Search

The main purpose of this study is to construct a women’s empowerment index for handloom weavers by adopting the tools developed by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI). Within Assam, India, 1000 sample respondents were selected for the study from five leading handloom production districts. For the study, individual-level data were collected by interviewing handloom weavers comprising seven domains and 25 indicators. A regression analysis was used in the study, and the results revealed that out of the five districts in Assam, the empowerment index of handloom weavers is highest for Kamrup (rural) (0.72), followed by Barpeta (0.64), Kokrajhar (0.61), Nagaon (0.58), and Chirang district (0.44). Overall, the women’s empowerment index for handloom weavers is less than the global standard empowerment weighted average of 0.80. It was also found that empowerment is linked to wages, education, availability of electricity, media exposure, and other household characteristics. Therefore, policies should set out a minimum wage structure for weavers that is fixed by the government and implemented properly as well as initiatives regarding other factors that encourage empowerment.

This study analyzed the wage structures and differentials of weavers in the handloom sector taking pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and fixed effect model. Within Assam, India, primary data was collected from Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD), both rural and urban areas in the years 2018 and 2021. The result estimated by using pooled OLS shows production, productivity, education, experience, training, and distance of weavers from weaving residence to have a positive impact on the wages of weavers. Age, distance of weaving, and location of weaving were found to have a negative impact on wages. However, the result estimated using panel least square (fixed effect) showed age and location of weaving to have a negative impact on wages. The study also chose the better method among pooled OLS and fixed effect model. Since the probability value the Wald test statistic is less than 0.05, the fixed-effect model is preferred to Pooled OLS.

This paper analyses the determinants of household electricity consumption with the focus to find the impact of government subsidies and surcharges on the demand for electricity services in the rural areas. Using surveyed household data of 332 samples, quantile regression has been employed for checking heterogeneity in electricity demand across different quantile of households. We find government subsidy has enhanced the household demand for electricity consumption with the elasticity ranging from 45 to 65 percent. Skeptically, electricity consumers of higher quantile tend to consume more even in the presence of outstanding bill while it is the opposite for low quantile group. Surprisingly, income and other socioeconomics variables don’t necessarily affect the households demand for electricity. This implies demand for electricity is inelastic to income and selected socioeconomic variables in rural regions. However, electricity demand decreases for households with dwelling characteristics categorized as poorer quantile. Based on our empirical findings implications are drawn for policy makers.Keywords: Electricity; Determinants; Heterogeneity; Quantile; Subsidies; Surcharges JEL Classifications: Q4; Q48; R2; R48DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.11716

Gender equality is one important sustainable development goal. This goal has so many positive aspects in the development path of a nation. And gender equality can only be achieved through providing education to all. Because in developing countries like India social behavior is that males are bread earners and females, only take care of the family. If we do not give importance to female education, then there will be very high gender disparity in workforce participation and gender inequality.

Electricity is the basic need for individuals, households and industries. It is used for everyday life activities by the households, agricultural activities, commercial buildings and industries. The per capita electricity consumption is a proxy indicator growth and development status of a region. All the north eastern states consume per-capita electricity lesser than the national average except Sikkim. The per capita consumption of electricity by Nagaland, Assam and Manipur is nearly just one-third of the national average. Notably, these three north eastern states consume just 40 percent of per capita electricity compared to the highest consumer state Meghalaya. The present study is an evaluation of the per-capita electricity consumption trend and inequality amongst the north-eastern states of India using Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve for two different time periods i.e. 2007 and 2017. We find that Tripura’s annual linear growth rate of per-capita electricity consumption is the highest (3 percent) while that of Meghalaya is the least (1 percent) and the other five states are growing equally at the rate of 2 percent. The Gini coefficient is found to be decreasing from 0.137 in 2007 to 0.122 in 2017. We conclude that the level of inequality is reducing among north eastern states of India though the per-capita consumption of electricity is less than the national average.

In this paper we have analysed the electricity consumption inefficiency of households in rural area by using stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) applying single stage one-sided approach on the primary data collected using stratified random sampling. We find the mean efficiency of the households is 77.25 percent where the stochastic demand frontier reveals government subsidy and minimum watt have a significant positive impact on household electricity consumption. Surprisingly, numbers of living room does not increase electricity consumption demand in rural areas.We found the inefficiency factors; a reduction in cut in minutes and cut frequency can reduce the inefficiency of electricity consumption by the households in rural areas. Intuitively, a reduction in cut time duration and number of times electricity is cut in a day on an average can reduce inefficiency of the households by 15 percent and 39 percent respectively. Additionally, households living in pukka floors and having inverter as secondary source of lighting could reduce their inefficiency by 11 and 7 percent respectively. Overall, we found inefficiency in electricity consumption in the rural areas lie more on the supply side constraints compared to the demand side.

