The Decline of the Indian Parliament

Indian Parliament had a very promising start and worked well during the1950s-1960s. During the 1970s Parliament was squeezed by a great extra-parliamentary mass movement against authoritarianism and corruption and partial but crippling subversion of parliamentary-federal Constitution during the national emergency. Democracy was restored following the 1977 general elections. But the general decline of Parliament that set in the post-Nehru era has not yet been reversed. Major indicators of this decline are shortening sessions, time lost due to disruptions in proceedings by the opposition and violation of norms and precedents by the government, rampant absenteeism, actual hours of sitting as a percentage of available hours, phenomenon of weak legislative federalism via Rajya Sabha in the overall setting of parliamentary-federalism, challenges of new extra-parliamentary mass movements, and judicial activism. The new committee system introduced since 1993 is a welcome development. However, the parliamentary reforms recommended by the constitutional review commission (2002) remain unimplemented.     

Foreign exchange interventions in a small emerging market: the case of Croatia

This paper studies the impact of daily official foreign exchange interventions on the exchange rates in Croatia for the period from 1996 to 2004. Using the event study methodology and a variety of GARCH models reveals that the Croatian central bank was in a position to influence, to some extent, the level of the exchange rate during the period studied. This lends support to the view that foreign exchange intervention may be effective in emerging market economies.     

Capacity building of sea level and climate monitoring in the Pacific region： Fiji case study

In order to enhance capacity building in the Pacific region, and to raise awareness on climate change and sea level issues, teaching and training modules were made available to the Pacific community through the ＂South pacific sea level and climate monitoring project＂ funded by AusAID. Numerous training workshops have been conducted through the project since its inception in 1991 and the project is now in its fourth and final phase. It was hoped that the goals of capacity building for the stakeholders on correct information of climate change and sea level have been understood and taken heed of. In addition, ＂The scientific educational resources and experience associated with the deployment of Argo＂ （SEREAD） project was also set up especially for ocean science in the Pacific island schools in 2001. However, it has been realized that the data from this project is more relevant to tertiary level rather than to secondary level students. Consequently, a survey was carried out to gauge the students＇ outlook towards the physical side of marine science. The survey revealed that more than 80% of both tertiary level and high school non-physical science students decided not to take the physical aspect of marine science sighting reasons that it is either a difficult subject, boring, too hard to understand or difficult to pass in the examination. Even amongst students taking physical science, only about 50% believe that the physical aspect of marine science is enjoyable. A minority of students at USP and high school take science as a subject and a small proportion from them take the physical science. From this scenario, it can be predicted that there will be a shortage of physical science graduates in the future. The confidence of the Pacific community in the work of scientists is built on faith. They appreciate the effect of science on their lives and support it but are unaware of the scientific methods involved. Therefore, for the sustainability of physical aspect of marine science in the future for the Pacific region, public awareness of climate change and sea level is vitally important and it should be widely promoted in the community as a matter of urgency.     

Role of Nanomaterials for Forensic Investigation and Latent Fingerprinting—A Review

The imminent nanotechnology and progressive instrumentations together have vast applications in the field of forensic science. Few prominent examples are gold nanoparticles for improvising the efficiency of polymerase chain reaction and atomic force microscopy for examining ink and bloodstains. Characteristics like distinct ridge details of fingerprints could be obtained by applying different nanoparticles such as silver, zinc oxide, silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, gold (with silver physical developer), europium, fluorescent carbon, and amphiphilic silica on a range of object surfaces, and among all, gold is most commonly used. Fingerprint is considered noteworthy evidence in any crime scene, and nano-based techniques hold immense future potential in fingerprint investigations. Therefore, this paper focuses on the applications of nanoparticles in developing and detecting the latent fingerprints.     

Was elusive carnivore a panther? DNA typing of faeces reveals the mystery

In this study, we report the findings of a recent case in which the officials of an Indian zoo claimed that an animal, possibly a carnivore, is periodically visiting the zoo from a nearby vast forest area and causing panic in zoo and nearby villages. They collected some elusive faecal material from the vicinity of an herbivore enclosure. Looking to the pugmarks found in that area and faecal matter ceased, the officials could not decide whether it was a lioness, a tiger or a panther. We resolved this mystery by DNA-based analysis of the faecal material, using our recently developed novel universal primers to amplify and sequence a specific fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The findings of the DNA-based analyses were confirmed after few days when the zoo officials trapped the animal of same species as suggested in our report. The potential of our procedure to investigate the cases related to wildlife offence is discussed.     

Is transition experience enough? The donor-side effectiveness of Czech and Polish democracy aid to Georgia

The article examines the democracy aid practices of the Czech Republic and Poland in Georgia. These two countries have recently emerged as promoters of democracy, and have argued that their own transition experience puts them in a unique position to support democratization and the consolidation of democracy in the European Union’s eastern neighbourhood. The article evaluates how these two countries provide democracy aid to Georgia along three criteria, derived from the aid effectiveness literature: supporting locally driven change, learning from results, and coordination. The results indicate that both countries have plenty of space to improve the way their democracy aid is delivered. Neither country has formal systems in place to ensure that they actually support Georgian priorities; evaluations are ad hoc and feedback loops missing; and there is significant scope to improve coordination with other donors. Nonetheless, there seems to be a general perception among stakeholders that the democracy aid provided by the Czech Republic and Poland is relevant to Georgia’s needs.