Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Public policy in India'

This dissertation examines how direct versus indirect rule shaped late colonial India through government finance. Fiscal policy has hitherto been overlooked in the literature on Indian economic history. This thesis considers how revenues were raised and spent in the Princely States compared with British India, and the welfare outcomes associated with these fiscal decisions. Part One examines the fiscal framework through the neglected public accounts. The key finding is that while the systems of taxation were broadly similar in both types of administration, patterns of public expenditure were dramatically different. The large Princely States spent more public revenue on social expenditure. This was made possible by lower proportionate expenditure on security and defence. Part one charts these trends empirically and unearths political and institutional reasons for the differences in fiscal policy between directly and indirectly ruled India. Part Two examines welfare. The study goes beyond previous anthropometric scholarship by assessing the impact of institutions and policies on biological living standards, deploying a new database of adult male heights in South India. Puzzlingly, heights were slightly lower in the Princely States, traditionally lauded for being more responsive to the needs of their populations, especially those of low status. The resolution to the conundrum is found in poorer initial conditions, and caste dynamics. Higher social expenditure and reduced height inequality occurred simultaneously in the States from the 1910s, suggesting policies directed at low status groups within the Princely States may have been successful. I also examine the consequences of Britain's policy of constructing an extensive rail network across the country. Importantly, the impact of railways differed by caste. Railways were good for High Caste groups, and bad for low status Dalit and Tribal groups. This suggests that railways served to reinforce the existing caste distinctions in access to resources and net nutrition.

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2011.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-102).
Infrastructure PPPs encounter unexpected changes in the technological, economic, social and political environments over their long lifetimes. They require governance frameworks that enable them to continue to deliver services efficiently and effectively when faced with such uncertainties. This thesis compares and contrasts alternative governance mechanisms that have been tried and tested over time and across geographies, with a focus on India. The usual governance mechanisms based on contracts or independent regulatory agencies appear to be insufficient in the face of turbulence. Contractual frameworks, wherein the public and private partners enter into long-term contracts that allocate risks, specify performance levels, tariffs and other terms of agreement, are effective in soliciting investment from the private sector. However, since all possible future scenarios and associated contingencies cannot be specified a priori, contracts are incomplete and contractual governance by itself inadequate. Regulatory frameworks, wherein independent regulators exercise discretion in setting tariffs and service levels in order to respond to changes over time are expensive and inefficient Moreover, they are inadequate by themselves in the complex institutional environments that characterize infrastructure in countries such as India. Most critically, the thesis finds that governance based on contracts and regulation seems to emphasize, institutionalize and reinforce antagonistic relationships between public and private 'partners'. To respond to unforeseen changes, however, it is necessary to move the focus away from arms-length relationships towards structures that emphasize real partnership. Based on case studies of successful PPPs in India, the thesis identifies best practices in engaging public sector partners and key stakeholders in projects, for instance through financial partnerships or representation on the project companies' Board of Directors. It finds that such structural mechanisms are effective supplements to the usual governance frameworks. Finally, the thesis proposes that the model of infrastructure delivery using Independent Public Authorities holds promise for infrastructure delivery in India. The ability of IPAs to mobilize private investment, engage public sector partners and internalize negotiations calls for further exploration of their suitability in Indian conditions.
by Arjun P. Gupta.
S.M.in Technology and Policy

How has the Indian state changed with economic liberalization? While many scholars have explored the altered party politics and class basis of the liberalization-era state, few have studied its transforming internal organizational forms and functioning. This thesis aims to provide an empirically grounded answer to this question. To do this it uses the lens of electricity: the sector lies at the heart of contemporary capital accumulation, state power, and distributive politics, and has witnessed almost a quarter-century of institutional reforms since 1991. In the sector, new or reworked organizational forms—such as imported regulatory agencies, corporatized state-owned enterprises, and public-private partnerships—have been grafted onto the older statist system in a process of institutional layering. Favouring state-business collaboration and prioritizing rapid economic growth, this mode of state operation is distinct both from a liberal, market-oriented state and from India’s older state-led mode. It combines state intervention and selective adoption of parts of the Washington Consensus template to produce a reinvented mode of power governance that I term state capitalism 2.0. India’s new state-market hybrid is not a functional alternative to the older models, however. The layered process through which it has emerged means that it is distinctively dysfunctional. Organizations have emerged in an ad hoc fashion, each shaped and reshaped by multiple collective interests, while existing organizations are rarely destroyed. The resulting layered amalgam institutionalizes contradictory state strategies, co-optation by competing interest groups, and a dualistic system of services and subsidies. Consequently the sector’s performance remains poor. As a result, developments in the Indian power sector suggest that the state's 'pro-business' transition has been painful and incomplete. At least in this sector, the Indian state remains simultaneously more indispensable, more ambivalently pro-business, and more chaotic than much theory might suggest.

TB, a major public health problem in India since the 1900s, has a current prevalence of 14 million and an estimated annual mortality of 500,000 persons. Nation-wide government sponsored anti-TB public health measures introduced in 1948, developed into the National TB Programme in 1962. Despite gains, implementation gaps between programme goals and performance, over 35 years, have been of a magnitude sufficient to cause concern. This study aimed to understand explanatory factors underlying the implementation gap. A policy analysis approach was adopted, focusing on the policy process and specifically on implementation, at national, state, district and local levels. It undertook a historical review with a two-tiered framework covering the period 1947-97. In the first tier the historical narrative is woven around a framework of context, content, process and actors. The nature of the problem and policy relevant technical dimensions of intervention measures are discussed, as are effects of pharmaceutical policies and financial resource flows on TB policy. The second tier applies a framework of implementation factors to national policy development and implementation at state and district level. Interviews were conducted with TB patients, elected representatives, front-line health workers, doctors, district and state staff, national programme managers, researchers and representatives from international agencies. Documents were reviewed. Thus the study incorporated an integrative bottom-up cum top-down approach. Findings highlight that interests of patients, medical and allied professionals, pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries and the state are interdependent, but often conflictual. Unequal societal relations affect not only the development and transmission of TB, but also the implementation of control programmes, particularly for the impoverished, among whom high levels of indebtedness due to the disease and difficulties accessing private services were noted. Techno-managerial approaches to TB control often mask societal and policy process factors accounting for the implementation gap. The importance of leadership, institutional development, capacity at the patient provider interface and accountability and need for sustained policies were noted, within an affirmative framework embodying social justice and safeguarding the interests of the majority of patients.

Public Private Partnerships, or PPPs, are being increasingly preferred by governments across the world for filling the infrastructure deficit, as they are claimed to provide access to private capital, and bring private sector efficiencies in provisioning of public services. In India too, a distinct policy shift towards PPPs in various sectors has been observed accompanied by a high degree of reliance on such partnerships to upscale the transport infrastructure. A growing body of literature however reveals serious flaws in the claims of economic superiority, effectiveness and profitability of the PPPs. They are being questioned on various accounts of transparency, accountability, equity, and excessive profiteering by the private partners. This gives rise to an advocacy for the enhanced role of the State in governance of PPPs. In this background, this research explores the nature of division of roles and responsibilities, allocation of risks and sharing of benefits by the State and the private partners within the PPPs in the context of road transport sector in India. It further examines the extent of investment of resources by the private partners in the projects. The factors shaping PPPs in road transport in India are also examined. This research suggests measures to strengthen the structures and mechanisms within the public and private partners to improve public infrastructure within the PPP framework. In order to achieve the research aims, and to gain a deeper perspective of the governance issues of PPPs from different administrative levels, two national and two state highways (one in construction while the other in operational stage in both cases) along with an intra-city transport project, part of which is already operationalised, were selected for the study. This study is rooted in critical realism according to which understanding of any social phenomenon can be achieved through study of the underlying multi-layered structures and mechanisms which cause the phenomenon. Research findings reveal that while PPP projects in highways largely followed the theoretical model of PPPs, the urban transportation project was found to be substantially deviating from a general PPP model discussed in the literature due to the unique requirements of urban transport infrastructure in India. The widely accepted argument of PPPs bringing in private capital to public services has been debunked by the Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System (ABRTS). The project is substantially funded by the national and state governments due to limited incentives for the private sector to invest in these projects under BOT mode. The under-developed capability within the private sector in urban transportation projects in India resulted in unbundling of services rather than one private agency providing all of them. The local urban body has retained several risks as it more suitably located to bear them more efficiently. In the PPPs in highways, the public partner has shifted many of its responsibilities to the concessionaire primarily due to shortage of adequate manpower with the public partner, and the incentive of timely completion of the project with the private partner. Adoption of the PPP mode in highways has not been able to avoid time and cost over-runs, largely due to the public partners not meeting their share of responsibilities. Land acquisition has emerged as the single most contentious issue of PPPs in infrastructure in India and is the major cause for delay in PPP projects. In addition, serious issues in land-grabbing and profiteering by the private partners have also been observed. A more active role of the State in PPPs is suggested to improve the delivery of public services through the PPP mode. This may require establishing additional structures and mechanisms of governance to meet the emerging requirements of these new modes of procurement, and to strengthen the existing ones.

