Is the Value Added Tax Reform in India Poverty-Improving? An Analysis of Data from Two Major States

The Value Added Tax (VAT) was introduced in India in place of Sales Tax, taking effect in April 1, 2005. These taxes are in the domain of different state governments within the country's federal set up. Although VAT is widely acclaimed to be a better system than the sales tax on grounds of efficiency in tax collection, no study has been undertaken to assess the impact of this reform measure on social equity. This paper addresses this need with the use of concentration curves and consumption dominance curves of various orders. The simulations were done on two major states in India, namely Maharashtra and West Bengal, using National Sample Survey Unit Level data for the 55th round. The results show that the reform is largely pro-poor, although there are ways to improve it with respect to some items predominantly consumed by the relatively poorer groups.Value added tax, Marginal tax reform, public distribution system, concentration curve, Lorenz curve, marginal efficiency cost of funds, consumption dominance

Electro-analytical characterization of carbon paste electrode for detection of Heavy Metal Ions

Carbon paste electrodes (CPE) as an electrochemical sensor has been fabricated using graphite powder and paraffin oil. The basic electrochemical parameters of the CPE electrode are characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Potassium ferricyanide K3[Fe(CN)6] solutions as benchmark media to check redox reactions. Results illustrated that electron transfer to the electrode surface was diffusion controlled by both the techniques. The detection limits are 8×10-5 M for K3Fe(CN)6 and 0.019 M for lead ion. The diffusion coefficient (D), no. of electron transfer, and charge transfer coefficient were also investigated

Electro-analytical characterization of carbon paste electrode for detection of heavy metal ion

562-565Carbon paste electrodes (CPE) as an electrochemical sensor has been fabricated using graphite powder and paraffin oil. The basic electrochemical parameters of the CPE electrode are characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Potassium ferricyanide K3[Fe(CN)6] solutions as benchmark media to check redox reactions. Results illustrated that electron transfer to the electrode surface was diffusion controlled by both the techniques. The detection limits are 8×10-5 M for K3Fe(CN)6 and 0.019 M for lead ion. The diffusion coefficient (D), no. of electron transfer, and charge transfer coefficient were also investigated

ICT and Internet Literacy Skills for Accessing to E-Resources available under N-LIST Programme : A Case Study of College Library Users of Barak Valley, South Assam

The present study has been undertaken with a view to know the scenario of N-LIST Programme implementation and status of the ICT and Internet literacy skills amongst the College Library Users who have been mainly drawn from the ten selected college libraries of Barak Valley of South Assam to access E- Resources available under N-LIST Resources. The present work was carried out during January to May 2012. For that purpose, survey method was adopted, which comprises of administration of questionnaire, observation of the participants, and interview of some of the participants for knowing the opinion of the respondents in respect of usage of e-resources available under N-LIST Programme/ services for their academic and research activities. The self designed questionnaire comprising of 19 questions has been distributed amongst the randomly selected 200 samples, out of which 153 respondents have responded. The present investigation is delimited to the randomly selected population of College Library Users who are regularly visiting their respective college library and using the Internet for accessing to the e-resources / web resources available under the N-LIST Programme of INFLIBNET. On the basis of filled up questionnaire received from the respondents, data has been analyzed and tabulated using SPSS Software. For data analysis percentage technique has been adopted. Due to paucity of space important findings have been enumerated in brief. The paper highlights the important survey findings in respect of demographic profiles of college library users, their library visit pattern, e-resources use pattern and expectations of college library users from the N-LIST Programme through which the scholarly contents are made available to the library users. Besides this, some suggestions and recommendations to solve the impediments for non-implementation of N-LIST Programme and under utilization of e-resources have also been enumerated in brief

Information Seeking Behaviour of Scientific Community at Assam, India: A Proposed Model for E-Environment

The present study has been undertaken to know the information seeking pattern of the scientific community who belong to different universities under the study. In this study, it has been tried to find out the satisfaction after utilization of print or digital information resources available in the digital environment with a view to understand the situation of the existing library system. After evaluation and observation of the findings of the study critically, it leads to create confusion regarding the nature of information seeking pattern by the scientific community. It is found that the existing library information system is seemed to be less functional. The experience gathered from personal visit, observation and discussion with scientific community by the researcher also has realized that there is a big gap or problem in accessing information from university library system. So, there is an urgent need to develop a model which can fulfill the requirement of scientific community. Thus, one new model of information seeking behaviour is proposed namely “Information Seeking Model for Scientific Community at Assam” (ISMSCA) which might solve the problem of scientific community, if implemented

MKKK20 works as an upstream triple-kinase of MKK3-MPK6-MYC2 module in Arabidopsis seedling development

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is involved in several signal transduction processes in eukaryotes. Here, we report a mechanistic function of MAP kinase kinase kinase 20 (MKKK20) in light signal transduction pathways. We show that MKKK20 acts as a negative regulator of photomorphogenic growth at various wavelengths of light. MKKK20 not only regulates the expression of light signaling pathway regulatory genes but also gets regulated by the same pathway genes. The atmyc2 mkkk20 double mutant analysis shows that MYC2 works downstream to MKKK20 in the regulation of photomorphogenic growth. MYC2 directly binds to the promoter of MKKK20 to modulate its expression. The protein-protein interaction study indicates that MKKK20 physically interacts with MYC2, and this interaction likely suppresses the MYC2-mediated promotion of MKKK20 expression. Further, the protein phosphorylation studies demonstrate that MKKK20 works as the upstream kinase of MKK3-MPK6-MYC2 module in photomorphogenesis

A Potent Antibiotic-Loaded Bone-Cement Implant Against Staphylococcal Bone Infections

New antibiotics should ideally exhibit activity against drug-resistant bacteria, delay the development of bacterial resistance to them and be suitable for local delivery at desired sites of infection. Here, we report the rational design, via molecular-docking simulations, of a library of 17 candidate antibiotics against bone infection by wild-type and mutated bacterial targets. We screened this library for activity against multidrug-resistant clinical isolates and identified an antibiotic that exhibits potent activity against resistant strains and the formation of biofilms, decreases the chances of bacterial resistance and is compatible with local delivery via a bone-cement matrix. The antibiotic-loaded bone cement exhibited greater efficacy than currently used antibiotic-loaded bone cements against staphylococcal bone infections in rats. Potent and locally delivered antibiotic-eluting polymers may help address antimicrobial resistance