Public transport subsidies and affordability in Mumbai, India

This paper describes the role of public transport and the nature and incidence of transport subsidies in Mumbai, India. Mumbai has an extensive rail and bus network, and public transport is used for over 75 percent of all motorized trips in Greater Mumbai. Both rail and bus fares in Mumbai are subsidized: BEST, which operates public buses in Mumbai, is also an electric utility, and subsidizes bus fares from electricity revenues. We analyze the incidence ofthese subsidies, and their effect on mode choice, using data from a survey of households in Greater Mumbai. In Mumbai, as in many cities, the middle class is more likely to use public transport for travel than the poor. The poor, however, also use public transit, and their expenditure on public transit constitutes, on average, a larger share of their income than it does for the middle class. It is, therefore, the case that the poor benefit from transit subsidies in Mumbai, as well as the middle and upper-middle classes; however, the poorest 27 percent of the population receives only 19 percent of bus subsidies and 15.5 percent of rail subsidies. Indeed, 26 percent of the lowest income households surveyed do not use rail, while 10 percent do not use bus, implying that they receive no transit subsidies. Expenditure on transport accounts for 16 percent of income in the lowest income category (Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Transport in Urban Areas,Urban Transport,Roads&Highways,

Diffusion coefficients and constraints on hadronic inhomogeneities in the early universe

Hadronic inhomogeneities are formed after the quark hadron phase transition. The nature of the phase transition dictates the nature of the inhomogeneities formed. Recently some scenarios of inhomogeneities have been discussed where the strange quarks are in excess over the up and down quarks. The hadronization of these quarks will give rise to a large density of hyperons and kaons in addition to the protons and neutrons which are formed after the phase transition. These unstable hyperons decay into pions, muons and their respective neutrinos. Hence the plasma during this period consists of neutrons, protons, electrons, muons and neutrinos. Due to the decay of the hyperons, the muon component of the inhomogeneities will be very high. We study the diffusion of neutrons and protons in the presence of a large number of muons immediately after the quark hadron phase transition. We find that the presence of the muons enhances the diffusion coefficient of the neutrons/protons. As the diffusion coefficient is enhanced, the inhomogeneities will decay faster in the regions where the muon density is higher. Hence smaller muon rich inhomogeneities will be completely wiped out. The decay of the hyperons will also generate muon neutrinos. Since the big bang nucleosynthesis provides constraints on the neutrino degeneracies, we revisit the effect of non zero degeneracies on the primordial elements.Comment: 20 pages 7 figures Revised version accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Options for Energy Efficiency in India and Barriers to Their Adoption: A Scoping Study

We review the economics literature on energy efficiency in India, as a guide for further research in the area. The empirical literature has focused on four questions: How does energy efficiency in India compare with energy efficiency in other countries? What would be the energy savings (and cost savings) from adopting certain energy-efficient technologies? Why are these technologies being -- or not being -- adopted? What policies should be implemented to encourage their adoption? Most of the literature focuses on answers to the first two questions. Studies are needed that quantify factors affecting the rate of diffusion of energy-efficient technologies and rigorously evaluate reforms implemented by the Government of India, beginning in the 1990s, that could affect energy efficiency.energy efficiency, energy use, India

The Value of Mortality Risk Reductions in Delhi, India

We interviewed commuters in Delhi, India, to estimate their willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce their risk of dying in road traffic accidents in three scenarios that mirror the circumstances under which traffic fatalities occur in Delhi. The WTP responses are internally valid: WTP increases with the size of the risk reduction, income, and exposure to road traffic risks, as measured by length of commute and whether the respondent drives a motorcycle. As a result, the value of a statistical life (VSL) varies across groups of beneficiaries. For the most highly exposed individuals, the VSL is about 150,000 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars.Health and Safety

The value of mortality risk reductions in Delhi, India

The authors interviewed commuters in Delhi, India, asking them to report their willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce their risk of dying in road traffic accidents in each of three scenarios that mirror the circumstances under which the majority of the road fatalities in Delhi occur. The WTP responses are internally valid, in the sense that WTP increases with the size of the risk reduction, income, and exposure to road traffic risks, as measured by length of commute and whether the respondent drives a two-wheeler. As a result, the"value of a statistical life"(VSL) is individuated-that is, it varies across groups of beneficiaries. For the most likely beneficiaries of road safety programs-the most highly exposed individuals-the VSL is about 150,000 PPP$.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Roads&Highways,Airports and Air Services,Road Safety,Insurance&Risk Mitigation

