eSocialSciencesNewsletter
August
2007
Selection
of Recent Posts and Forthcoming Events
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Parliament
in Session
Daily
synopsis of the proceedings of both houses of the Indian Parliament available
on eSS.
http://www.esocialsciences.com/News/index.asp?newstype=2
Announcing
Journal
of Health Studies, a
multidisciplinary, peer reviewed periodical
brought
to you by the Centre for Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT) in collaboration with
eSS. The first issue of the Journal on Health Studies will
appear as an online journal in December
2007. Print publication will begin in 2008. Our endeavour
is to ensure that a large part of the journal will be open access. JHS welcomes contributions
for publication on various issues in Health Studies. 'Urban Health and Health
Services is the focus of the December issue. http://www.esocialsciences.com/bulletinBoard/bulletinDetails.asp?bulletinid=32
Introducing
a New column:
Goa
Musings
by Valmiki Faleiro by arrangement with Goanet.com. See under Commentaries
Now
available on eSS, Working Papers from:
*Institute
of Railway and Transport Studies in History, York University: Historical
studies on the Railways --- An eSS endeavour to open and encourage
new and less popular research areas. Other papers to this section are
particularly welcome.
*WOHTRAC,
Baroda: Gender studies on health and health care.
*Centre
for Development Economics, University of Delhi: A premier centre for research
in development economics.
Conferences
on eSS
International
Conference on the Importance of Medical History
The first international conference dealing with theoretical and
methodological issues relating to the history of medicine to be held in
Mumbai. Sponsored by SIES, Mumbai and the Wellcome Trust Centre for the
History of Medicine at UCL, London, UK. The programme and paper abstracts
available at:http://conference.esocialsciences.com
Selected
Papers
60
years of Independence
The
Indian Economy since Independence by Vinod Vyasulu India's has been a unique
path of economic development—internally decided in a democratic framework,
constantly debated between different ideologies and interest groups, and
increasingly engaging with the world. The ultimate result is uniquely Indian.
In 60 years, the author argues, the overall balance is positive. [eSS Working
Paper] http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1154
Who’s
making Health Policy?
Public
Health Policy Making and Drug Industry: Issues in Knowledge Legitimation by S Srinivasan. The
political economy of the pharmaceutical industry defines truth significantly in
medicine as much as does dominant medical practice. This mediated wisdom of
medicine is purveyed across populations through public health policies
affecting millions. [eSS WP]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1150
Intellectual
Property and Access to Medicines by Andrea
Onori. The document attempts to foresee the consequences of
this Agreement on the access to essential drugs in the DC and on the relations
between the main institutions.http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1086
Migration
and Movement
Tal
Makeshift Camp: No One Should Have to Live Like This. Report of MSF .There
seems to be no place for the stateless Rohingya people fleeing discrimination
and persecution in their own country, Myanmar. A document of their living
conditions in the Teknaf area highlights people’ physical and mental health.
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1140
Economic
and Social Dynamics of Migration in Kerala, 1999-2004 Analysis of Panel Data by Zachariah KC An
anlaysis of panel data from two studies set five years apart has yielded rich
househould and migration data. [CDS WP].
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1087
Research
and Education: Disarray and Disparity
On
Self-financing of Institutions of Higher Learning in India. S.K. Mishra suggests
that our higher education system should avoid conspicuous consumption and
should try to earn money by doing some productive activities. [NEHU WP].
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1124
In
Development Disparity in
Education Sector: An Inter District Temporal Analysis in Kerala. V. Nagarajan
Naidu aims to identify the trend and disparity in development
in the education sector at the district level examining closely the factors
that led to this inter district variations.[eSS WP].
