Demographic transition and demographic imbalance in India

In the coming decades, there will be growing demographic disparity in India and, like economic disparity, this should be a matter of serious concern for our planners and policy–makers. This demographic disparity leading to demographic imbalance may cause considerable social turbulence and may even pose a threat to political stability. Demographers must look far beyond demographic statistics and anticipate the consequences of demographic imbalance between different regions and states in India as well as between different religious communities, castes and tribes. Relevant data based on 1991 Census and National Family Health Survey (1992-93) are presented to highlight the ‘North-South Demographic Divide’

Supplying Innovation?: Investigating Impact of Suppliers on Innovation in IT Firms

Although IT has been widely recognized as one of the most important determinants of the innovation in firms,the determinants of innovation within IT firms are very poorly understood. Cooperation with various players is widely believed to be an important determinant of innovation productivity. These include suppliers, clients, competitors etc. Amongst these supplier is most intriguing more so because of its importance for manufacturing firms and almost a negligible presence in IT literature. We attempt to understand what impact a closer cooperation with suppliers has in innovation productivity in IT firms. Literature from traditional manufacturing firms’ domain indicates that suppliers are very integral to innovation processes at a firm. Our research drawing from data of Chinese firms finds that suppliers are indeed a very critical determinant of IT innovation as well. The results from this paper sheds considerable light on suppliers and their integral role for IT firms’ innovation development

Conflict and Development: A Headquarter Intervention View of IT Subsidiary Evolution

In this paper, we examine the impact that headquarter interventions have on how subsidiaries evolve in the Indian IT offshoring industry. We analyze how a subsidiary evolved in the presence of a rare phenomenon: a negative headquarter intervention. Such an evolution has nuances and theoretical implications that existing frameworks cannot fully explain. Although researchers have often studied the relationship between a subsidiary and its headquarters through a headquarter-intervention lens, they have not employed it to examine how subsidiaries evolve. In this paper, we present a generalized model of subsidiary evolution using three constructs: value potential, headquarter intervention, and headquarter control of the subsidiary. In line with our study’s exploratory nature, we conducted an in-depth case study of a multinational firm and its Indian subsidiary over several years. We found that, in the presence of high potential value in the subsidiary ecosystem, certain headquarter interventions can lead to a conflict between the headquarters and the subsidiary. If not aligned with the subsidiary’s interests and values, a headquarter intervention can negatively affect the subsidiary’s growth even if the headquarters has good intentions

Regional Adiposity, Body Composition and Central Body Fat Distribution of 10–16 Years Old Bengalee Boys of Nimta, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India

A cross-sectional study of 502 Bengalee boys aged 10–16 years of Nimta, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India, was undertaken to study regional adiposity, body composition and central body fat distribution. The subjects were classified into seven age groups: 10–10.9 years (n=74), 11–11.9 (n=53), 12–12.9 (n=87), 13–13.9 (n=116), 14–14.9 (n=58), 15–15.9 (n=57), 16–16.9 (n=57). In general, there was a significant linear increasing trend from 10 to 16 years for all the anthropometric variables. There was a net increase of 30.5 cm and 22.8 kg in mean height and weight, respectively, between 10 and 16 years of age. Mean BMI increased by 3.7 kg/m2 during the same period. Among circumferences, the largest increase was in hip followed by chest while the smallest increase was in mid upper arm, between 10 and 16 years of age. Subscapular skinfold showed the largest increase followed by abdomen and suprailiac skinfolds, while the increase was least in forearm skinfold. Significant linear increasing trend was observed for all the body composition measures. The largest increase in percent of body fat (PBF) was observed between ages 10 and 11 years while mean fat mass (FM), fat free mass (FFM) and fat mass index (FMI) increased the most between 14 to 15 years. However, an overall decreasing trend was observed, in mean waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) from 10 to 16 years. Boys aged 10 years had the highest mean WHR while those aged 15 years had the lowest mean WHR. There was an increase in mean WHR among 16 years old boys

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION AND KNOWLEDGE LEVEL OF INDIGENOUS TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE (ITK) BY RURAL FARM FAMILIES IN SAMPATCHAK BLOCK IN PATNA DISTRICT OF BIHAR

The present study was conducted in Patna District of Bihar to find out the association between socio-economic condition and knowledge level of rural farm families regarding indigenous technical knowledge. A total of 120 respondents were selected randomly for the present study. The data were collected through a pre-structured interview schedule and appropriate statistical analysis was done to find out the association. It was found that age, mass media exposure and extension contacts were found to be highly significant with relation to knowledge of the rural farm families regarding indigenous technical knowledge whereas land holding was found to be mildly related. View Article DOI: 10.47856/ijaast.2021.v08i8.01

TO FIND OUT THE CONSTRAINTS FOUND BY RESPONDENTS IN GETTING PMFBY AND SEEK THEIR SUGGESTIONS TO OVERCOME THE CONSTRAINTS IN DEOGARH DISTRICT OF ODISHA

