Market,Freedom and the Illusions of Microcredit. Patronage,Caste, Class and Patriarchy in Rural South India

Abstract

As a market tool, microcredit is expected to promote individual freedom, for women in particular. By drawing on a southern Indian case, this paper argues that microcredit is in fact shaped by the power structures it is supposed to eradicate. Even if they are partly reshaped, local structures of power remain unavoidable to protect populations (something that microcredit fails to do) but also to build the microcredit market and ensure its legitimacy, for donors, local political arenas and local populations. Far beyond microcredit, our findings question the uneasy relationships between markets and individual freedoms.     

Comparison of Impact of Procedural Justice and Outcome on Victim Satisfaction: Evidence From Victims’ Experience With Registration of Property Crimes in India

Crime victim–police interface and registration of crime are the early and fundamental interactions in the criminal justice system. The process of lodging a complaint is marked by the pain of victimization, sharing of information, and expectation of quick remedial action from the police. The nature and quality of experience of the victim and outcomes impact the level of satisfaction with services of police. Through a survey of victims of property crimes, in different areas of a state in India, the author examines the impact of procedural justice and outcomes on victim satisfaction. The study illuminates the outcome oriented expectations of the victim, and the unique dynamics of victim–police interaction, which strains the legal ethical framework of the criminal justice system.     

Moving beyond nation-state: Framing state-level politics in India

The article refers to the processes that have been critical to the emergence of states as significant categories for the analysis of politics in India after a considerable period of academic neglect. It is in this context that the article considers the following research questions for discussion while referring to the state politics literature: what has been the contribution of the “first generation” of state-specific studies and to what extent has the “second generation” of inter-state comparative studies been able to take this forward? What could be the specific advantages of inter-state studies over single case studies? Finally, the article argues in favour of a need to develop further what may be considered the “third generation” of studies in the discipline, that remain comparative in nature but are in search of a much-nuanced grounded analysis; this would move beyond state-specific or inter-state studies and start taking up intra-state comparative studies, focusing on historical-cultural substate regions that have emerged as political (and economic) units within and across the constituent states of the Indian Union.     

再谈农业人口与非农业人口的统计问题

“也谈农业人口与非农业人口的统计问题”发表后,农业人口统计资料失真后该怎么办,我国目前到底是农业人口多还是非农业人口多?这成为笔者需向同行和读者认真回答的两个问题。对前者其办法不外乎以下五种:一是取消农业人口与非农业人口的划分,而代之以乡村人口与城镇人口;二是继续让原有的农业人口与非农业人口资料滥竽充数;三是借用联合国粮农组织数据库中有关中国农业人口的资料;四是公开宣布公安系统统计的人口数据是农业户口的人口与非农业户口的人口;五是千方百计搞一套接近实际的中国农业人口与非农业人口资料。前三种办法均不可取,第四种办法从公安系统来说,也许有一定的保留价值,但它无助于农业人口与非农业人口统计问题的解决,所以,只有第五种办法才是科学合理的;对后者,如截至目前,肯定是非农业人口比农业人口多。     

我国高等教育评估专业化新进展综述

评估专业化即评估职业个体和群体逐渐符合专业标准,社会地位和专业地位不断获得提升的过程。随着教育评估实践的逐步开展、评估理论的深入研究,我国高等教育评估专业化的趋势越来越明显。在此,在分析评估专业化基本内涵的基础上,从评估法规建设、理论研究、机构发展、评估机制、专家队伍等方面对我国当前高等教育评估专业化的进展进行了梳理和归纳总结。     

The political process and the use of debt financing by state governments

Empirical evidence offered in this study suggests that decisions by state government officials to effect debt-financed spending depend in part on the state's gubernatorial election cycle. More specifically, the results reveal relative increases in state debt issues in anticipation of elections, and furthermore, they reveal that such increases are more significant for states characterized by high interparty political competition. While theoretical limitations preclude a definitive explanation for these results, the evidence is consistent with a view of state political markets where incumbent parties manipulate public policy so as to enhance the probability of success in pending elections. This insight is significant in that it suggests a relationship between public policy decisions and election cycles in a context heretofore unexplored.