Showing papers in "Journal of social and economic development in 2021"
TL;DR: The article is aimed at analysing the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 in a sociological perspective and proposes a proposal for the control of the disease as well as the entire socio-economic, environmental and political atmosphere in a country, whilst particularly giving more weight to South Asia.
Abstract: The Coronavirus or COVID-19 is a disease based on an unknown virus. It seems that it started in China and has widely spread in almost all countries in the world. This pandemic situation is one of the widely spread diseases in recent history. However, there was an influenza pandemic in 1918 with the exact number of deaths still unknown. Some believe that the death toll would have been about 50–100 million people. At the time of writing this article, COVID-19 has infected 5,306,928 persons worldwide (when the article was finalised for publication, the number has increased up to 15,947,291). The article is aimed at analysing the positive and negative impacts of COVID-19 in a sociological perspective. It is further focused on possible challenges to the supply chain in South Asia. South Asian countries are highly influenced by the pandemic situation, and the regional representation is about 4% in the later part of May 2020 with an increasing tendency. Also, the article has a proposal for the control of the disease as well as the entire socio-economic, environmental and political atmosphere in a country, whilst particularly giving more weight to South Asia. The proposed actions are analysed in short-term, mid-term and long-term basis, and any expert and social worker who is involved in the pandemic control process can gain an insight into what to do and how to perform their tasks. A sociological analysis on COVID-19 is very important because there is a wing comprising dominant medical experts in the control and management of the disease. The article emphasises the importance of a sociological analysis in a pandemic situation. Naturally, anyone would think of a pandemic situation in very negative terms due to its emotional, socio-economic, environmental, political and cultural factors. However, it is also positive due to certain factors that help to reintegrate and reorganise the social system as a whole.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this article, five design features related to the organization of primary care services, planned surge capacity in secondary and tertiary care, a robust disease surveillance system that is integrated with the health management information system, adequate domestic capacity in being able to innovate and scale up production and logistics of much needed medical products and a governance approach that recognizes the importance of the health systems being able continuously learn and adapt to meet changing needs are discussed.
Abstract: The pandemic of COVID-19 disease has acted like a stress test on every aspect of life, but particularly exposed weaknesses of health systems design and capacity. There have been similar pandemics in the past, and the threat of more frequent future pandemics in the twenty-first century is real. It is therefore important to learn the right lessons with regard to health systems preparedness and resilience. The five design features that this paper discusses are related to the organization of primary care services, planned surge capacity in secondary and tertiary care, a robust disease surveillance system that is integrated with the health management information system, adequate domestic capacity in being able to innovate and scale up production and logistics of much needed medical products and a governance approach that recognizes the importance of the health systems being able to continuously learn and adapt to meet changing needs. In addition to this, the organizational capacity of the system to deliver required services would need more investment in financial resources, and a suitable health human resource policy.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the situation of hunger and malnutrition in India during the times of the Covid-19, the associated lockdown and the aftermath is discussed, and the availability of high food stocks can be used as an opportunity to provide a universal PDS which is the need of the hour.
Abstract: This paper discusses the situation of hunger and malnutrition in India during the times of the Covid-19, the associated lockdown and the aftermath. The economic slowdown and loss of employment have resulted in widespread food insecurity. There are also concerns that this might have long-lasting effects on the nutrition status of the population. In this context, government support through schemes such as the PDS plays an important role. While there have been some interventions through these schemes towards providing food and cash support to people, there are many gaps. The availability of high food stocks can be used as an opportunity to provide a universal PDS which is the need of the hour. Other issues such as expanding the PDS to include pulses and oils, decentralised procurement, universal food support through school meals and ICDS, and enhanced cash transfers through social security schemes also need to be ensured.
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that, at the household level, larger households have worse food security outcomes and are more likely to report being food insecure, while children from large households also suffer worse malnutrition outcomes.
Abstract: Close to 14 million people in Nigeria, including children, are malnourished. I hypothesize that demographic considerations play an important role in food insecurity within Nigerian households. Using data from three waves of the World Bank’s Living Standard Measurement Survey for Nigeria, I illustrate spatial patterns of food security in the country. Using fixed effects regressions, I also show that, at the household level, larger households have worse food security outcomes and are more likely to report being food insecure. Children from large households also suffer worse malnutrition outcomes. This relationship is significant in urban Nigeria as well, with implications for sustainable urban planning and family planning to address unmet need for contraceptives.
