International and intranational equity in sharing climate change mitigation burdens

Is inequality within countries relevant for global climate policy? Most burden-sharing proposals for climate mitigation treat states as homogenous agents, even those that aim to protect individual rights. This can lead to free riders in some large emerging economies and expose the poor to mitigation burdens in others. Proposals that incorporate an exemption for the poor can avoid these outcomes, but do not account for the role of internal policies on the poor’s actual emissions and mitigation burdens. This will create moral hazards in the design of such agreements and risk the misallocation of mitigation costs when implemented. To ensure equitable outcomes at the individual level, international agreements would need to build in additional provisions to encourage benefiting states to reduce emissions and target exemptions to the poor. But such agreements will face political conflicts over sovereignty and the burdensomeness of such provisions.     

The Impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on Rural Labor Markets and Agriculture

This article reviews the impact and effectiveness in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) at state level as well as at village level with focus on inclusiveness, rural labor markets and agriculture. The paper finds that some states are more effective in implementation then others. The states which effectively integrated MGNREGA works with local planning gained much in terms of employment generation and asset creation leading to increased agricultural potential. The scheme is more inclusive of vulnerable sections of the society including scheduled castes and tribes and also women. Study also highlight the village level differences in implementation and effective implementation leads to reduction of hunger and poverty. More importantly the scheme increased bargaining power of rural laborer in agricultural sector, resulted in higher wage rates, better work environment and less exploitation.     

Descending thoracic aortic aneurysm rupture during postpartum period

Aortic aneurysm refers to the pathological dilatation of the normal aortic lumen involving one or several segments. Thoracic aortic aneurysms are much less common than aneurysms of the abdominal aorta. Descending thoracic aortic aneurysm leading to dissection and spontaneous rupture is a potentially catastrophic illness. Although rare, dissection and rupture of a preexisting aortic aneurysm have been reported during pregnancy and early puerperium. To the best of our knowledge, such cases among young pregnant women are rarely reported in literature. Herein, an autopsy case of spontaneous rupture of a clinically undiagnosed descending thoracic aortic aneurysm during early puerperium in a young woman is presented along with the review of relevant literature. The victim was found dead on her hospital bed on the seventh day of puerperium. Autopsy with ancillary investigations revealed that the young woman died because of hemothorax from a ruptured dissecting descending thoracic aortic aneurysm secondary to chronic aortitis.