Redistributive Effects of Fiscal Policy across the Income Groups in the Urban-Rural Areas of Pakistan

There exist a large number of studies related to the estimates of government budgetary redistributive effects and its related problems with regard to different countries of the world.1 Studies of the impacts of government expenditures and taxes in Pakistan have been conducted within the framework of either incidence of taxes or the impact of expenditures across the income groups. The studies carried out by Azfar (1972); Jeetun (1978); Alauddin and Raza (1981) Malik and Saqib (1985, 1989) cover different aspects of taxation—tax incidence, progressivity or regressivity of the tax system across the income groups/individuals and regions. These studies did not discuss the expenditure side of the budget. Shirazi (1996) analysed the impact of government transfer programmes (Zakat and Ushr) across the income deciles. Ghaus (1989) studied the incidence of provincial and municipal government service-related expenditure benefits in Karachi metropolitan and therefore, the scope of her study was limited to one city only. Despite the existence of a rich bibliography on the subject of government redistrbutive budgetary effects and its related problems, no study is available which covers the overall redistributive impacts of government budgetary policy in Pakistan. This study explores the impacts of government expenditures and taxes on the distribution of income across various income groups along with net fiscal impacts in the urban-rural areas of Pakistan. The rest of our study is organised as follows. In the following section, Part II, we describe the methodology and data set. In Part III, the results of the study are presented. The Part IV concludes the paper.

Productivity and Resource Use Efficiency in Wheat: A Stochastic Production Frontier Approach

Farm level technical efficiency and its determinants in wheat production in the state of Bihar has been studied using stochastic frontier production function model. The average productivity of wheat was reported 28.43 q/ha which was below the national average of 30.33 q/ha during 2016-17. The resource inputs were found inelastic and not being properly utilized. All the resource inputs were found positive and significant at 1 per cent and 5 per cent level of probability except machine labour used which was negatively significant, indicating overuse of machine labour or costly machine labour. The mean input efficiency in production of wheat in the state was estimated to be 94 per cent, emphasizing that efficiency may be enhanced by 6 per cent. The factors influencing efficiency were identified as education, family size and landholding size. The mean technical efficiency was found to be 0.94 indicted that optimal and sustainable use of resource inputs may further raise the input use efficiency in wheat production by 6 per cent and consequently boost up the income of the wheat cultivators in the state

Soil quality assessment in difference vegetation structures of Surajpur lake: An urban wetland of Upper Gangetic plain, Northern India

Surajpur Lake is the prominent wetland site in National Capital Region, India known for its rich avifaunal and other aquatic biodiversity. Present study was carried out to assess the soil quality in different vegetation structures in Surajpur wetland from March 2010 to February 2013. Soil Sampling was conducted in five different vegetation habitats in the study area by applying standard sampling protocols. A total of 9 Physical and 16 chemical parameters were selected for analysis. The overall means of physical parameters of soil sample includes soil moisture content 11.17 ± 3.03 %, bulk density 1.19 ± 0.01 gm/ml, porosity 35.00 ± 5.10 %, water holding capacity 35.00 ± 3.86 %, soil organic carbon 0.09 ± 0.05 %, electrical conductivity 276.42 ± 112.83 ds/m, pH value 9.98 ± 0.42 was recorded. The means of chemical parameters of soil sample includes total Kjeldahl nitrogen 286.76 ± 42.41 mg/kg, available phosphorus 338.50 ± 32.75 mg/kg, potassium 2.85 ± 0.39 mg/kg, calcium level 10.86 ± 6 73 mg/kg, magnesium 10.56 ± 4.43 mg/kg, iron 14.90 ± 1.99 mg/kg, manganese 289.13 ± 42.89 mg/kg, zinc 4.20 ± 0.45 mg/kg, chloride 223.73 ± 62.64 mg/kg, sulphate 150.21 ± 27.99 mg/kg and silica oxide 7.97 ± 1.45 mg/kg. Boron, Copper and Molybdenum nutrients recorded less than one mg/kg in the soil sample. The viable count of bacteria recorded an overall mean of 16,56,000.00 ± 11,06,157.31 cfu/g. The results indicated that the essential mineral nutrients are widely distributed in the soil and are pollution free and also no any organic waste is coming to the site. Soil is good enough to support rich biodiversity to form a complete food web in the Surajpur wetland ecosystem

Diversification and its Determinants: A Search for Alternative Income and Agricultural Development in Eastern India

