Is CSR Expenditure Relevant to the Firms in India?

The present study examines the relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure to the firms in the mandatory regime in India. The paper has its theoretical basis from the instrumental aspect of the Stakeholder theory, which assumes a positive influence of CSR over financial performance. Therefore, the study hypothesizes that the firms which fulfill the CSR expenditure requirement will exhibit higher stock returns and lower systematic risk. Since India mandated CSR in the year 2014, the data of four years (2016-2019) for the sample of 426 National Stock Exchange (NSE) listed Indian firms are taken to employ the OLS regression method. The CSR expenditure in the mandatory regime was not found to be relevant to the firms because of an insignificant positive impact of mandatory CSR expenditure on stock returns. Thus, the instrumental aspect is not supported by the findings. However, the findings indicate a decrease in the systematic risk of the firms. Only a few studies in India investigated this phenomenon in the mandatory regime. Further, the contributions of the study to the CSR literature are fairly useful from the perspective of firms, investors, policy-makers, regulators, scholars, and countries that are planning for legislating CSR

Pathways for sustainable urban waste management and reduced environmental health risks in India: winners, losers and alternatives to Waste to Energy in Delhi

This paper examines the shift toward centralized waste-to-energy (WTE) as a singular solution to Delhi's solid waste crisis and describes a transdisciplinary research process that sought to understand how and why this dominant waste management pathway emerged. It also sought to engage with and facilitate debate on the potential for alternative waste management pathways, which may better address combined environmental and social justice concerns. We explain the emergence of a transforming narrative that reframed waste from a risk to a resource, reflecting and reinforcing the dominant trajectory of socio-technical-ecological change in urban development, and reconfiguring waste related infrastructure to involve public private participation and WTE technology. Drawing on empirical studies, involving local residents, wastepickers associations, NGOs, and government officials, we discuss implications of WTE projects in Delhi. We argue that the current WTE focused approach, without modification, may simply displace health hazards across time, space and social groups and exacerbate social justice concerns. The dominant narrative on waste management priorities appear to make certain health risks protected and recognized whilst others are made invisible. We make the case for possible alternative waste management scenarios, institutional and regulatory arrangements that may better address environmental health and social justice concerns. These are summarized under eight principles for reframing urban waste management policy challenges in the context of sustainable urban development. These principles include a reframing of waste management through a sustainability lens that links currently divergent initiatives on environmental health and social justice. It involves an appreciation of complex socio-material flows of waste, the need to move beyond perspectives of waste management as an environmental policy issue alone, appreciation in policy development that the informal sector will remain a key player despite attempts to formalize waste management and the need to provide incentives for diverse waste management strategies that move beyond the private

Physical and chemical stabilization of soil organic matter in cropland ecosystems under rice–wheat, maize–wheat and cotton–wheat cropping systems in northwestern India

This article examines the impact of rice–wheat, maize–wheat and cotton–wheat cropping systems on total (TOC), labile and stable organic carbon (C) pools, aggregate stability and distribution of organic C in different size aggregates and the mineral fraction (silt + clay) of soil. The rice–wheat soils had significantly (p 0.25 mm) increased with a concomitant decrease in the proportion of micro-aggregates (<0.25 mm). The carbon preservation capacity (CPC) of macro-aggregates (CPCMacA), micro-aggregates (CPCMicA) and total water-stable aggregates (CPCWSA) was significantly lower in rice–wheat soils compared with the other systems. The CPCMacA, mineral (silt + clay)-associated C (MinAC) and sodium hypochlorite oxidizable C (NaOCl-C) increased with an increase in the proportion of macro-aggregates and the mineral fraction of soils. A linear increase in the stable C pool ((silt + clay)-C and NaOCl-C) and soils’ silt + clay content implies that soils’ fine fraction was the principal mechanism of textural control on soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization

Clinical and hematobiochemical response in canine monocytic ehrlichiosis seropositive dogs of Punjab

