1 August 2019: Drought Relief in India

Lisa Tarquinio
Boston University

Abstract:
To analyze the (mis)allocation of drought relief, I have constructed a panel dataset of rainfall in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka for 2008 to 2018 at the assembly constituency (AC) level, the political unit at which state-level members of parliament (MLAs) are elected. I then match the rainfall data to AC-level election data and lists of official drought declarations at the mandal/taluk level. I use a fixed-effects panel regression analysis, where the empirical specifications are derived from a simple model in which the MLA seeks to be re-elected and drought declarations increase voter preferences for the MLA. First, I have established that the formula-based resource program does, to a degree, function as designed; mainly, I find that areas that meet the necessary rainfall deviation cutoff are more likely to be declared as drought affected. However, I also show that the likelihood of a drought declaration is affected by constituency-level political variables. On average, official drought declarations are more likely to occur in constituencies where the MLA is a member of the ruling party (or coalition) or where voter turnout in the last election was higher. I also find that constituencies in which the MLA won the last election by a smaller margin are more likely to receive a drought declaration if they also meet the rainfall deviation cutoff. In whole, this suggests that in spite of national and state guidelines proscribing a formula-based approach to drought relief, there does appear to be local political influence over the allocation of relief.

Date: August 1, 2019
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
Seminar Room (First Floor)
Department of Economics,
Delhi School of Economics,
New Delhi-110007(INDIA)

Location:

1 August 2019: Talk on "Building Manufacturing Capability for Competing Globally - Lessons from Taiwan"

Yee Shyi Chang
National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan

Organised by:
Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS)

Date: August 1, 2019
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
FICCI,
Federation House,
Tansen Marg,
New Delhi-110001(INDIA)

Location:

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6 August 2019: Routing Money, Not Packets

Vishal Misra
Department of Computer Science, Columbia University

Abstract:
The issue of Network Neutrality has ignited considerable public debate in the recent past. While the term and much of the discussion originated in the legal community, we started looking at it from an engineering and networking perspective a few years ago. We employed the lens of cooperative game theory and careful modeling of the Internet including the topology, peering relationships, and protocols used on the Internet.

Our primary conclusion is that Network Neutrality should be expressed in terms of how you treat competition, not in how you treat packets and we proposed a definition of Network Neutrality that expresses that. We present some of our results including our prediction back in 2008 of a rise in paid peering (last year Netflix signed paid peering arrangements with all 4 of the top broadband providers in the US), the negative impact of differential pricing on competition, the inadequacies of the Network Neutrality regulation in the US and the recent regulations in India and Canada, where they are consistent with our definition of Network Neutrality.

Date: August 6, 2019
Time: 03:30 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall, Ground Floor
R&T Building
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
18/2 Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110067(INDIA)

Note:
Those who are interested may please confirm your participation at latha.balasubramanian@nipfp.org.in

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9 August 2019: What drives literacy in villages without schools?: A study of Indian Villages

Sandhya Garg and Sanjukta Das
National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER)

Abstract:
A rise in the share of villages with primary school from 72% in 1991 to 83% in 2011 indicates improvement in access to schools in rural India. Using village-level geocoded data and panel data of 2001 and 2011 census rounds, we study that how the literacy rate of villages (without school) is effected by the presence of primary schools in their neighbourhood under the anticipation that people would be accessing neighbouring schools. We find that the presence of schools in the nearer neighbourhood has positive impact on overall, male and female literacy of villages without schools. Impact is higher for female literacy. The road connectivity of primary schools matters even more. It has important policy implications for countries with larger gap in access to primary schools. Our results indicate that one of the primary challenges facing the governments is to establish facilities that complement the functioning of schools, like roads.

Date: August 9, 2019
Time: 05:00 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall, Ground Floor
R&T Building
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
18/2 Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110067(INDIA)

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30 July 2019: Workshop on 'How Women Mobilise Women into Politics: Theory and Natural Experimental Evidence from Urban India'

Tanushree Goyal
Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH)

Abstract:
How does women’s political entry affect citizen’s political involvement? Building on qualitative interviews and extending elite mobilisation theories to account for who conducts grass-roots mobilisation, I argue that female politicians increase women’s numbers in party activist roles, and prospects of cheaply mobilising women provide a strategic incentive to do so. As a result, more women receive mobilising effort, such as door-to-door party contact, where women contest. Women’s entry in activist roles has downstream effects on the quality of mobilisation. When women enter into activist roles, where they were previously absent, they induce competition for these roles and in doing so raise the quality of activist pool. This affects the political involvement, that is, political knowledge and participation, of all citizens. I provide evidence for this argument using original survey data from a natural experiment in Delhi’s Municipal Council, where randomly chosen electoral seats are reserved for women. By outlining how representation affects the calculus of mobilisation, this paper connects the literature on women’s political entry with mobilisation and political involvement.

