Lanthanide luminescence based probe for detection of picric acid

1041-1047Europium fluorescence is significantly enhanced through ligand sensitization using aromatic benzene mono and di carboxylic acids as ligands in aqueous solution. By optimising metal to ligand ratio and solution pH, it is established that the enhancement is maximum with isophthalic and terephthalic acid. Phosphorescence of isophthalic acid is recorded and its triplet energy level is found to be at 25633 cm-1; just above the fluorescing energy level of Eu3+. On complexation with these ligands though the europium luminescence is enhanced by orders of magnitude, the europium lifetime increased marginally. Addition of picric acid resulted in the quenching of europium luminescence in europium-isophthalic acid complex. Based on this quenching, a fluorimetric method is developed for the estimation of picric acid in aqueous solution. Picric acid in aqueous solution could be estimated down to 0.23 ppm. Common cations and anions found in natural waters did not interfere in the analysis. The precision in measurement is within 5% RSD in the entire range of measurement

Lanthanide luminescence based probe for detection of picric acid

Europium fluorescence is significantly enhanced through ligand sensitization using aromatic benzene mono and di carboxylic acids as ligands in aqueous solution. By optimizing metal to ligand ratio and solution pH, it is established that the enhancement is maximum with iso-phthalic and tere-phthalic acid. Phosphorescence of isophthalic acid is recorded and its triplet energy level is found to be at 25633 cm-1; just above the fluorescing energy level of Eu3+. On complexation with these ligands though the europium luminescence is enhanced by orders of magnitude, the europium lifetime increased marginally. Addition of picric acid resulted in the quenching of europium luminescence in europium-isophthalic acid complex. Based on this quenching, a fluorimetric method is developed for the estimation of picric acid in aqueous solution. Picric acid in aqueous solution could be estimated down to 0.23 ppm. Common cations and anions found in natural waters did not interfere in the analysis. The precision in measurement is within 5 % RSD in the entire range of measurement

The Teflon effect of political power: when criminal charges do not stick

This paper examines the effect of political power on the risk of legal prosecution. We focus on the case of India for which the most comprehensive data are available. Over 40% of India’s legislators face criminal charges. However, ethnographic evidence suggests that those who get the charges, are not necessarily the actual criminals. Rather, criminal charges seem to be endogenous to political power. We test this hypothesis on the basis of a dataset of winning candidates and their closest competitors in the 2009 national election and follow the development of their charges over five years until the next election. Our results reveal that political power indeed matters, and suggest a variety of channels for this effect. Incumbency power of MPs is particularly relevant in southern states. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that until the 2014 election, incumbents cumulate on average two charges less than those politicians that narrowly lost the election. In other states, incumbency advantages appear to be outweighed by other political factors such as alignment with the ruling party. Across the whole country, affiliation with a strong national or state party (as opposed to independent or unrecognized local parties) reduces criminal charges. These results reveal a serious and systematic governance problem. They also reveal that caution is required when interpreting reported criminal charges at the level of individual politicians. A better understanding of who are the actual criminals is required to solve the problems induced by criminality in office

Does transparency improve public program targeting? Evidence from India's old-age social pension reforms

Public program targeting is particularly challenging in developing countries. Transparency in eligibility rules for the implementation of social programs could be an effective measure to reduce mistargeting. While prior studies have examined the relevance of transparent delivery mechanisms, we focus on the transparency of eligibility criteria that can be reformed at relatively low cost. India’s social pension reforms in the late 2000s provide the opportunity to examine the effect of a change in these criteria. Using two rounds of the India Human Development Survey along with extensive administrative information, we test whether increasing the transparency of eligibility criteria reduces the mistargeting of social pensions. We thereby allow for an error band, and we carefully control for design effects due to a general increase in the number of pensions and eligible individuals. Our results confirm the relationship between transparency of eligibility criteria and targeting performance and are robust to different specifications of the transparency measure and the introduction of a tolerance band

The pursuit of simplicity: Can simplifying eligibility criteria improve social pension targeting?

Governments in developing countries struggle to reach intended beneficiaries when targeting social transfers towards vulnerable populations. Rates of eligible individuals not receiving social transfers and ineligible individuals receiving them tend to be high, constraining the effectiveness of such anti-poverty programs. While interventions to incentivize or monitor local agents in charge of selecting beneficiaries are typically expensive, an important complementary and cost-effective approach could be to reform eligibility criteria to facilitate the selection of beneficiaries. Whether reforms should focus on reducing the number of rules, or selecting criteria which are easy to verify, or do both remains an unanswered question. We address this knowledge gap based on India’s social pension scheme for elderly poor. We find that making eligibility criteria easier to verify has the potential to achieve a substantial improvement in the targeting performance through a reduction in the exclusion error. Those who meet the relevant criteria have a much higher chance of actually becoming beneficiaries. Since eligibility criteria can be changed at low cost, this suggests a viable route for reform in many developing countries. However, a major caveat remains that criteria must sufficiently well reflect actual poverty if the more accurate selection of beneficiaries according to formal criteria shall also translate into actual poverty reduction

The pursuit of simplicity : Can simplifying eligibility criteria improve social pension targeting?

Governments in developing countries struggle to reach intended beneficiaries when targeting social transfers towards vulnerable populations. Rates of eligible individuals not receiving social transfers and ineligible individuals receiving them tend to be high, constraining the effectiveness of such anti-poverty programs. While interventions to incentivize or monitor local agents in charge of selecting beneficiaries are typically expensive, an important complementary and cost-effective approach could be to reform eligibility criteria to facilitate the selection of beneficiaries. Whether reforms should focus on reducing the number of rules, or selecting criteria which are easy to verify, or do both remains an unanswered question. We address this knowledge gap based on India’s social pension scheme for elderly poor. We find that making eligibility criteria easier to verify has the potential to achieve a substantial improvement in the targeting performance through a reduction in the exclusion error. Those who meet the relevant criteria have a much higher chance of actually becoming beneficiaries. Since eligibility criteria can be changed at low cost, this suggests a viable route for reform in many developing countries. However, a major caveat remains that criteria must sufficiently well reflect actual poverty if the more accurate selection of beneficiaries according to formal criteria shall also translate into actual poverty reduction.publishe

Do more transparent eligibility rules improve public program targeting? : Evidence from India’s old-age social pension reform

Public program targeting is particularly challenging in developing countries. Transparency in eligibility rules for the implementation of social programs could be an effective measure to reduce mistargeting. While prior studies have examined the relevance of transparent delivery mechanisms, we focus on the clarity and verifiability of eligibility criteria. India's social pension reforms in the late 2000s provide the opportunity to examine the effect of a change in these criteria within and across states. Using two rounds of the India Human Development Survey along with extensive administrative information collected for the different states, we test whether increasing the transparency of eligibility criteria reduces the mistargeting of social pensions. We thereby allow for a tolerance band, and account for changes in social pension coverage. Our results confirm the expected relationship between the transparency of eligibility criteria and targeting performance and are robust to different specifications of the transparency measure and various robustness checks. Since eligibility criteria can be changed at low cost, this suggests a viable route for reform in many developing countries.publishe