16 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown on labour market in India and found widespread job losses in labour market with some sections of the society, including small traders, self-employed, migrant workers, daily wage labourers, youth and women being worst affected, who mostly work in the informal sector of the Indian economy.
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown on labour market in India. By using the data of centre for monitoring Indian economy (CMIE)'s consumer pyramids household survey (CPHS), the paper analyses the magnitude and nature of job losses and consequent unprecedented rise in unemployment across gender, social group, occupations during April-June 2020. It finds widespread job losses in labour market with some sections of the society, including small traders, self-employed, migrant workers, daily wage labourers, youth and women being worst affected, who mostly work in the informal sector of the Indian economy. Agriculture sector acted as a sponge by absorbing surplus labour during the times of COVID-19, which was being gradually vacated earlier over the years due to several well-known reasons. The rate of recovery in labour market has been comparatively much slower in case of salaried jobs, youth employment, particularly in rural areas and with elementary education. The economic consequences such disruptions on employment front were even much more serious as a very low percentage of households reporting improvement in their incomes. The most worrying aspect is that though the return to normalcy may take some time, there has been general recessionary trends in employment in India, which have been visible much before the COVID-19 crisis. The policy measures need to be extraordinary in such difficult times, focusing on securing employment and welfare of affected workers through sound and effective social protection programmes along with a major drive for promoting labour-intensive economic activities such as micro- and small enterprises, extension of employment security to poor urban households and skilling/reskilling of labour force to work in post-COVID-changed situations.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the experiences of iCALL, National level psycho-social counseling service and a field action project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, to examine the much-neglected experiential psycho social dimensions of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in India.
Abstract: COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis that simultaneously affected different countries and communities across the globe. The large-scale psychosocial impact of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, is an experiential reality for many, in India. Despite this impact, a closer look at India's response to the pandemic shows that the two strands of health and relief measures, continue to occupy centre-stage. The psycho-social aspects of the pandemic unfortunately largely remain undocumented and unaddressed. Using experiences of iCALL, National national level psycho-social counseling counselling service and a field action project of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, the paper throws light on the much-neglected experiential psycho-social dimensions of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in India. It describes the stressors experienced by users who approached iCALL and the consequent impact; especially among those who belonged to the vulnerable sections of the society. The nature of stressors as well as the impact reported by iCALL users, clearly points out to a complex interplay among several factors at individual, interpersonal, community and structural levels. The paper then, critically looks at the merits and limitations of the mental health framework that predominated the mental health response during the pandemic with its bio-medical and individualistic undertones; and suggests an alternative framing using a 'psycho-social' paradigm that views distress as an interaction between the psychological and social worlds. The paper asserts reciprocal linkages between development and psycho-social distress; highlighting the need to consciously integrate mental health issues into the development response. In the end, it makes an appeal for an inter sectoral dialogue, integrated response and advocacy for investing in mental health and psycho-social infrastructure to effectively respond to the pandemic.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a narrative of the remarkable continuities between the past legacies of governance of informal settlements, pandemic response and emerging ideas of alternate urbanisms and their inability to address issues of inequity, exclusion and vulnerability is presented.
Abstract: The COVID pandemic has exposed several faultlines of urbanism in India. This paper is a narrative of the remarkable continuities between the past legacies of governance of informal settlements, pandemic response and emerging ideas of alternate urbanisms and their inability to address issues of inequity, exclusion and vulnerability. The pandemic and the resultant situation exposes the limits of the current policies, programming linked to informal settlements, their imagination of informality and outlines the urgent need to escape the trap of bracketing of informal settlements as an 'issue' within itself delinked from the dynamic and ever-changing processes of urbanization through community led policy responses and effective local governance. In the absence of effective state response, informal settlements authored their own script of coping with the challenges thrown by the pandemic; their presence, participation and centrality in scripting future policies is a much-needed transformation of the narrative.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an exploration of the role of the state and its institutions, civil society and the judiciary in responding to the migrant crisis in the city of Hyderabad, a hub of migrant workers is presented.
