Genetic variation at 15 autosomal microsatellite loci in the three highly endogamous tribal populations of Orissa,India

Although microsatellite diversity in autosomal chromosomes has been extensively described for many of the Indian populations, there is still a lacuna left on information about the genetic diversity of tribal populations. This paper reports the genetic data on the three tribal populations belonging to the Austroloid ethnic group from Orissa (Juang, Paroja and Saora). The 15 STR (D3S1358, THO1, D21S11, D18S51, PentaE, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, CSF1PO, PentaD, vWA, D8S1179, TPOX, FGA) polymorphism would help to accentuate the STR database for better understanding of population genetics and forensic applications. The microsatellites included in the system are found to be highly polymorphic, with the combined power of exclusion being greater than 0.999, in all the three investigated populations.     

Political Mobilisation,the Poor and Democratisation in Neo-liberal India

Abstract

Globalisation has had far-reaching implications for the dynamics of liberal democracy and governance in India. With the opening of the Indian economy in the 1990s, global market forces and private sector organisations have played an increasingly significant role in the political life of the nation. Given this background, several central questions are addressed. How has globalisation affected the way that state and civil society relations in India are constituted? In particular, what are its political implications for the poor who had previously relied on the services provided by the post-colonial state that carried out significant welfare-orientated functions? The paper argues that the contradictions of globalisation have transformed the dependent identity of the poor and marginalised toward a greater propensity for collective mobilisation. While the longer-term outcomes of such mobilisation remains unclear, the hegemonic position of entrenched elites is more clearly being challenged by the emergence of new agendas of inclusion, welfare rights and social justice appearing under conditions of neo-liberal globalisation.     

Assessing the (eco)macroeconomic performance index of India: A data envelopment analysis approach

The prime objective of this article is to construct a robust macroeconomic performance (MEP) index of the Indian economy using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Seven major macro indicators, namely, economic growth, employment rate, terms of trade, inflation rate, fiscal deficit, pollution, and climate change are used to compute MEP and Eco‐MEP indices of the Indian economy from 1980–1981 to 2018–2019. Overall, both the MEP and Eco‐MEP index scores have quite similar best performing years worst performing years, and have also captured the major events that affected adversely the Indian economy during the past decades. The trend in the overall performance of the Indian economy was better in the 1980s and the 1990s but has deteriorated since 2000. The autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approaches to cointegration methods are used to test the robustness/utility of these indices. The estimated results show that MEP and Eco‐MEP have a positive impact on private investment, foreign investment inflows, foreign direct investment, and a negative effect on the current account deficit. Hence, the suggested composite MEP index is stable, robust and truly captures the economic performance of India. The constructed MEP composite index may be used by foreign investors, rating agencies, private investors, and policymakers for their planning and decision‐making processes.     

Exchange rate policy modeling and forecasting the exchange rate: Indian rupee vis‐à‐vis the U.S. dollar

The exchange rate is a very important key financial variable that affects decisions made by the foreign exchange investors, exporters, importers, bankers, businesses, financial institutions, policymakers, and tourists in the developed as well as the developing world. Exchange rate fluctuations affect the value of international investment portfolios, competitiveness of exports and imports, value of international reserves, currency value of debt payments, and the cost of tourists. Movements in exchange rates thus have very important implications for any country's economy's business cycle, trade, and capital flows and are therefore crucial for understanding financial developments and changes in economic policy. The study will be looking at the various aspects of country's economic policy with respect to the exchange rate and modeling and forecasting the exchange rate. The study will be analyzing India's exchange rate story and will be discussing the structure of the foreign exchange market in India in terms of participants, instruments, and trading platform as also a turnover in the Indian foreign exchange market and forward premia. The study will be attempting to develop a model for the rupee–dollar exchange rate taking into account variables from monetary and microstructure models as well as other variables including intervention by the central bank. The main focus will be on the exchange rate of the Indian rupee vis‐à‐vis the U.S. dollar, that is, the Re/$ rate. The data will be covering from January 1990 through April 2013. This study will be examining the forecasting performance of the monetary model and various extensions of it in the vector autoregressive and Bayesian vector autoregressive framework.     

Civil society and the contemporary threat to religious freedom in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Against the international backdrop of rising religious tensions, this article explores contemporary civil society views on religious freedom in Bangladesh. It uses critical frame analysis of the corpus of civil society organizations’ (CSOs) submissions to the United Nations’ third cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR), 2013–18. It provides a timely assessment of Bangladesh’s fulfilment of international obligations on religious freedom, and shows how the politicization of religion and the resultant conflict between ‘secularism’ and ‘extremism’ have been fuelling inter-communal tensions and religious intolerance. In particular, CSOs’ UPR submissions present powerful accounts of the principal human rights pathology affecting the country today, religious-based violence. This is accompanied by a narrative of police malpractice, judicial failings, discrimination, oppression and incitement. A further key finding is ‘situated knowledge’ or first-hand accounts of legal restrictions and government repression of civil society organizations. Consonant with the classical work of liberal theorists, we argue that unprecedented importance now attaches to safeguarding civil society criticality in order to defend religious freedom and uphold human rights in the Republic.     

Price dispersion across Indian states: A club convergence analysis

This study examines the price convergence across 28 Indian states and 7 union territories at an aggregate and subgroups level over the period 2011–12 to 2017–18. We employ a novel approach of Phillips and Sul panel convergence technique, which accounts for transitional dynamics and heterogeneity in the panel. The results suggest price divergence and evidence of clubs across Indian states at both aggregate and subgroup level. The outcomes of this study help policymakers in addressing the price dispersion across states, which in turn improves the market integration, allocation of resources, and standard of living.     

Genetic variation at 15 autosomal microsatellite loci in the three highly endogamous tribal populations of Orissa, India

Although microsatellite diversity in autosomal chromosomes has been extensively described for many of the Indian populations, there is still a lacuna left on information about the genetic diversity of tribal populations. This paper reports the genetic data on the three tribal populations belonging to the Austroloid ethnic group from Orissa (Juang, Paroja and Saora). The 15 STR (D3S1358, THO1, D21S11, D18S51, PentaE, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, D16S539, CSF1PO, PentaD, vWA, D8S1179, TPOX, FGA) polymorphism would help to accentuate the STR database for better understanding of population genetics and forensic applications. The microsatellites included in the system are found to be highly polymorphic, with the combined power of exclusion being greater than 0.999, in all the three investigated populations.