Consistent and slow mass flow rates of granular materials through a small diameter orifice (D) at the center of the bottom of a hopper is difficult to obtain when D is less than 5 times of the characteristic seed size. Rotation of the bottom in the horizontal plane with the orifice placed at an off-center distance (R) from the center of the hopper can sustain controlled flow rates even at small D. A simple feeding system was developed in this study for discharging roasted makhana seeds of different sizes (7.48–12.40 mm diameter) at 10–30 kg h−1 consistent mass flow rates. The feeding system consists of a rotating orifice plate at an off-center distance, which is placed inside a pipe connected with the bottom of a trapezoidal hopper. The effects of rotational rate (ω), D, and R on the mass flow rates of makhana seeds and plastic beads of different sizes have been investigated. The materials did not discharge when the orifice was stationary. The mass flow rate increased with the increase in ω, D and R. Finite mass flow rates in the range of 2.25–29.81 kg h−1 were obtained for different seed sizes of roasted makhana seeds with varying D (15–20 mm), R (20–30 mm), and ω (0.52–7.86 rad s−1). The mass flow rates >30 kg h−1 were obtained at D ≥ 25 mm, however, finite mass flow rate ranges were not be obtained for all seed sizes at R ≥ 20 mm. The seed discharge was in the funnel flow regime for all D, R, ω, and seed sizes because of the geometry of the hopper and feeding system. The existing Beverloo equation did not describe the mass flow rate adequately for the developed system. Therefore, Beverloo equation was modified using a function similar to the Froude number to describe the mass flow rate. The developed feeding system performed well in feeding makhana seeds and plastic beads of different sizes and maintained finite mass flow rates.

Gluten free biscuits, also suitable during fasting were developed utilizing different levels of fruits (water chestnut and makhana) and starchy vegetable (potato) powders. Biscuits were developed using creamery method and evaluated for physical properties, proximate composition, sensory characteristics and storability for 90 days at room temperature. Expansion in diameter of biscuits with different level of potato and makhana powder varied between 1.026 to 1.059 and 1.046 to 1.059, respectively as compared to 1.075 for biscuits prepared using water chestnut only. Breaking hardness and toughness of different biscuit was increased with increasing level of potato or makhana powder in flour blends and higher in potato powder incorporated biscuits. Whiteness (L values) of biscuits was decreased with increasing level of potato powder while a reverse trend was observed in case of makhana powder incorporated biscuits. Protein content in biscuits with makhana powder was higher than the biscuits prepared using potato powder in flour blends. Biscuits prepared using hundred percent water chestnut showed the maximum crude fibre content in them. Results indicated that gluten free biscuits for fasting people can be prepared using potato powder or makhana powder up to 50 % with water chestnut powder. The overall sensory acceptability of biscuits with makhana powder was better than for biscuits with potato powder with maximum overall acceptability scores for biscuits developed using 70:30 parts of water chestnut and makhana powders in flour blend, which were storable for 90 days period at room temperature.

The present study was carried out to optimize the level of potato powder, wheat semolina and guar gum for the development of pasta with enhanced protein and minerals using response surface methodology. Box-Behnken design of experiments was used for designing different experimental combination considering potato powder from 20 to 40g, wheat semolina from 60-80g and guar gum from 0.3 to 0.5g respectively. Optimization was done to obtain the best experimental combination of potato powder, wheat semolina and guar gum for developing pasta with enhanced protein and minerals. Optimized potato powder and wheat semolina fortified pasta consisted as 60.00 g wheat semolina, 38.49 g potato powder, 0.50 g guar gum with 25 ml carrot juice instead of water per 100g pasta formulation. The total protein, total minerals, iron and calcium in pasta with optimized formulation were 11.49, 1.98, 1.66 mg/100g and 139 mg/100g respectively, with overall sensory acceptability as 7.09. This pasta samples showed 5.6 min cooking time, 3.71 rehydration ratios, 12.17% solid loss with overall desirability of 0.824. Thus, the formulation of nutritional and healthy pasta would be helpful for reducing the malnutrition in the growing age children.

Food products containing probiotics and prebiotics are an important development in Health foods, which enhance health promoting microbial flora in the intestine. Probiotic refers to viable microorganism that promotes or support a beneficial balance of the autochthonous microbial population of the gastrointestinal tract. A number of genera of bacteria (and yeast) are used as probiotics, including Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Pediococcus, Bifidobacterium, Saccharomyces, and Enterococcus, but the main species believed to have probiotic characteristics are Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium spp., and L. casei. Probiotics can reduce diarrheal incidence, lactose intolerance, lower serum cholesterol, stimulate the immune system, control infections, act as antibiotics, suppress tumors, and protect against colon or bladder cancer by maintaining a healthy intestinal microflora balance. Lactic acid bacteria produce biopreservatives such as lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide, and bacteriocins that are used to retard both spoilage and the growth of pathogenic bacteria. Food, particularly dairy products are considered as an ideal vehicle for delivering probiotic bacteria to the human gastrointestinal tract. Cereals being rich source of prebiotics such as β-glucan and arabinoxylan, galacto-, and fructooligosaccharides are considered for development of probiotic foods. Good manufacturing practices must be applied in the manufacture of probiotic foods with quality assurance, and shelf-life conditions established.