When delivered well, education is key to addressing a host of individual and societal ills, from poverty and disease to crime and poor voter engagement. India has demonstrated considerable progress in improving various aspects of its primary education system, including infrastructure and buildings, teacher-student ratios, and school enrollment. However, student learning outcomes remain consistently low across the country. A review of the literature surrounding learning outcomes has highlighted gaps in school instruction and has shown the dire need for innovations in pedagogy and curriculum to improve student learning. This paper assesses the long-term impact of one such pedagogy, called Teaching at the Right Level (or TaRL), in the districts of five states of India via an ordered probit model and linear regressions. The quantitative model shows a positive and significant effect of TaRL exposure on learning levels and income, as hypothesized throughout this paper. Additionally, case studies of two students exposed to TaRL are explored to illustrate individual effects of the pedagogy.

This dissertation will explore how gender wage gap and political capacity represented by relative political extraction affect change in economic growth rate of a country. The main argument of the study is that gender wage gap is affecting the labor market by discouraging productive female labor force from entering the labor market. This in turn affects the efficiency and productivity of the labor market reflected in negative economic growth or economic growth potential being compromised. Here the case of Indian economy is examined. The important policy implication of this study is that it could account for the wage differential between genders and it could show how economies are missing out on the labor productivity and in turn negatively affecting the rate of economic growth. Various sociological literatures have dealt in depth with the gender wage gap and its effect on the socio-cultural fabric of a society. While the current study recognizes existence of extensive sociological theories on gender wage gap, the focus is on the economic impact of gender wage gap on the growth rate change of a country. The argument is that gender wage gap negatively affects the economic growth rate change. Economic growth literature have proved beyond doubt that economic and political factor together contribute to the economic growth of a country. Political variables such as political capacity reflects the efficiency of the government in resource extraction, its reach and allocation of those resources extracted. Such an efficient government provides the necessary environment for the economic growth. However, this political variable alone is not enough to increase economic growth of an economy. Rather governments must also possess the economic tools necessary, such as capital stock, human labor and labor force. These economic and political variables together can contribute towards an increased economic growth. How these political and economic factors combine to achieve economic growth of a country? Hence this study looks at both the economic and political variables in a model to see how they affect economic growth.