This paper is part of an ongoing dissertation book project, provisionally titled, 'The politics of representation: How female politicians make politics inclusive in India', that examines the consequences of women’s entry through quotas in Delhi’s civic body. Drawing on a natural experiment, extensive fieldwork, interviews, and original survey, combined with insights from a new electoral polling-station level panel dataset, this book proposes to offer new theoretical insights and an empirical account of women’s agency in shaping urban politics and governance in India.

Date: July 30, 2019
Time: 03:35 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall
Centre for Policy Research,
Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi–110021(INDIA)

Location:

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24 July 2019: Does Corruption In Autocracies Growth-Intensifying? An Empirical Study Of East Asian Paradox

Shrabani Saha
Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln

Chair:
Saon Ray, ICRIER

Abstract:
Corruption is widely believed to negatively affect economic growth. However, many countries in East and Southeast Asia, either achieved or currently are achieving impressively rapid economic growth despite widespread corruption. Is this negative relationship equally likely to hold for autocracies and democracies? This paper examines the role of the political regime in mediating corruption-growth relationship using panel data over one hundred countries for the period 1984-2016. We find clear and unambiguous evidence that corruption-growth relationship differs by political regime, and the growth enhancing effect of corruption is more likely in autocracies than in democracies. The marginal effect analysis shows that in strongly autocratic countries, higher corruption may actually lead to significantly higher growth, while this is not the case in democracies. Hence, our findings support East Asian Paradox.

Date: July 24, 2019
Time: 03:00 P.M.

Venue:
ICRIER Conference Room (Ground Floor),
Plot No. 16&17, Pushp Vihar Institutional Area,
Sector 6, Saket,
New Delhi-110017

Location:

23 July 2019: Seminar on 'Malaysia's Sewerage and Sanitation Sector Regulatory Framework'

Punita Nook Naidu

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
Malaysia had established a regulatory framework for sewerage and sanitation as early as 1990. In general, the services aspect has improved vastly and has left a significant impact on the economic feasibility. One of the key features of sewerage management in Malaysia was the scheduled desludging framework adopted in 1994 which was operationalised by the national concession company - Indah Water Konsortium (IWK).

In 2008, the scheduled desludging framework was revisited and changed based on liberalisation model by the regulator, Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN). The desludging of septic tanks were still to be performed periodically but the services could be rendered by either IWK or by any other SPAN approved desludging contractors selected by the septic tank owner.

The seminar deliberates on the thoughts, considerations and actions that underlie processes of regulatory development specifically in faecal sludge management and desludging services.The seminar will largely focus on the eventual change in the desludging framework as well as the current status, funding dynamics of sewerage infrastructure and services in Malaysia and the benefits and challenges of the funding mechanism employed. This will be followed by deliberation on practical learnings from experiences of Malaysia which can be used by stakeholders in India in driving the sanitation agenda forward.

Date: July 23, 2019
Time: 02:30 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall
Centre for Policy Research,
Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi–110021(INDIA)

Note:
Please RSVP at RSVP at sci-fi@cprindia.org

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19 July 2019: Launch of Super Century: What India Must Do to Rise by 2050 by Raghav Bahl

Panelists:
Dr. Bimal Jalan, Former RBI Governor and Member of Parliament
Gurcharan Das, Author
Rajeev Gowda, Member of Parliament and Former IIM-Bangalore Professor
Praveen Swami, Journalist and National Security Expert

Moderator:
Menaka Doshi, BloombergQuint

Organised by:
Penguin Random House

Date: July 19, 2019
Time: 06:30 P.M.

Venue:
Multi-Purpose Hall,
India International Centre
Max Mueller Marg,
New Delhi - 110003(INDIA)

Note:
Please RSVP at kbehl@penguinrandomhouse.in

Location:

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26 July 2019: Formal finance, poverty and mental health: Experimental evidence from India

Rohini Pande
Yale University and
Giorgia Barboni
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

Abstract:
We report on a nine-year long-run large-scale randomized controlled trial that evaluates the impact of Kshetriya Grameen Financial Services (KGFS), an Indian financial institution that offers rural poor a suite of financial products -- micro-credit, micro-savings and micro-insurance -- paired with financial advising. In three rural districts of Tamil Nadu, KGFS randomized choice of service area, creating 50 treatment and 50 control areas. Together, this covered 876 villages. This paper provides a set of core results based on household surveys covering a sample of 4,160 households.

Our paper shows that the arrival of a formal financial institution like KGFS in rural Tamil Nadu leads to a significant impact on poverty reduction, with income consistently improving across the entire household distribution in treated service areas. Moreover, the gains deriving from increased formal indebtedness do not come at the cost of additional mental pressure: treated women report improved decision-making as well as subjective well-being, while also showing a significant reduction in their levels of stress.