The eastern region of India, comprising the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha and West Bengal, is one of the most backward regions of the nation. This region occupies about 21.85% of geographical area and supports 34% of the population of the country. Agriculture is the mainstay of economy in the region. About 67% of the cultivators belong to marginal group and over 75% of their earnings are utilized to ensure their food security. Issues related to diversification have been discussed by researchers for a long period and they have been trying to relate diversification to the developmental prospects and various factors responsible for it. Despite this, the eastern region has rich natural resources i.e. fertile land, abundant ground water (145.12 BCM), however, the pace of agricultural development is very slow. In the present study, an attempt has been made to measure diversification using Herfindahl-Hirschman index, known as the most popular method, it was used to measure extent of diversification. The regression model was applied to access the determinants of crop diversification in the region. The study is based on secondary data collected from various published sources from 2001-02 to 2014-15 i.e. for a period of 14 years. The results revealed that in the region, the diversification for the study period was observed very low in almost all the states under study and for the eastern region as a whole. The study pinpointed the fact that despite the rich natural resources, its potential could not be harnessed from the point of view of improving agricultural productivity, poverty alleviation and livelihood improvement. Strengthening of crop diversification depends on market and taking care of production risks through technological support, quality input supply, more insurance coverage and establishment of modern storage-processing centres in the region. Keeping in view the rich natural resources and hidden agricultural development opportunities in the region, government has already taken initiative for Second Green Revolution from the region, however a strong policy push up towards instilling confidence among the farming community is needed in this direction

An Analysis of Women’s Participation in Agriculture in Bihar

Understanding the nature of rural landscape change during the urbanization process is vital to formulate rural management plans for sustainable development. However, there is little information on how rural landscapes changes and limited evidence as to how it can be improved. There were 244.9 million households in India of which 179.7 million households or 833 million people were in rural areas (SECC Survey 2011). Survey revealed that 87.2 million rural households reported one of more criteria of deprivation, while 92 million households were engaged in casual manual labour and agricultural activities. In agriculture, the role of women cannot be denied. They contribute in every operation of agricultural activities and are also active in allied sectors like cattle management, dairying, beekeeping, goat rearing mushroom production and poultry farming etc. Women participation in total workforce was assessed 27.44% as against 72.56% by male workforce in 2011. Share of women agricultural workforce in total workforce was computed to be 16.57% in 2001 which declined to 6.23% in 2011. Causes of decline may be their participation other sectors with improvement in their literacy rate which rose to 51.50% in 2011 as compared to 33.57% in 2001. The male-female sex ratio has registered a decline of 0.11% as compared to 2001 census. Women holding land account for only 13.31% as against 87.27% by men in Bihar. Share of women agricultural workforce in total agricultural workforce was estimated to be 19.32% as per census 2011. Analysis of CACP unit level data of Bihar for the year 2013-14, revealed that the contribution of women in agricultural activities was assessed to be 35.94%. Women’s contribution in agriculture is significant and plays diverse role, still their wages were found 7.04% less than their male counterparts during 2015-16. To strengthen women’s participation in agriculture and allied sectors and to improve their access to land, loan and other facilities, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has policy provisions like joint leasing for both domestic and agricultural land under National policy for farmers. Under credit facility provisions government has framed policy for issuing Kisan Credit Cards to women for creating livelihood through livestock practices and agricultural processing. Beside all efforts, there is still a wide gender gap in the state which may be addressed properly for overall development of women and enhancing the rural landscape of the state in particular and nation in general. The paper tries to analyze the role women in agricultural development of Bihar and the issues confronting them

Variable Structure Back-Stepping Control of Two-stage Three Phase Grid Connected PV Inverter

This work presents a detailed analysis of a three phase grid tied photovoltaic inverter with variable structure back-stepping control approach. A nonlinear model of the system is derived and presented in rotational frame using the direct quadrature zero transformation (DQ). For the derivation of active and reactive power loops of the inverter, nonlinear back stepping approach is used. Moreover, sliding mode control method is used to derive the inner current loops while for the outer loop a virtual controller is derived using the Lyapunov function. The control loops are implemented in MATLAB/Simulink environment. To test the controller performance, active power variation, DC link voltage variation and reactive power variations are inflicted. The obtained results under the proposed control scheme are compared with boundary layer design based sliding mode controller. From the comparative analysis it is concluded that the proposed controller exhibit superior and robust performance under all test conditions