Plus de 130 millions de femmes sont portées disparues dans le monde pour cause de sélection en fonction du genre. La plupart d'entre elles ont été avortées de manière sélective, ont été l'objet de négligence fatale durant l'enfance ou ont été tuées après la naissance parce qu'elles étaient des femmes. La sélection sexuelle - pratiquée avant tout en Asie, dans le Caucase et en Europe de l'Est - a suscité de vives inquiétudes globalement en raison de ses implications en matière de droits humains, de santé et de conséquences démographiques. Depuis les années 1980, plusieurs pays asiatiques ont adopté des politiques pour contrer cette forme de discrimination. Bien que les politiques publiques soient souvent promues comme une solution, on sait peu de choses sur ces politiques et leur influence sur les déséquilibres de sexe à la naissance. De plus, seules quelques études relient ces politiques aux tendances des rapports de masculinité. Compte tenu de l'hétérogénéité des pays affectés par la sélection sexuelle, cette recherche vise à comprendre le déroulement des politiques publiques en divers contextes socioculturels. Quels sont les intentions, les instruments et les impacts des politiques publiques contre la sélection sexuelle dans différents pays asiatiques ? L'Inde, le Vietnam et la Corée du Sud ont été choisis dans le cadre du Most Different Systems Design pour représenter la diversité des pays dans leur réponse à la masculinisation démographique. La comparaison de politiques similaires en différents pays fournit une expérience naturelle pour évaluer leur influence sur la sélection prénatale du sexe. Nous présentons de nouvelles recherches empiriques, menées en Corée du Sud, en Inde et au Vietnam entre 2014 et 2015 et basées sur des entretiens d'experts, ainsi que des analyses statistiques pour comparer les zones avant et après l'intervention politique. Cette thèse montre que les trois pays partagent des instruments politiques similaires, notamment des interdictions légales, des campagnes de sensibilisation, des plaidoyers, des incitations et des lois sur l'égalité des sexes pour renforcer le rôle des femmes dans la société. Cependant, les intentions politiques variaient d'un pays à l'autre : renforcer les droits des femmes en Inde, promouvoir une structure de population équilibrée au Vietnam, protéger les droits du fœtus en Corée du Sud. En termes d'impact, les politiques eurent une efficacité limitée. En Corée du Sud, les changements sociaux et familiaux plutôt que les politiques expliquent le déclin de la sélection du sexe. En Inde, les interventions politiques ont montré un impact positif de la réduction des déséquilibres sexuels à l'échelle locale en raison d'un leadership fort et d'un effet bottom-up, mais avec des effets indésirables. Au Vietnam, l'interdiction légale de la sélection du sexe a probablement déclenché le début de la masculinisation à la naissance. Les autorités vietnamiennes ont opté pour une stratégie top-down et à long terme. Les interventions régionales ont été intensifiées malgré l'absence de preuves de l'efficacité des politiques. La collaboration internationale pour lutter contre la sélection du sexe a facilité le transfert de politiques et de connaissances transnationales, où les enseignements tirés des expériences sont partagés entre les pays. Cette atmosphère a contribué à une convergence croissante des politiques. Néanmoins, les gouvernements interprètent ces politiques en fonction de leurs propres intentions et stratégies de mise en œuvre. Nos résultats apportent ainsi une contribution à un domaine peu étudié. Bien plus, ils permettent une meilleure compréhension de l'interaction complexe entre dynamiques locale et mondiale dans la lutte contre la sélection sexuelle. Le cadre théorique élaboré pour conceptualiser les différents niveaux d'influence peut également servir à évaluer d'autres questions de santé publique et de genre au 21e siècle
Worldwide over 130 million women are missing due to gender-biased sex selection. Most of these "missing females" were selectively aborted, fatally neglected or killed after birth because they were female. Sex selection - predominantly practiced in Asia, Caucasus and Eastern Europe - has caused wide concern among government, non-government and international stakeholders because of the human rights, health, and demographic implications associated with the practice. Since the late 1980s, several Asian countries have introduced laws, policies and programs to counter this fundamental form of gender discrimination. Although public policies are often promoted as a solution to sex selection, little is known about these policies and their influence on skewed sex ratio at birth. Moreover, only a few studies provide a comparative analysis of sex ratio trends and policy interventions. Given the heterogeneity of countries affected by sex selection, this research seeks to understand how public policies unfold in diverse socio-cultural contexts. What are the intentions, instruments and impacts of public policies against sex selection in selected Asian countries? India, Vietnam and South Korea were chosen in a Most Different Systems Design to represent largely diverse countries that have tried to address the growing demographic masculinization of their population. Comparing similar policies in different countries offers a natural experiment for assessing their influence on prenatal sex selection. We present new empirical research, carried out in South Korea, India and Vietnam between 2014 and 2015, based on qualitative expert interviews with governmental, non-governmental, international and medical personnel, as well as statistical analysis comparing pre- and post-intervention areas. This thesis finds that the three countries share similar policy instruments including legal bans on sex selection and determination, awareness-raising campaigns, advocacy, incentives and gender equity laws to strengthen the role of women in society. However, policy intentions varied across countries from strengthening women's rights in India, to promoting a balanced population structure in Vietnam, to protecting fetal rights in South Korea. Regarding the policy impact, anti-sex selection policies have had limited efficacy in curbing sex imbalances. In South Korea, social and family changes rather than policy interventions explain the decline of sex selection. In India, policy efforts showed a positive impact of reducing sex imbalances at the local level due to strong leadership and bottom-up action, which yet came with unintended side effects of infringing reproductive and privacy rights. In Vietnam, the legal ban on sex selection is likely to have triggered the onset of birth masculinization. Vietnamese authorities have opted for a top-down, long-term strategy of changing mindsets. Regional interventions are scaled up despite inconclusive evidence of policy efficacy. International collaboration to tackle sex selection has facilitated transnational policy and knowledge transfer, where lessons learned are shared between the countries. This atmosphere has contributed to a growing trend of policy convergence. Nevertheless, governments interpret these policies to fit their own policy intentions and implementation strategies. Our findings thus not only contribute to an under-researched field of public policies against sex selection, but also allow for a better understanding of the complex interplay between local and global dynamics in anti-sex selection efforts. The theoretical framework developed to conceptualize the diverse levels of influence can also serve to assess other global public health and gender issues of the 21st century
Weltweit fehlen über 130 Millionen Frauen aufgrund von Geschlechterselektion. Die meisten dieser Frauen wurden selektiv abgetrieben, tödlich vernachlässigt oder nach der Geburt getötet, weil sie weiblich waren. Die vorwiegend in Asien, im Kaukasus und in Osteuropa praktizierte Geschlechterselektion hat aufgrund der einhergehenden Menschenrechts-, Gesundheits- und demografischen Implikationen weltweit große Besorgnis hervorgerufen. Seit den 1980ern haben mehrere asiatische Länder Politiken eingeführt, um dieser Form der Geschlechterdiskriminierung entgegenzuwirken. Obwohl öffentliche Politiken oft als Lösung propagiert werden, ist wenig über sie und deren Einfluss auf das vorgeburtliche Geschlechterverhältnis bekannt. Zudem liefern nur wenige Studien eine vergleichende Analyse von demographischen Trends und politischen Interventionen. Angesichts der Heterogenität der Länder, die von Geschlechtsselektion betroffen sind, untersuchen wir, wie sich öffentliche Politiken in verschiedenen soziokulturellen Kontexten entfalten. Was sind die Absichten, Instrumente und Auswirkungen öffentlicher Maßnahmen gegen Geschlechtsselektion in ausgewählten Ländern Asiens? Indien, Vietnam und Südkorea wurden nach dem 'Most Different Systems Design' ausgewählt, um die unterschiedlichsten Länder zu repräsentieren, die versucht haben, der wachsende Vermännlichung ihrer Bevölkerung Herr zu werden. Der Vergleich ähnlicher Instrumente in verschiedenen Ländern bietet ein natürliches Experiment um den politischen Einfluss auf Geschlechtsselektion zu untersuchen. Wir präsentieren neue empirische Studien, die zwischen 2014 und 2015 in Südkorea, Indien und Vietnam durchgeführt wurden, basierend auf qualitativen Experteninterviews sowie statistischer Analyse von Prä- und Post-Interventionen. Diese Arbeit zeigt auf, dass die drei Länder ähnliche politische Instrumente eingeführt haben, wie gesetzliche Verbote, Sensibilisierungskampagnen, Anreize und Gleichstellungsgesetze, um die Rolle von Frauen in der Gesellschaft zu stärken. Die politischen Absichten waren jedoch von Land zu Land unterschiedlich, und variierten von der Stärkung der Frauenrechte in Indien über die Förderung einer ausgewogenen Bevölkerungsstruktur in Vietnam bis hin zum Schutz fetaler Rechte in Südkorea. Was die politischen Auswirkungen anbelangt, so waren die durchgeführten Maßnahmen nur begrenzt wirksam. In Südkorea erklären soziale und familiäre Veränderungen und nicht politische Maßnahmen den Rückgang der Geschlechterselektion. In Indien zeigten politische Interventionen positive Auswirkungen auf das Geschlechterverhältnis auf lokaler Ebene aufgrund von ehrgeizigem, bottom-up Engagement, das jedoch mit unbeabsichtigten Nebenwirkungen einherging. In Vietnam scheint das gesetzliche Verbot den Beginn der Maskulinisierung der Geburten ausgelöst zu haben. Die vietnamesischen Behörden haben sich für eine langfristige, top-down gerichtete Strategie entschieden. Regionale Interventionen werden ausgeweitet, obwohl deren Wirksamkeit noch nicht bewiesen ist. Die internationale Zusammenarbeit zur Bekämpfung von Geschlechterselektion hat den transnationalen Politik- und Wissenstransfer erleichtert. Gewonnenen Erfahrungen werden zwischen den Ländern ausgetauscht. Diese Atmosphäre hat zu einem zunehmenden Trend politischer Konvergenz beigetragen. Dennoch interpretieren die Regierungen diese Politiken in unterschiedlicher Weise, sodass sie ihren eigenen politischen Absichten und Umsetzungsstrategien entsprechen. Diese Ergebnisse tragen nicht nur zu einem wenig erforschten Politikfeld bei, sondern ermöglichen auch ein besseres Verständnis des komplexen Zusammenspiels zwischen lokaler und globaler Dynamiken im Kampf gegen Geschlechtsselektion. Der theoretische Rahmen, der entwickelt wurde, um diese verschiedenen Einflussebenen zu konzeptualisieren, kann auch dazu dienen, andere globale Gesundheits- und Geschlechterfragen im 21. Jahrhundert zu analysieren

With the changing significance of caste and caste identity, this thesis explores the role of affirmative action or "reservations" in Indian higher education. Specifically, it aims to reopen the debate on the dominance of a "creamy layer" among the OBCs in an increasingly nationalist India. Viewing caste through the lens of ethnic identity, this thesis draws comparisons between the identity of OBCs and Scheduled Castes and Tribes, OBCs of the "Hindi Belt" and OBCs of the South, followed by an analysis of the politicization of caste identity today. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of affirmative action today and possible policy avenues that the State must prioritize.

Following the 2012 gang-rape of a 23-year-old paramedic student in New Delhi, India's rape culture received unprecedented global attention. The Central Government sought to reduce the incidence of sexually violent crimes against Indian women by implementing policy changes. However, crimes against women and reported rapes have continued to rise. This paper seeks to explain the persistence of sexually violent crimes in India by arguing that contemporary public policies and the dominating presence of men's rights organizations on social media platforms have reproduced rapability in unique and dangerous ways.

The thesis asks two crucial questions, (a) what are the normative frameworks available for protecting the rights and status of a person migrating due to climate change related hydro-metrological changes? (b) why is there a non-uniformity and inadequacy in the deliverance of assistance from the state? To address these questions, I have analysed the perception, framing and assistance a climate change migrant receives from the state of Assam in India, while also explaining the reasons for the differential nature and deficits in protection. Based on interviews with senior bureaucratic officials (elite actors), group-discussions, field surveys, and engagements at the block and village level, the thesis makes three critical arguments. First, the sub-national government perceive climate-induced migrations as a developmental issue. Second, the way in which climate change migration is framed as a developmental issue by elite actors does not correspond with how the issue is understood by street-level bureaucratic actors. Instead, the routine judgements and discretions exercised by street-level actors are complexly tied to the political and social circumstances of local areas. Finally, while it is known that socio-political and demographic factors (such as gender, membership of a social group, and religion) contribute to forced forms of migration, the thesis argues that these demographic factors also adversely affect the performance of the programs meant to reduce climate vulnerabilities.

This thesis examines provision of water supply and waste management in the Indian city of Madras (Chennai). It is concerned with identifying the central features of these two services in Madras, and understanding public attitudes towards their provision. It is based on the micro-economic model of consumer behaviour and the random utility maximisation approach. The empirical work is based on a survey of 148 households drawn by cluster sampling method. Using focus groups, a small number of options, representing various combinations of attributes of interest, have been developed. In the survey, each respondent was presented with some of these options and the price (a monthly charge) at which each option is available. They were requested to choose the most preferred option. The analysis indicated that decisions were made by consumers mainly based on the attributes of the options. Respondent characteristics seem to have a fairly limited impact. In the case of water supply, whether an option provides a yard tap connection or not was a significant attribute. A negative preference for an option requiring the consumers to engage in rain water harvesting and recycling was also seen. In the case of waste management, primary collection was a significant attribute. In both cases, there was no clear evidence that respondents consider attributes in a hierarchical manner. Other issues explored in the thesis are: developing a water balance sheet, extending Sen's entitlements approach to water supply, and an exploration of co-operation (from a survey of 16 neighbourhood associations in Madras, called Civic Exnoras). It appears that co-operation has a weak (negative) relationship with group size; an ambivalent relationship with the number of services. Where committee members work collectively, co-operation from households is likely to be high. Limitations of the micro-economic framework are noted and some issues for further research have been identified.