Abstract: The immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in India saw a mass movement of people, mainly from the cities and large towns to the villages. The lockdown announced by the government abruptly suspended the instrumental value of the city for the millions of migrant workers inhabiting these. As the lockdown period extended, with very uncertain means of inter-state public transport, desperate migrant workers took to the streets in large numbers undertaking arduous and often dangerous journeys to their places of origin. The media highlighting the plight of the migrants elicited responses from different sections. This paper is an exploration of the role of the state and its institutions, civil society and the judiciary in responding to the migrant crisis in the city of Hyderabad, a hub of migrant workers. Closely following the silences and pronouncements of the institutions and analysing the role of each of these over the different phases of the migrant crisis, the paper asserts the need for a closer scrutiny of the universal role of the state response during the migrant crisis.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed two statistically significant supplementary dimensions of livelihood assets, namely information and freedom, in addition to the five usual dimensions of the sustainable livelihood framework, and explored the differences in livelihood priorities and well-being achievements between indigenous men and women.
Abstract: One of the weaknesses of sustainable livelihood framework is that like other poverty model, this framework has never extended its dimensions considering current economic–social–political–environmental contexts. This study offers two statistically significant supplementary dimensions of livelihood assets, namely ‘information’ and ‘freedom,’ in addition to the five usual dimensions of the framework. This study also offers a statistically reliable multidimensional model with 39 livelihood assets and six well-being outcomes as perceived by the indigenous people of Bangladesh. The methodology of the study is based on 1556 primary data collected from the stated community and analyzed through structural equation modeling. This paper also explored the differences in livelihood priorities and well-being achievements between indigenous men and women.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a value chain analysis (VCA) is carried out by computing the degree of value addition to uncover the rupture points caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as advocate policy measures to build a resilient system.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected several economic sectors in India, dragging many to the brink of survival. In particular, the already fragile horticulture industry is now facing a double burden of a weak value chain management system as well as perishability of produce (fresh fruits and vegetables), this pandemic season. Also, the strict enforcement of lockdown has altered both demand and supply factors, which in turn have shocked various linkages in the value chain of fresh fruits and vegetables. So, this paper dissects the value chain management of grapes and its processed products, namely juice, wine, and raisins in Maharashtra, the largest producer of grapes in India. For this, a value chain analysis (VCA) is carried out by computing the degree of value addition to uncover the rupture points caused by the pandemic as well as advocate policy measures to build a resilient system. The value chain analysis shows that post-COVID-19, the degree of value addition, has shot up for the intermediary agents, i.e., pre-harvest contractors, at the expense of the farmers. Using the insights from the VCA results plus the demand and supply shocks, various policy measures are elucidated to strengthen the grape value chain.
6 citations
TL;DR: This paper endeavours to chronicle Odisha’s response to COVID-19 in relations to policies and programmes initiatives and actors and dynamics shaping these responses to identify strengths and experience of the eastern state which has a long and credible record of fighting natural disasters.
Abstract: Odisha is among handful of states that is at the forefront of India's fight against a rapidly growing COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the national lockdown was imposed by the Union government on March 24, Odisha was only state to have imposed partial lockdown in select districts. It was also first state that took proactive steps to ramp up its health care system particularly having a COVID-19 hospital with intensive care units (ICUs) on public-private partnership mode. Importantly, Odisha was among few states to have created a COVID-19 hospital at each district in record time. In addition, the state took many proactive measures including setting up a taskforce to oversee the COVID-19 response, put up a critical information and communication system with daily press briefings among others to stay on the top of pandemic management. But come May when the migrants rush unfolded, the state experienced steady surge in infections as the pandemic started spreading to relatively dense rural hinterlands. The migrant endowed districts like Ganjam became the epicentres of new spread and the state is struggling to rein on the growing pandemic. What led to the state losing its initial gains? How did the state manage it so ably in the initial period and what led to the surge? What are the unique features of Odisha's pandemic response? Is there an Odisha Model as claimed by several observers? (Patnaik et al. in The Wire, 2020) This paper endeavours to chronicle Odisha's response to COVID-19 in relations to policies and programmes initiatives and actors and dynamics shaping these responses? Key aim is to identify strengths and experience of the eastern state which has a long and credible record of fighting natural disasters.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of social determinants on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Indian context at states and districts level, and showed that there is no robust relationship between level of health infrastructure and management of the epidemic at state level as states with better health infrastructure are also struggling to combat against COVID19.