An Analysis of Women’s Participation in Agriculture in Bihar

Understanding the nature of rural landscape change during the urbanization process is vital to formulate rural management plans for sustainable development. However, there is little information on how rural landscapes changes and limited evidence as to how it can be improved. There were 244.9 million households in India of which 179.7 million households or 833 million people were in rural areas (SECC Survey 2011). Survey revealed that 87.2 million rural households reported one of more criteria of deprivation, while 92 million households were engaged in casual manual labour and agricultural activities. In agriculture, the role of women cannot be denied. They contribute in every operation of agricultural activities and are also active in allied sectors like cattle management, dairying, beekeeping, goat rearing mushroom production and poultry farming etc. Women participation in total workforce was assessed 27.44% as against 72.56% by male workforce in 2011. Share of women agricultural workforce in total workforce was computed to be 16.57% in 2001 which declined to 6.23% in 2011. Causes of decline may be their participation other sectors with improvement in their literacy rate which rose to 51.50% in 2011 as compared to 33.57% in 2001. The male-female sex ratio has registered a decline of 0.11% as compared to 2001 census. Women holding land account for only 13.31% as against 87.27% by men in Bihar. Share of women agricultural workforce in total agricultural workforce was estimated to be 19.32% as per census 2011. Analysis of CACP unit level data of Bihar for the year 2013-14, revealed that the contribution of women in agricultural activities was assessed to be 35.94%. Women’s contribution in agriculture is significant and plays diverse role, still their wages were found 7.04% less than their male counterparts during 2015-16. To strengthen women’s participation in agriculture and allied sectors and to improve their access to land, loan and other facilities, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has policy provisions like joint leasing for both domestic and agricultural land under National policy for farmers. Under credit facility provisions government has framed policy for issuing Kisan Credit Cards to women for creating livelihood through livestock practices and agricultural processing. Beside all efforts, there is still a wide gender gap in the state which may be addressed properly for overall development of women and enhancing the rural landscape of the state in particular and nation in general. The paper tries to analyze the role women in agricultural development of Bihar and the issues confronting them

Diversification and its Determinants: A Search for Alternative Income and Agricultural Development in Eastern India

The eastern region of India, comprising the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha and West Bengal, is one of the most backward regions of the nation. This region occupies about 21.85% of geographical area and supports 34% of the population of the country. Agriculture is the mainstay of economy in the region. About 67% of the cultivators belong to marginal group and over 75% of their earnings are utilized to ensure their food security. Issues related to diversification have been discussed by researchers for a long period and they have been trying to relate diversification to the developmental prospects and various factors responsible for it. Despite this, the eastern region has rich natural resources i.e. fertile land, abundant ground water (145.12 BCM), however, the pace of agricultural development is very slow. In the present study, an attempt has been made to measure diversification using Herfindahl-Hirschman index, known as the most popular method, it was used to measure extent of diversification. The regression model was applied to access the determinants of crop diversification in the region. The study is based on secondary data collected from various published sources from 2001-02 to 2014-15 i.e. for a period of 14 years. The results revealed that in the region, the diversification for the study period was observed very low in almost all the states under study and for the eastern region as a whole. The study pinpointed the fact that despite the rich natural resources, its potential could not be harnessed from the point of view of improving agricultural productivity, poverty alleviation and livelihood improvement. Strengthening of crop diversification depends on market and taking care of production risks through technological support, quality input supply, more insurance coverage and establishment of modern storage-processing centres in the region. Keeping in view the rich natural resources and hidden agricultural development opportunities in the region, government has already taken initiative for Second Green Revolution from the region, however a strong policy push up towards instilling confidence among the farming community is needed in this direction

Antioxidants: A Hot Controversy Defused by Cool Semantics

Recent years have witnessed a rather controversial debate on what antioxidants are and how beneficial they may be in the context of human health. Despite a considerable increase in scientific evidence, the matter remains highly divisive as different pieces of new data seem to support both the pro- and the anti-antioxidant perspective. Here, we argue that the matter at the heart of this debate is not necessarily empirical but of semantics. Thus, the controversy cannot be resolved with the traditional tools of natural sciences and by the mere accumulation of new data. In fact, the term “antioxidants” has been part of the scientific language game for a few decades and is nowadays used differently in the context of different scientific disciplines active at different levels of scientific complexity. It, therefore, represents not a single expression but an entire family of words with distinctively different connotations and associations. The transcendent use of this expression from a basic to a more complex discipline, such as going from chemistry to physiology, is problematic as it assigns the term with connotations that are not corroborated empirically. This may lead to false claims and aspirations not warranted by empirical data. Initially, health claims may not even be indented, yet, on occasion, they are welcome for reasons other than scientific ones. To resolve this debate, one may need to refrain from using the term “antioxidants” in disciplines and contexts where its meaning is unclear, limit its use to disciplines where it is essential and beneficial, and, in any case, become more specific in such contexts where its use is warranted, for instance, in the case of “dietary antioxidants”