Media exercises incredible influence on the public; in India media appears to interfere with court proceedings. The purpose of this mixed-methods quasi-experimental study was to explore the effect of media trials on the Indian criminal justice system and to examine the relationship between court verdicts and media trials in India. The narrative policy framework was used to guide the study. Qualitative data were gathered from a variety of sources, including the court cases and the related verdicts reported by the media as media trials from 2005 to 2015. Subsequently, interviews were also conducted to collect qualitative data. Quantitative data were sourced from a survey using Likert scales. Survey and interview data were collected from 450 India-based practicing attorneys. Qualitative data were coded and themes developed. Quantitative data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation analysis. Findings indicated that media interference affects the Indian criminal justice system, often adversely. Findings may be used to help public policy making bodies formulate media guidelines about reporting crime and the justice system in India. Findings may also be used to bolster public confidence in the judicial system in India.

This research provides policy-relevant insights into how a mass-scale, equitable transition to the use of Advanced Biomass (cook) Stoves (ABSs) can be achieved in India, with the aim of improving public health, especially for women and children. The research uses socio-technical systems to provide a characterisation of transition processes, and governance to explain issues of power influencing transition. A review of previous government cook-stove programmes in India and China highlights governance shortcomings in the former, in particular a lack of functional links between layers of administration and poor engagement with community institutions and cooks. Primary data from West Bengal and Karnataka highlighted sophisticated, skilful, flexible and culturally context specific cooking practices. Reasons for apparent low demand for improved stoves, characterised as lock-in, are found to include a combination of risk aversion and habits, lack of affordability, low awareness of the health consequences, as well as a mis-match between the normative priorities of policy makers – currently health- and those of cooks. It is found that the majority of polluting emissions within households - as well as greenhouse gases - from cooking derive from poorer households. A sectoral carbon offset strategy is proposed as a means of funding subsidies for ABSs and programme support measures. Several large corporations have invested significant sums in technology development, community outreach and dissemination, resulting in sales of over 600,000 ABSs. Reasons for their involvement appear mixed. Their market-based activities have generally not reached poor households and there are questions about their ability to build viable businesses in this highly dispersed and heterogeneous sector. A fundamental dichotomy is highlighted between large, centralised cooking programmes and the diverse, complex and changing reality of cooking activities, beliefs and behaviours on the ground. The research concludes that functional multi-level and multi-actor governance structures would be required to achieve a mass-scale transition to clean cooking using ABSs, with a lead role for the public sector. A key component of future success will involve building structures that ensure the agency of cooks and account for their socio-cultural cooking practices in the processes of technology and programme design and implementation.

Over the next few decades, urban populations in Pakistan and India are projected to increase by 350 million. Considered to be a critical driver of economic modernization and sociopolitical progress, urbanization can catalyze numerous benefits. However, the extent to which it proves beneficial is contingent on the manner in which national and sub-national leaders respond to the multitude of challenges associated with urban spatial expansion and population growth. This thesis outlines key policy priorities for Indian and Pakistani leaders and puts forth recommendations that aim to optimize urban expansion for greater prosperity and livability. It employs a comprehensive set of methodologies to examine the true extent and characteristics of urbanization in India and Pakistan. On the basis of existing and projected dynamics of urbanization and identification of key factors that currently impede the leveraging of urbanization, it offers a range of policy proposals that aim to leverage urban growth through optimizing urban planning processes and governance, urban mobility and the spatial distribution of urban populations.

The Indian urban rental market is complex and yet ever-changing, with the ups and downs of housing demand playing a fundamental role in the affordability and stability of the market. This paper determines the income and price elasticities of demand using the demand function and Slutsky equation, respectively, for the urban rental market in order to help craft suitable national housing policy. Through this analysis, it is determined that the urban rental price elasticity of demand is -0.93 and the income elasticity is 0.81, suggesting that rental price subsidies and private income taxes are the most effective policy measures to ensure affordability in urban India.

Background Malnutrition is a major risk factor of infant mortality in India. Policies targeting poverty and food insecurity may reduce infant malnutrition. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a wage-for employment policy of the Indian Government, targets deprivation and food insecurity in rural households. MGNREGA could prevent infant malnutrition by improving household food security or increase the risk of malnutrition by reducing the time devoted to infant care if mothers are employed. This study analyzed the effect and the pathways of effect of households' and mothers' participation in MGNREGA on infant malnutrition. Methods A community based mixed methods study using cross-sectional survey and focus group discussions (FGDs) was conducted in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan, India. Cross-sectional study included 528 households with 1,056 participants who were infants 1 to <12 months and their mothers/caregivers. Selected households were divided into MGNREGA-households and non-MGNREGA-households based on participation in MGNREGA between August-2010 and September-20ll. Anthropometric indicators of infant malnutrition-underweight, stunting, and wasting (WHO criteria) were the outcomes. Eleven FGDs with 62 mothers were conducted. Results Of 528 households, 281 participated in MGNREGA (53%). Mothers were employed in 51 (18%) households. Prevalence of wasting was 39%, stunting 24%, and underweight 50%. Households participating in MGNREGA were less likely to have wasted infants (OR 0' 57, 95% Cl 0•37-0'89; p=O'014) and underweight infants (OR 0'48,95% Cl 0•30-0'76; p=0'002) than non-participating households. Stunting did not differ significantly between groups. Although MGNREGA reduced starvation, it did not confer food security to the participating households because of lower than standard wages and delayed payments. Results from path analysis did not support an effect through household food security and infant feeding, but suggested a pathway of effect through birth-weight. Mothers' employment had no significant effect on the outcomes in the cross-sectional study, but the qualitative study indicated that it could compromise infant feeding and care. Conclusion Participation in MGNREGA was associated with reduced infant malnutrition possibly mediated indirectly via improved birth-weight rather than improved infant feeding. Providing child care facilities at worksites could mitigate the negative effects of mother's participation in MGNREGA. Further, improving mothers' knowledge of appropriate feeding practices in conjunction with providing employment (to address deprivation and food insecurity) is key in the efforts to reduce infant malnutrition.

This thesis explains how national media shape Indian foreign policy toward Pakistan. I use empirical research to explore the contribution of national media to the formulation of policy during the 1999 Kargil War and 2001 Agra Summit between India and Pakistan. I created a database of news articles in the leading national English newspapers—The Times of India and Hindustan Times and then coded and analyzed them. I analyze the media’s role by identifying trends in media strategies such as framing, agenda setting, and manufacturing consent. In addition, I analyze government documents and parliamentary debates to gather information on the policy processes and on government- media relations. I suggest that the media’s role in shaping policy depends on the level of internal dissent, understood as disagreement between the government and the opposition parties. I argue that national dissent allows the media to emerge as an independent actor, influencing the formulation of foreign policy by presenting their own opinions and policy suggestions. This was the case during the Agra Summit. On the other hand, as seen in the case of the Kargil War, during times of national consensus, the media echo the government’s voice and garner public support for the government’s actions. As such, this thesis contributes to existing scholarship and primary fieldwork by providing an original analysis of the intersection of media and foreign policy.

