Human–elephant interaction: Community perspectives on conflict mitigation and conservation mechanisms

The instances of human–elephant conflict (HEC) are becoming pervasive in elephant range areas across the globe. One of the primary reasons is the exclusion and under-representation of local communities in the planning and implementation of mitigation strategies. However, engaging with local communities and considering their viewpoints are vital for the success of conflict mitigation and conservation efforts. This qualitative study was undertaken to gain a reasonably comprehensive understanding of the local community's perspectives concerning elephants in the Balasore district of Odisha, a state along the Eastern coast of India. Qualitative data obtained primarily through focus group discussions were analyzed using MAXQDA 2020 to perform thematic analysis of participants' narratives. Six common themes emerged from the study: exposure and experiences with elephants, the efficacy of deterrents, compassionate payment provisions, reasons for tolerance, and expectations. Attempts were made to understand the community viewpoints and offer implementable recommendations to improve human–elephant interactions by adopting more inclusive and participatory conservation practices.     

The global governance of water,energy, and food nexus: allocation and access for competing demands

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Globally, 3 billion people are without access to modern fuels or technologies for cooking/heating, 900 million people lack...     

Investigating the stationarity hypothesis of Gross Domestic Product per capita in Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent State countries: Evidence using Fourier based panel KPSS test

Using annual data from 1985 to 2016, the study conducts a robust panel stationarity analysis by accounting for cross‐sectional dependency, sharp breaks and gradual structural shifts for per capita Gross Domestic Product (PCGDP) of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Commonwealth of Independent State (CIS) countries. The empirical finding reveals that PCGDP at different Fourier frequency and model structure (trend or constant) for both CEE and CIS countries are unit root process. Moreover, the PCGDP of CEE and CIS countries are nonmean reverting in the presence of cross‐sectional dependence and gradual structural shifts which previous studies using well‐known panel stationarity estimators fail to find. Policy insights are highlighted in the conclusion section.     

Lessons from NPAs crisis in Indian banks

Nonperforming assets (NPAs) crisis in Indian public sector banks is one of the biggest challenges before the current government in 2017. The finance ministry, Government of India, and the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, are worried about the surging NPAs in Indian public sector banks because of their huge macroeconomic impact and systemic risk to the financial system. If not paid timely attention, it can hamper the economic and financial stability of the nation. Rising NPAs in Indian public sector banks are a result of bank specific, macroeconomic, and political factors. In order to control the surging NPAs in Indian public sector banks, the government and the Reserve Bank of India have implemented new crisis management framework which however is not immune to several challenges. This paper looks at NPAs crisis from the lens of crisis management, stakeholder's engagement, government relations, and issue management. Harris and Fleisher ( 2016 ) identify crisis management, stakeholder engagement, government relations, and issues management as important organizational activities that constitute part of public affairs. This paper follows a tripartite structure where it first investigates the causes of NPAs in Indian public sector banks. Second, it examines the crisis management framework developed by the policy makers and highlights the key challenges. Third, in light of these challenges, it makes recommendations to tackle the NPAs crisis in Indian public sector banks.     

Unconventional monetary policy spillovers: Evidence from India

Many of the studies on the unconventional monetary policy spillover effects concentrated primarily on the policy announcements of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Using a time series approach, with dummies in the event study framework, this study estimates the monetary policy spillover effects of the unconventional monetary policy announcements of the central banks of four major economic regions: the United States, the United Kingdom, European Central bank, and Japan on the asset prices in India. In addition to that, this study estimates the asymmetry in the responses to positive and negative surprise announcements. The study reveals that unconventional monetary surprises do not have any significant impact on the asset prices in India in a narrow time window.     

India after the 2014 general elections: BJP dominance and the crisis of the third party system

ABSTRACT

This article critically assesses claims that India has entered a new party system after the 2014 general elections, marked by renationalisation with the BJP as the new ‘dominant’ party.’ To assess these claims, we examine the electoral rise of the BJP in the build-up to and since the 2014 general elections until the state assembly elections in December 2018. Overall, we argue that despite the emerging dominance of the BJP, a core feature of the third party system -a system of binodal interactions- has remained largely intact albeit in a somewhat weaker form. Furthermore, by comparing the post 2014 Indian party system with key electoral features of the first three party systems, we conclude that the rise of the BJP has thrown the third-party system into crisis, but does not yet define the consolidation of a new party system.     

Abhinav Chandrachud: Republic of Religion: The Rise and Fall of Colonial Secularism in India

Liverpool Law Review -     

Macroeconomic determinants of remittances to India

Economic Change and Restructuring - Migration and remittances have always been an exciting arena of research for economists around the globe. Remittance flows have evolved as a significant economic...