Abstract: The countries across the globe are facing one of the worst infectious diseases in modern times in the form of COVID-19 pandemic. Different measures have been taken to control and manage the outbreak of COVID-19 in these countries. There are two propositions in context of effective control and management of a pandemic like COVID-19. First, a strong and effective public health care system is essential for managing the public health crisis and the uneven responses to COVID-19 are mainly because of inadequate health infrastructure. Second, the spread of COVID-19 depends on the interplay of other social determinants at local level, and therefore, addressing the gaps in social determinants of COVID-19 at local level is critical to control and manage this pandemic. The present paper attempts to examine these two propositions in Indian context at states and districts level, respectively. Using the cross-sectional data and constructing composite indices of COVID-19 intensity and level of health infrastructure at state level, the results show that there is no robust relationship between level of health infrastructure and management of COVID-19 at state level as the states with better health infrastructure are also struggling to combat against COVID-19. The district-level analysis indicates a significant relationship between concentration of COVID-19 and social determinants as majority of the districts with higher concentration of COVID-19 are those which have social determinants below national average.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used 2SLS regression to identify lessons for designing better public health policies in the post-pandemic era based on the past 6 months' experiences of these 163 countries.
Abstract: Using cumulative confirmed cases of Covid-19 covering 163 countries, this paper tests several hypotheses that have received extensive attention in the popular media and academic research during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Our goal is to identify lessons for designing better public health policies in the post-pandemic era based on the past 6 months' experiences of these 163 countries. Based on 2SLS regression, we derive the following lessons. First, providing universal health care is a significant public health strategy for countries to help deal with similar outbreaks in the future. Second, tackling air pollution is a win-win solution, not only for better preparedness against Covid-19 or other airborne diseases, but also for the environment and climate change. Third, lockdowns may help to reduce community spread, but its impact on reducing Covid-19 incidence is not statistically significant. Similarly, antimalarial drugs have no significant effect on reducing the spread of the disease. Fourth, countries should encourage home-based work as much as possible until some treatment or cure is found for the virus. Fifth, the lessons of past SARS experience helped contain the spread of the infection in East Asian countries; other countries must adjust their social and cultural life to the new normal: wearing masks, washing hands, and keeping a distance from others in public places.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that these disruptions have not emerged only as a result of the current crisis, but because of the paradigm shifts in the healthcare delivery in the country towards privatization which have disproportionately marginalized particular sections of the society.
Abstract: In this paper, we attempt to show how the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has disrupted routine health services in India and has created further inequalities in the society. By taking a few examples of non-COVID diseases and conditions like immunization, maternal health services, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases, this paper shows how these services have been disrupted by the pandemic. The paper argues that these disruptions have not emerged only as a result of the current crisis, but because of the paradigm shifts in the healthcare delivery in the country towards privatization which have disproportionately marginalized particular sections of the society. The paper concludes by stating that if adequate measures are not taken now to transform the health system and strengthen the public healthcare system, it might lead to catastrophic consequences in the future, especially for the marginalized sections.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the morbidity and healthcare utilisation scenario prevalent in Gujarat and Maharashtra as well as for all India over the last 35 years by exploring the National Sample Surveys data for 1980-81, 1986-87, 1995-96, 2004, and 2014.
Abstract: The paper compares the morbidity and healthcare utilisation scenario prevalent in Gujarat and Maharashtra as well as for all − India over the last 35 years by exploring the National Sample Surveys data for 1980–81, 1986–87, 1995–96, 2004, and 2014 The differentials and trends in morbidity rate, health seeking behaviour, use of public and private providers for inpatient and outpatient care and associated cost, and burden of treatment are analysed by population groups Changes in people’s demand for health services are correlated with the supply factors ie expansion of public and private health infrastructure Rising cost and burden of treatment on the poor are examined through receipt of free inpatient and outpatient services as well as the extent of financial protection under the health insurance schemes received by them Overtime, morbidity rates have gone up, with several folds increase in select states; the reliance on public provision has gone down substantially despite being cheaper than the private sector; and cost of treatment at constant prices increased considerably even for the poor Hospitalisation costs were higher among insured than the non-insured households in several states irrespective of whether resident in rural or urban areas (Haryana, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, and Assam have reported that insured households ended-up paying almost double the hospitalisation expenses in 2014) Leaving aside Kerala (where insured households have paid just a half of the cost of the non-insured), this clearly reflects the widespread prevalence of moral hazard and insurance collusion in India
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors make a critical assessment of the growth and development scenario and their linkages with human development outcomes with particular focus on the important HD factors across the districts.
