Finding Friends

An expatriate life has a certain thrill to it-a new country, a new culture, the exploits and escapades-but it is the interaction with the people that we carry with us on our last flight back home.My China sojourn began in the summer of 1999-September 20 to be exact. It was supposed to last a couple of months, and as it happens to many of us,I ended up staying longer than I had planned to.     

The impact of MGNREGS on child labour and child education: an empirical analysis

This article addresses the persistent claim that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has a negative impact on the availability of labour for agricultural operations, which has significant implications for the induced demand for child labour as a cheaper substitute for unskilled adult labour on agricultural farms in peak seasons. The study contributes to this debate by examining three issues: (i) effects of seasonality on child intensity of labour; (ii) impact of MGNREGS on child intensity of labour; and (iii) impact of seasonality and MGNREGS on human capital formation.     

Voting and Human Rights in Democratic Societies

The majority of research on human rights focuses on the consequences of regime-type for human rights violations, and overwhelming evidence suggests that democracies are less likely to violate human rights of their citizens as compared to non-democracies. However, a regime-type perspective is unable to account for disparities in human rights violations within democratic and non-democratic regimes. This paper disaggregates regime-type and analyzes the relationship between citizens’ participation and human rights violations. I argue that a participative citizenry, as captured by high voter turnout, is indicative of an active and vigilant populace who are more likely to hold governments accountable and ensure better human rights protections. The paper tests the relationship between human rights and voter turnout among 89 democratic countries from 1976 to 2008. The findings demonstrate that a participative citizenry enhances governmental respect for human rights.     

Insurgency and Peace Building in the Northeast Indian State of Manipur

This article looks at the ongoing insurgency in the remote Indian northeast, and has a special focus on the state of Manipur. Manipur is regarded as India’s eastern most state, and is geographically sandwiched in between East Asia proper and South Asia proper. This article tries to analyze the different facets of this very complex situation, and pays special attention to how the conflict has changed its character with the passage of time. For purposes of this article, primary data was collected by interviewing local people of Manipuri descent in eastern India to get first hand information about the conflict. Finally, at the end of the article, methods of peace building have been suggested as the way forward.