Species identification from dried snake venom

Illegal trade in snake parts has increased enormously. In spite of strict protection under wildlife act, a large number of snakes are being killed ruthlessly in India for venom and skin. Here, an interesting case involving confiscation of crystallized dried snake venom and subsequent DNA-based species identification is reported. The analysis using the universal primers for cytochrome b region of the mitochondrial DNA revealed that the venom was extracted from an Indian cobra (Naja naja). On the basis of this report, the forwarding authority booked a case in the court of law against the accused for illegal hunting of an endangered venomous snake and smuggling of snake venom. This approach thus has immense potential for rapid identification of snake species facing endangerment because of illegal trade. This is also the first report of DNA isolation from dried snake venom for species identification.     

Social impact analysis on technology transfer

As societies and cultures are changed, technology transfer is an integral part of the process of creating a new world order. A primary question is whether technology transfer serves as a force for good or evil. Based on some of the recent history of the United States and the impact oftechnology transfer upon a small group of tribal people in India, this article discusses the need for a social impact analysis approach to ameliorate the negative effects of rapid changes caused by unregulated technology transfer.     

Abrasion Collar Around Shrapnel Entry Wound

Abrasion collar is usually described as a feature of bullet entry wounds caused by friction and indentation. The present case is that of the peculiar entry wound caused by a piece of flying shrapnel which was ejected from a furnace in a steel plant. The scrap metal which exploded in the plant was sourced from the West Asia region. The entry wound on the chest was circular and had an abrasion collar around it. The projectile was a cylindrical object of obscure origin. The forensic science laboratory put forth the possibility that the projectile was a component of an artillery fuze. A decades old study which employed high‐speed photography has rejected the possibility that abrasion collars are produced by friction. High‐velocity projectiles other than bullets can also produce abrasion collars as the rubbing of the bullet against the skin or its rotation are not the causative mechanisms.     

Minimal democratic audit of Islamic and other identitarian regimes

Empirical evidence overwhelmingly shows that democracy in Muslim societies is poorly institutionalized. Many scholars of democratization studies critique that the methodology of Western institutions that audit democracy and freedoms worldwide employs normative metrics which are insensitive to cultural particularisms and thus biased. This paper presents a minimal framework for democratic audit of electoral Islamic regimes that while being normative, answers to this criticism. It is also shown to be in the self-interest of modernizing elites in such regimes. This framework is premised on the transference of the burden of legitimacy from ‘majority consent’ to ‘minority concern’ by basing itself on the substantive ‘political equality’ proviso of Dahl. This is achieved without constraining the democratic capacity of the majority. Structured as a guarantee of rights and two guarantees of justice in a system of fairness, the framework can be used for democratic audit of a much larger set of electoral regimes.     

From Programmatic Reform to Social Science Research: The National Tax Association and the Promise and Perils of Disciplinary Encounters

This article uses the history of the National Tax Association (NTA), the leading twentieth‐century organization of tax professionals, to strengthen our empirical understanding of the disciplinary encounter between law and the social sciences. Building on existing sociolegal scholarship, this article explores how the NTA embodied tax law's ambivalent historical interaction with public economics. Since its founding in 1907, the NTA has changed dramatically from an eclectic and catholic organization of tax professionals with a high public profile to an insular, scholarly association of mainly academic public finance economists. Using a mix of quantitative and qualitative historical evidence, we contend that the transformation in the NTA's mission and output can be explained by the increasing professionalization and specialization of tax knowledge, and by the dominant role that public economics has played in shaping that knowledge. This increasing specialization allowed the NTA to secure its position as a bastion of scholarly tax research. But that achievement came at a cost to the organization's broader civic mission. This article is thus a historical account of how two competing professional disciplines—tax law and public economics—have interacted within a particular organizational field, namely the research and analysis of tax law and policy.     

Urban Proximity and Spatial Pattern of Land Use and Development in Rural India

Using non-parametric methods and India Human Development Survey 2004–2005, this study analyses the effect of urban proximity in terms of distance and connectivity on spatial pattern of land-use and development in the context of rural India. We find that, in urban surroundings, rural areas have diversified economic activities, intensive agriculture with higher spending on various inputs, higher economic wellbeing in terms of wages, income and consumption expenditure. We also document that transport and tele-connectivity are important for improved rural-urban linkages and changing rural landscape. These findings suggest that urban settlements are keys to development and inclusive growth in rural areas.     

Fundamental Redesign of Financial Law: The Indian Approach

India is at the cusp of important financial sector regulatory reform. The reform aims at deeper changes in financial sector laws and regulatory architecture. While many incremental reforms were undertaken in the last two decades, the pace of change has slowed down owing to the constraints posed by the underlying legal framework. The key problems in the financial sector include: lack of financial inclusion, a glacial pace of innovation, the growth of an unregulated shadow financial system, numerous ponzi schemes, high inflation, and barriers to capital flows. In the last decade, there have been many efforts in rethinking financial sector regulation to address these problems. A group of expert committees created a consensus around a strategy for change, which has led to a draft law proposed by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission set up by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India.