The impact of India’s food security policy on domestic and international rice market

Food security policy making in India is at crossroads. India has emerged as a leading rice exporter. The Government of India has introduced the National Food Security Act which requires 33.6 million tons of rice per year for its public food distribution system. In this study, we modeled India’s rice market and analyzed policy implications of the long-term impact of India’s food security act on domestic and international rice market. We developed a structural economic demand and supply model for India’s rice market and further added subsidy equations to trace the consequence of National Food Security Act on domestic rice consumption and on the international market. We specifically focus on three different scenarios: subsidy as price effect, subsidy as inelastic income effect, and subsidy as elastic income effect under the broader framework of National Food Security Act. We found that at the end of the projection period (2024–2025), as a result of rice subsidy program, the consumption of rice increases significantly in the case of price effect while the inelastic income effect has no or less impact on production, consumption, and export of rice. Hence, the policy implication of our study is that if the objective of the National Food Security Act is to increase consumption then it needs to be implemented as price effect.     

A Predictive Model for Financial Literacy among the Educated Youth in Kerala,India

ABSTRACT

The economic importance of financial literacy among individuals necessitates policy intervention. Estimation of financial literacy is a prerequisite for strategies to improve financial literacy. This paper, using data collected from the educated young adults in Kerala, the most literate state in India, builds a predictive model for financial literacy employing logistic regression. The study reveals the low level of financial literacy in the state. The model points to the significance of gender, age, religion, discipline of study, occupation, and personal income as determinants of financial literacy. The findings have implications for policies aimed at improving the financial literacy of young adults in India.     

Home country impact on Outward FDI from India

The altering policy environment in emerging markets and the surge in their outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) calls for an empirical investigation. Accordingly, this paper examines the effect of home country macroeconomic conditions and Government policies on the OFDI flows from India during the period 1984 to 2015. Incorporating the structural breaks in the empirical model, results indicate the existence of a long-run relationship between OFDI flows and home country macroeconomic and Government policies. Government policies relating to foreign trade and investment and financial sector development are found to be significant determinants. The results also suggest the need for the Government to enhance its effort on the development of knowledge infrastructure in order to support the OFDI from India's manufacturing sector and thereby contribute to the success of “Make in India” programme. Policy implications are discussed.     

India's surge in modern services exports: Empirics for policy

India's exports of modern services have grown consistently over the last three decades and more so since 1991. Sustaining modern services exports (MSEs), which in India enjoy comparative advantage, is important for sustaining service-led growth and maintaining stability on the external sector. In this context, we examine key drivers of India's surge in MSEs which have important implications for policy. The results reveal that endowment factors such as human capital, tele-density, financial development, physical infrastructure and institutions are the key drivers of India's MSEs along with the world demand, exchange rate and foreign direct investment. Therefore, India needs to focus on and speed up the ongoing reforms to improve supply side factors such as education, infrastructure, financial sector deepening, governance and broad-band tele-density to improve competitiveness of India's modern services exports.     

印度在非洲：追随中国还是挑战中国？——印度对非洲政策中的中国因素

随着国际体系的转型,中印等发展中大国在崛起的过程中纷纷加强对非洲政策的力度。中印两国在非洲事务上的互动日益引起人们的关注。本文认为,印度有自己独立的非洲政策,中国因素不是印度制定其非洲政策时的出发点和落脚点,而只是其中一个重要的参考坐标。中印在非洲事务上的共同利益大于矛盾冲突,存在合作的足够空间。     

印度对1964年中国原子弹爆炸的反应

1964～1968年间,在中国核试验成功后,印度国内围绕核政策选择问题展开讨论。1964～1966年,讨论的焦点是印度是否要发展核武器,结论是印度保有发展和平目的核爆炸装置的权利。1964～1967年,印度政府又试探大国向本国提供核保护伞的可能性,但也没有如愿。1967～1968年,印度核政策选择争论的核心转变为是否签署《核不扩散条约》。几经谈判,印度对此条约予以拒绝。     

