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Abhijit Ghosh ¹

Affiliations
1 Division of Economics,A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna 800001, Bihar, IN

Abstract

This study examines the link between the role of people's participation and institutional structure of panchayat body in ensuring good governance and improving service delivery system. All the gram (village) panchayats of Purulia, one of the backward districts of West Bengal, are considered. Four composite indices-service delivery index (SDI), Participation Index (PI) and Institutional Index (II), combination of many indicators, have been constructed. The other dimensions of governance having influence on the service delivery are incorporated in the model as a qualitative variable. Analysis shows that II and qualitative variables have no significant impact on SDI. This calls for reviewing and revisiting our existing public policy.

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Atanu Sengupta ¹, Abhijit Ghosh ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Economics, Burdwan University, Burdwan, West Bengal, IN

Abstract

Urbanization is referred to as a process in which an increasing proportion of population lives in cities and the suburbs of the cities. This paper analyses the changes in human welfare associated with urbanization in the global era as captured by a set of socio-economic indicators. The study is undertaken for nine municipalities of Burdwan district of West Bengal, India, during the two census points (1991 and 2001). Due to limitations in data availability at district level, a composite Modified Human Development Index (MHDI) is constructed. It is found that there are persistent inequities in the human welfare of urbanization in a global era. There is a decline of traditional urban centers and rise of new centers and there is little correlation between facilities and outcome. However, the results cannot be generalized without covering more districts and time points.

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Abhijit Ghosh ¹, Mukesh ²

Affiliations
1 Assistant Professor of Economics, Mahatma Gandhi College, Lalpur, Purulia 723130, West Bengal, (formerly with A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna, Bihar), IN
2 Director, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, New Delhi 110003, IN

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to study the pattern of the household expenditure in school education in India. Three age groups are considered for the analysis: Primary school age group (5-10 years), Upper Primary school age group (11- 14 years) and Secondary and Higher Secondary school age group (15-18 Years). Using NSSO 71st (2014) round unit level data, it is found that there is: (a) higher average household expenditure in urban area than that of rural, (b) substantial gap in average expenditure for male and female students and (c) average household expenditure is higher in the developed states. The major components of household expenditure for all the age groups are course fee; and expenditure on books, stationary and uniform at all India level. The percentage share of private coaching becomes higher while moving to higher age groups. The elasticity of substitution is estimated separately for religion, caste and state specific at different age level as mentioned above. It is found that a household is ready to spend more than one per cent due to one per cent change in household consumption expenditure for all states, religions and social groups. The values of the estimated coefficients become less from age group 5-10 to the age group 15-18 in most cases. This implies that guardians do not want to give up the opportunity cost to be spent on their children. This suggest that government should invest more in education sector to attract more household expenditure on education as households positively respond to the change in consumption expenditure.

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Abhijit Ghosh ¹, Mukesh ²

Affiliations
1 A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna 800001, Bihar, IN
2 National Sample Survey office (Coordination and Publication Division), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India; New Delhi 110003, IN

Abstract

This paper attempts to find out the factors that influence the owning of a latrine. For this purpose, unit level NSSO data of 69^th round, collected exclusively to get an idea of this, has been used. On the extracted unit data, Multinomial Logistic Regression Model has been applied. Different sets of socio-economic and governance indicators are chosen as the predictors. Based on the available questions, the type of latrine has been divided into three categories-latrine exclusively use for household. Second one clubs different types of latrines to form as fixed point latrines. The third one is categorised as no latrine. In running MLR, no latrine is considered as reference category. All the predictors, starting from religion, region, location, caste and economic conditions have positive and significant impact on owning a latrine. Therefore, the latrine problem, usually being typed as only traditional and cultural problem, needs to look from holistic angle and it is recommended that while designing public policy all these factors are considered to mitigate the problem.

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