Aim: As in India especially, the Punjab state sero-prevalence and distribution of ehrlichiosis in relation to clinico-hematobiochemical response remains largely unexplored. Thus, this study was designed to determine the prevalence of vector (tick)-borne tropical canine pancytopenia caused by Ehrlichia canis through enzyme labeled ImmunoComb® (IC) assay in dogs from in and around Ludhiana, Punjab. Correlation of prevalence was made with various clinico-hematobiochemical parameters. Materials and Methods: Seroprevalence study was carried out using IC® test kit (Biogal, Galed Labs). The study was conducted in 84 dogs presented to the Small Animal Clinics, Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, Punjab. Results: Out of 84 suspected dogs for ehrlichiosis, based on peripheral thin blood smear examination 12 (14.28%) cases were positive for the morulae of E. canis and 73 (86.90%) dogs were found positive to E. canis antibodies through IC® canine Ehrlichia antibody test kit, respectively. Among the different age groups 1-3 years of aged group showed highest prevalence (41.09%), followed by the 3-6 years age group (32.87%), infection levels were lower in the <1 year of age group dogs (13.69%) and more than 6 years age group dogs (12.32%). The highest prevalence was seen in Labrador retriever. This study indicates that season plays a very important role in the prevalence of ehrlichiosis. The most common findings observed were anemia, leukocytosis, neutropenia, lymphopenia, thrombocytopenia, eosinophilia followed by hyperbilirubinemia, increased levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase, hypoalbuminemia, hyperglobulinaemia, decrease in albumin and globulin ratio, increase in blood urea nitrogen and creatinine. Conclusions: Serological techniques like IC® are more useful for detecting chronic and subclinical infections and are ideally suited to epidemiological investigations

Nitrogen and potassium application effects on productivity, profitability and nutrient use efficiency of irrigated wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

The development of robust nutrient management strategies have played a crucial role in improving crop productivity, profitability and nutrient use efficiency. Therefore, the implementation of efficient nutrient management stratigies is important for food security and environmental safety. Amongst the essential plant nutrients, managing nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) based production systems is citically important to maximize profitable production with minimal negative environmental impacts. We investigated the effects of different fertilizer-N (viz. 0-240 kg N ha-1; N0-N240) and fertilizer-K (viz. 0-90 kg K ha-1; K0-K90) application rates on wheat productivity, nutrient (N and K) use efficiency viz. partial factor productivity (PFPN/K), agronomic efficiency (AEN/K), physiological efficiency (PEN/K), reciprocal internal use efficiency (RIUEN/K), and profitability in terms of benefit-cost (B-C) ratio, gross returns above fertilizer cost (GRAFC) and the returns on investment (ROI) on fertilizer application. These results revealed that wheat productivity, plant growth and yield attributes, nutrients uptake and use efficiency increased significantly (p<0.05)with fertilizer-N application, although the interaction effect of N x K application was statistically non-significant (p<0.05). Fertilizer-N application at 120 kg N ha-1 (N120) increased the number of effective tillers (8.7%), grain yield (17.3%), straw yield (15.1%), total N uptake (25.1%) and total K uptake (16.1%) than the N80. Fertilizer-N application significantly increased the SPAD reading by ~4.2-10.6% with fertilizer-N application (N80-N240), compared with N0. The PFPN and PFPK increased significantly with fertilizer-N and K application in wheat. The AEN varied between 12.3 and 22.2 kg kg-1 with significantly higher value of 20.8 kg kg-1 in N120. Fertilizer-N application at higher rate (N160) significantly decreased the AEN by ~16.3% over N120. The N120treatment increased the AEK by ~52.6% than N80 treatment. Similarly the RIUEN varied between 10.6 and 25.6 kg Mg-1 grain yield, and increased significantly by ~80.2% with N120 as compared to N0 treatment. The RIUEK varied between 109 and 15.1 kg Mg-1 grain yield, and was significantly higher in N120 treatment. The significant increase in mean gross returns (MGRs) by ~17.3% and mean net returns (MNRs) by ~24.1% increased the B-C ratio by ~15.1% with N120 than the N80 treatment. Fertilizer-N application in N120 treatment increased the economic efficiency of wheat by ~24.1% and GRAFC by ~16.9%. Grain yield was significantly correlated with total N uptake (r = 0.932**, p<0.01), K uptake (r = 0.851**), SPAD value (r = 0.945**), green seeker reading (r = 0.956**), and the RIUEN (r = 0.910**). The artificial neural networks (ANNs) showed highly satisfactory performance in training and simulation of testing data-set on wheat grain yield. The calculated mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE) for wheat were 0.0087, 0.834 and 0.052, respectively. The well trained ANNs model was capable of producing consistency for the training and testing correlation (R2 = 0.994**, p<0.01) between the predicted and actual values of wheat grain yield, which implies that ANN model succeeded in wheat grain yield prediction

