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3819 items in total found

Working Papers | 1995

Indian Plague Epidemic: Unanswered Questions & Key Lessons

Dileep Mavalankar

This paper briefly recapitulates the events during the recent plague epidemic in India with specific focus on suspected pneumonic plague cases in Surat City. The paper discusses three key questions which are as yet unanswered. These questions are: (a) The exact nature of the disease, specifically whether it was plague or some other diseases; (b) Origin of the suspected plague cases: and (c) The mode of transmission of the disease in the community. The paper discusses available evidence from secondary sources and some primary investigations done by the expert committee appointed by the State Government of Gujarat. This paper discusses the key lessons learnt from this suspected plague epidemic. The lessons learnt are in the areas of investigating epidemic of unusual disease, managing public fear during epidemic and management of cases of highly infectious diseases. The paper briefly comments upon the deteriorating public health situation in India and includes that developing countries must pay greater attention to public health in order to become globally competitive.

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Working Papers | 1995

Meta Processes for Organizational Excellence in Developing Societies

Khandwalla P N

As societies in transition, involved in modernisation, nation building, socio-economic transformation, and increasing globalisation of their economies, developing societies must evolve forms of organizational excellence appropriate to their context. Several meta processes drawing their strength in part from the organizational and behavioural sciences are presented. These are: revitalisation of sick organizations, institutionalisation of durable excellence, nurturance of creative excellence, development of competitive excellence, and nurturance of missionary excellence. These processes can be combined in various ways to raise organizational quality. A better understanding of these meta processes may contribute to evolving high performing organizations in developing societies, possibly in the rest of the world also. These meta processes can enlarge current notions of organizational development, human resource development, and transformational leadership.

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Working Papers | 1995

Trade Related Intellectual in India: A Review of Issues and Evidence

Rakesh Basant

Any analysis of the Intellectual Property Rights relating to the seed industry in India needs to take congnizance of three inter-related issues: (a) that the current debate on IPRs is part of a larger debate on issues relating to GATT; (b) that the options on IPRs are intricately linked to the New Economic Policy and the accompanying liberalisation process; and (c) that the IPRs relating to plant varieties need to be seen in a broader framework of the seed policy pursued by the government. In this background, this paper reviews the available literature and data to explore the impact of IPRs on the seed industry in India. The paper begins with a description of technological, structural and policy contexts of the seed industry in India. Given these characteristics and evidence from other countries, the likely impact of the seed industry related IPRs is explored. Finally, some policy options available to developing countries like India in the emerging world order are briefly discussed.

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Working Papers | 1995

Product Planning and Models of Diffusion-I

Girja Sharan

First purchase sales volume curve of box type solar cooker indicated that the product has passed maturity in Gujarat. We have initiated collaborative redesign work to improve the product. Central element of redesign concept is the addition of an electrical back up. This will enable users to cook food even when insolation and or ambient temperatures are low. It is hoped that this will enhance the appeal of the cooker. It is important to estimate the market potential and the likely growth trajectory of the 'new' cooker. One of the ways suggested in marketing literature is to identify an existing product which may be 'analogous' to the new product and use it to draw diffusion related inferences. This is the aim of the present work which will be reported in two parts. In this first part, we review works relating to diffusion of products in India and present results of using Bass model to describe the growth of the present cooker. In the second part to be reported later, we will explore the use of diffusion models as aid to identify product analogues.

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Working Papers | 1995

Castor Revolution in Gujarat, India: What Made it Successful?

Tewari Devi D

This paper explains why castor hybrids had a spectacular success in Gujarat. It develops a model and uses it to explain step by step changes that took place in the castor economy of Gujara.

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Working Papers | 1995

Badla Trading: A Primer and a Proposal

Gupta Ramesh

This paper explains the mechanics of badla trading and settlement. It reviews badla transactions, fixation of havala rates and margins, the market process of determining the badla rates, and payment procedures. The accounting mechanism for carry over business illustrated with hypothetical transactions in a 'valan'. An evaluation of risk-return in carry over business and badla financing is done. The author reviews the deficiencies in existing practices followed by the Stock Exchange authorities infixing havala rates and margins; and general enforcement of rules related to carry over business. Certain suggestions regarding simplification of margin fixation and collections are made. In the absence of institutional arrangements for margin trading and short selling, SEBI is urged to reintroduce badla system but only after making sure that the Stock Exchange Authorities would behave in a responsible manner and have proper wherewithal to ensure effective monitoring. Stock Exchange as a Self-regulatory Organizations (SROs) would have to devise effective systems which are not prone to unwarranted influences. Specific suggestions for Stock Exchange authorities are: a) Do not make compromises in fixing havala rates to solve temporary default problems; b) Collect margins at a fixed percentage (say 35 per cent) of the gross value of total carry over business; do not fix varying margins for bulls and bears for different scrips. c) Closely monitor and prohibit practices used by brokers such as 'vandhas' and 'chalu upla' to reduce margin liabilities. d) Limit carry over business to 12.5 times of the broker's net capital. Insist on segregation of clients' deposits from broker's capital. Enforce capital adequacy norms stringently. Hopefully, with the change in power equation between Executive Director and them ember brokers on the one hand and composition of the Governing Board on the other, it should be possible for SEA to ensure necessary control and monitoring system for successful operation of badla system.

