Integrated approach to solid waste management in Pune city

The solid waste is increasing in Pune city due to growth of population, urbanization, higher per capita income and standard of living, changing lifestyle and food habits. The solid waste created by the household units, shops, restaurant and commercial units are higher. Solid waste is inevitable task in urbanization process and it will increase in future. The collection, segregation, storage, transports and processing of solid waste needs planning and more investment. Clean city improves standard of living by reducing different diseases. Public private partnership is more useful in solid waste management. Government and Municipal Corporation must encourage local management through collection, transport and segregation and disposal of solid waste. Public awareness and segregation at source, rules and regulations related to solid waste will bring good change in solid waste management.Urbanization, management, lifestyle

Fiscal regulation and expenditure pattern in Maharashtra state

The Fiscal Responsibility and Budgetary Management Act of 2004 has improved state finances of Maharashtra, India. It has also reduced fiscal deficit for state. The sources of income from various state own tax revenue have increased except other taxes on income and expenditure. There is further scope for improving sources of state own tax revenue. After the FRBM Act, the development expenditure on irrigation and flood control, industry and mining has declined in the state. It is statistically significant and negatively co-related. The development expenditure on education sports, arts & culture, science, technology & environment, and transport & communication has significantly increased. In order to control the fiscal deficit, state government should apply strict methods to reduce the non development expenditure. It should increase development expenditure which has long term effect on overall economic development.Fiscal deficit, Development expenditure, Fiscal responsibility, budgetary management

DOES DEMOLITION OF SLUMS AFFECTS ON PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN’S HEALTH IN MUMBAI?

This paper compares the incidence of malnutrition among below five age group children in demolished and not demolished slums in Mumbai. After demolition of kuttcha slums, the incidence of stunting and wasting increases among boys. The incidence of underweight is observed very high for girls. Incidence of severe malnourishment becomes double after demolition of kuttcha slums. The logit regression model shows that the incidence of malnourishment among 0-5 age group children is negatively related to per capita income, age of the child, mother’s education, and positively related to mother’s body mass index. As far as malnourishment among pre-school children is concerned then, dummy variable for demolished slums is positive and statistically significant. The policy mix of redevelopment of kuttcha slums, income improvement through training to women, opening up of new Anganwadi centers, provision of health care facilities and sanitation will certainly reduce the incidence of child malnutrition in Mumbai.demolished slums, malnutrition, underweight

EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF DRINKING WATER SUPPLY IN MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS IN THANE DISTRICT

Due to higher urbanization, water demand in six Municipal Corporations of Thane district is continuously increasing. The growth of the population, small and large industries, health and educational institutions, commercial units are the responsible factors. The demand of drinking water is continuously increasing but supply is not matching with increasing demand. Municipal Corporations have not made the provision of drinking water to the growing population on 24*7 basis. The alternative policies of rainwater harvesting, reducing leakages and wastage, more provision of funds for water supply projects, revision of tariff structure and private sector participation in distribution of drinking water supply will yield the better results in terms of growing demand of water supply.water supply, water demand

Improving productivity and welfare among workers of small and household textile and garment units in India

Global Production System has changed remarkably over the period of time. In order to cope up with the change in the nature and type of production, the small and household garment and textile units are employing the younger and skilled labor force. The workers in these units are employed on the contract, causal and temporary basis. They are not given the different benefits as applicable to the large scale unit workers. Such workers are employed more hours and weekly holidays are not given to them. The small and household units are simply maximizing their interest and profit. Such capitalist nature of productive activities makes the labor worse. They are given less wages and classified as unskilled workers. Workers are not given proper training and security of work by these units. Their access to productive assets and standard of living is low as compare to the large unit’s workers. In order to improve the workers conditions, minimum wage should be given to all workers in small and household units. Such units must maintain their annual records of transactions. Small and household units must send their workers for compulsory training. Work place environment, minimum hours of work are required to regulate in these sectors. Immediate steps will have positive impact on workers earning and standard of living. It will help for further productivity enhancement.productivity, welfare, social security, working conditions

Effects of urbanisation on multiple cropping pattern in coastal districts in India

Coastal area protects from natural disasters and provides livelihood to population. But over the period of time, industrialized has grown across the coastal area in India. Such industrialization has created higher employment opportunities. Educational achievements of the population of coastal districts are higher as compare to the non coastal districts. Workers engaged service sector activities are higher as compare to non coastal districts in India. Random effect regression results show that the area under non agriculture use is higher in coastal districts. Cereals and rubber production is positively significant in coastal districts. Multiple cropping patterns are negatively co-related to the coastal districts. The policies like community participation, waste recycling of various industrial units, protection of the mangroves and strict implementation of the coastal regulation zone laws will protect the coastal area.Land use, Infrastructure index, Random effect

Adolescent pregnancies and health issues in Uttar Pradesh: Some policy implications

In the globalization era, adolescent pregnancies have become an important health issue. Teenage mothers have bigger disadvantage in terms of socio-economic factors. In Uttar Pradesh teenage mothers are found in the poorer households with less education. The logistic regression shows that odd ratio for the teenage mothers are more in rural area. The odd is higher for scheduled caste, tribe and other backward caste as compare to other caste households. The adolescent mothers of low standard of living index has higher odd ratio as compare to the adolescent mothers of higher standard of living index. Teenage mothers do not use the family planning methods and prenatal care. They do not deliver the baby in the health care facility and breastfeed their baby immediately after the delivery. The odd ratio is higher for no breastfeeding after child birth. In order to reduce the teenage pregnancy, government of Uttar Pradesh must generate more self employment opportunities to women and girls. The vocational training will improve the employment possibilities among adolescent girls. Government must provide the health care facilities to the poorer households. Such policies will reduce the adolescent pregnancies in the state.Pregnancies, fertility, employment

Knowledge Does Not Fall Far from the Tree - A Case Study on the Diffusion of Solar Cells in Germany

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the geographical diffusion of photovoltaic installations in Germany quantitatively and to test if preexisting photovoltaic systems stimulate further installations nearby; thus we investigate to which extent knowledge flows depend on geographic proximity. We develop an econometric model, which is discrete in time and space, but the level of geographical agglomeration is adjustable in arbitrarily small steps. We find that the probability to install a photovoltaic system dependents on the geographic proximity to agents, who have previously installed a photovoltaic system. In conclusion, our results confirm that knowledge exchange attenuates with distance.