PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURAL AND GDP GROWTH-- ANOTHER LOOK AT THE INTER SECTORAL LINKAGES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Despite its reduced share in India’s GDP, agriculture continues to have a strategic importance in ensuring its overall growth and prosperity. As part of the new economic policy package introduced in the early nineties, there has been a reduction in the rate of public investment. While this may not be bad for the industrial sector, the impact of this policy on agriculture is a matter of concern, in sofar as it not only affects steady growth of agriculture but also influences the overall performance of the economy. This is more so because the agricultural sector public investment has also promoted private investment by way of what is termed as the crowding-in phenomenon. This phenomenon together with inter-sectoral linkages is used in this paper to examine the effect of higher public investment for agriculture on the stable growth of this sector as well as of the entire economy. Policy implications of this exercise are important for obvious reasons.Sectoral linkages, Public Investment, crowding-in

WUDAPT: an urban weather, climate and environmental modeling infrastructure for the Anthropocene

WUDAPT is an international community-based initiative to acquire and disseminate climate relevant data on the physical geographies of cities for modeling and analyses purposes. The current lacuna of globally consistent information on cities is a major impediment to urban climate science towards informing and developing climate mitigation and adaptation strategies at urban scales. WUDAPT consists of a database and a portal system; its database is structured into a hierarchy representing different levels of detail and the data are acquired using innovative protocols that utilize crowdsourcing approaches, Geowiki tools, freely accessible data, and building typology archetypes. The base level of information (L0) consists of Local Climate Zones (LCZ) maps of cities; each LCZ category is associated with range of values for model relevant surface descriptors (e.g. roughness, impervious surface cover, roof area, building heights, etc.). Levels 1 (L1) and 2 (L2) will provide specific intraurban values for other relevant descriptors at greater precision, such as data morphological forms, material composition data and energy usage. This article describes the status of the WUDAPT project and demonstrates its potential value using observations and models. As a community-based project, other researchers are encouraged to participate to help create a global urban database of value to urban climate scientists

Kautilya's model of sustainable development

Purpose – The purpose of this seminal paper is to present the concept of sustainability in its purest form as conceived by Kautilya and bring out its relevance to the current issues and the areas of concern in the global perspectives. Design/methodology/approach – This paper goes with the premise that the concept of sustainable development (SD) as enunciated by the western theorists has not been fitted in an integrated framework. An attempt is made in this study, to bring to light an unwritten model of SD of Kautilya, which is universal in approach and relevant to many of the current issues of today. Findings – The Kautilya's model of SD is an assimilation of idealistic and realistic views of human life. The quintessence of this model is that SD can be realized only if each one in a society lives for the other and all collectively for the welfare of the mankind. Research limitations/implications – The success of this model depends on the level of understanding, design of socio-economic and political institutions required, the goals and the means set for oneself and society and the degree of accountability exhibited in implementing the model. Practical implications – This model can be tailored to suit the requirements of modern society in the short run as well as in the long run. Originality/value – This paper is original in nature because a modern concept like SD is analytically linked to the development-design of Kautilya with a view to infusing profundity, realism and applicability to it.Globalization, Society, Sustainable development

Can India show the way?

PRIFPRI3; DCAKCI