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Working Papers | 1995

The Badla System Revisited

Gupta Ramesh

This paper is an attempt to examine the issues underlying the current debate about reintroducing the badla system. The differences between badla system on one hand and options and futures markets on the other are highlighted. Then it is argued that for an efficient security market, facility of buying stocks on margin and facility to sell short is a must. In the absence of an acceptable central depository system and due to cumbersome procedure of share transfers, badla system is the most appropriate settlement system under Indian conditions to meet the demands of a strong and efficient security market. Badla system in the past fell in disrepute mainly because of a faulty implementation and monitoring system. There were frequent payment crises and settlement delays. Stock Exchange were functioning as closed clubs of brokers ignoring general interests of investing public. With the change in power equation between Executive Director and the member brokers on the one hand and composition of the Governing Board of Stock Exchanges on the other, it can be hoped that necessary control and monitoring system for successful operation of badla system would be strictly adhered to. Two things would need to be ensured. a) No compromise in fixing havala rates. These rates must reflect the current market price at the end of the trading period. Correct havala rates would facilitate marking to the market of carry over business, and thus reduce the settlement risk in the ensuing period. b) Collection of full margins on the entire carry over business (on gross basis). The margin percentage should be sufficiently high (say, 35 percent of havala rate) so as to act as a deterrent to high speculation (so called bubble trading) and be adequate for guaranteeing the performance of the contract in the ensuing settlement. The author also argues that SEBI's insistence that carried over transactions not be squared off but must be settled by delivery and payment within 90 days is impractical and ill-advised. One must realize that our trading system is very different from the one prevalent in other countries, and it is impossible to identify transaction-wise carry over business in our trading system.

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Working Papers | 1995

Indian Aluminium Industry: A Perspective

M. R. Dixit and Venugopal R

This paper looks at the various facets of the aluminium industry such as government policy, user profile, industry structure, financial and physical performance, exports and imports and firm level management issues, and draws a perspective of the industry. The key observations are as follows: Till the early seventies private entrepreneurs played a leading role in shaping the industry. The Government entered the Aluminium industry with the setting up of Bharat Aluminium Company but, it gained prominence with the setting up of National Aluminium Company (Nalco). The industry has adopted and assimilated technologies acquired form leading international players. The assimilation of technology has been sufficient to operate plants at designed efficiency levels but has not led to the accumulation of expertise which can be a source for indigenous technological development. No major indigenous technological innovations have taken place in the Aluminium industry. Among the major aluminium producing countries in the world, India ranks tenth. India's production of approximately 500,000 tons of Aluminium represented about 3.5 % of the world production of Aluminium and half the production of China. The major constraints in taking a significant place in the world market appear to be steady and uninterrupted supply of power. In the context of liberalisation, investment in this sector by the aluminium companies themselves or agreements with the existing or new comers in the power sector could ease the situation.

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Working Papers | 1995

Why Collective Action: A Case of Joint Forest Management in Gujarat, India

Tewari Devi D

This paper empirically tests the factors which affect the collective action. The study is based upon the primary data collected from 33 villages in South Gujarat.

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Working Papers | 1995

Ordinal Comparisons in Choice Problems: A Diagrammatic Exposition

Lahiri Somdeb

The basic problem in choice theory is to choose a point from a set of available points. A large literature has grown where the central issue is the choice of a vector from a compact, convex and comprehensive (terms to be defined later) subset of a finite dimensional Euclidean space. A significant solution for such choice problems is the egalitarian solution which selects the highest possible vector with equal co-ordinates that is available under the given circumstances. There are several axiomatic characterizations of the egalitarian solution available in the literature. Of particular interest is an axiomatic characterization due to Nielsen (1983). There the egalitarian solution is axiomatically characterized using an assumption called 'independence of Common Monotone Transformations' (ICMT). Our objective in this paper is to provide a simple diagrammatic (yet completely rigorous) proof of the same result, when the feasible sets of attribute vectors are assumed (in addition to those essentially available in Nielsen (1983) to be strictly convex.

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