Post-earthquake housing reconstruction in the Sikkim Himalaya: approaches,challenges, and lessons learnt

The Himalayan state of Sikkim, India was hit by an earthquake in 2011 that caused widespread devastation. This article reports on the housing reconstruction project in the state, focusing on three questions: what are the key planning decisions, what are the main implementation challenges, and what are the lessons learnt? The findings indicate that key planning decisions need to be taken on implementation mechanisms, financing strategies, beneficiary identification, housing design, and procurement. The main implementation challenges are enabling homeowner involvement, slow progress, timely procurement, and stalled house construction. The article also identifies useful lessons for other agencies involved in reconstruction.     

Central Asia’s pipeline politics and India’s energy quest

Asia Europe Journal - Although Central Asia emerged out of the ashes of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, yet the ‘Five Stans’ (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan...     

External commercial borrowings by the corporate sector in India

The growing levels of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) among the emerging and developing economies have raised the fears that ECBs would lead to widespread crisis and threaten financial stability in India. Against this backdrop, the current study seeks to examine the trends and critically evaluate the policy pertaining to ECBs. In order to immune the economy from potential exchange rate shocks, we suggest to having specific policy focus on the domestic bond market, hedging mechanisms, and appropriate decisions on the cap and level of ECBs by the regulator.     

Coupling a ladder to the safety net: reinventing MGNREGA for asset creation

India’s rural employment act (MGNREGA), the world’s largest public works programme, is designed to guarantee wage employment as a statutory right. It is viewed by many as a drain on the public exchequer, as wages are paid but durable assets are not created. Can this safety net be restructured to double up as a ladder of opportunity for the poor without altering its entitlement-based framework? This article shows that implementing four sets of interventions – policy for household livelihood assets, convergence approaches, pro-poor participatory planning, and strengthening accountability, can accelerate the creation of livelihood assets in the lands of the poor.     

Denatured Ricin Can Be Detected as Native Ricin by Immunological Methods,but Nontoxic In Vivo

Abstract: Ricin is a glycoprotein from Ricinus communis seeds. It is known to have diverse toxic effects on cells of different visceral organs. In the present study, we purified and denatured ricin in a boiling water bath for different time intervals. We further made an attempt to identify native and denatured ricin by immunobased detection systems. All the antigen/antibody‐based assays identified native and denatured ricin. On SDS–PAGE, only native ricin was observed. In western blotting, ricin boiled for 3.75 min gave a strong band on X‐ray film. On native polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis, native and denatured ricin gave ricin band in 60‐kDa region. The denatured ricin did cause mortality up to 25 mg/kg, while 5 and 10 μg/kg of native ricin caused 50% and 100% mortality, respectively. Detection of native and denatured ricin is very difficult, and the investigating agencies, forensic scientists, and analysts should be very careful while interpreting the results.     

Measuring the effectiveness of social audits: experiences from Sikkim,India

India has devolved development funds totalling US$46 billion to 240,000 village self-governments. Social audits are emerging as the main tool to ensure their accountability. This article reports on research that analysed panel data of social audits from 2013 to 2015, along with the evolving policy framework. The research found that irregularities were only in the material component and had declined from 1.74% to 0.40% of expenditure, and that works were being completed at 80% of the sanctioned cost. The article proposes a results framework to measure the effectiveness of social audits that covers their punitive as well as preventive role.     

Economic cost of Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict

Despite its low income per capita, Sri Lanka has achieved remarkable success in human development, largely due to appropriate government policies on health and education. However, Sri Lanka's economic performance has been below its potential, and the unresolved civil conflict poses one of the greatest obstacles to its long terms growth prospects. This article examines some indirect costs of Sri Lanka's civil war. It argues that the conflict has resulted in lower domestic and foreign investments, disruptions in trade and commerce, and lower revenues from tourism. As a consequence, economic growth has suffered. With no end in sight to the civil war, these costs are likely to mount, with pernicious effects on future living standards.     

Evaluating public expenditure management systems: An experimental methodology with an application to the Australia and New Zealand reforms

This article examines how institutional arrangements affect the size, allocation, and use of public expenditures. It identifies a set of arrangements that can address underlying problems and affect three levels of expenditure outcomes - aggregate fiscal discipline, strategic prioritization, and technical efficiency in the use of resources. A diagnostic questionnaire is constructed which produces index values for each arrangement. This methodology is used to analyze the radical reforms introduced by New Zealand and Australia. The results show that New Zealand sought to achieve aggregate fiscal discipline and enhance technical efficiency through formal mechanisms for transparency and accountability. The Australian reforms sought to improve strategic prioritization through transparency of the medium-term costs of competing policies, and the devolution of detailed program decisions to line ministries within hard budgets.