The three mains concepts in this research were participation, gender relations and governance, producing the main research question: how was PPP initiatives achieving the objectives of women's partcipation and changing the lives of women? Government of India's neo-liberal strategies included implementation of developmental policies in collaboration with the private sector and/or non-state actors. These institutional linkages, known as Public Private Partnerships (PPP), established collaborative roles and responsibilities for policy initiatives. Originally engaged in policies pertaining to the infrastructure and healthcare sectors, recent PPP initiatives were increasingly utilised for developmental policies in the social sector. Another neo-liberal strategy has been engaging in policy implementation through a gender mainstreaming approach. This approach recognises the differential impact policy implementation has on men and women within the community. Using a case study approach, two PPP initiatives were explored, in Bhilwara District of Rajasthan (North-Western State of India) and Puri District of Orissa (coastal Eastern State). The conceptual framework established a scalar dimension for understanding (1) the interaction between policy implementation and contextual institutions effecting women's participation; (2) the combination of PPP structures with intra-household dynamics was creating opportunities for women; and (3) role of everyday state implementing PPP impacting changes in women's lives. A multi-disciplinary methodological approach applied both quantitative and qualitative participatory data collection tools including Focus Group Discussions and Semi-structured Interviews. Data was collected from men and women participants and non-participants in the activities of the PPP initiatives, and from key actors in the public and private institutions. The study established that women's participation was influenced by formal and informal governance structures determining entitlement to resources, and the relative adaptability of men and women to change. Secondly, there was a gap between policy intentions or rhetoric, and policy implementation in tenns of changes in intra-household gender relations. Thirdly, for PPP initiatives within rural India's traditional patriarchal contexts, policy implementation initiatives must construe contextual detenninants, seeking to effectively combine both women-only and gendered approaches. This would make women active participants in certain activities giving them the confidence to transform their traditional subservient roles as passive participants and become active participants within the patriarchal domain. In conclusion, the patriarchal context required gender main streaming approaches conjoining gender neutral activities with women only initiatives to encourage women to engage in activities related to policy implementation. PPP initiatives as vehicles of policy implementation require being redefined as not merely 'partnerships' between the 'public' and 'private', but as 'partnerships' between 'public'; 'private' and the 'people'. The inclusion of this fourth 'P' would determine the effectiveness of PPPs by engaging both men and women, thereby recognising gender dynamics (interaction and inter-relations) improving women's access and participation in policy initiatives.

The scholarship regarding the education of American Indians has focused primarily on the trials and atrocities of the period between 1870 and 1930. This thesis expands this analysis and explores the shifts in Indian educational policy that occurred in the mid to late twentieth century. Whereas federally controlled institutions had served as the primary means of educating Indian students prior to the 1930s, between the 1940s and 1960s, the federal government began shifting Indian children into state-controlled public schools. Unbeknownst to federal policymakers, this shift effectively limited federal control of Indian education by putting this control largely in the hands of local white communities whose goals for Indian education often differed greatly from those of the federal government. This limiting of federal power was most clearly demonstrated in the 1970s, when federal policymakers attempted to create a policy of self-determination for Indian education that was applied in only a limited fashion by state public schools.

How does the international climate policy frameworks influence the domestic institutional responses to climate mitigation in emerging economies? And how, in turn, do domestic institutions and politics in emerging economies influence the fate of international climate policy frameworks? The thesis provides answers to these questions by studying domestic engagements with Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions in three emerging economies – India, Brazil, and South Africa. The thesis specifically studies how these engagements were influenced by the domestic institutional context provided by national climate policy, norms, and institutional capacity in the three countries. Drawing upon the variations in the engagements with nationally appropriate mitigation actions, made visible by use of the policy cycle as a heuristic device, the thesis informs the implementation of another nascent, yet prevalent, international climate policy framework – Nationally Determined Contributions. The thesis identifies how engagements with nationally appropriate mitigation actions varied in India, Brazil, and South Africa in agenda-setting, policy formulation, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation. In cases where international support is considered crucial for taking mitigation actions, external factors such as lack of clarity on definitional aspects and availability of international support can hamper the prospects of such frameworks at the agenda-setting and policy formulation stages. Efforts to engage with these frameworks under this uncertainty are held back by non-decisions, overriding national climate policy, as well as by uneven inter-ministerial coordination. The thesis argues that successful implementation of upcoming Nationally Determined  Contributions will be influenced by a country’s ability to align them with its national climate policy, localization of the transnational norms, and the extent to which efforts to enhance institutional capacity for  coordinating the implementation of national climate policy are made. In sum, the effective implementation of International Climate Policy Frameworks will be dependent on the willingness of the state to  provide oversight and coordination, and clarity on the availability of international support.
Hur influerar ramverken för internationell klimatpolicy nationella institutionella åtgärder för att begränsa utsläpp av växthusgaser i framväxande ekonomier? Och hur påverkar, i sin tur, dessa länders nationella institutioner och politik dessa ramverk för internationell klimatpolicy? Denna avhandling studerar nationella engagemang i Nationellt lämpliga utsläppsminskande åtgärder (s.k. NAMAs) i tre framväxande ekonomier – Indien, Brasilien, och Sydafrika. Avhandlingen studerar i synnerhet hur dessa engagemang har påverkats av de tre ländernas nationella klimatpolicy, normer, och institutionella kapacitet. Genom att använda policycykeln som heuristiskt analysverktyg identifierar avhandlingen variationer i hur länderna utvecklat sitt engagemang i NAMAs. Avhandlingen visar att och hur engagemang med nationellt lämpliga utsläppsminskande åtgärder varierar mellan Indien, Brasilien, och Sydafrika vad det gäller fastställande av dagordning, policyformulering, beslutsfattande, implementering, och policyutvärdering. I de fall internationellt stöd anses vara avgörande för att vidta utsläppsminskande åtgärder kan externa faktorer såsom bristande definition av de internationella policyramverken för åtgärder samt tillgänglighet på internationellt stöd försvåra utsikterna för att internationella ramverk tas upp i de nationella dagordnings- och policyformuleringsstadierna. Arbetet med dessa ramverk försvåras även av icke-beslut och ojämn interministeriell koordinering samt om tvingande nationell klimatpolicy inte ligger i linje med de internationella besluten. Avhandlingens slutsatser har betydelse för implementeringen av ett annat framväxande ramverk för internationell klimatpolicy: Nationellt fastställda bidrag (s.k. NDC:er). En framgångsrik implementering av   NDC:er kommer att influeras av en stats förmåga att anpassa dem till nationell klimatpolicy samt transnationella normer, så att dessa överensstämmer eller jämkas med nationella normer, samt den institutionella kapaciteten för att koordinera implementering av nationell klimatpolicy. En effektiv implementering av ramverk för internationell klimatpolicy kommer, sammanfattningsvis, att vara beroende av staters villighet att tillhandahålla tillsyn och koordinering, samt tydlighet vad gäller tillgänglighet till internationellt stöd.

Governments are responsible for administrative arrangements dealing with disasters. Effective policies play a vital role in mitigating the impact of disasters and reducing likely losses of life and property. Yet, it had been noted that such losses were increasing, raising questions about efficacy of government policies and the factors that made them effective. This study adopted a comparative method, responding to a long-standing demand of disaster research, for examining the record in India. There were noticeable differences among its states, with some having undertaken comprehensive reform in an all-hazards approach, while others continued with old policies. This research studied four states with the objective of identifying variables that were critical in undertaking policy reform for building capacities. The roles of economic resources, democratically decentralized institutions, political party systems and focusing events were examined. Findings revealed that these factors had varying impact on state capabilities. Economic resources were an inevitable part of disaster management, but did not necessarily translate into policy reform. Panchayati Raj Institutions, which were democratically decentralized bodies, displayed tremendous potential. However, their role was limited mostly to the response phase, with states severely circumscribing their involvement. The nature of political party systems was able to explain policy reform to an extent. Cohesive systems in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Orissa correlated with administrative capacities, unlike in fragmented Bihar. However, anti-incumbency sentiments and strong community mobilization impacted contestation more than electoral salience of public goods. The most nuanced and significant explanation was provided by experience of focusing events. States that suffered major disasters revealed unmistakable evidence of double-loop learning, leading to comprehensive policy reform and capacity building. This research provides empirical support to theory about the role of focusing events and organizational learning in policy reform. Methodologically, it underscores the importance of the comparative approach, and its successful application in a federal framework. The significance of this research is most for policy makers and practitioners, as it serves to alert them on the need for reform without waiting for the next big disaster to catch them unprepared.