Reconstructing the channel shifting pattern of the Torsa River on the Himalayan Foreland Basin over the last 250 years

The varied physiography, incidences of high seasonal discharge, influences of neo-tectonic activity and the young geological foundation with less consolidated cohesive and non-cohesive sediment have left the Himalayan foreland basin a formidable ground, where silt-laden rivers tend to migrate frequently. A set of maps prepared after 1764, space photographs captured in 1970 and current satellite images from 2015 and 2017 were studied to reconstruct the fluvial dynamics of the Torsa River on the foreland basin of Sikkim-Bhutan Himalaya considering a time span of nearly 250 years. Evidence collected from colonial literature, the above-mentioned satellite images and a field survey, were combined to verify results taken from the old maps used as the base of the study. The application of satellite remote sensing and analysis of the topographic signatures of the palaeo-courses in the form of the palaeo-levee, abandoned courses and ox-bow lakes were the major operational attributes in this study. As a consequence of the channel migration of Torsa River since 1764, the historical floodplain of Torsa has been topographically marked by beheaded old distributaries, a misfit channel system and the presence of abandoned segments. Morphometric changes in the old courses, major flood events and neo-tectonic activity guided an overall trend of channel migration eastwards and has led to a couple of channel oscillation events in the Torsa River over the last 250 years. The mechanism of the avulsion events was thoroughly driven by sedimentation-induced channel morphometric changes and occasional high discharge

The Value of Mortality Risk Reductions in Delhi, India

Road accidents kill nearly 1.2 million people each year worldwide, two-thirds of whom live in developing countries. Traffic crashes may indeed become the third leading cause of death in developing countries by the year 2020 (Murray and Lopez, 1996). For governments in developing countries to make informed decisions about investments in traffic safety, it is imperative that the benefits of road traffic improvements be monetized and compared with costs. This, however, requires estimates of the value of reductions in risk of death. The goal of the dissertation is to provide estimates of the value of mortality risk reductions in a traffic safety context in Delhi, India. To estimate the value of road safety improvements in Delhi requires understanding the nature of developing country traffic risks. Methods of valuing traffic fatalities used in high-income countries based on seatbelt use or purchase of safer cars are not applicable here. In my survey I asked 1200 commuters what they would pay to reduce their own risk of dying as a (a) pedestrian, (b) driver of a two-wheeler, and (c) commuter, regardless of travel mode. These scenarios mirror the bulk of fatal accidents in Delhi. I find that mean WTP for mortality risk reduction increases with the size of risk reduction, as predicted by economic theory. WTP for a given risk change increases with income and education. The estimation results broadly confirm the Bayesian updating assumption, in that WTP increases with baseline exposure to risk, measured by commute time, whether the respondent travels as part of his job and whether he drives a two-wheeler. Mean WTP is three times larger for a respondent who drives a two-wheeler and travels on the job than for one who does not. The results of my survey indicate that the VSL is individuated, i.e., it varies across groups of potential beneficiaries of traffic safety programs (two-wheeler drivers, persons with bachelors degree, etc.). For the most highly exposed individuals--the VSL is about $150,000 (PPP, 2005). Transferred estimates adjusted for income from other developed and developing countries indicate a VSL that is much larger than my estimate. These findings underscore the importance of conducting original valuation studies

Evaluation of Poetic Creativity: Predictors and the Role of Expertise - A Multilevel Approach

Poetry is one of the most creative expressions of language, but how we evaluate the creativity of a poem is not properly characterized. The present study investigated the role of various subjective qualities – clarity, aesthetic appeal, felt valence, arousal, and surprise – in predicting the creativity judgment of English poems. Participants (N=129) were presented with a broad range of English poems; they rated each poem on six characteristics: clarity, aesthetic appeal, felt valence, felt arousal, surprise and overall creativity. Linear multilevel analysis showed that aesthetic appeal was the strongest predictor of poetic creativity, followed by surprise and felt valence. Multilevel mediation analysis indicated significant mediation by surprise and felt valence on the relationship between aesthetic appeal and creativity at both within and between-participant levels. Further, expertise in English literature was found to significantly moderate the effects of all three predictors on the evaluation of creativity. The study simultaneously captured the surprise-evoking line(s). Using the semantic distance computing approach, we have shown the objective validation of the subjectively chosen line(s) of surprise. Altogether, our findings suggest a parsimonious model of evaluation of creativity of poems and its interaction with expertise