Can Grassroots Mobilization of the Poorest Reduce Corruption? A Tale of Governance Reforms and Struggle against Petty Corruption in Bihar,India

The rural poor in India have long experienced corruption, exclusion from welfare schemes and the denial of rights. Critical accounts of development policy and practice advocate the need for pro‐poor governance reforms as well as effective mobilization of the poor for exercising their rights and entitlements. However, there is a dearth of empirical work which examines the following questions. What are the dynamics of such mobilization strategies in the environment of pro‐poor governance reforms? How do they affect local power relations from the perspective of the poorest social groups? And what are the challenges involved in sustaining struggles led by civil society organizations on behalf of the poorest and against petty corruption? This article addresses these questions in the context of a grassroots mobilization of Musahars (a Dalit caste group) in Bihar, one of the poorest provinces in India, which has recently initiated pro‐poor governance reforms. It explains what has or hasn't worked (and why) for the Musahars, in terms of their dealings with public officials. The authors argue that pro‐poor governance reforms and welfare schemes on their own are not sufficient; both grassroots mobilization and political will of the ruling dispensation are also necessary.     

Ethno-archaeology of the Meitei’s of Thongjao Village: A Pottery Making Village of Manipur,North-East India

An ethno-archaeological study of the people of Thongjao village considered to be one of the ancient pottery makers in Manipur provided a detailed account of the techniques and procedures of pottery making. The present study attempts to bridge the gap between the present ethnographic account and past archaeological account in respect of the ceramics of Manipur by drawing similarities between the Thongjao village and prehistoric ceramics of Manipur on the one hand and by making analogical interpretations of the latter on the basis of parallelism that exists between the two on the other. This study also highlighted the use of raw materials and their techniques used in making pottery and their prehistoric similarities in respect of their composition. The paper studies the different types of pottery found in this village and also reveals the socio-cultural association of the people, changes and continuity.     

Panel regression formulas for estimating stature and body mass from immature human skeletons: a statistical approach without reference to specific age estimates

Anthropologists require methods for accurately estimating stature and body mass from the human skeleton. Age-structured, generalized Least Squares (LS) regression formulas have been developed to predict stature from femoral length and to predict body mass in immature human remains using the width of the distal metaphysis, midshaft femoral geometry (J), and femoral head diameter. This paper tests the hypothesis that panel regression is an appropriate statistical method for regression modeling of longitudinal growth data, with longitudinal and cross-sectional effects on variance. Reference data were derived from the Denver Growth Study; panel regression was used to create one formula for estimating stature (for individuals 0.5–11.5 years old); two formulas for estimating body mass from the femur in infants and children (0.5–12.5 years old); and one formula for estimating body mass from the femoral head in older subadults (7–17.5 years old). The formulas were applied to an independent target sample of cadavers from Franklin County, Ohio and a large sample of immature individuals from diverse global populations. Results indicate panel regression formulas accurately estimate stature and body mass in immature skeletons, without reference to an independent estimate for age at death. Thus, using panel regression formulas to estimate stature and body mass in forensic and archaeological specimens may reduce second stage errors associated with inaccurate age estimates.     

Early Permian Foraminifera from Eastern Himalaya and their palaeobiogeographic significance

Foraminiferal assemblage from Permian rocks of Eastern Himalaya, India are recorded for the first time. Twenty-two genera and twenty-eight species are documented from the Garu Formation, Eastern Himalaya. The foraminiferal assemblage supports previous age determinations based on megafauna. The distinctive foraminiferal assemblage from India supports the recognition of Australian and Afghanistan-Indian provinces in the Early Permian Austral realm. An appreciable number of common species in these provinces is indicative of close geographic links.     

Neural Network-Based Damage Detection from Transfer Function Changes

This article puts forth the work on a neural network-based approach to determine the degree of damaged floors of the building considering changes in the transfer function. The transfer function is considered for that part of forced vibration in which system vibrates linearly after the structure has been damaged considering the building is instrumented during the earthquake. The results showed that accuracy of degree of damage detected increased with the increase in the number of combination of damages. The instrumentation of the first floor is expected to give best results for damage detection based on the transfer function-based approach.     

Swimming against the tide: economic growth and demographic dividend in India

There is an increasing policy focus on India’s demographic potential and associated growth benefits. This paper provides empirical evidence regarding the net growth benefits derived from an increased share of working-age population in India. The analysis adopts decomposition and econometric methods, using data at the state and national level in India, to robustly test the nature and magnitude of the demographic dividend in India. We find that the Indian economy is drawing significant benefits from the ongoing process of demographic transition, with dividend effects estimated to be over one percentage point per annum during 1980–2010. However, to derive high growth from the demographic potential would require tackling some of the growth constraints. The paper discusses ways in which these constraints can be addressed to fully tap the potential of demographic dividend.     

REGIONAL VARIATIONS IN TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND IN POTENTIAL GAINS FROM CONSOLIDATION AMONG U.S. COMMERCIAL BANKS

ABSTRACT. This paper investigates the regional variations in the impact of technological change and in gains from consolidation among U.S. commercial banks. We estimate a multiproduct translog cost function with the appropriate regional dummy variables. Technological change, ray scale economies and scale biases in technological change are estimated for each region. Furthermore, pairwise expansion path economies between all the regions are calculated to evaluate the potential gains from interregional consolidation. In general Southwest banks had the worst and Southeast the best technological change. There is substantial disparity across regions. It also appears that technological change increased the efficient size in the Midwest and Southwest regions and reduced it in the West, Northeast and Southeast. Banks in all regions show ray economies of scale, affirming the need for larger banks if output mix remains constant. Finally, the results support takeover of regional banks by the Money Center banks but not vice-versa, and favor consolidation among regional banks. The biggest potential gains accrue from mergers of Southeast banks with either Midwest or Southwest banks and the least gains are derived from mergers between Midwest and Southwest banks.     

Advocacy Group Messaging on Social Media: Using the Narrative Policy Framework to Study Twitter Messages about Nuclear Energy Policy in the United States

Increasingly, policy scholars are using the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to systematically study the narrative elements and strategies that policy actors and groups use to advance their agendas. The majority of these studies analyze reports, documents, and websites published by the actors and groups that are most active in the policy subsystem. Though useful, these “public consumption documents” can be difficult to find and relatively static. In this article, we suggest that the constant flow of messages and content that competing actors and groups publish on social media may provide a solution to this problem. To test this proposition, we use the NPF to analyze messages published on Twitter by competing advocacy groups in the U.S. nuclear energy policy subsystem from January 2014 to May 2014 (n = 703). We find that both groups use Twitter to disseminate messages that contain the basic elements of policy narratives. Moreover, the narratives they use include strategies that are consistent with their position in the subsystem. These findings demonstrate the utility of the NPF for research on social media and, more importantly, validate the use of Twitter data in future work on the NPF.     

Chronology of red dune aggradations of South India and its Palaeo-environmental significance

Red sand dunes occur in the coastal plains of south east and west of Tamil Nadu, India between the coordinates of 8°00′ to 9°30′ N; 77°18′ to 79° 00′ E. OSL dating of these sands indicated aggradations between ～16-9 ka and ～9-3 ka in the west and east coasts respectively. Dating results from inland red dunes at the foothills of Western Ghats show a break in deposition at ～6 ka and aggradation since ～2 ka. The sand aggradations in the west coast occurred during the transition period when SW monsoon in the area was reestablishing. The dunes attained their stability by 9 ka. In the coastal region, the aggradations were controlled by sea level changes and a local recycling of earlier dunes (in the east coast). In the inland areas, the dune building was controlled by sand supply from fluvial sources.