Social protection should ideally create a framework of 'welfare rights' for the vulnerable individuals and households. The state, through a set of policies of promotive and protective measures, sets out to achieve this. However, gaining these welfare rights in a decentralised democratic framework could be a function of the bargaining power that each individual, household and social group may possess. Therefore the micro-level interactions involving claimant, bureaucrat and local elites constitute the key policy process. Study of the process itself can reveal why some households gain formal social protection and other fail. This study argues that the local practices and informal rules underlying these public policy processes are purposively guided by the private interests of the local elites. At the heart of this dissertation is a comparative case-study of two villages in the Indian state of Maharashtra, based on eight months ethnographic fieldwork. Bottomup evaluation of two social protection programmes, public works (promotive) and social assistance (protective) programmes shows that 60 per cent of eligible persons are excluded from welfare rights. The mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion in these programmes are studied. The study reveals that both eligibility and entitlement to 'welfare rights' are contested within the power structure of the local community. The social identity of the claimant, and the ability to build a relationship with the local leaders or labour market managers act as key routes to access welfare rights. The precedence of informal rules at the stage of implementation of social protection programmes reproduced the existing social and economic power structures. As a result, the welfare rights of individuals and households are affected by the competing forces in the non-state sectors. These non-state actors, through their network, were able to weaken the administration and fair allocation of welfare benefits. Through this analysis the thesis contributes to the understanding of the local state, and decision-making practices over welfare rights in a decentralised context.

Empirical evidence suggests that India had significant and persistent regional disparities in poverty reduction, particularly during the period 1985-2000. This evidence makes a compelling case for examining the impact of political factors on pro-poor policies and distributional outcomes when combined with the fact that: 1. The state has continued to play a key role in affecting distributional outcomes for the poor, and 2. Regime types across Indian states vary in terms of their caste composition and the overall balance of power between competing groups in society. This thesis is an exploration of the impact of regime type at the state level in India on the effectiveness of pro-poor policies, appropriately selected. To investigate this relationship between regime types and pro-poor policies this thesis combines, for two middle-income south Indian states during the period 1985-2000, state-level analyses of the budgetary process with studies of the political history of each state. The aim of the exercise is to shed light upon the main trends in the politics of resource allocation and situate these trends in the context of the changing political settlement in each state. The thesis uses the framework of political economy, which recognises the interplay of political factors on economic policies and their distributional outcomes. Thus the underlying argument of this paper considers the role of political power, and the mechanisms of this power are studied at the state level through a wide range of interviews and analysis of secondary data. Additionally, attention is given to the politics of redistribution in terms of pro-poor policies. Under the broad methodology of inter-state comparative case studies, this research therefore shows how public policy and the evolving balance of power during the twentieth century can significantly explain political and distributional outcomes for the poor observed in these two states today.

Background: India has the highest number of undernourished children worldwide. Understanding trends, predictors, and consequences of child undernutrition is important to inform strategy for addressing this public health crisis. Methods: We used data from four National Family Health Surveys (1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-6, 2015-16 NFHS) to examine trends of undernutrition before and after the 2005 implementation of the National Rural Health Mission, India’s flagship public health initiative (Aim 1). We used the 2016 NFHS to build a predictive model that identifies infants at-risk for child undernutrition (Aim 2). Lastly, we used data from the 2005 and 2012 India Human Development Surveys to investigate the consequences of early childhood undernutrition (Aim 3). Results: NRHM was more effective at addressing acute than chronic undernutrition but its prioritization on high focus states resulted in an increase of acute undernutrition among children living in normal focus states. We demonstrate that it is feasible to predict 5-year risk of child undernutrition at the time of birth. Child undernutrition is associated with adverse physical and cognitive outcomes during pre-adolescent years, with female undernourished children experiencing the worst outcomes. Higher female education in the household helps overcome gender and nutrition-based disadvantage among Indian children. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to reduce nutrition-related disparities among Indian children. Short-term strategy could include a predictive model that can be used to more effectively provide resources and intervention to the most disadvantaged population. Long term strategy should focus on elevating women’s status through improved female education in India.

The task of producing policies for the management of Earth’s natural resources is a problem of the gravest concern worldwide. Such policies must address both responsible use in the present and the sustainability of those finite resources in the future. Resources are showing the adverse results of generations of exploitation, and communities fail to see the outcomes of past policies that have produced, and continue to produce, these results. They have not learned from past policy failures, and consequently fail to produce natural resource management (NRM) policies that support sustainable development.¶ It will be argued that NRM policy makers fail to learn from the past because they do not have a good historical perspective and a clear understanding of the dynamics of the complex human-environment system that they manage. It will also be argued that historians have not shown an interest in collaborating with policy makers on these issues, even though they have much to offer. Therefore, a new approach is proposed, which brings the skills and understanding of the trained historian directly into the policy arena.¶ This approach is called Applied Environmental History (AEH). Its aims are to help establish an area of common conceptual ground between NRM practitioners, policy makers, historians and dynamicists; to provide a framework that can help NRM practitioners and policy makers to take account of the historical and dynamical issues that characterise human-environment relationships; and to help NRM practitioners and policy makers improve their capacity to learn from the past. Applied Environmental History captures the characteristics of public and applied history and environmental history. In order to include an understanding of feedback dynamics in human-environment systems, it draws on concepts from dynamical systems theory. Because learning from the past is a particular form of learning from experience, AEH also draws on theories of cognitive adaptation.¶ Principles for the application of AEH are developed and then tested in an exploratory study of irrigation development that is focused on the NRM issue of salinity. Since irrigation salinity has existed for centuries, and is a serious environmental problem in many parts of the world, it is a suitable NRM context in which to explore policy makers' failure to learn from the past. AEH principles guide this study, and are used, together with insights generated from the study, as the basis for the design of AEH Guidelines.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a significant risk factor for peptic ulcer (PU) and gastric cancer (GC). Apart from the virulent CagA genotype of H. pylori environmental and dietary factors influence disease outcomes. There have been no studies addressing these factors in Western India. Hence, we conducted a case control study enrolling PU, GC patients and controls at Pune, India. Methods: Risk factors for PU and H. pylori infection were assessed in participant interview. H. pylori status was assessed from stool by monoclonal antigen detection. To understand treatment effect, we followed 100 H. pylori positive patients. Results: We enrolled 190 PU patients, 125 Controls and 35 GU patients. Prevalence of H. pylori was 61% among symptomatic patients and 45% among controls. H. pylori infection (OR: 1.70, 95% CI: 1.03-2.89), meat (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02-1.75), fish (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02-1.89) consumption, and family history of ulcer (OR: 1.20, 95% CI: 1.08-1.60) were risk factors for PU. Consumption of snacks with alcohol (OR: 0.32, 95% CI: 0.13-0.78) and history of anti-parasite treatment (OR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.30-0.86) were protective factors against PU. Lower socioeconomic status (SES) (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.02-1.39), meat consumption (OR: 2.35, 95% CI: 1.30-4.23), smoking (OR: 2.23, 95% CI: 1.24-4.02), eating restaurant food thrice per week (OR: 3.77, 95% CI: 1.39-10.23) and drinking non-filtered or non-boiled water (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01-1.23) were risk factors for H. pylori infection. Consumption of chili peppers (OR: 0.20, 95% CI: 0.10-0.37) and concurrent parasite infestation (OR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.24-0.80) were protective against H. pylori infection. H. pylori infection was eradicated only in 53% (40/75) of treated patients. Conclusion: This study indicates that H. pylori infection is associated PU. Consumption of meat, fish and family history of PU are risk factors for PU. Lower SES, consumption of restaurant food, meat, non filtered water and smoking are risk factors for H. pylori infection. Consumption of chili peppers and concurrent parasite infestation are protective against H. pylori infectionwhile history of anti parasite treatment protects against PU. H. pylori were eradicated only in 53% of patients.

