Dundee Discussion Papers in Economics 179:Activism, separation of powers and development

We consider a model of constitutional (mechanism) design with separation of powers where different institutions are assigned different tasks. In this context, we define activism as an institution extending its mechanism of decision-making into the domain of other institution’s tasks. When members of the institutions are likely to be benevolent as well as non-benevolent, such activism in a limited form reduces the cost of achieving collusion-proofness and raises welfare. Hence the value of such activism can be potentially very high in the context of developing economies. But as the fraction of non-benevolent member increases, such activism turns excessive and reduces welfare. It is argued that developing economies are likely to get caught in the excessive activism trap because of the high levels of corruption and bribery

SCOPE OF YOGA PRACTICES IN HEMATOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ALTERATIONS

For thousands of years, yoga an ancient holistic relaxation practice has been used as an effective therapeutic tool that counteracts the adverse clinicalconditions of human beings. A host of bodily changes has been observed under the influence of yoga. Such practices are really helpful in numerousdisorders including hypertension, obesity, anxiety, insomnia and aging itself and a number of other disorders. However, the underlying molecularmechanisms that explain these clinical benefits are still an enigma. The efficacy of yoga and meditation as an adjunct to routine management of variousdiseases and disorder is a great challenge in the present scenario. Ayurvedic knowledge of yoga is much more incompatible with its understanding ofbiochemical and hematological changes. Exploring the biochemical association with various yogic postures and practices will definitely improve thepractice as therapeutic adjuvant and thus, will improve the quality of life.Keywords: Yoga, Biochemical alterations, Hematological alterations

India’s quest for energy security and its West Asia policy

India’s rapid economic growth is highly dependent on stable access to energy supplies. With increasing growth in the consumption of fossil fuels, India’s dependence on imports of oil and hydrocarbons in general would increase substantially in the future which is 37.5 percent of our total imports already, making India search for energy security. Foreign policy therefore has a critical role in ensuring energy security for India. Energy security has, as a result, become a vital factor in Indian foreign policy. However, despite India’s ongoing initiatives to secure its increasing energy requirements from all over globe through its policy of diversification, West Asia remains the main source of India’s imports providing more than 65 percent of our total imports thereby making energy an important factor in India-West Asia relationship. Since the end of the Cold War India’s policy towards West Asia has been governed more by economic and energy considerations and less by the political rhetoric of the past. This paper analyzes India’s interests, challenges, and actual energy security policies towards the region and also attempts to study how far India’s Quest for Energy Security drives India’s West Asia policy

How can economic schemes curtail the increasing sex ratio at birth in China?

Fertility decline, driven by the one-child policy, and son preference have contributed to an alarming difference in the number of live male and female births in China. We present a quantitative model where people choose to sex-select because they perceive that married sons are more valuable than married daughters. Due to the predominant patrilocal kinship system in China, daughters-in-law provide valuable emotional and financial support, enhancing the perceived present value of married sons. We argue that inter-generational transfer data will help ascertain the extent to which economic schemes (such as pension plans for families with no sons) can curtail the increasing sex ratio at birth.sex ratio at birth, sex-selection, sex-selective potency, son preference, value of child

Rationing the Commons

Common resources may be managed with inefficient policies for the sake of equity. We study how rationing the commons shapes the efficiency and equity of resource use, in the context of agricultural groundwater use in Rajasthan, India. We find that rationing binds on input use, such that farmers, despite trivial prices for water extraction, use roughly the socially optimal amount of water on average. The rationing regime is still grossly inefficient, because it misallocates water across farmers, lowering productivity. Pigouvian reform would increase agricultural surplus by 12% of household income, yet fall well short of a Pareto improvement over rationing

Leggett-Garg inequality in Markovian quantum dynamics: role of temporal sequencing of coupling to bath

We study Leggett-Garg inequalities (LGIs) for a two level system (TLS) undergoing Markovian dynamics described by unital maps. We find analytic expression of LG parameter $K_{3}$ (simplest variant of LGIs) in terms of the parameters of two distinct unital maps representing time evolution for intervals: $t_{1}$ to $t_{2}$ and $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$. We show that the maximum violation of LGI for these maps can never exceed well known L\"{u}ders bound of $K_{3}^{L\ddot{u}ders}=3/2$ over the full parameter space. We further show that if the map for the time interval $t_{1}$ to $t_{2}$ is non-unitary unital then irrespective of the choice of the map for interval $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$ we can never reach L\"{u}ders bound. On the other hand, if the measurement operator eigenstates remain pure upon evolution from $t_{1}$ to $t_{2}$, then depending on the degree of decoherence induced by the unital map for the interval $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$ we may or may not obtain L\"{u}ders bound. Specifically, we find that if the unital map for interval $t_{2}$ to $t_{3}$ leads to the shrinking of the Bloch vector beyond half of its unit length, then achieving the bound $K_{3}^{L\ddot{u}ders}$ is not possible. Hence our findings not only establish a threshold for decoherence which will allow for $K_{3} = K_{3}^{L\ddot{u}ders}$, but also demonstrate the importance of temporal sequencing of the exposure of a TLS to Markovian baths in obtaining L\"{u}ders bound.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Nabakalebara of Lord Jagannath in the Temple at Puri in Odisha India : The Re-Embodiment of the Divine

Lord Jagannath is an ancient deity of the Hindu religion in the Indian sub-continent He symbolizes the Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu This article illustrates about the Nabakalebara Ceremony of Lord Jagannath in the grand temple of Jagannath at Puri in Odisha This is a very grand and unique ritual which is not found in any other Hindu shrine and temple in India and elsewhere in the world This is a non-recurring ritual which takes place once in every 8th or 19th year when intercalary Odia month of Asadha falls As per the tradition of the Jagannath Temple in Puri during this period it is convenient to perform the Nabakalebara Ceremony of the Chaturdha Murty i e Lord Jagannath Lord Balabhadra Devi Subhadra and Sri Sudarshan which are worshiped as the main deities of the temple The deities are made up of Neem wood which necessitate renewal of the deities within a definite time span through performing the Nabakalebara Ceremony This write up broadly narrates about how a series of rituals are observed during the Vanayaga Journey which continues for nearly three to four months in searching and identifying four sacred Neem trees from which the four idols of Lord Jagannath Balabhadra Subhadra and Sudarshan are constructed Thereafter the core ritual of Ghata Paribartan i e transforming of Brahma Padartha or the soul substance takes place secretly inside the main temple in the midnight in closed door by the intimate servitors of Lord Jagannath such as Pati Mahapatra and Daita Servitor