Migrant labor at ASIAD '82 construction sites in New Delhi

Abstract

Throughout India the scale of migrant labor is reaching alarming proportions. Apart from the spontaneous migration of essentially free labor from impoverished rural areas to urban centers, there exists a deliberately planned migration of bonded or semi-bonded labor over distances ranging from 200 to over 2000 kilometers. With the rising demand for labor in the oil-rich countries of the Persian-Arabian Gulf, labor migration in India has also taken on international dimensions.     

Ascertaining the economic characteristics of peasant classes‐in‐themselves in rural India: A methodological and empirical exercise

In 1976 the author developed a simple labour‐use index for the empirical identification of classes‐in‐themselves within a cultivating population. This index was subsequently applied, along with other conventional grouping methods, to farm economics data relating to Haryana, India. This analysis was complete by 1981. Part I of this article summarises some results of this methodological exercise in ascertaining the economic characteristics of classes‐in‐themselves. Part II is a critical discussion of an article on a similar theme by Athreya, Böklin, Djurfeldt and Lindberg in a recent issue of this journal.     

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.     

Evaluation of Commercial‐off‐the‐Shelf Materials for the Preservation of Bacillus anthracis Vegetative Cells for Forensic Analysis,

Environmental surface sampling is crucial in determining the zones of contamination and overall threat assessment. Viability retention of sampled material is central to such assessments. A systematic study was completed to determine viability of vegetative cells under nonpermissive storage conditions. Despite major gains in nucleic acid sequencing technologies, initial positive identification of threats must be made through direct culture of the sampled material using classical microbiological methods. Solutions have been developed to preserve the viability of pathogens contained within clinical samples, but many have not been examined for their ability to preserve biological agents. The purpose of this study was to systematically examine existing preservation materials that can retain the viability of Bacillus anthracis vegetative cells stored under nonpermissive temperatures. The results show effectiveness of five of seventeen solutions, which are capable of retaining viability of a sporulation deficient strain of B. anthracis Sterne when stored under nonrefrigerated conditions.