The Distribution of Household Wealth in India

assets, liabilities, vertical inequality, horizontal inequality, land, real estate

Out of school and (probably) in work: Child labour and capability deprivation in India

This paper explores the hypothesis that the phenomenon of child labour is explicable in terms of poverty that compels a household to keep its children out of school and put them to work in the cause of the household’s survival. In exploring the link between child labour and poverty in the Indian context, the paper advances the view that the nature of the connection is more readily apprehended if both the variables under study are defined more expansively and inclusively than is customarily the case. Specifically, the suggestion is that it may be realistic to include those children who are conventionally categorized as ‘non-workers not attending school’ within the count of child labourers. It is also suggested that poverty is meaningfully measured in terms of a multi-dimensional approach to the problem, wherein the aim is to assess generalized capability failure—arising from want of access to elementary infrastructural facilities and essential amenities—with respect to a number of basic human functionings. The core of the paper’s argument is presented by means of a simple analytical model of child labour and deprivation, and the issues emerging from it are studied in the Indian context with the support of both primary and secondary data

Economic Impact of CDM Implementation through Alternate Energy Resource Substitution

Since the Kyoto protocol agreement, Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has garnered large emphasis in terms of certified emission reductions (CER) not only amidst the global carbon market but also in India. This paper attempts to assess the impact of CDM towards sustainable development particularly in rural domestic utility sector that mainly includes lighting and cooking applications, with electricity as the source of energy. A detailed survey has undertaken in the state of Kerala, in southern part of India to study the rural domestic energy consumption pattern. The data collected was analyzed that throws insight into the interrelationships of the various parameters that influence domestic utility sector pertaining to energy consumption by using electricity as the source of energy. The interrelationships between the different parameters were modeled that optimizes the contribution of electricity on domestic utility sector. The results were used to estimate the feasible extent of CO2 emission reduction through use of electricity as the energy resources, vis-à-vis its economic viability through cost effectiveness. The analysis also provides a platform for implementing CDM projects in the sector and related prospects with respects to the Indian scenari

Growth and inequality in the distribution of India's consumption expenditure 1983 to 2009-10

This paper undertakes an assessment of the evolution of inequality in the distribution of consumption expenditure in India over the last quarter-century, from 1983 to 2009-10, employing data available in the quinquennial 'thick' surveys of the National Sample Survey Office. We find that plausible adjustments to the data, along with an emphasis on 'centrist' rather than 'rightist' or 'leftist' inequality measures, lead to a picture of inequality in the distribution of consumption expenditure widening over time, which is at odds with the impression of more or less unchanging inequality conveyed in some of the literature available on the subject in India

On the 'inclusiveness' of India's consumption expenditure growth

This paper reviews the evidence on the 'inclusiveness' of the growth in consumption expenditure that has occurred in India over the last four decades or so. The notion of dynamic inclusiveness is framed in terms of imagined normative allocations of the inter-temporal product of growth, as dictated by notions of equity of varying orders of demandingness. There are analytical parallels between these exercises and those involved in the study of bankruptcy in 'Talmudic estate problems', as well as in the determination of optimal anti-poverty budgetary allocations. The issue of inclusive growth is reviewed in this paper with respect to inclusiveness across both income classes and social groups such as caste and occupation. The results of the investigation undertaken in the essay suggest distressingly little evidence of inclusiveness in India's consumption growth experience

Combining ability analysis and gene action of grain quality traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.) using line × tester analysis

In rice, twelve lines were crossed with five testers in a line × tester mating design and the resultant 60 hybrids along with their parents were evaluated for their combining ability effects for 15 grain quality traits. The results revealed that the ratio of GCA: SCA variances computed for all the fifteen grain quality traits showed the predominance of non-additive gene action. Among the lines, ADT (R) 47 showed significant desirable gca effects at 1% probability level (p = 0.01) for 11 grain quality traits viz., hulling percentage, milling percentage, head rice recovery percentage, kernel breadth, kernel breadth after cooking, breadth wise expansion ratio, gelatinization temperature, amylose content, gel consistency, water uptake and volume expansion ratio. Among the testers, Pusa 1460 showed significant desirable gca effects at 1% probability level (p = 0.01) for 10 grain quality traits viz., kernel length, kernel breadth, kernel length/breadth ratio, kernel length after cooking, kernel breadth after cooking, linear elongation ratio, gelatinization temperature, amylose content, water uptake and volume expansion ratio and hence they were adjudged as the best combiners for the improvement of the respective traits. Among the hybrids, the hybrids CO 47/Imp., Samba Mahsuri, ADT (R) 47/IRBB 21 and ADT (R) 46/IRBB 21 were identified as best hybrids for exploitation of grain quality traits since they revealed significant sca effects at 1% probability level (p = 0.01) for eight, eight and five grain quality traits, respectively

Physical phenomena in containerless glass processing

Experiments were conducted on bubble migration in rotating liquid bodies contained in a sphere. Experiments were initiated on the migration of a drop in a slightly less dense continuous phase contained in a rotating sphere. A refined apparatus for the study of thermocapillar flow in a glass melt was built, and data were acquired on surface velocities in the melt. Similar data also were obtained from an ambient temperature fluid model. The data were analyzed and correlated with the aid of theory. Data were obtained on flow velocities in a pendant drop heated from above. The motion in this system was driven principally by thermocapillarity. An apparatus was designed for the study of volatilization from a glass melt