试析冷战后印度中亚政策的演变

从1991年中亚国家先后独立到现在,印度的中亚政策经历了三个发展阶段。从1991年至1998年,这一阶段印度中亚政策的主要任务是通过加强与新独立的中亚国家之间的接触,为印度与中亚关系的发展打下基础。从1998年至2001年,随着国际形势与印度自身发展的需要,中亚国家成为印度加快自身经济发展和打击极端主义与恐怖主义的重要合作伙伴。2001年至今,印度加大了对中亚地区的关注与投入,致力于加强与中亚国家在政治、经济、安全与文化诸领域的合作,印度在中亚的影响也随之增强。虽然印度与中亚国家关系的发展仍受到一些制约,但印度介入中亚事务越来越明确的态势值得关注。     

1967～1991年印度对东盟政策的演变

东盟成立时印度对其反应冷漠。在最初几年里印度重视与东盟国家的双边关系,但对东盟这个地区组织重视不够。随着国际形势的变化和东盟一体化程度的提高,印度开始重视与东盟的经济合作,但是受美苏冷战以及印度与大国关系的制约,印度的东盟政策没有达到预期效果。研究冷战时期印度对东盟政策的演变,有助于我们理解目前的印度东盟关系。     

印度崛起视角下的“东向政策”:意图与实践——兼论印度“东向政策”中的中国因素

21世纪以来,随着印度的崛起,其“东向政策”发展到了新的阶段,首要意图已经从谋求经济利益转变为战略利益空间的扩展,经济利益与安全因素仍然是“东向政策”新阶段的重要意图.印度崛起背景下,“东向政策”在地理范围上不断扩展,合作领域也在不断深化.印度实施“东向政策”有制衡中国的考虑,但是“东向政策”在战略上更多的是对中国的“软制衡”而不是遏制中国发展.印度“东向政策”对中国的软制衡,也取决于中国怎样应对“东向政策”,中印可以通过“安全互构”的方式建立战略互信,中印应理性看待对方战略利益的扩展.     

India’s Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme – How does it influence seasonal rural out-migration decisions?

India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is the largest public-works based rural livelihood programme in the world. One of the important policy objectives of the Scheme is to curb rural out-migration by guaranteeing demand-driven employment opportunities for 100 days in a year in rural areas. This paper uses a large sample survey-based nationally representative data set and different probability models to investigate how MGNREGS influences individuals’ seasonal rural out-migration decisions. The results reveal that contrary to the policy objective, participation, the extent of participation and earnings from the Scheme increases an individual’s propensity to out-migrate. However, the Scheme serves broader and equally critical socio-economic goals of empowerment through income security and positive network effects. MGNREGS, on the one hand, significantly drives the decisions of aspirational migration of rural individuals, particularly females and the relatively advantaged. On the other, it curbs distress migration of the relatively disadvantaged by providing them with basic livelihood opportunities within the rural areas. Based on the findings, the paper draws several policy implications and discusses key policy imperatives towards expanding the scale and scope of the public-works Scheme.     

斯里兰卡内战结束以来印度对斯政策分析

自2009年斯里兰卡内战结束以来,印度积极参与了斯里兰卡的重建与和解进程并推动两国的经济一体化。但是印度的对斯里兰卡政策并未能取得预定的效果。除了受自身实力、斯里兰卡外交独立性、泰米尔纳德邦等因素的制约外,地区战略的排他性从根本上也影响了印度对斯里兰卡政策的效果。     

Culture and context: exploring attributions and caregiving approaches of parents of children with an intellectual disability in urban India

We utilized a sociocultural lens and a qualitative approach to examine causal attributions and caregiving approaches of parents of children with an intellectual disability in a mid‐sized Indian city. Sixteen mothers and three fathers participated in a semi‐structured interview. Findings elucidate participants' active processing of the cause of their child's intellectual disability. They seemed to simultaneously draw upon religious, biological and situational factors to construct an explanation. As far as caregiving approaches, most parents reported moving away gradually from mainstream medicine to alternative medicine and physiotherapy and from regular education settings to special schools. The themes highlight the role of sociocultural factors and also cross‐cultural similarities in parental causal attributions and caregiving approach. The findings are discussed in the context of implications for social work practice and policy in India.     

Financial inclusion in India: An axiomatic approach

In this paper we first develop an axiomatic measure of financial inclusion. This measure is readily implementable and useful to determine policy priorities to promote financial inclusion. Next, we demonstrate that supply side data on banking services can be usefully employed to measure financial inclusion. Third, we examine the effects of major banking policies on financial inclusion across states in India during 1972–2009, using panel data econometrics techniques. We find that the social-banking policy has played crucial role to foster financial inclusion across states in India during 1977–1990. Thereafter, the move toward pro-market financial sector reform has adversely affected the pace of financial inclusion. This paper identifies geographic penetration of banks and credit availability as two policy targets to foster financial inclusion in India.     