Long-Term Field and Horticultural Crops Intensification in Semiarid Regions Influence the Soil Physiobiochemical Properties and Nutrients Status

The study was conducted to assess the long-term effects of predominant land uses on physicochemical properties, nutrient status and their interactions in soils of south-western Punjab representing the semi-arid soils of India. From each site, soil samples of three predominant land use viz. croplands, horticultural lands and uncultivated lands were collected from 0&ndash;15, 15&ndash;30, 30&ndash;60 and 60&ndash;90 cm depths. Soils of both croplands and horticultural lands were classified as sandy loam whereas uncultivated lands showed loamy sand texture with relatively higher pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and bulk density (Bd). Greater soil organic carbon (SOC), available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn) in horticulture might be due to the higher addition of OC and mineral nutrients through the decomposition of leaf litterfall and root deposits over their removal from soils while long-term use of potassic fertilizer raised the available K contents in croplands. Profile study up to 90 cm depicted the largest sequestration of 74.89 Mg C ha&minus;1 under orchards which was 40 and 70% higher than croplands and uncultivated lands respectively. Significant variability in water-stable aggregates (WSA) (R2 = 0.5843, p &lt; 0.05) and mean weighted diameter (MWD) (R2 = 0.6497, p &lt; 0.01) with SOC indicated better soil stability in horticulture due to the presence of higher SOC. Positive relations of soil available micronutrients with SOC and finer soil particles were supported by the results of correlation, Principal component analysis and dendrogram indicating horticulture as a potent source of available micronutrients. An overall superiority of horticultural land use over the other two land uses in terms of nutrient status and soil stability suggests its inclusion as a positive strategy that could be taken into account in policymaking for maintaining productivity along with the sustainability of the concerned land degradation prone area

Long-Term Field and Horticultural Crops Intensification in Semiarid Regions Influence the Soil Physiobiochemical Properties and Nutrients Status

The study was conducted to assess the long-term effects of predominant land uses on physicochemical properties, nutrient status and their interactions in soils of south-western Punjab representing the semi-arid soils of India. From each site, soil samples of three predominant land use viz. croplands, horticultural lands and uncultivated lands were collected from 0–15, 15–30, 30–60 and 60–90 cm depths. Soils of both croplands and horticultural lands were classified as sandy loam whereas uncultivated lands showed loamy sand texture with relatively higher pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and bulk density (Bd). Greater soil organic carbon (SOC), available nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and micronutrients (Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn) in horticulture might be due to the higher addition of OC and mineral nutrients through the decomposition of leaf litterfall and root deposits over their removal from soils while long-term use of potassic fertilizer raised the available K contents in croplands. Profile study up to 90 cm depicted the largest sequestration of 74.89 Mg C ha−1 under orchards which was 40 and 70% higher than croplands and uncultivated lands respectively. Significant variability in water-stable aggregates (WSA) (R2 = 0.5843, p R2 = 0.6497, p < 0.01) with SOC indicated better soil stability in horticulture due to the presence of higher SOC. Positive relations of soil available micronutrients with SOC and finer soil particles were supported by the results of correlation, Principal component analysis and dendrogram indicating horticulture as a potent source of available micronutrients. An overall superiority of horticultural land use over the other two land uses in terms of nutrient status and soil stability suggests its inclusion as a positive strategy that could be taken into account in policymaking for maintaining productivity along with the sustainability of the concerned land degradation prone area