Role of Science & Technology, Higher Education and Research in Regional Socio-Economic Development

This paper is an attempt to focus on the role of Science and Technology (S&T) on regional development of India by considering 21 Indian states. The Index approach using the Principal Component technique has been adopted. For analysing the impact, a set of three indices focussing on Current Economic Status, S & T and Welfare has been calculated. Further, using the S&T Index as the basis, the states have been classified into four major categories. Inter and intra-group comparisons are discussed.regional development, Principal Component technique

Role of science & technology, higher education and research in Regional Socio-Economic Development

This paper is an attempt to focus on the role of Science and Technology (S&T) on regional development of India by considering 21 Indian states. The Index approach using the Principal Component technique has been adopted. For analysing the impact, a set of three indices focussing on Current Economic Status, S & T and Welfare has been calculated. Further, using the S&T Index as the basis, the states have been classified into four major categories. Inter and intra-group comparisons are discussed.EducationScience and TechnologyEconomic Development

Construction and Validation of ‘Science Culture Index’

Countries world-wide routinely collate statistics on STS performance indicators such as R&D expenditure, science publications, citations and impact, high-tech employment, and penetration of hightech goods. In parallel there have been several, but often isolated, attempts to define complementary public understanding of science (PUS) indicators including concepts such as scientific literacy, public sentiment, interest, and attitudes. This has been somewhat successful, but also controversial. Thus, little progress has been achieved to explicitly combine STS performance indicators and PUS indicators in a composite index of science culture. This exercise draws conceptual and methodological material used in the construction of such a composite index based on a combined data base of EU (32 countries) and India (23 States). On the basis of these 55 state units the theoretical basis, feasibility and validity of a globally portable index of science culture is demonstrated. Details of the analytical options considered and decisions made, particularly in regard to integration of two data sets, identifying and defining indicators, constructing composite indices and finally its validation has been discussed. The discussion inevitably involves a degree of EU-India specific analyses, however, the methodological issues and suggested solutions are of broader interest to researchers on the topic in other contexts.science culture, EU, India, public understanding of science, STS, indicators

Construction and validation of science culture index : Results from comparative analysis of engagement knowledge and attitudes to science: India and Europe

Countries world-wide routinely collate statistics on STS performance indicators such as R&D expenditure, science publications, citations and impact, high-tech employment, and penetration of high-tech goods. In parallel there have been several, but often isolated, attempts to define complementary ‘public understanding of science (PUS)’ indicators including concepts such as scientific literacy, public sentiment, interest, and attitudes. This has been somewhat successful, but also controversial. Thus, little progress has been achieved to explicitly combine STS performance indicators and PUS indicators in a composite index of ‘science culture’. This exercise draws conceptual and methodological material used in the construction of such a composite index based on a combined data base of EU (32 countries) and India (23 States). On the basis of these 55 ‘state units’ the theoretical basis, feasibility and validity of a globally portable index of science culture is demonstrated. Details of the analytical options considered and decisions made, particularly in regard to integration of two data sets, identifying and defining indicators, constructing composite indices and finally its validation has been discussed. The discussion inevitably involves a degree of EU-India specific analyses, however, the methodological issues and suggested solutions are of broader interest to researchers on the topic in other contexts.Science culture index

Dynamics of Youth Population – Impact of Education Expenditure

Youth constitutes the largest segment of the Indian population and being the primary productive human resources, the socio-economic development of youth directly linked to the development process. This paper is an attempt to see the various demographic characteristics of the Indian youth population and determine the household expenditure pattern on education and related items using National Sample Survey data for two rounds (1993-94 and 2004-05). Results are presented for individual states separately for rural and urban and also for various socio-economic characteristics such as social groups, household size, level of education, occupation, etc.India, youth population, socio-economic development

Dynamics of Youth Population – Impact of Education Expenditure

Youth constitutes the largest segment of the Indian population and being the primary productive human resources, the socio-economic development of youth directly linked to the development process. This paper is an attempt to see the various demographic characteristics of the Indian youth population and determine the household expenditure pattern on education and related items using National Sample Survey data for two rounds (1993-94 and 2004-05). Results are presented for individual states separately for rural and urban and also for various socio-economic characteristics such as social groups, household size, level of education, occupation, etc.EducationEducation expenditure

