Family Characteristics and Adolescent Competence in India: Investigation of Youth in Southern Orissa

This study examines the relationship among a host of family characteristics and indicators of adolescent competence in a sample (N = 107) of 8th- and 9th-grade students in one school located in Berhampur city in Orissa state, India. Social competence (SC) and antisocial behavior (AB) were assessed by teachers, and adolescents evaluated various areas of their own competence on a perceived competence scale. Final examination grades also were obtained as a general measure of cognitive competence. The results indicated that families of more socially competent participants tended to be verbally and emotionally expressive; democratic with regard to discipline, input, and decision making; close but not enmeshed; higher in their level of parent–adolescent communication and family ideals; and lower in external locus of control. Consequently, families of more antisocial adolescents had more conflict and enmeshment and were more external-locus-of-control oriented and either permissive or authoritarian. Finally, several personal and family demographic traits were positively associated with SC and negatively associated with AB, including gender (girls higher in SC and lower in AB than boys), age and grade (older students and those in grade 9 more competent and less problematic), education level of mothers and fathers (positively related to SC and negatively to AB), and birth order (middle children in the family lower in self-perceptions of competence than oldest or youngest children). The findings have implications for parenting and family-life education efforts in India that could have a major impact on the development of adolescent competence.     

The future of copyright in India

Legal context: The copyright laws in India are set to be amended with the introductionof the provisions for anti-circumvention and Rights ManagementInformation in the Indian copyright regime although India isunder no obligation to introduce these changes as it is nota signatory to WCT or WPPT. Key points: The main purpose of these provisions and measures is to preventillegal commercial copying, a menace which hits the Indian movieand music industry significantly enough to ensure that the industryforms a strong lobby in such proposals. India has amended itscopyright legislation over the years to accommodate technologicalchanges and prevent piracy; however, the problem has only escalatedover the years. Technological measures impose restrictions onthe access to content and impose other restrictions on the useof the same. Practical significance: Who are the actual stakeholders behind advocating these changes?Is it Bollywood or the same Hollywood studios which lobbiedfor the same changes in international legislation? What maybe the cultural implications of adopting such changes in Indiancopyright laws? The paper would attempt to assess the culturaleffect of the combined legal and technical measures being proposedunder the copyright laws in India.     

Longitudinal Associations between Parental Support and Parental Knowledge on Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Adolescents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - When testing longitudinal effects of parenting practices on adolescent adjustment, an integrated consideration of externalizing and internalizing behaviors is a...     

Farm tractorisation,productivity and labour employment: A case study of Indian Punjab

The objective of this paper is to determine the effects of farm tractorisation on output and human labour employment on Punjab farms in India. The residts seem to suggest that, this far, the use of tractors has resulted in higher output and more employment. The authors believe that the threat from farm tractorisation is not all that great; the use of tractors is likely to be confined to certain areas only, and there too, any displacement of labour should be possible to control through appropriate public policies.     

The legal regime for application of the precautionary principle in India: future directions for the GM regulatory regime

The precautionary principle is one of the most contentious principles in contemporary international legal developments. The very fact that it is a principle of international environmental law has been questioned by many legal scholars. However, this does not take away the fact that the precautionary principle continues to be applied widely across sectors both internationally and nationally. The nature and scope of its application has varied widely according to the context and sector within which it has been applied. The central issue which this article seeks to address is the regulatory and the policy making space that is available to the Government of India in the context of the obligations as undertaken under the Cartagena Protocol and under various other international treaties. The regulatory space would also be affected by the domestic legal developments across sectors in which the principle has been applied. India’s recent decision on the large-scale commercialisation of Bt-Cotton has already created much debate regarding its appropriateness given the realities of Indian farm practices. More specifically, it has also led to a rethinking of the role and application of the precautionary principle in addressing these realities. Considering that the Indian policy on biotechnology is currently being drafted, it is important to look into the scope of applying the precautionary principle in taking any decision on genetically modified organisms (GMO) in terms of their distribution of risks, incorporating the social and equity impacts of such decisions.

Knowledge to action: Evaluation for learning in a multi-organisational global partnership

Many organisations do not learn. There are many reasons for this, and a lack of donor support tends to be cited as one of the greatest. But this is not the primary reason for a lack of learning. We fail to learn because we are unable to see the importance of doing so. We become so embroiled in our busy-ness and our self-inflicted demands for action, that we have ceased to value learning. And we have lost sight of the fact that without learning our action is doomed to ineffectiveness. If we are about development and cannot measure how we are doing, how can we develop a rigorous and effective practice?     

Cecily Rose,Michael Kubiciel and Oliver Landwehr: The United Nations Convention Against Corruption—A Commentary

Liverpool Law Review -