Effect of saroglitazar in South Indian patients with diabetic dyslipidemia uncontrolled on a moderate-intensity statin and the association of PPAR α and γ gene polymorphisms with its response

Background: Diabetic dyslipidemia is associated with atherosclerosis risk factors and cardiovascular disease. Saroglitazar is a dual PPAR α and γ agonist approved initially for diabetic dyslipidemia and later for managing non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and hyperglycemia in T2DM. This study was conducted to estimate the association of studied PPAR α and γ gene polymorphisms among patients with diabetic dyslipidemia at baseline and with triglyceride response to saroglitazar administration. Methods: A total of 54 diabetic dyslipidemia patients who are not controlled i.e., triglycerides (TG)>200 mg/dl with moderate intensity of atorvastatin (≥10 mg) were recruited to the study. All the patients were given saroglitazar 4 mg once daily for 12 weeks. PPARα single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs1800206, rs4253778, rs135542 and those of PPARγ gene rs3856806, rs10865710, rs1805192 were genotyped by real-time PCR. Results: 54 patients (67% female) with a mean age of 48.01±6.73 years were given saroglitazar 4 mg once daily for 12 weeks. There was a significant decrease in TG (36.9%) from baseline of 292.33±83.81mg/dl (mean±SD) to 184.46±95.90 mg/dl (<0.001) and in HbA1c (0.66%) from baseline of 8.5% to 7.8% (<0.001). PPAR α and PPAR γ gene variants did not show any association with TG lowering response. Conclusions: Saroglitazar 4mg once daily effectively decreases the TG, non-HDL-C levels, and HbA1c with no major adverse events, and TG lowering response is not associated with the studied polymorphisms.

Determinants of use of Climate Smart Technology in Agriculture: Evidence from Household data

The objective of this paper is to explore the determinants of the use of climate smart agriculture technology (CSAT) among agrarian households of Odisha, India. The effect of climate change and the consequent unpredictability of weather patterns make agricultural production vulnerable. It calls for a solution wherein it is required to transform the existing agricultural practices to make it more efficient, more productive and less prone to climate change. So, the farm inputs should be more adaptive that can be ushered in by adopting CSAT by the practitioners. It is a smart agriculture process that minimizes the negative effect of climate change on agricultural production and contributes towards sustainable agricultural system. The result of the Fractional and Beta regression reveals that higher the level of social capital, higher is the intensity of the use of CSAT by the households. The use of CSAT is less in households that are female headed and belong to the scheduled tribes in comparison to the households that are male headed and belong to the scheduled castes. However, the households having knowledge about the technology use it more than the households with no knowledge of CSAT. The households who think that CSAT is not women-friendly use the technology more in comparison to households that think that women do not have the skills to use the technology. The intensity of the use of CSAT is higher for households where the female takes agricultural decisions. Further, the use of CSAT is less in families where land is owned by the male members only. This calls for institutional arrangements to ensure wider usage of social capital, land ownership by the female members and their economic empowerment by providing them better wages and livelihood so that agrarian households will be interested to use CSAT in agriculture that can ultimately cater to the growing demand of food

Is foreign direct investment an engine of economic growth? Evidence from the Chinese economy

The main objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between FDI flows and economic growth in China and the policy concerns it engenders. The Johnson co-integration method has been used for testing the relationship of FDI function and found that there is a long-run relationship between the variables such as GDP, FDI and change in domestic capital formation (DC). It could be concluded that China's attempt to give a boost to its growth rate with an expansion of foreign trade and investment, which is carried out with a broader strategy of modernization, reconstruction and reforms in 1979 has been successful. It supports the notion that Chinese economy would sustain its current growth rate by not only opening of the economy but also increasing its investment through FDI inflows. The results suggest that China should encourage the Equity Joint Ventures (EJV) through FDI inflows, which is decreasing in recent years. It would increase the domestic capital formation and sustain the economic growth in China. Further, the key sectors like industry and service should be given importance for the careful consideration in the reform process since the strength of the Chinese economy lies with these key sectors

Digitalization and economic performance of two fast-growing Asian economies: India and the People's Republic of China

This paper aims to identify the role of digitalization and infrastructure in two fast-growing Asian economies, namely India and the People's Republic of China (PRC), within the growth framework from1990 to 2019 by using panel 2SLS and the NARDL technique. The results show that internet and mobile density (a proxy for telecommunication infrastructure/ digitization), expected years of schooling (a proxy for human capital), foreign direct investment inflow, gross capital formation, per capita electricity power consumption (a proxy for electricity infrastructure), research and development expenditure, and the consumer price index have a positive impact on the per capita GDP of India and the PRC. Further, the study reveals that the PRC extracts relatively more from these growth-promoting factors than India, probably indicating greater allocative efficiency. The results imply the need to enhance the digitization movement in both economies and transform the population into human resources so that the higher research and development expenditure can exert the greatest possible positive effect on economic performance