Date: July 26, 2019
Time: 04:30 P.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall, Ground Floor
R&T Building
National Institute of Public Finance and Policy,
18/2 Satsang Vihar Marg, Special Institutional Area,
New Delhi-110067(INDIA)

Note:
Those who are interested may please confirm your participation at usha.mathur@nipfp.org.in

Location:

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17 July 2019: Why does the Indian state both fail and succeed?

Devesh Kapur
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
The key paradox of the Indian state is its effectiveness on some complex functions amidst its woeful inadequacies on others. What explains the heterogeneity in state performance? The talk will try and explain this paradox, examining whether there is a pattern to failure and success. It attempts to explain the varying performance of the Indian state in terms of its size and structure across different levels of government and specific features of India's democracy and society.

Date: July 17, 2019
Time: 11:00 A.M.

Venue:
Conference Hall
Centre for Policy Research,
Dharma Marg, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi–110021(INDIA)

Location:

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29 July 2019: Piloting Justice: A Panel Discussion on Delhi High Court's 'Zero Pendency Courts' Project

Speakers:
Justice (Retd.) Madan B. Lokur, Supreme Court
Justice R.K. Gauba, Delhi High Court
Arvind Datar, Madras High Court

Moderator:
Harish Narasappa, DAKSH

Organised by:
DAKSH

Abstract:
The High Court of Delhi ran a pilot project for two years to come up with timelines for disposal of different types of cases, and study the effects of an absence of backlog on judicial delay. 11 subordinate courts with no backlog were chosen in Delhi as ‘pilot courts’, and their functioning was compared with 11 courts with regular workload. DAKSH assisted the Delhi High Court with technology, analyses, and drafting of the project report. The report, titled ‘Zero Pendency Courts Project: Final Report on the Pilot Project by the High Court of Delhi’, was released by the High Court on 3 May 2019.

The panel discussion will focus on the findings from this project, feasibility of carrying out pilot projects to study other facets of the judicial process, and what such an approach could mean to judicial reforms in the country.

Date: July 29, 2019
Time: 06:00 P.M.

Venue:
Lecture Hall II,
India International Centre Annexe
Max Mueller Marg,
New Delhi - 110003(INDIA)

Note:
Please RSVP at surya@dakshindia.org

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17 July 2019: Launch of the policy document: 'Policy Challenges 2019-2024: The Big Policy Questions and Possible Pathways'

Speakers:
Ajay Mathur, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu
Devesh Kapur, Asia Programs and Starr Foundation and Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
KP Krishnan, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India

Organised by
Centre for Policy Research (CPR)

Abstract:
India is at an important juncture in its development trajectory. From rapid urbanisation to declining agricultural productivity; from weak human capital to the need for creating productive jobs; from new security threats to the need to re-position itself in a changing global order; from growing energy demands to the need to address rapid environmental degradation, India today has to negotiate multiple and conflicting socio-economic challenges. Decisions and actions taken over the next five years will be likely to shape the future of our economic and political trajectory. This document is an effort to spark debate and ideas on how India can negotiate these transitions across a range of sectors.

Policy Challenges 2019-2024, is a compendium of essays written by CPR scholars articulating key policy challenges and possible solutions across a range of issues that confront India today. These include foreign policy and national security; environment, energy and climate change; the economy and welfare; regulation and resources; federalism and urbanisation. This is a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary document that reflects on how India can negotiate the policy challenges it confronts and build a 21st century policy environment.

Date: July 17, 2019
Time: 05:30 P.M.

Venue:
Lecture Room I
India International Centre Annexe
Max Mueller Marg,
New Delhi - 110003(INDIA)

Note:
Please RSVP at president.cpr@cprindia.org

Location:

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15 July 2019: Incentivizing Effort in Peer Grading

Anujit Chakraborty
UC Davis

Organised by
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Delhi Center

Abstract:
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) pose a great challenge for grading the answer- scripts at a high accuracy. Peer grading is often viewed as a scalable solution to this challenge, which largely depends on the altruism of the peer graders. In this paper, we introduce a mechanism, TRUPEQA, that (a) uses a small, constant number of instructor-graded answer scripts to quantitatively measure the accuracies of the peer graders and corrects the scores accordingly, (b) penalizes underperforming, and (c) vastly reduces the total cost of arriving at the true grades. Our human subject experiments show that our mechanism improves the grading quality over the mechanisms currently used in standard MOOCs.

Date: July 15, 2019
Time: 03:30 P.M.

Venue:
Seminar 2
Indian Statistical Institute Delhi Centre,
7, S. J. S. Sansanwal Marg,
New Delhi-110016 (INDIA)

Location:

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