Public Policy and Social Good: Theory, Practice and Beyond

In this paper I argue that the most fundamental goal of any public policy is to assist the realization of social good. I take it that the idea of social good has developed differently in different political and moral traditions, and focus my analysis on the interplay of liberalism, virtue ethics and the Capability Approach. I argue that the liberal conception of social good, as espoused by its leading exponents, is somewhat problematic, and that it fails to account for meaningful civic associations. Even though liberal thinkers often prioritize an individual’s freedom and autonomy, they do not provide us with concreto principles that can facilitate the realization of these goals. I draw upon the practical functioning of leading liberal democracies, including the United States, Canada and India, emphasizing the role of normative political constraints in policy making. I conclude that the liberal conception of social good stands in an acute need of a fresh principle that can rectify the above anomalies and reinvigorate its moral force, and that such a principle can probably be constructed with the help of Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and Aristotle’s Virtue Theory.The “Annales. Ethics in Economic Life” is affiliated and co-financed by the Faculty of Economics and Sociology of the University of Lodz

India Science Report : Science Education, Human Resources and Public Attitude towards Science and Technology

Countries worldwide monitor THE health of their scientific and technological activities through national science reports. These country reports are an important component in reconstructing national S&T priorities and have played a large part in funding and monitoring S&T programmes in these countries. Unfortunately, no systematic and comprehensive empirical assessment of S&T efforts is available in the Indian context, resulting in a relatively chaotic and contradictory picture of the national efforts in S&T. An important factor contributing to such images of S&T efforts in the country is the paucity of reliable data in an accessible and timely manner. Further, studies of the impact of Indian science on society and national development are often based on sporadic, outdated, and scattered Indian reports. A few studies, with specific purposes, have been undertaken at different points of time to evaluate the performance of institutions based on various S&T statistics, for example, in the context of restructuring scientific institutions, creating centralised facilities, cost cutting, and improving productivity. At the national level, no efforts have been made on a single platform to evaluate the overall scientific and technological achievements of the multi-layered S&T system in India. Often international data sources are consulted. It was in this context and to address the empirical gaps that the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) commissioned a study to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to bring out the first India Science Report (ISR). The ISR is an ambitious project that is intended not as an eventbut as a process, of which this first report is the beginning. Given the potentially vast canvas of issues that could be addressed by the first ISR, and limited time and resources, it was only inevitable that prioritisation of issues and topics would be needed. Thus, to begin with, it was decided to concentrate on the three major issues, namely, status of science and engineering education, utilisation pattern of human resource and public attitude towards S&T through an altogether new approach i.e., primary survey based approach never before attempted in the country.science, technology, S&T system in India, Indian National Science Academy

Tourism Satellite Account for India

With the growing recognition of tourism as a source of employment generating growth in the country, improved understanding of what tourism is, its role in the economy and its relationship to other parts of the economy is important. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a new framework recently adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission that provides an important platform towards forging improved understanding of the structure and role of tourism in the economy. Estimates using the TSA framework have the advantage of being credible, with the methodology now widely accepted, and internationally comparable. This study presents India's pilot TSA, in the form of various tables suggested by the World Tourism Ogranization (WTO). The tables present a disaggregated picture of various components of tourism in the country, as well as explaning the method of arriving at estimates of tourism sector's role in the economy. Using the TSA methodology, tourism value added is 2.78 percent of GDP in terms of direct impact, and 5.83 percent of GDP when indirect effects are also included.. Similarly, tourism's share in total number of jobs is 4.59 percent, rising to 8.27 percent when indirect effects are also included.These estimates do not include the role of another growing segment of tourism in the country, namely (same) day tourism. The presentation in this report is divided into two parts. Since the TSA framework is new and not very widely familiar in India, the first part provides a brief introduction to the concepts and issues. In Part II, the methodology and the basic findings of the TSA for India are presented.Tourism, employment generation, relationship to economy, economic growth