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1114
Educational
Innovations in Rural Tamil Nadu: Tsunami-affected Arunthatiars of
Sathyamangalam Vrunda
Prabhu reports on the human aspect of a 2 ½ year collaboration
between mathematics teachers of the City University of New York and non-formal,
community-based schools and bridge schools, in the tsunami-affected Arunthatiar
community in rural Tamil Nadu. [eSS WP]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1149
Why
is so Little Spent on Educating the Poor? Tony Addison points
out that on average public subsidies to secondary education are roughly three
times as high as subsidies to primary education, and subsidies to tertiary
education are thirty times as high. In consequence, the higher income deciles
benefit disproportionately from public spending on education. [UNU-WIDER
Discussion Paper ]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1080
Institutional
Influences on Human Capital Accumulation: Micro Evidence from Children
Vulnerable to Bondage by Eric
Edmonds. A debt-bondage institution prevalent in the western
plains of Nepal is an unusually good setting in which it is possible to explore
how institutions affects investments in education. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1109
Position Papers of the
NCERT National Focus Group on Education are being posted on eSS.
Aims
of Education by
Mrinalini Miri and
others. Given the enormity and importance of this task, it is
necessary to create occasions to sit back collectively and ask ourselves, ‘Is
there a need to ask ourselves afresh some of the basic questions such as what
ought to be the purpose of education?’ http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1174
Social
Science Research Methods and Knowledge-Claims by Paramjit S Judge. This
paper explores three important but interrelated issues: The power of example;
the fragment as evidence; and finally, the field experience and the possibility
of generalisation. These issues are central in the current discourse of social
science practice in which serious doubts are being raised about the ability of
sociological research to come up with the generalisations, and make
knowledge-claims. [eSS WP] http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1116
Creative
Leaders. Then
President APJ Abdul
Kalam discusses five examples of leadership that provide
insights into how selfless individuals with expert knowledge and determination
succeed in contributing to societal development in his address at the
Post-Centenary Golden Jubilee Celebrations of University of Mumbai.http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1133
Microfinance
Bill: Continuing the debate
Should
NABARD be Micro Finance Regulator? Mukul Asher and Savita Shankar. NABARD
is a key participant in the micro finance sector. Combining the role of service
provider and regulator is not good governance practice.[eSS Policy Comment] http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1177
Agricultural
Commodities
Millers,
Commission Agents and Collusion in Grain Auction Markets: Evidence From Basmati
Auctions in North India by Anirvan
Banerji Structural estimation of asymmetric auction models in a
market for basmati detects the presence of a cartel consisting of a large (in
market share) local miller and commission agents purchasing for large distant
millers. [CDE WP].http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1156
Report
of the Inter-ministerial Task Force on Convergence of Securities and Commodity
Derivative Market. With the abolition of prohibition on forward trade in
all the commodities at the beginning of 2003, the commodity derivatives market
has been totally liberalized. An inter-ministerial Task force was constituted
to examine the idea of convergence of markets, institutions, players and
regulators. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1162
Can
Horticulture be a Success Story for India? By Surabhi Mittal. In
spite of being one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables in the
world, the export competitiveness among the Indian producers remains low. A
case study of the successful SAFAL Market. [ICRIER WP] http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1159
Health
Spending
Explaining
the Incidence of Catastrophic Expenditures on health care: Comparative Evidence
from Asia
by Owen O’Donnell.
Out-of-pocket (OOP) financing of health care leaves households exposed to the
risk of unforeseen expenditures that absorb a large share of the household
budget. Catastrophic medical expenditures across households in six Asian
countries/territories. [EQUITAP WP].
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1095
Social
Affiliation and the Demand for Health Services: Caste and Child Health in South
India by Nancy Luke. In
the controlled setting--tea estates in the South Indian High Range --- low
caste households spend more on their children’s health than high caste
households and health expenditures do not vary by gender within either
caste group, in contrast once again with the male preference documented
throughout the country. [BREAD Working Paper]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1090
Book
Reviews
Vijay
Laxmi Pandey
reviews Mahesh
Rangarajan edited Environmental
Issues in India: A Reader, Pearson Longman, New Delhi, 2007.
Amita
Sinha reviews Indigenous
Modernities: Negotiating Architecture and Urbanism by Jyoti Hosagrahar,
Routledge,New York; 2005.
Barnita
Bagchi on Organizing
Empire: Individualism, Collective Agency, and India by Purnima Bose, Duke
University Press and Zubaan, 2006.
G
Narasimha Raghavan comments on Bimal
Jalan’s The
Future of India – Economics, Politics and Governance, Penguin
Books.