Abstract: The case of Gujarat is often highlighted in the literature for the glaring mismatch between growth and human development (HD) outcomes.
This paper makes a critical assessment of the growth and development scenario and their linkages with human development outcomes with particular focus on the important HD factors across the districts. The objectives of the paper are to: (i) analyse the broad trends in the major economic sectors, viz. agriculture, industries and employment and delineate the differences in the growth scenario across districts and (ii) examine the ‘inclusive growth outcomes’ across districts in the state based on the district-level HD indices and delineate the differences in the major HD factors. The broad trends in the growth of the major economic sectors reveal some disquieting aspects of growth of the state, characterised by stark differences in literacy and educational attainments across gender and districts, the decline in farming population coincided with marginalisation of farm holdings amidst growth of commercial agriculture, declining rural work participation, especially women work participation, and concentration of industrial growth confining to few districts. The analysis of district-level HDIs brings out disparate trends of the status of HDI, reflecting stark differences in the status of development of the critical components, viz. standard of living, availability of health infrastructure and educational attainments. Based on the analysis, we argue that Gujarat needs to strengthen and reorient its development priorities by accelerating public spending more on critical areas of public health infrastructure, provision of better healthcare services, nutritional security, education and skill development, women empowerment, etc., which are critical aspects of human development and inclusive growth.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the connections between the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) and the per capita GDP in 111 high and low-income developing countries (HIDC and LIDC) between 1996 and 2018 to determine which, if any indicators, have a positive or negative effect on the per- capita GDP, and therefore the economy.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to find whether governance contributes to positive or negative economic growth in developing countries. The connections between the Worldwide Governance Indicators were examined in 111 high- and low-income developing countries (HIDC and LIDC) between 1996 and 2018 to determine which, if any indicators, have a positive or negative effect on the per capita GDP, and therefore the economy. We use fixed effects and perform three different regressions in our analysis. One for the entire sample then another two regressions, one for HIDC and one for LIDC. We find that two governance indicators, Rule of Law and Control of Corruption have positive effects on developing countries’ GDP per capita where Voice and Accountability had a small negative effect on developing counties’ GDP per capita. We find that controlling for corruption and accounting for rule of law is of paramount importance to drive economic growth for developing economics. Within the existing literature, there is neither a theoretical consensus nor consistent empirical evidence that would lead us to believe the relationship is positive, negative or non-existent, for low- and high-income developing countries. We find strong evidence that voice and accountability exacerbate per capita income in LIDC, while it helps promote higher per capita income in HIDC.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a three-sector Harris-Todaro (HT)-type model for a developing economy to analyse the failure of the employment generation program in the rural sector as a policy response to counter Covid-19-induced reverse migration of labour.
Abstract: We develop a three-sector Harris-Todaro (HT)-type model for a developing economy to analyse the failure of the employment generation program in the rural sector as a policy response to counter Covid-19-induced reverse migration of labour. First, we distinguish between two alternative modes of implementation of the program and show how they produce diverse outcomes on both unemployment and welfare. Welfare is measured in terms of Sen’s (Sen, J Public Econ 4:387–403, 1974) index which is inequality (distributional) sensitive. If the authority’s sole target is to lower unemployment, the policy fails miserably because it not only raises unemployment but also worsens welfare. On the contrary, if the policy aims at both rural infrastructure development and additional employment creation, it does not necessarily worsen social welfare. However, the rural employment generation program may turn out to be counterproductive in the latter case provided the urban region is relatively more labour abundant vis-a-vis the entire rural region. Numerical examples are constructed to validate the sufficient and necessary condition leading to the counterproductive outcome. Finally, we have advocated in favour of a composite policy that might succeed in minimizing further possible damage of the COVID-19 disaster.
TL;DR: It is argued that along with infrastructure creation, there is a need to focus on monitoring, operation and maintenance of existing system and improving efficiency in water supply services in Gujarat.
Abstract: Gujarat has made important strides to ensure that most parts of the state become water secure. In 2005, Gujarat was one of the few states that recognized that its urban areas were its ‘engines of growth’ and made significant investments in urban infrastructure. A state-wide water supply grid was constructed to transfer inter-basin water from perennial surface water sources to water-scarce areas. While these schemes have improved household-level access to municipal water supply, service levels have not improved. In this paper, we argue that along with infrastructure creation, there is a need to focus on monitoring, operation and maintenance of existing system and improving efficiency. We analyze information available from the performance assessment system (PAS) setup by the CEPT University for monitoring of urban services in India. It has annual information of water service delivery in all the urban areas of Gujarat from 2010. We assess urban drinking water supply on three key aspects: equity, service quality and financial sustainability. We also identify a few key intervention areas related to increased accountability, efficiency and equity in delivery of water supply services.