Research study entitled "A Study on attitude of farmers towards Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in Deogarh District of Odisha" was under taken to elucidate the constraints faced by the farmers regarding Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and seek their suggestions. The constraints faced by the beneficiaries in PMFBY were Lack of knowledge regarding to PMFBY, lack of awareness of benefits of PMFBY, less compensatation offered in crop insurance scheme, delay in payment of compensatation. Rate of premium is not universal for all crops, on-line registration and assessment of risk complexity in PMFBY, unavailability of experts for assessment of loss at visit time, lack of coordination between banks and farmers and high rate of premium. Suggestion made by the beneficiaries to overcome the constraints in PMFBY were procedure of the scheme should be simplified, organization of awareness programmes for farmers regarding PMFBY, organization of training programmes on e-filling of insurance and benefit of the farmers, payment of premium by the government for farmers below the poverty regarding PMFBY, premium rate may be decreased, avoid delay in payment of compensatation, increase the number of extension agents, improve linkage between banks and farmers, unit area may be of individual or a village level improve socio-economic conditions of the farmers and increase the insurance agents in rural areas. View Article DOI: 10.47856/ijaast.2021.v08i10.01

Gravitational Lensing of Gravitational Waves: Probability of Microlensing in Galaxy-Scale Lens Population

With the increase in the number of observed gravitational wave (GW) signals, detecting strongly lensed GWs by galaxies has become a real possibility. Lens galaxies also contain microlenses (e.g., stars and black holes), introducing further frequency-dependent modulations in the strongly lensed GW signal within the LIGO frequency range. The multiple lensed signals in a given lens system have different underlying macro-magnifications ($|\mu|$) and are located in varied microlens densities ($\Sigma_\bullet$), leading to different levels of microlensing distortions. This work quantifies the fraction of strong lens systems affected by microlensing using realistic mock observations. We study 50 quadruply imaged systems (quads) by generating 50 realizations for each lensed signal. However, our conclusions are equally valid for lensed signals in doubly imaged systems (doubles). The lensed signals studied here have $|\mu|\sim[0.5, 10]$ and $\Sigma_\bullet\sim[10, 10^3]~{\rm M}_\odot/{\rm pc^2}$. We find that the microlensing effects are more sensitive to the macro-magnification than the underlying microlens density, even if the latter exceeds $10^3~{\rm M}_\odot/{\rm pc^2}$. The mismatch between lensed and unlensed GW signals rarely exceeds $1\%$ for nearly all binary black hole sources in the total mass range [10 M$_\odot$, 200 M$_\odot$]. This implies that microlensing is not expected to affect the detection or the parameter estimation of such signals and does not pose any further challenges in identifying the different lensed counterparts when macro-magnification is ${\leq}10$. Such a magnification cut is expected to be satisfied by ${\sim}50\%$ of the detectable pairs in quads and ${\sim}90\%$ of the doubles in the fourth observing run of the LIGO-Virgo detector network.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures; Comments welcom

Clear cell adenocarcinoma of the uterine cervix with malignant pleural effusion in a 29-year old female- A case report

Primary adenocarcinoma of cervix constitute about 7-15% of all cervical cancer. Clear cell carcinoma, a form of cervical adenocarcinoma is a very rare tumor constituting only 4% of cervical carcinoma. Risk factor and pathogenesis of this disease are not exactly revealed. Intrauterine exposure to diethylstilbestrol and associated non-steroidal estrogen during pregnancy before 18 weeks is the only risk factor. Here we report an unusual case of clear cell carcinoma of cervix presented with bilateral pleural effusion, cytology of which shows adenocarcinoma. This is a rare case since patient had no history of diethylstilbestrol exposure and presented with bilateral pleural effusion. This is the first described case report of clear cell carcinoma of cervix with upfront malignant pleural effusion

"The fruits of independence": Satyajit Ray, Indian nationhood and the spectre of empire

Challenging the longstanding consensus that Satyajit Ray's work is largely free of ideological concerns and notable only for its humanistic richness, this article shows with reference to representations of British colonialism and Indian nationhood that Ray's films and stories are marked deeply and consistently by a distinctively Bengali variety of liberalism. Drawn from an ongoing biographical project, it commences with an overview of the nationalist milieu in which Ray grew up and emphasizes the preoccupation with colonialism and nationalism that marked his earliest unfilmed scripts. It then shows with case studies of Kanchanjangha (1962), Charulata (1964), First Class Kamra (First-Class Compartment, 1981), Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970), Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977), Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991) and Robertsoner Ruby (Robertson's Ruby, 1992) how Ray's mature work continued to combine a strongly anti-colonial viewpoint with a shifting perspective on Indian nationhood and an unequivocal commitment to cultural cosmopolitanism. Analysing how Ray articulated his ideological positions through the quintessentially liberal device of complexly staged debates that were apparently free, but in fact closed by the scenarist/director on ideologically specific notes, this article concludes that Ray's reputation as an all-forgiving, ‘everybody-has-his-reasons’ humanist is based on simplistic or even tendentious readings of his work