21世纪初印度大国理念框架下的亚太外交战略

自独立以来,印度始终在追求大国目标。印度认为,要实现大国目标,首先要走出南亚,其次要冲出亚太,最终才能成为世界一流强国。进入21世纪,印度对本国实力进行了评估,实施了灵活的对外战略以实现其冲出亚太的目标。本文分析了新时期印度对大国理念的传承,对不同历史时期印度的亚太战略进行了简要梳理,详细分析了当前印度的亚太平衡外交及其对印度的重要意义。     

印度能源形势与发展趋势分析

印度能源资源贫乏,且产能不佳,对外依赖程度越来越高,能源供求状况面临严峻挑战。本文在考察印度能源供求状况及能源外交政策的基础上,分析印度能源主要发展趋势。     

中印能源政策比较研究

中印能源政策重点各有侧重,即印度仍然以保障能源供应为第一要义,而中国日益需要考虑环境资源的约束,近年来政策重心明显转向节能和提高能效。能源市场化改革是两国面临的共同课题,但是中国注重市场与行政手段的综合运用,而印度更致力于建立理想的自下而上的市场调控模式。就能源决策管理体制而言,中印两国努力建设高级别的集中能源管理体制,但是印度的步伐相对较慢、难度也更大。中印两国可以在缓和能源资源竞争、开发能源技术、交流市场管理和制度建设经验以及推进多边能源机制建设等方面进行合作。     

印度产业结构调整机制与产业结构变动

印度是世界上产业结构变动具有独特性的发展中大国，其产业结构的变动是在两个时期、两种机制以及产业政策的实施下完成的。本文对印度独立以来产业结构调整机制和产业结构变动的趋势进行了分析和研究。     

Capacity,control, and content: the supply of think tank policy advice in India

ABSTRACT

Despite growing research on policy advice, little is known about how and why the nature of policy advice varies. We hypothesize that examining policy capacity and control within the policy advisory system (PAS) is useful in this regard. We examine how government capacity, think tank capacity, and think tank autonomy influence the content of policy advice in India. We code policy advice based on content analysis of 60 knowledge products from think tanks in India and estimate policy capacity of government departments and think tanks based on their respective staff strengths and budgets. We find that the nature of policy advice, specifically whether it is long-term or short-term, varies based on think tank capacity as well as government capacity; high capacity think tanks tend to provide more long-term advice to high capacity governments. As the PAS within developing countries have less capacity to generate strategic policy advice, variations can be expected in the kinds of policy advice supplied by the PAS in developing countries vis-à-vis OECD countries. Thus, the PAS literature can be extended to developing countries by studying the dynamics between the content of advice, capacity, and control.     

The homeless of urban India under COVID-19 lockdown: Rethinking their rights and the role of public policy

Homelessness comes with a slew of challenges and a never-ending struggle for survival. This study examines the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on the homeless population of urban India. The study reflects on the experiences of the homeless in the major cities of India during the first wave of the pandemic as well as explores the aspect of their rights and the role of government policy in this regard. The methodology of the study is qualitative in nature, where secondary data collected from various sources such as news articles, blogs, books, journals, and reports are put to analysis for deriving the findings. The study reveals the sufferings of the homeless in the cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Their fight is not merely with the SARS-CoV-2 virus but also with hunger, unemployment, and neglect faced by them. The study highlights the fact that their rights are being compromised due to drawbacks relating to policy implementation. The study concludes with certain suggestions such as, addressing the loopholes in policy implementations and creating sustainable livelihood opportunities.     

尼赫鲁政府的对华边界政策：分析框架

理解1949～1962年印度尼赫鲁政府的对华边界政策需要一个整合性的分析框架。它涵盖三条线索：当时在中印关系中日益凸显的西藏问题、印度国内政治和反对派,以及主要决策者尼赫鲁的认知与心理。上述因素交织在一起,直接催生了尼赫鲁政府在中印边界问题上变化的立场、目标以及追求目标的途径和行为方式。中印争议边界至今仍然处于悬而未决的状态,显示出解决这一问题的复杂性与艰巨性。对此既应该从各层面、更需要整体地认识和理解其历史和现实。