TL;DR: This paper considers several steps that Indonesia could take to increase its manufacturing exports and indicates that exporting more manufactures would reduce Indonesia’s exposure to volatile commodity prices and allow depreciations to stimulate exports.
Abstract: The Indonesian rupiah depreciated 50% between July 2011 and February 2020. Blanchard et al. (Are capital inflows expansionary or contractionary? Theory, policy implications, and some evidence. NBER Working Papers 21619, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2015) showed that capital outflows from emerging markets can reduce output by increasing the cost of financial intermediation and can increase output by increasing net exports. Regression results indicate that Indonesian banks are exposed to depreciations, but that exports are not stimulated by depreciations. The findings also indicate that Indonesia’s export price index is positively correlated with commodity prices and negatively correlated with manufactured goods prices. Exporting more manufactures would reduce Indonesia’s exposure to volatile commodity prices and allow depreciations to stimulate exports. This paper considers several steps that Indonesia could take to increase its manufacturing exports.
TL;DR: In this article, the Foucauldian principles of segregation, segmentation and surveillance were maintained in the decision making processes relating to treatment of prisoners during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Abstract: Fearing the spread of the COVID 19 infection in prisons, governments have released seemingly large numbers of prisoners in many countries. However, in terms of overall percentages, the releases have been less significant. In India, prisons are overcrowded with nearly 70% under trials. With very poor sanitation and healthcare facilities, there are numerous deaths in custody due to various illnesses, including heart, lung, liver and kidney-related ailments as well as HIV, tuberculosis and cancer. It is in this context that the need to take urgent steps to contain the spread of the contagion inside prisons became apparent to the prison authorities around the time the national lockdown was announced by the Government of India. Some of the measures taken by prison departments include creation of temporary prisons to admit new prisoners and keep them in quarantine for 14 days before transferring them to the regular prisons, transfer of prisoners from congested prisons to less crowded prisons, making prisoners aware of the virus, setting up Corona care centres inside or outside prisons, etc. While prison authorities claim that they were taking necessary preventive steps within existing limitations, there has been some criticism of the inadequacy of these measures and the conditions inside prisons. The Supreme Court of India took suo moto cognizance of the issue and asked state governments to constitute a High Powered Committees to identify categories of prisoners who could be released. The article highlights that the criteria for release was based on the purported seriousness of the offence rather than vulnerability to getting infected. Also, the absence of gender disaggregated data on release of prisoners indicates the lack of importance given to the needs of women prisoners. It can be said that the policies and measures taken towards preventing the spread of COVID 19 pandemic in prisons has reinforced existing biases against prisoners. The major concern of the prison and judicial authorities was to somehow manage the situation without disturbing the 'dangerousness' and risk to 'law and order' narrative about prisoners. The article concludes by drawing attention to the fact that the Foucauldian principles of segregation, segmentation and surveillance were maintained in the decision making processes relating to treatment of prisoners during the pandemic.
TL;DR: In this paper, disaster vulnerability and disaster resilience of rural value chains are presented and followed by a system view on global rural value according to four income groups of countries and a different meaning of disasters becomes perceivable for each income group.
Abstract: Global rural value chains relate to business activities in non-central locations all over the world. They contain almost all global agricultural production, a major part of global tourism, and minor shares of industry and other services than tourism. Their generated value is more dependent on climate and extreme weather events than what is the case with urban value chains. Concepts of disaster vulnerability and disaster resilience to rural value chains are presented and followed by a system view on global rural value according to four income groups of countries. A different meaning of disasters becomes perceivable for each income group. We come up with four cases of successful in some aspects controversial alterations of global rural value chains: palm oil value chain in ASEAN, the sixth industry in Japan, rural tourism in Asia, and winter tourism in Austria and analyze the impacts of natural disasters in case studies. The business disturbances are manifold, complex, and not entirely adverse. The value at risk in a given location widely depends on the susceptibility of people and environment to a natural disaster, the costs to repair, and possibilities to innovate. Along with economic growth, disasters accelerate transformations in rural value chains and the strive to become more global while contracting in their local extensions.
