Measuring Accuracy of Projections of Central Taxes by the Finance Commission

This paper looks at the quality of forecasts/assessments made by some of the recent Finance Commissions for the shareable central taxes and own tax revenues of selected states. The Commissions covered under this analysis are Ninth to Twelfth Finance Commissions. It is observed that while direct taxes are underestimated in general, revenues from indirect taxes partially Union excise duties and custom duties have been over estimated. In respect of states, four selected states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Orissa and Assam are examined. While there is similarity between the approaches of Ninth, Tenth and Twelfth Finance Commissions in regard to middle and high income states, the Eleventh Finance Commission required that they raise tax revenues higher than what they were able to achieve.Central Taxes, Own Tax Revenues, Finance Commission

Reforming Indirect Taxes in India : Role of Environmental Taxes

Extensive reforms of Indias indirect taxes at the central and the state levels has prepared the necessary ground for the implementation of a comprehensive goods and services tax (GST). The Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers in their First Discussion Paper and the Thirteenth Finance Commission in their recently submitted report have suggested GST models which are quite different in many respects. This paper identifies these differences and argues that within the regime of taxation of goods and services in India environmental tax reform should also be incorporated to make the tax regime play a significant role in managing environment. The environment tax reforms will yield both a fiscal double dividend and an economic double dividend making the Indian economy pursue a path of sustainable development.Taxes, Environment

Anti-correlated time lags in the Z source GX 5-1: Possible evidence for a truncated accretion disk

We investigate the nature of the inner accretion disk in the neutron star source GX 5-1 by making a detailed study of time lags between X-rays of different energies. Using the cross-correlation analysis, we found anti-correlated hard and soft time lags of the order of a few tens to a few hundred seconds and the corresponding intensity states were mostly the horizontal branch (HB) and upper normal branch (NB). The model independent and dependent spectral analysis showed that during these time lags the structure of accretion disk significantly varied. Both eastern and western approaches were used to unfold the X-ray continuum and systematic changes were observed in soft and hard spectral components. These changes along with a systematic shift in the frequency of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) made it substantially evident that the geometry of the accretion disk is truncated. Simultaneous energy spectral and power density spectral study shows that the production of the horizontal branch oscillations (HBOs) are closely related to the Comptonizing region rather than the disk component in the accretion disk. We found that as the HBO frequency decreases from the hard apex to upper HB, the disk temperature increases along with an increase in the coronal temperature which is in sharp contrast with the changes found in black hole binaries where the decrease in QPO frequency is accompanied by a decrease in the disk temperature and a simultaneous increase in the coronal temperature. We discuss the results in the context of re-condensation of coronal material in the inner region of the disk.Comment: 40 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement (ApJS

Quenching of fluorescence of aromatic molecules by graphene due to electron transfer

Investigations on the fluorescence quenching of graphene have been carried out with two organic donor molecules, pyrene butanaoic acid succinimidyl ester (PyBS, I) and oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) methyl ester (OPV-ester, II). Absorption and photoluminescence spectra of I and II recorded in mixture with increasing the concentrations of graphene showed no change in the former, but remarkable quenching of fluorescence. The property of graphene to quench fluorescence of these aromatic molecules is shown to be associated with photo-induced electron transfer, on the basis of fluorescence decay and time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopic measurements.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Enhancing productivity of water under variable climate

Crop productionMaizeClimateRainFamersDecision making

Enhancing productivity of water under variable climate

Irrigated farmingProductivityCrop productionMaizeSimulation modelsClimateForecasting

Determinants and impact of adopting climate-smart brachiaria grass among dairy farmers in Kenya

Evolving changes such as population growth, urbanisation and a growing middle-income class in Africa are redefining the agro-food systems. Population growth is expected to double the demand for milk and meat products in Africa by 2050. This raises concerns on the capability of African countries to meet the projected demand. It is imperative that farmers seize the opportunities for earning higher and stable income by responding to the new trends and overcoming the constraints tightened by climate change. Access to quality fodder has continued to be the single most important challenge in livestock production systems. The objective of this article is to evaluate the impact of climate-smart Brachiaria on feed sufficiency and milk productivity in dairy production in Kenya. A random sample of 237 farmers, 111 adopters and 126 non-adopters of Brachiaria was selected in Makueni and Siaya using multi-stage sampling. Data was collected through face to face interviews and Propensity score-matching approach was then employed to evaluate the impact of Brachiaria grass on feed sufficiency and milk productivity. In this study, non-adopters of Brachiaria were farmers who were using Napier grass as their source of fodder. The findings reveal that adoption of Brachiaria increases milk production by about 27.6%. This translates to an average increase of about 3 litres daily per animal. Adoption of Brachiaria consequently increases feed sufficiency measured by time spent in feed related activities by the primary woman in a household by 31.6%. Adopters of Brachiaria spend 2 hours less in sourcing and preparing feed in dry seasons. The surplus milk implies more income for the household, improved nutrition from milk consumption and improved wealth status of household. Results on feed sufficiency imply that Brachiaria offers an alternative sustainable source of fodder in fodder scarce periods and releases the burden on women in feed related activities. There is also an improvement in the welfare of families. The study concludes that policies and efforts aimed at increasing widespread adoption should address factors that influence adoption. We recommend increasing extension and training on climate-smart fodder and strengthening collective institutions such as farmer groups for sustainable livestock production

Magnetic and electron transport properties of the rare-earth cobaltates, La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 (Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy) : A case of phase separation

Magnetic and electrical properties of four series of rare earth cobaltates of the formula La0.7-xLnxCa0.3CoO3 with Ln = Pr, Nd, Gd and Dy have been investigated. Compositions close to x = 0.0 contain large ferromagnetic clusters or domains, and show Brillouin-like behaviour of the field-cooled DC magnetization data with fairly high ferromagnetic Tc values, besides low electrical resistivities with near-zero temperature coefficients. The zero-field-cooled data generally show a non-monotonic behaviour with a peak at a temperatures slightly lower than Tc. The near x = 0.0 compositions show a prominent peak corresponding to the Tc in the AC-susceptibility data. The ferromagnetic Tc varies linearly with x or the average radius of the A-site cations, (rA). With increase in x or decrease in (rA), the magnetization value at any given temperature decreases markedly and the AC-susceptibility measurements show a prominent transition arising from small magnetic clusters with some characteristics of a spin-glass. Electrical resistivity increases with increase in x, showed a significant increase around a critical value of x or (rA), at which composition the small clusters also begin to dominate. These properties can be understood in terms of a phase separation scenario wherein large magnetic clusters give way to smaller ones with increase in x, with both types of clusters being present in certain compositions. The changes in magnetic and electrical properties occur parallely since the large ferromagnetic clusters are hole-rich and the small clusters are hole-poor. Variable-range hopping seems to occur at low temperatures in these cobaltates.Comment: 23 pages including figure