Reducing the energy consumption of Indian iron and steel industry through enhancing energy efficiency: Role of regional coordination

This article aims at estimating the energy efficiency of the iron and steel industry in production theoretic approach. Taking a regional perspective, we have done a meta‐frontier analysis combined with the slack‐based measure of data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results depict huge energy efficiency gap exists across four regions. The northern region is the best performer under group frontier than meta‐frontier DEA. South and west regions are relatively well‐performed under meta‐frontier than group frontier while the eastern region performs moderately well under both frontiers. The results show the significant energy efficiency improvement opportunities available across regions can be realised through technological advancement and energy management.     

The Emergence of Feminism in Fiji 1

This article traces the etymology of Indo‐Fijian (Fiji Indian) feminisms in Fiji. In the first section, the resistances of female indentured laborers (for example, Sukhrania, Naraini and Kunti) are recovered as reflections of early forms of individualized feminisms in the early 1900s. In the second section, it is proposed that the informal and organic, yet socially significant movement of Indian women laborers in Fiji in the 1920s comprised one of the first collective intersections of gendered, classed and ethnicized relationships in Fiji. The 1930 (post‐indenture) women's movement, with its main emphasis on economic empowerment, is included in the discussion of Indo‐Fijian feminisms in the third section. The conclusion highlights that while each phase of the early feminist movement in Fiji focused on a different set of concerns that impacted on the lives of Indo‐Fijian women, this group of women have played and continue to play a prominent role in furthering the rights of women nationally and regionally.     

Unconscionability of E-contracts: A Comparative Study of India,the United Kingdom,and the United States

Liverpool Law Review - Adhesion contracts have a strong likelihood of being unconscionable. The laws and principles are further complicated by the introduction of electronic contracts, specifically...     

Testing the antecedents to e-democracy towards citizens’ happiness: a structural equation modelling approach to ‘MyGov’ initiative,India

ABSTRACT

“MyGov” is an ambitious ICT-based platform of the government of India, where citizens contribute to policy making by engaged in various ways. As the initiative is about to complete 5 years, the research is focused on to test the antecedents to e-democracy and citizens’ happiness by a structural equation modeling on responses from 413 users of “MyGov” platform. The empirical outcomes established the predictive role of transparency and value expectancy on e-democracy in addition to the impact of trust and e-democracy on citizens’ happiness. The study also supported the positive association between transparency and trust.     

RIGHT TO INFORMATION： AN ARDUOUS JOURNEY FROM BRITISH RAJ TO INDEPENDENT INDIA

Democracy is the axis of Indian polity. It requires openness and transparency in every sphere of country＇s governance. Right to Information is the core of openness and transparency. It is not only a lifeline but also an acid test for an alive and vibrant democracy. After a long battle against ＂secrecy-regime＂, Right to Information found legislative sanction in the year 2005. But, the task is not over; because it is not easy to sensitize people in power to do away with the century old colonial legacy of ＂secrecy-regime＂, which helped them to play safely, just by enacting a single piece of legislation. Both political parties and bureaucracy are not accepting the norms set by the Act whole heartedly due to this reason. They often gang up to scrap the Act as well as the decisions of the competent authorities. Massive effort is, therefore, required from every quarter of the society including all democratic institutions to adopt the policy of openness and transparency by putting themselves within the compass of the Act. Only then we would be nearer to the goal of Gandhian concept of ＂Swaraj＂ and     

Corruption and hold-up: the role of intermediaries

Corrupt contracts are illegal and, therefore, vulnerable to hold-up. That is, a bureaucrat who has accepted a bribe from a firm in exchange for a license may still choose not to grant the firm that license (hold-up). This paper develops a model to study the role that intermediaries play in preventing hold-up. There are two types of firms, good firms that are legally entitled to receive a license, and harmful firms that are not. Without intermediaries only good firms enter the market, and harmful firms do not enter because of hold-up. Intermediaries are legally permitted to help firms reduce their navigation costs of obtaining licenses. Thus, intermediaries increase entry of good firms. However, by utilizing the legal aspects of their transaction with good firms as leverage against the bureaucrat, intermediaries can prevent hold-up among harmful firms. Thus, intermediaries increase participation by both good and harmful firms and their welfare costs are ambiguous. Data obtained from occurrences of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are broadly consistent with our model.     

Waste pickers and collectors in Delhi: Poverty and environment in an urban informal sector

Waste pickers and collectors constitute the bottom layer of waste recycling in the metropolis of Delhi. Pickers collect waste just by picking them up from public places such as garbage dumps and streets, whereas collectors purchase waste from waste producers such as households and shops for sale to higher-level waste traders. Most pickers have incomes below the poverty line set by the Planning Commission of India, whereas the majority of collectors earn marginally higher than the poverty-line income. The poverty of pickers is not transitory, but chronic as they have no connection to enter the community of collectors and higher-level waste traders within which the community mechanism works effectively to reduce risk and transaction costs. Despite their low economic and social status, pickers and collectors are making important contributions to society. It is found that pickers and collectors are adding more value than their own income to waste producers' income and to the saving of the city government's expenditure for disposing waste. Increased public support not only for social services, but also production services and infrastructure can be justified not only for the purposes of reducing poverty but also for furthering their positive contribution to society.