TL;DR: As infection rates rise, job losses increase and workers leave cities to walk back home, and there is a silent hunger and nutrition crisis striking the country as mentioned in this paper, those who will bear the brunt of this are the already vulnerable, namely children, adolescent girls, nursing and expectant mothers.
Abstract: As infection rates rise, job losses increase and workers leave cities to walk back home, and there is a silent hunger and nutrition crisis striking the country. Those who will bear the brunt of this are the already vulnerable—namely, children, adolescent girls, nursing and expectant mothers—now denied even basic calories. Among these are some who are also suffering huge weight losses because of the 15 days of high fever. This tragedy will play out in various horrifying ways in the future and must be addressed with urgency. Our stimulus package promises loans, which will take time to reach the poor, and a meager ration of cereals and pulses, while hunger and insufficient nutrition are immediate problems as Raghuram Rajan pointed out recently.
TL;DR: The study provides comprehensive global analysis on production networks and insights for evaluating the R&D investment spillover effects and is notable to see a higher economic integration of Oceania within the region through its vibrant production and trades.
Abstract: Policymaking for science, technology, and innovation (R&D) is stepping into a new era in the twenty-first century within a highly integrated production network, making it more challenging to capture the impact of R&D investment from an evidence-based approach. To unfold the paradox of the R&D spillover effect spared in the global supply chain, we use computable general equilibrium model with the GTAP database v10 to analyze the impact of Japan’s public R&D investment to the world focus on key sectors of global supply chain, namely chemical and pharmaceutical, electronic equipment, machinery, and transportation equipment to examine its output, external trades, and welfare. The productivity parameters triggered by public R&D investment are calibrated from the SciREX Policymaking Intelligent Assistance System—Economic Simulator (SPIAS-e). The simulation results show significant increase in Japan’s output and export for chemical and pharmaceutical, electronic equipment, and transportation equipment. The GDP growth was stimulated by 0.6% and substantial welfare improvement by USD 78,000 million, while other countries such as Malaysia and Taiwan by 0.4–0.6%. In contrast, the economic indicators of China reveal a negative impact, implying a structural change in the composition of the production network. It is notable to see a higher economic integration of Oceania within the region through its vibrant production and trades. The study provides comprehensive global analysis on production networks and insights for evaluating the R&D investment spillover effects.
TL;DR: In this paper, a total of 152 pieces of literature on BI theories and BI empirical cases were intensively reviewed, which includes BI definitions, positive and negative conceptual impacts of BI argued to bring to human society from social, economic, and policy-and-governance perspectives, as well as the implementation and the outcomes of 15 selected BI empirical case.
Abstract: A basis of fundamental knowledge of different basic income approaches (BI) is essential to be elaborated for enhancing the prevalent debates on BI as an important solution on social transformation. Aiming to contribute to the current knowledge gaps and future research agendas on BI, this paper elaborates on BI theories and BI empirical cases, linkage, and gaps between these two parts. A total of 152 pieces of literature on BI theories and BI empirical cases were intensively reviewed, which includes BI definitions, positive and negative conceptual impacts of BI argued to bring to human society from social, economic, and policy-and-governance perspectives, as well as the implementation and the outcomes of 15 selected BI empirical cases. Our findings indicate that BI definitions remain imprecise, and the BI empirical cases are implemented in diverse ways. We also identified that many conceptual impacts of BI were not achieved in the reviewed BI empirical cases. We further argue that the policy environment for implementing BI has not been entirely created at present, and a key issue is that the ambiguity between the BI theories and BI empirical cases causes difficulties to generate widely agreed principles guiding the implementation of BI. This paper suggests that future studies on BI should focus more on revising existing BI definitions which need to be simplified, detailed, and unified, generating universal principles guiding the implementation of BI, and developing indicators measuring BI's consequences.
TL;DR: The authors found that the negative relationship between intrinsic religiosity orientation and poverty is partially mediated by the propensity to save, and that personal religiosity/religious commitment needs to be complemented by church programs that take advantage of the rich and diversified religious network that exists in urban areas to facilitate poverty reduction.