Perception of beneficiaries for efficacy of MGNREGA: a micro level analysis from Kalahandi district of Odisha, India

The present study tries to examine the impact of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) on socio-economic status of MGNREGA beneficiaries in Kalahandi district of Odisha, India by using both primary and secondary data.Secondary data are collected from official website of MGNREGA during the period from 2012-2013 to 2018-2019. Primary data collected through semistructured questionnaire from two blocks of the district, namely Golamunda and Narla with the total sample size of 300 households. In selecting the sample households, a proportionate sampling along with simple random sampling technique has been used. For analysis of the study, a five-point Likert scale has been used to measure the perception of sample respondents on the improvement of socio-economic conditions after implementation of MGNREGA. Besides, composite index has been used to capture the combined perceptions of all the sample respondents. The study found that less than 10 % of the target household got employment of 100 days during the study period. Besides, the result of composite index (0,16) regarding the perception of MGNREGA beneficiaries on different socio-economic parameters gives an impressive that MGNREGA is less effective in the improvement of socio-economic status of the beneficiaries. Thus, it can be concluded that the MGNREGA has not been effective in improving the socio-economic status of MGNREGA beneficiaries in Kalahandi district of Odisha.El presente estudio trata de examinar el impacto del programa MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) en el nivel socioeconómico de sus beneficiarios del distrito de Kalahandi (Odisha, India), utilizando datos primarios y secundarios. Los datos secundarios se recopilan delaweb oficial del programa MGNREGA desde el año 2012-2013 al 2018-2019. Los datos primarios se recopilaron a través de un cuestionario semiestructurado pasado en dos bloques del distrito (Golamunda y Narla), con un tamaño de muestra total de 300 hogares. Estos se seleccionaron mediante un muestreo proporcional junto con una técnica de muestreo aleatorio simple. Para el análisis se utilizó una escala Likert de cinco puntos con la que medir la percepción de los encuestados de la muestra sobre la mejora de las condiciones socioeconómicas después de la implementación del programa MGNREGA. Además, el índice compuesto se ha utilizado para capturar las percepciones combinadas de todos los encuestados. El estudio encontró que menos del 10 % de los hogares encuestados consiguió empleo durante los 100 días que duró nuestro estudio de programa. Además, el resultado del índice compuesto (0,16) con respecto a la percepción de los beneficiarios de MGNREGA sobre diferentes parámetros socioeconómicos, permite apuntar que el programa MGNREGA es relativamente poco efectivo

A microeconometrics approach to gendered perspective of empowerment through agricultural decision-making in Rural Odisha, India

Discrimination against women in agricultural decision-making is a major threat to the empowerment of women in many developing countries where agriculture is not only the major source of livelihood, at times the only source of livelihood. It hampers their socio-economic status as well as the overall economic development of the country. The objective of this paper is to understand the gendered perspective of agricultural decision-making in one of the eastern states of India, i.e., Odisha by analysing the primary data collected through a structured schedule from 996 agrarian households. This paper, by using multinomial logit model, concludes that land ownership exclusively by females raises their decision-making power with respect to all agricultural activities in the household. Joint ownership of land by both men and women and the use of modern technology in farm activities also raise the agrarian decision-making power of the females. Further, the decision-making power of women is more among the socially marginalised and economically deprived categories. This calls for institutional arrangements to ensure land ownership by the female members and their economic empowerment by providing them better wages and livelihood

Sources of output growth in the countries of the Common Monetary Area and the provinces of South Africa

This paper aims to decompose the sources of growth in economies in the Southern African region's Common Monetary Area and in the provinces of South Africa. Decomposition results for the Common Monetary Area reveal that the growth of aggregate and sectoral gross domestic product is driven by input, without increasing efficiency in production or benefiting from technological progress, which is unsustainable. Negative technical change implies that countries are unable to reap the benefits from shifts in technology. Countries experiencing input-driven growth in the secondary sector, such as Namibia and Eswatini, have the potential to achieve growth through efficiency improvements and by adopting technology. Output growth in the provinces of South Africa is negatively contributed by changes in technical efficiency, which suggests that policy makers should raise growth further by emphasizing improvements in efficiency in these provinces

Regional and subregional analyses of macroeconomic policy strategies for growth and equality in Southern Africa

We investigate the relevance of beta (Ø, absolute and conditional) and sigma (σ) convergence in the economies of the Common Monetary Area of Southern Africa and in the provinces of the Republic of South Africa using panel data, allowing an understanding of growth and inequality in the region. The region has experienced Ø- and σ-convergence; however, growth rates of per capita gross domestic product are low at aggregate and sectoral levels. At sectoral level, the performance of the tertiary sector is better than that of the primary and secondary sectors. The relatively poor performance of the primary and secondary sectors needs policy attention. For the provinces of South Africa, capital expenditure on key sectors such as education and health can enhance growth rate, whereas the overall revenue expenditure retards growth. Therefore, provinces' capital budgets need to be managed well within the limitation of revenue expenditure to avoid fiscal imbalances