Abstract Annie Heloise Abel (1873–1947) was one of only thirty American women to earn a PhD in history prior to the First World War. She was the first academically trained historian in the United States to consider the development of Indian–white relations and, although her focus was narrowly political and her methodology almost entirely archival-based, in this she was a pioneer. Raised in the bucolic atmosphere of a late-Victorian Sussex village, at the age of twelve she became an actual pioneer when her parents moved to the Kansas frontier in the 1880s. She was the third child and eldest daughter among seven remarkable siblings, children of a Scottish gardener, each of whom obtained a college education and fulfilled the American dream of financial stability and status. Annie Abel’s academic career was one of rare success for a woman of the period and she studied at Kansas, Cornell, Yale, and Johns Hopkins universities. She was the first woman to win a Bulkley scholarship to Yale, where her doctoral thesis won her an American Historical Association award and was published in its annual report. As well as college teaching, for a short time she was historian at the Office (now Bureau) of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC, and was also involved in women’s suffrage issues. She reached the peak of her academic teaching career as a history professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, one of the country’s most prestigious women’s institutions of higher learning. She combined her teaching with research and wrote some minor pieces prior to her major work, a three-volume political history of the Indian Territory during the American Civil War, which was published between 1915 and 1925. Her life took an unexpected turn while on a research sabbatical in Australia when, aged nearly fifty, she found romance and then experienced a disastrous, short-lived marriage. Undeterred, she returned to America and continued to pursue her primary professional interest as an independent researcher, winning grants that took her to England and Canada, until her retirement to Aberdeen, Washington, in the 1930s. During this latter period of her life Annie Abel-Henderson (as she now styled herself) produced no original works but continued to publish editions of historically important manuscripts, work she had begun early in her career. Her research interests also covered early North American exploration narratives and, as an extension of her work on Indian–white relations, she had planned an ambitious, comparative study of United States and British Dominion policy towards colonised peoples. As a reviewer, her historical expertise was long sought by the leading academic history journals of the day. Before her death at seventy four from carcinoma, her final years were busy with war relief work and occasional writing. No full-length work has yet appeared on this pioneer historian and this dissertation seeks to evaluate Annie Heloise Abel’s work by a close reading of her textual legacy—original, editorial and commentarial—and to assess her importance in American historiography.

Background: In order to protect the poor from health shocks, the Government of India launched Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) in 2008. The objectives of this study are: a) to assess the changes in the financial burden of health care on the poor population; b) to estimate the effects of RSBY in reducing the financial burden on the poor; and c) to examine the impact of RSBY on the labour supply of the poor. Methods: The study is based on data from the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). The sample size is between 100-125 thousand households at the all-India level. The study uses pooled cross-section regression analysis to assess the changing pattern of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments on healthcare. The impact of RSBY on financial risk protection and labour force participation rate in India were estimated using the difference-in-differences (DID) method. Findings: My thesis consists of three papers. The findings in the first paper, changing pattern of out-of-pocket payments, reflect that the poorest 20% of households, compared to the richest 20%, realised a slower increase in out-of-pocket as a share of the household’s total expenditure (-0.5%) and catastrophic payments (-2%) during the period of 2000-2012. However, during the same period, Scheduled caste/tribe and Muslim households reported an increased burden of out-of-pocket. The second paper finds reduction in the probability of incurring ‘any inpatient expenditure’ and ‘catastrophic inpatient expenditure’ after RSBY intervention but marginal increase in the ‘per person monthly inpatient expenditure’ and insignificant change in ‘inpatient expenditure as a share of households’ total expenditure’. The effects of the scheme on the total out-of-pocket payment are negligible and non-drug expenditure reflected significant increase. The third paper finds that women’s labour supply increased (3% per annum) but the elderly labour supply declined (1.5%). Further, men switched from self-employment to casual work while women moved to wage-paid regular and casual jobs at the cost of being self-employed. Discussion and conclusion: The poor and other less advantaged population groups realised an increasing OOP burden mainly on account of two factors: i) outpatient care is not covered under RSBY; and ii) the benefit package under the scheme is very modest. Women’s labour supply increased and the elderly labour supply declined in favour of leisure because of possible improvements in health. However, the overall labour supply did not change. The Indian government needs to consider broadening the benefit package and including outpatient coverage under RSBY.

This thesis investigates achievements in human development outcomes on health, education, and poverty indicators across Indian states, in order to discern what factors might influence a state’s better orientation toward social policies. After conducting data analysis, the study explains differences in outcomes, as achieved by Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, by building an argument of subnational solidarity and its impact on determining the state’s policy agendas.

The question this thesis asks is: How have non-Indian conceptions of masculinity and femininity shaped federal Indian policy during the late nineteenth-century? The answer to this question lies, I will argue, in the process of liberal state formation itself; a process which necessarily involves the continued reproduction of gender hierarchies and systems of male power that privilege men and masculinity over women and femininity. This public/private dichotomy, and the system of gender relations it supports, restricts women's social role to within a highly circumscribed private sphere separate and distinct from the public sphere of economy and state occupied by men. Therefore, as a reflection of the overall process of liberal state formation, the process of incorporating Indian peoples into the American social, economic, and political mainstream undertaken during the assimilation and allotment eras, necessarily entailed the reproduction of Euroamerican gender hierarchies within Indian societies.

Anti-corruption movements play a vital role in democratic development. From the American Gilded Age to global demonstrations in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, these movements seek to combat malfeasance in government and improve accountability. While this collective action remains a constant, how government elites perceive and respond to such agitation, varies. My dissertation tackles this puzzle head-on: Why do some democratic governments respond more tolerantly than others to anti-corruption movements? To answer this research question, I examine variation across time in two cases within the world’s largest democracy: India. I compare the Congress Party government's suppressive response to the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in 1975, and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government’s tolerant response to the India Against Corruption movement in 2012. For developing democracies such as India, comparativist scholarship gives primacy to external, material interests – such as votes and rents – as proximately shaping government behavior. Although these logics explain elite decision-making around elections and the predictability of pork barrel politics, they fall short in explaining government conduct during credibility crises, such as when facing nationwide anti-corruption movements. In such instances of high political uncertainty, I argue, it is the absence or presence of an ideological checks and balance mechanism among decision-making elites in government that shapes suppression or tolerance respectively. This mechanism is produced from the interaction between structure (multi-party coalition) and agency (divergent cognitive frames in positions of authority). In this dissertation, elites analyze the anti-corruption movement and form policy prescriptions based on their frames around social and economic development as well as their concepts of the nation. My research consists of over 110 individual interviews with state elites, including the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, party leaders, and senior bureaucrats among other officials for the contemporary case; and a broad compilation of private letters, diplomatic cables and reports, and speeches collected from three national archives for the historical study. To my knowledge this is the first data-driven study of Indian politics that precisely demonstrates how ideology acts as a constraint on government behavior in a credibility crisis. On a broader level, my findings contribute to the recently renewed debate in political science as to why democracies sometimes behave illiberally.

L’Italia viene spesso considerata come un paese che ospita o riceve migranti poco qualificati (per lo più illegali), così nel corso degli anni mi sono trovata a spiegare in più occasioni che anche migranti altamente qualificati sono attratti dall’Italia, e che addirittura vi giungono grazie ad accordi internazionali stipulati da paesi che sono tra loro in competizione ‘soft power’ per la ricerca di talenti, con lo scopo di aumentare il proprio potere a livello globale, ovviamente attraverso vie legali. Gli studenti internazionali costituiscono una categoria di migranti che fino agli anni duemila non ha ricevuto molta attenzione in ambito accademico [Piguet et al., 2017]. Tuttavia, la migrazione per motivi di studio si può far risalire al 1190, e, forse ancora più precisamente, al periodo coloniale tra il XVII e il XIX secolo [Leucci et al., 2018]. A questo proposito, la presente tesi ha evidenziato come il flusso di studenti indiani verso l’Italia sia largamente incoraggiato da politiche internazionali che rimangono per lo più sconosciute. Tra queste politiche figurano vari accordi bilaterali firmati dal Governo italiano per attirare studenti indiani di livello universitario che vogliano “investire il proprio talento” nelle Università italiane. La tesi riesce a coniugare, attraverso un case study sulla città di Padova – città di ‘media’ dimensione che sta guadagnando importanza nel panorama internazionale grazie alla sua Università, fondata 800 anni fa - due livelli di analisi (locale e globale) in un’unica discussione sulle interdipendenze tra l’andamento e la struttura dei flussi migratori degli studenti indiani e la loro spazializzazione in Italia quale nazione di destinazione. La tesi presentata contribuisce quindi ad evidenziare un flusso migratorio rilevante ma inesplorato dalla letteratura accademica in Italia: la migrazione degli studenti internazionali. Allo stesso tempo, un focus sugli studenti universitari indiani, considerati come studenti-migranti dotati di conoscenze e capacità intellettuali, aiuterà a delineare il variegato mosaico dell’attuale migrazione indiana in Italia. In effetti, l’analisi della migrazione degli indiani in Italia resta attualmente limitata a migranti con bassi o medi livelli di specializzazione come, ad esempio, gli indiani Sikh impiegati in agricoltura. In linea generale, la migrazione di lavoratori altamente qualificati e con alti livelli di istruzione non è stata studiata in modo approfondito né in Italia, né in altri paesi europei [Piguet, 2016; McGuill, 2013; King and Raghuram, 2013]. Pertanto, richiamo la necessità di definire un diverso modo di pensare, interpretare e agire che superi l’approccio limitante alla migrazione generalmente associato ai soli irregolari [Ambrosini, 2011, 2017; Panichella & Ambrosini, 2018]. La tesi colma inoltre un’importante lacuna, valutando gli impatti negativi del processo di studentificazione di una città come Padova che ricerca il proprio riconoscimento a livello internazionale, aldilà del suo patrimonio storico noto globalmente per la basilica di Sant’Antonio. In questo contesto, ci tengo a sottolineare come il ruolo illustre dell’Università e il suo spazio fisico fungano da “ponte”, o da crocevia e punto di convergenza dell’interculturalità della città. Nel complesso, la presente tesi di ricerca fornisce un quadro dettagliato e ricco di sfumature sui vari profili degli studenti indiani presenti in uno stesso territorio, cioè la città di Padova. Questa ricerca mira invece a portare il lettore ad una nuova visione di co-abitazione in uno spazio locale limitato, grazie all’esempio della città di Padova e del suo interessante desiderio di internazionalizzazione che coinvolge l’Università nel processo.