Abstract: The relationship between religious orientation and poverty has not been given adequate attention in the literature. The major objective of this study was to determine the effect of religious orientation on poverty status. We collected data from a representative sample of household heads in Ghana through a multi-stage random sampling. The data was analyzed using logistic and probit models. Instrumental variable estimation and structural equation modeling were used to address reverse causality and assess mediated effect, respectively. The study found that intrinsic religious orientation has a negative effect on poverty, particularly in urban areas. The study also found that the negative relationship between intrinsic religiosity orientation and poverty is partially mediated by the propensity to save. The basic implication of our finding is that personal religiosity/religious commitment needs to be complemented by church programs that take advantage of the rich and diversified religious network that exists in urban areas to facilitate poverty reduction.
TL;DR: The implications in these claims of self-reliance in the context of the nation are discussed by positioning this claim within the tension between two different formulations of the self: self of thenation as against the idea of national self.
Abstract: The pandemic has led to a renewed reflection on what it means to be self-reliant in terms of our everyday practices. Nations too follow this logic in their own claims of self-reliance. This paper discusses the implications in these claims of self-reliance in the context of the nation by positioning this claim within the tension between two different formulations of the self: self of the nation as against the idea of national self.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the growth of the industry in the region during the incentive period and explore if the location-based fiscal incentives have led to attracting investments to the region on a sustained fashion.
Abstract: Kachchh had suffered a major earthquake in 2001, resulting in extensive destruction of the area and a large number of fatalities. The economic activities had come to a standstill. In order to regenerate the economic activities and employment in the district, industrial development was promoted by offering fiscal incentives. The central government had extended a waiver of excise, and central sales tax and the State Government offered other significant fiscal benefits like waiving of state sales tax and extending capital investment subsidy. This paper describes the growth of the industry in the region during the incentive period. It explores if the location-based fiscal incentives have led to attracting investments to the region on a sustained fashion. The consequences of this development on the local livelihoods, employment and environment have also been studied. We have relied on personal interviews with various stakeholders, unpublished data from the industries department and other published data and literature for the analysis.
TL;DR: In this paper, the determining factors of the food security index as a proxy of regional resilience, especially in Java, were analyzed and the results showed that disaster vulnerability is very influential on food security at district level.
Abstract: As a major food-producing area in Indonesia, Java is threatened by medium to a high level of natural disaster vulnerability that will certainly affect the national food system. This study aims to analyze the determining factors of the food security index as a proxy of regional resilience, especially in Java. The sample used in this analysis is derived from districts throughout Java in the years of 2017–2018. The data panel regression models are used to produce the best estimation models. The results showed that disaster vulnerability is very influential on food security at district level. The other affecting factors for food security at the regional level are socioeconomic dimensions such as inflation, poverty and GDRP per capita. Policies are necessary to prevent food inflation by stabilizing prices, ensuring effective and efficient supply lines (under various conditions, including at the occurrence of natural disasters), as well as government market operations. Further implications for the food system and the food resilience are the necessity to build an integrated food system from production, distribution channels to guarantee the availability of sufficient food supply in every districts. It requires more than development of logistics and physical infrastructure for distribution systems, it implies the essentials of involvement of related stakeholders and institutional arrangements in the food system. Increased connections between the producer and the consumer regions will encourage the integration of rural areas as a food base production for the various urban areas. This potentially increases resilience in both the production and consumption areas.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the dynamic impact of global value chains (GVCs) on inclusive growth in Africa and showed that the participation of countries at different stages of GVCs affect labor productivity and thus contributes to the achievement of inclusive growth.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the dynamic impact of global value chains (GVCs) on inclusive growth in Africa. In this regard, we use both a panel autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) model and a cross-section augmented ARDL approach for a sample of thirty-five (35) African countries. The analysis used data from 1991 to 2018. Prior to the estimation of the parameters of the models, a set of tests are implemented namely: slope heterogeneity and cross-sectional dependence tests, as well as panel unit root test that permits cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity. The study focuses on labor productivity as an important measure of inclusiveness and shows that the participation of countries at different stages of GVCs affect labor productivity and thus contributes to the achievement of inclusive growth. However, labor productivity gains from GVCs are not automatic and are observed in a more significant manner in the long run. While distinguishing between upstream participation and downstream participation, the paper found that in the long run, downstream participation (backward linkages) and upstream participation (forward linkages) equally impact labor productivity. In the short run, upstream participation has a positive and significant effect on labor productivity, while downstream participation does not significantly affect labor productivity. In light of our findings, African countries could be better integrated into GVCs and have enough room to achieve higher labour productivity through their participation in GVCs.