of living arrangements for older persons is swiftly changing, undergoing rapid transition towards nuclear family systems. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper examined: first, the changing trends and patterns in joint family systems defined in terms of households with older persons and total households; and second, socio-economic and demographic determinants of changes in the proportion of nuclear households with older adults. The decomposition analysis segregated the contribution of determinants of the change in nuclear households with older persons in three different components: propensity, composition, and interaction. The study used data from three successive rounds of the National Family Health Survey. Findings – Results indicate that a lower proportion of households with older persons were nuclear compared to total households. However, for both types of households, nuclear households increased by nine percentage points during 1992-2006. Households with older persons that were headed by old aged persons, illiterates or females, situated in urban area, not owned agriculture land, lower affluent level, and from Southern India were at most risk of being nuclear than their counterparts. Originality/value – This study provided ample evidence of the increase in nuclear familial structure for older persons in the course of population ageing. Population ageing, urbanization and increase in education, primarily contributed to the increase in nuclear family households of older persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has experienced steady economic growth over the last two decades alongside a persistent decline in women's labor force participation (LFPR). This paper explores the relationship between economic development and women's labor supply using state-level data spanning the period 1983–4 to 2011–2. While several studies suggest a U-shaped relationship between development and women's labor force participation, our results suggest that at the state level, there is no systematic U-shaped relationship between level of domestic product and women's LFPR. On examining the relationship between the structure of the economy and women's economic activity, we find that it is not economic growth but rather the composition of growth that is relevant for women. Further, our results suggest that aggregate changes in the proportion of women in the workforce can be mostly attributed to the movement of the workforce across sectors rather than changes in the proportion of women workers within a sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the understanding of decomposing poverty change, the growth effect of mean income is replaced with the growth effect of total income and the impact of change in total population. These two, along with changes in inequality, form the three broader effects that can be computed in multiple ways depending upon the base period and the sequence of calculation. Changing the base does not alter the broader effects while specific attributions within each effect get interchanged. For a given base, there will be six possible sequences and we take an average of these to compute the three broad effects. Finally, poverty change on account of the three broad effects comprising growth of total income, change in inequality, and change in total population are shown as part of the within-group effect while change in population shares, which is different from change in total population, is a between-group effect. We provide empirical illustrations with data from India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated litter production, litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics from three traditional agroforestry systems in Harmutty (Assam) and Nirjuli and Doimukh (Arunachal Pradesh) in northeast India. Litter production was studied by using litter traps and decomposition of leaf litter by nylon net bag technique. On an average, litterfall was 1406 kg ha-1 yr-1 that was influenced by climatic variables. Canopy species such as Areca catechu and Gmelina arborea accounted for about 30% of the total litter production. Analysis of variance indicated significant difference at 0.05 level in leaf and non-leaf litter (F=l 6.25; P=2.96). Overall, leaf litterfall was greater during winter in Harmutty and Doimukh sites and during autumn in Nirjuli site. This is attributed to species characteristics. The litter biomass on the floor of different agroforestry sites varied from 455 to 755 kg ha 1. Trees provide about 75% of the total leaf litterfall; Areca catechu contributed 13%, followed by Alstonia scholaris (3.8%). Altogether, shrub species contributed 24% of the litter. Decay rate was highest for Colocasia esculenta (8.61) and lowest in Livistona jenkinsiana (0.68). The initial N content was greater in Ageratum conyzoides and lower in Musa sp. During the early period of decomposition nutrients decreased whereas the concentration of nitrogen increased. The residue quality could contribute to the nutrient cycling processes that facilitates the production and productivity of agroforestry systems per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analytical perspective of the human development scenario in Gujarat on the basis of the conventional Human Development Index. The paper analyses the change in the human development situation over time and variation in the human development situation across constituent districts. The analysis uses the decomposition methodology to analyse the relative contribution of different dimensions of human development to the prevailing human development situation. The analysis reflects both positive and negative aspects of human development in Gujarat. The human development situation in Gujarat continues to be well above the national average but the improvement in the human development situation has been tardy in recent years. Moreover, inter-district disparity in human development situation is quite pervasive in the state. Eliminating inter-district disparity can contribute significantly in hastening the pace of human progress in the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study quantified and decomposed health inequalities among the older population in India and analyzes how health status varies for populations between 60 to 69 years and 70 years and above. Data from the 60th round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) was used for the analyses. Socioeconomic inequalities in health status were measured by using Concentration Index (CI) and further decomposed to find critical determinants and their relative contributions to total health inequality. Overall, CI estimates were negative for the older population as a whole (CI = −0.1156), as well as for two disaggregated groups, 60 to 69 years (CI = −0.0943) and 70 years and above (CI = −0.08198). This suggests that poor health status is more concentrated among the socioeconomically disadvantaged older population. Decomposition analyses revealed that poor economic status (54 %) is the dominant contributor to total health inequalities in the older population, followed by illiteracy (24 %) and rural place of residence (20 %). Other indicators, such as religion, gender and marital status were positive, while Caste was negatively associated with health inequality in the older populations. Finally, a comparative assessment of decomposition results suggest that critical contributors for health inequality vary for the older population of 60 to 69 years and 70 years and above. These findings provide important insights on health inequalities among the older population in India. Implications are advanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]