From its formation, the American federal government partnered with private organizations to accomplish state goals. With little formal organizational capacity, the American state relied on the resources and credibility of private organizations. This thesis investigates the success of public-private partnerships in American state-building. By looking at alternative enforcement mechanisms, this thesis adds to theories of state-building and private power. The American experience helps us conceive a more nuanced perspective on state formation that recognizes the state’s varying tools rather than focusing solely on the development of formal organizational capacity. The questions driving this thesis are: How can public-private partnerships expand state capacity? Are there systematic differences in the outcomes and purposes of partnerships based on the branch of government – whether legislative, presidential, bureaucratic, or judicial – that mediates the partnership? My case studies examine the use of partnerships in the early state’s interactions with American Indian tribes. The cases put these general questions into more focus by examining if these partnerships expanded state capacity to dictate the terms of engagement and the content of racial orders. When these partnerships expand capacity, I explore the ways in which this state goal is accomplished. However, I remain acutely aware of the potential for partnerships to both fail to build capacity or become merely means to service a private interest.

The objective of this thesis is to examine which socio-economic, structural and cultural factors may influence Indian women’s propensity to contract HIV and later their ability to access the relevant healthcare services for their condition. The research draws on two theoretical frameworks, the first being Barnett and Whiteside’s (2002) concept of social structural factors of disease transmission. Second, Anderson and Aday’s (1981) model of access examines how a variety of structural and resource-based factors, e.g. area of residence, can influence usage of healthcare facilities. Two stages of data analysis were undertaken, the first being secondary statistical analysis of the National Family Health Survey III. The survey provided state level estimates on the HIV sero-status of the general population in India and data on demographic and socio-economic determinants for family planning, nutrition, utilization of healthcare and emerging health issues. The second stage of analysis consisted of a set of qualitative interviews conducted in Andhra Pradesh, India. Thirty-three interviews were conducted with female sero-positive patients and ten with HIV-infected women who were providing social services to others with the same condition. Statistical results on social structural determinants of HIV transmission illustrated that Indian women who were formerly married (OR=5.27, CI=3.07-9.04), lived in higher prevalence states (OR=3.48, CI=2.19-5.54), had a low level of education (OR=2.27, CI=1.40-3.68) and were employed (OR=1.45, CI=0.96-2.18) had significantly (<.05) higher odds of being HIV-positive in comparison to those who were not. Findings in the qualitative phase of analysis were similar but participants’ narratives illustrated that their risk of contracting HIV begun before they even had the opportunity to seek a match as they seemed to live in communities with a high level of HIV prevalence. Many of the participants commented that there were factors outside of their sphere of control, e.g. lack of education, which resulted in them having a narrow choice of potential partners. Additionally, statistical results on female participants’ access to healthcare services indicated the vast majority of HIV-positive respondents were almost certainly not aware of their sero-status as they had not undertaken an HIV test prior to the survey. As the sample of female HIV infected respondents was relatively small, it was difficult to ascertain which social factors had an impact on these participants utilisation of HIV testing services. On the other hand, respondents’ narratives from the qualitative stage of research highlighted on social structural factors which could potentially influence WLHA’s continual utilisation of HIV-related healthcare services. It was found that participants experienced the most barriers to accessing healthcare facilities in the initial phases of their treatment. These barriers were mediated by the structure of healthcare services, culturally sanctioned medical practices (e.g. physicians refusal to inform the patient of their sero-status) and quality of services.

This dissertation examines why military decision makers struggle to evaluate their policies and why they often stick to unsuccessful strategies for so long. The core argument is that strategic assessment involves genuine analytic challenges which contemporary scholarship typically does not take into account. Prominent theoretical frameworks predict that the longer decision makers go without achieving their objectives, the more pessimistic they should become about their ability to do so, and the more likely they should be to change course. This dissertation challenges those ideas and explains why we should often expect the very opposite. The theoretical crux of this argument is that standard models of learning and adaptation (along with many people’s basic intuitions) revolve around the assumption that decision makers are observing repeated processes, similar to the dynamics of slot machines and roulette wheels – but in war and other contexts, decision makers often confront cumulative processes that have very different dynamics, along with a different logic for how rational actors should form and revise their expectations. Empirically, this dissertation examines U.S. decision making in Iraq, Vietnam, and the American Indian Wars. These cases demonstrate how cumulative dynamics affect strategic assessment and how understanding these dynamics can shed light on prominent theoretical frameworks, ongoing policy debates, and salient historical experience.

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The research addresses the course of construction of the proposed deployment of the sport indigenous education in the city of Manaus, from the historical period for the period 2005 to 2011. Conducting theoretical and methodological research was based on a qualitative approach, considering the actions of municipal government before the claims of the indigenous movement of Manaus by offering a differentiated education. The qualitative approach is endorsed by the dialectical method, showing the relationships established in the construction of differentiated school. To conduct this research, we used a literature search and document analysis. The survey shows the public policies for indigenous education, national in scope, referring to the policies outlined in the State of Amazonas in mind the education of indigenous peoples. The theoretical concepts are supported by the Cultural Diversity, Ethnic Identity, Indigenous Education and Indigenous School, which underlies the discussion of the educational process of indigenous peoples. Verifies the claims of indigenous organizations and communities to offer differentiated education according to their own learning processes of each ethnic group organized in Manaus. Identifies the actions of municipal government in meeting the demands made by indigenous peoples, considering the national guidelines for implementation of specific and differentiated school of indigenous peoples. In this process, the municipal government has made progress in setting guidelines and action plans for supply of indigenous education, however, has not achieved the implementation of this modality, it remains a challenge to be overcome by the municipal government.
A pesquisa aborda o percurso da construção da proposta de implantação da modalidade educação escolar indígena no Município de Manaus, a partir do recorte histórico correspondente ao período de 2005 a 2011. A condução teórico-metodológica da investigação baseou-se na abordagem qualitativa, considerando as ações do poder público municipal frente às reivindicações do movimento indígena de Manaus por uma oferta de educação diferenciada. A abordagem qualitativa é reafirmada pelo método dialético, evidenciando as relações estabelecidas no processo de construção da escola diferenciada. Para realização dessa pesquisa, utilizou-se a pesquisa bibliográfica e a análise documental. A pesquisa apresenta as políticas públicas para educação escolar indígena, em âmbito nacional, fazendo referência às políticas definidas no Estado do Amazonas em atenção à escolarização dos povos indígenas. A fundamentação teórica está sustentada pelos conceitos Diversidade Cultural, Identidade Étnica, Educação Indígena e Escola Indígena, que embasam a discussão sobre o processo educacional dos povos indígenas. Verifica as reivindicações das organizações e comunidades indígenas para oferta de educação diferenciada em conformidade aos processos próprios de aprendizagem de cada etnia organizada em Manaus. Identifica as ações do poder público municipal em atendimento às demandas apresentadas pelos indígenas, considerando as orientações nacionais para implantação de escola específica e diferenciada dos povos indígenas. Nesse processo, o poder público municipal avançou na definição de diretrizes e planos de ação para oferta da educação escolar indígena, no entanto, não concretizou a implantação da referida modalidade, que permanece como um desafio a ser superado pelo poder público municipal