Long term trends in the growth and structure of the net state domestic product in Kerala

Kerala has been a model to other states for her achievements in social development. But in terms of economic growth her performance has for long been very poor and a matter of deep concern. In this context the turnaround in growth that has occurred in Kerala in the nineties , in contrast to the earlier decades needs to be looked at in detail. This study is an attempt in that direction. It is an analysis of the long terms trends in the State Domestic Product of Kerala for the period 1970-2000. It is concerned with the growth of the different sectors of the economy, the changes in the sectoral composition of output and other related issues such as the sources of growth. What is observed is that in the eighties and more so in the nineties both in terms of rates of growth and share in net state domestic product the tertiary sector has dominated and this has been due to the growth of the producer’s services. Income responsiveness of producer services is also found to be the highest. However, it is observed that this has not resulted in any linkages with the production sector within the economy suggesting that the linkages may be with productive sectors of other states. Nevertheless there are some intersectoral linkages with the consumer services and intra sectorallinkages between banking and insurance and transport by other means. In conclusion the leading and lagging sectors of the economy and in the nineties the sectors propelling growth are identified. The sectors which have lost their position when compared to the previous decades are Registered Manufacturing, Construction and Public Administration. The emerging sectors in the economy are transport by other means, and trade , hotels and restaurants while banking and insurance is the leading sector. Analysis of structural transformation in the economy suggests that although structural change has been there, it was found to be very moderate and has not been strong enough to bring about a major change either in terms of the growth centres of the economy or the main contributors to the growth of the economy. In conclusion one feels that we continue to remain a consumer /trading state and not a producer state. Is this socially desirable and sustainable is a question that needs to be addressed. Key words: SDP growth rates, sectoral shares, service sector, producer services, consumer services, income and price elasticity, structural transformation JEL Classification: O11, O1

ICT and employment promotion among poor women : how can we make it happen? some reflections on Kerala's experience

This paper deals with the integration of gender in policies relating to information and communication technology to empower socially excluded poor women as producers of this technology. In this context, this paper examines an interventionist ICT policy undertaken by Kudumbasree (an innovative women based participatory programme) to empower poor women .The central part of the investigation is a survey of Kudumbasree supported micro enterprises scattered across the state to understand the nature and characteristics of the enterprises, activity pattern and performance parameters. The analysis of the paper is divided into two parts. First part deals with the structure and performance of women led enterprises and the second deals with issues relating to women, work and welfare. From the evidence gathered, we can conclude that the ICT initiatives under the umbrella of Kudumbasree have vast potential for empowering the poor women. The study clearly establishes that given the basic literacy of the state, engendering ICT for poor women is feasible, provided the right organisational support is given. Poor women through this programme have entered the lowest of IT enabled jobs. If this good beginning has to be sustained and poor women have to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the IT revolution, they should be helped to move to higher levels of activities with more intense training and organisational support. There is a need for continuous upgradation of skills and capacity building particularly in the context of the fast changing technology associated with the IT sector. The point that needs to be stressed is that while the agency has concentrated on the supply side, the demand side aspects such as output demand, market research, customer service etc; have been largely ignored. For best results the supply and demand factors need to be tackled in an integrated manner. The current practice of digitization of government records through Kudumbasree has its limitations. Work is bound to peter out when the backlog of digitization work is completed. The solution to this lies in the expanded role of the agency. The units have to diversify the customer base with government acting as a facilitator. Maybe the government can set up a flexible independent apex body, or alternatively an alliance of units to strengthen their bargaining power. To conclude, although we cannot expect with the given levels of education, for the women to move to very high levels of work like software development it is possible to ensure continuous income and employment through work contracts of a different nature-work of a continuous nature and not programme specific like electronic publishing, customer call centres, records management etc. which will fall well within their educational capabilities. ICT is certainly a promising sector for the empowerment of poor women and for them to become partners in development. Key words: E24, J16, J23, L63 JEL Classification: Women, Employment, Kudumbasree, Poverty alleviation, self help group

Assessment of oxidative stress and antioxidant status in cattle infected with Theileria orientalis

Oriental theileriosis is a major haemoprotozoan disease of cattle and causes huge economic losses to the farmers. Oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of anaemia and subsequent complications associated with theileriosis. The present study was conducted to assess oxidative stress and antioxidant status of cattle infected with Theileria orientalis. In the present study, 16 animals which were positive for theileriosis by blood smear examination were selected. Confirmation of oriental theileriosis was done with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Assessment of oxidative stress and antioxidant status were done by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and reduced glutathione activity respectively. Both MDA levels and reduced glutathione activity did not indicate any significant difference in animals infected with T. orientalis from control animals

Novel Face-Name Paired Associate Learning and Famous Face Recognition in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Neuropsychological and Brain Volumetric Study

Purpose: To assess visual associative learning and famous face recognition ability among subjects with stable amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) relative to early stage dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cognitively normal healthy controls (NC) and to correlate these differences with volumetric changes on MRI. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted on 61 participants. The subjects underwent neuropsychological evaluation, including validated newly designed tests for novel face-name paired association learning recall and famous face recognition. MRI volumetry was done on a subset of patients to ascertain the topographical patterns of volume loss. Results: There were significant differences in performance on free recall for face-name paired associate learning in MCI (n = 22) compared to NC (n = 20) (p < 0.001) and MCI compared to AD (n = 19; p < 0.001). Significant differences were also noted in scores on the famous personalities test between MCI and NC (p = 0.007), and MCI and AD (p = 0.032). The free recall component of face-name pair associative learning significantly correlated with left cuneus (p = 0.005; r = 0.833) and right cuneus (p = 0.003; r = 0.861) volume in AD with no significant correlation among MCI and NC cohorts. Conclusions: Novel and semantically familiar face-name associative recalls are significantly impaired in MCI, and these potentially predate the MRI volumetric changes in MCI. Our findings expand the spectrum of recall deficits in MCI