In the Vacuum of Public Action Social Security in Orissa: A Long Way to Go

This paper is part of a large study on the Social Protection in Rural India and China. In this paper, we attempt at a critical appraisal of the historical development and experience of social security initiatives in Orissa, India. Unlike in the context of Kerala, an unfavourable dynamics of historical conjunction of ecological, economic, social, and institutional conditions in Orissa has worked itself out to contribute to the high level of insecurity there. We argue that the failure of Orissa was in its inability to develop the forces of organization and mobilization into its logical end of participatory development process for a secured life on account of some unfavourable historical conjunction. It is also attempted in this paper to categorize the on-going social security schemes according to the definitional framework of our study, that is, in terms of the definitional division of social security into basic and contingent social security.Social security; Orissa; Development; Contingency

Evolution of Social Security in the Lap of Public Action: Recounting the Experience of Kerala

This paper is part of a large study on the Social Protection in Rural India and China. In this paper, we attempt at a critical appraisal of the historical development and experience of social security initiatives in Kerala, India. We situate the development experience of Kerala in a conceptual framework of participatory development, which we interpret in a broad context of organization and mobilization of people at specific junctures of historical progress of a society. Thus participatory development, in our view is participation in the progressive process of realization of human rights and thus in development; that is, public action, with an effective public demand and a wiling public supply, conditioned by the legitimate function of the state. It is also attempted to categorize the on-going social security schemes according to the definitional framework of our study, that is, in terms of the definitional division of social security into basic and contingent social security.Social security; Kerala; development; contingency

Social Security in India: The Long Lane Treaded and the Longer Road Ahead Towards Universalization

This paper is part of a large study on the Social Protection in Rural India and China. In this paper, we attempt at a critical appraisal of the historical development and experience of social security initiatives at the all India level. Based on the findings of the review, we visualize a road map to a more comprehensive and participatory initiatives in provision of social security by the state, while stressing the role of the civil society, non-governmental organizations and mass organizations. It is also attempted to categorize the on-going social security schemes according to the definitional framework of our study, that is, in terms of the definitional division of social security into basic and contingent social security.Social security; India; poverty; development; contingency

Chemical patterning for the highly specific and programmed assembly of nanostructures

We have developed a new chemical patterning technique based on standard lithography-based processes to assemble nanostructures on surfaces with extraordinarily high selectivity. This patterning process is used to create patterns of aminosilane molecular layers surrounded by highly inert poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) molecules. While the aminosilane regions facilitate nanostructure assembly, the PEG coating prevents adsorption of molecules and nanostructures, thereby priming the semiconductor substrate for the highly localized and programmed assembly of nanostructures. We demonstrate the power and versatility of this manufacturing process by building multilayered structures of gold nanoparticles attached to molecules of DNA onto the aminosilane patterns, with zero nanocrystal adsorption onto the surrounding PEG regions. The highly specific surface chemistry developed here can be used in conjunction with standard microfabrication and emerging nanofabrication technology to seamlessly integrate various nanostructures with semiconductor electronics

Morphological filtering on hypergraphs

The focus of this article is to develop computationally efficient mathematical morphology operators on hypergraphs. To this aim we consider lattice structures on hypergraphs on which we build morphological operators. We develop a pair of dual adjunctions between the vertex set and the hyper edge set of a hypergraph H, by defining a vertex-hyperedge correspondence. This allows us to recover the classical notion of a dilation/erosion of a subset of vertices and to extend it to subhypergraphs of H. Afterward, we propose several new openings, closings, granulometries and alternate sequential filters acting (i) on the subsets of the vertex and hyperedge set of H and (ii) on the subhypergraphs of a hypergraph

Poverty alleviation as advancing basic human capabilities : Kerala's achievements compared

This paper is complementary to my earlier paper on Public Intervention and Poverty Alleviation: Declining Incidence of Rural Poverty in Kerala (published in 1995). The objective of this paper is to go beyond the notion of income-poverty and consider the achievements in advancing basic human capabilities. Written for an Asian audience, the paper highlights Kerala’s achievements in advancing basic human capabilities to an extent that is far above than would be warranted by its per capita income. For this reason, the experience of Kerala, along with a few other countries, has received considerable attention in the development literature. This paper highlights Kerala’s achievements by comparing them with six Asian countries’ performance. These countries are: India, China, Thailand, Malasia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. After examining the significance of Kerala’s achievements, the paper discusses Kerala’s record in relation to the selected six Asian countries. In addition, the paper also briefly deals with Kerala’s achievements in relation to all-India since the Indian experience in general is one of slow progress and the task ahead is quite considerable both in absolute terms as well as in relation to most other countries. Emphasis has been given to public action by which Kerala has achieved considerable reduction in poverty. Here I have identified education as the central process through which other changes in society, especially for the poor, were brought about. In this process, the importance and impact of historical factors in poverty alleviation have been highlighted. Finally an attempt has been made to draw some lessons from the Kerala experience by focusing on the role of public action. JEL Classification: I 30, I 31, I 32 Key Words: Education, health status, human capabilities, human deprivation, Human Poverty Index, income-poverty, mobilisation, poverty alleviation, public action

The welfare fund model of social security for informal sector workers : the Kerala experience

This paper examines the evolution of the institution of ‘Welfare Funds’ for informal sector workers in the State of Kerala in India. The Kerala experience, which is now thirty years old, reflects what the workers in the informal sector could achieve in countries like India given the contemporary political context and the democratic political framework of the State. But it required sustained collective action on the part of the workers. The paper finds that while the Welfare Fund Model of collective care arrangements for the informal sector workers in Kerala showed considerable innovation in its design and organisation, its functioning is embedded in the bureaucratic system giving rise to a number of problems. Even then the Model offers a minimum of social security to the informal sector workers who are unprotected. Therefore the question of replicating this Model with suitable modifications to other States in India as well as to other countries, where there are no social security arrangements for informal sector workers, is worth pursuing. JEL Classification : I 30, I 38, J 50 Key words : collective care, informal sector workers, Kerala, social security, welfare funds