Gender
Studies
In
Women and Food Security
in South Asia: Current Issues and Emerging Concerns Nira Ramachandran suggests
that the educated and socially empowered Asian Woman is the key to improving
the nutrition and mental acuity of young children. [WIDER Research Paper]http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1094
Dowry
and Property Rights by Siwan
Anderson The historical instances of dowry can be classified
according to a model the implications of which are also tested
using current data from Pakistan; a country of some relevance because dowry
legislation is currently an active policy debate [BREAD WP] http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1104
Cities,
Gender Budgeting and Civic Governance. Vibhuti Patel points out that budgetary
policies need to keep into considerations the gender dynamics operating in the
economy and in the civil society. A checklist.[eSS WP]. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1115
Understanding
HIV/AIDS: A Gender and Rights Perspective by Renu Khanna looks
at the current and future trends in HIV/AIDS care from a gender
perspective [WOHTRAC Report Series]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1143
Chinese
Economy
Monetary
Policy: Satisfy China’s Demand for Money Hugo Restall talks
with Nobel economics laureate Robert Mundell on how Beijing can keep the yuan’s
value fixed and still avoid inflation. [FEER Essay]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1120
Poverty
and Employment
Discussions
Among the Poor: Exploring Poverty Dynamics With Focus Groups in Bangladesh. Peter Davis reports
findings from 116 focus group discussions in eleven districts in Bangladesh in
mid-2006 as part of an integrated qualitative and quantitative study
into poverty dynamics. [CPRC WP]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1106
Employment
and Poverty in India: 2000-2005 by K.
Sundaram. This paper is principally focused on the
changes in the size and structure of work force and the changes in labour
productivity, wages and poverty in India in the first quinquennuim of the 21st
century. [CDE WP] http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1100
Impact
of Special Economic Zones on Employment, Poverty and Human Development by Aradhna Aggarwal.
There are three channels through which SEZs address these issues: employment
generation, skill formation and technology and knowledge upgradation. An
examination of the impact of SEZs passed through each of these channels.
[ICRIER WP]http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1111
Participatory
Equity, Identity, and Productivity Policy Implications for Promoting
Development
by Kaushik Basu
advances the perspective that the poor and the marginalized in society lack a
sense of “participatory equity,” by building a new model where a person’s
community identity matters, ex post, in determining if he or she will be poor,
even though all persons are identical ex ante. [BREAD WP]
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1122
Chronic
Poverty in India: Policy Responses summarises the characteristics
of and explanations for the continuing phenomenon of poverty despite efforts,
and proposes a series of recommendations for policy changes that would move
India towards eradicating poverty. [CPRC Policy Brief]http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1108
The
Sudoku Of Growth, Poverty and Malnutrition: Policy Implications for Lagging
States
by Arvind Virmani.
The data on inter-State variations in growth and poverty between 1993-4 to
2004-5 analyzed with a view to improving planning and policy formulation.
[PC WP]http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1136
Business
studies
Modern
Indian Business History: A Bibliographic Survey by N Benjamin of business
history books in English language pertaining to the colonial and modern
period.[GIPE WP]. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1113
Predicting
Indian Business Cycles: Leading Indices for External and Domestic Sectors by Pami Dua This paper
evaluates the real-time performance of the growth rate of the DSE-ECRI Indian
leading index for exports for predicting cyclical downturns and upturns in the
growth rate of Indian exports. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1144
Journals:
New issues
FEER:
June 2007 http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1119
Health
e-newsletter: August 2007 http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1123
Documents
Comprehensive
Sports Policy, India 2007 . The participant/athlete shall occupy
center-stage with all other stakeholders playing a promotional, supportive and
convergent role. http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1098
National
Curriculum Framework 2005 as a means of evolving a national
system of education, recommending a core component derived from the vision of
national development enshrined in the Constitution.
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1138
RBI
Annual Report for 2006-07http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1173
Report
of the Task Force on Medical Education for the National Rural Health Missionhttp://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1082
Eighth
Report on Foreign Exchange Reserves. Reserve Bank of India’s compilation of
quantitative information with regard to external reserves.
http://www.esocialsciences.com/Articles/displayArticles.asp?Article_ID=1096
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