Tuhin K. Das

Sustainability of decentralized woodfuel-based power plant: an experience in India.

In accordance with the long-term policy objectives of the government of India for rural electrification, an off-grid woodfuel-based power plant for generation of grid quality electricity has been installed in a remote island of West Bengal. The present study focuses on technical performance of the largest biomass gasifier based power plant in India. Sustainability of such a power plant has been reviewed with respect to diesel replacement, fuelwood supply, cost of electricity generation and pollution load.

A Study on the Indian Information Sector: An Experiment with Input-Output Techniques

It is widely recognized that rapid changes in information technology (IT) are bringing about major structural changes in the economies of the world. Information flexibility, product quality and fast response are the key factors for global competition and IT plays a critical role in these areas. Policy-makers in industrialized and developing countries view IT as a critical infrastructure to enhance their access to global knowledge, markets and capital. These views--of IT as infrastructure and as core capability for development--resonate with Indias aspirations to modernize its infrastructure, transform its industry and join the global economy. Realizing the huge potential of the Indian IT industry, we make an attempt in this paper to study the extent of informatization in the Indian economy during the period 1983-84 to 1989-90 and try to identify the information intensive sectors. This paper also studies the sources of growth of the information sectors of India during 1983-84 to 1989-90 with the help of a structural decomposition analysis (SDA).

Energy consumption and prospects for renewable energy technologies in an Indian village.

Harnessing renewable energy resources has substantially speeded up the process of rural energy planning in India, where about 80% of the total energy is supplied by noncommercial sources, the share of which is declining. In rural energy planning, with backward agriculture and high poverty levels, the choice of appropriate technology is essential. The present study deals with selecting appropriate alternate energy technologies with priorities to end-use activities in the agriculture and household sectors. The study is based on a field survey and the use of dynamic programming.

Monopolistic competitive market in religion: a case study of Hindu temples

The objective of this article is to examine, based on field survey, the market behaviour of the Hindu temples in India. The cost and revenue functions have been estimated for the Hindu temples, and it has been found that the market of Hindu temples does not strictly follow the monopoly models. The estimated average revenue curve has been observed to be slightly negatively sloped. Moreover, like perfect competition here exist a large number of small temples with easy entry and exit. The actions of any single temple do not have significant impact on the other temples in the market. Thus is resembles the monopolistic competition model rather than the pure monopoly model.

Are ‘complementary and alternative medicines’ alternative to conventional medical system? An economic evaluation

The availability of conventional medical services (i.e., allopathy) is the basic need for a modern day living. Though this clause is easily met in the developed countries, but in the developing countries it is very difficult to accomplish. Hence in the developing countries a dearth is often created, which is filled to some extent by complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). In India this phenomenon is acutely noticied. In this regard, a study is highly needed to understand why do people go for complementary and alternative medicines? Is it for the very concept that the alternative medicines involve low cost, and/or are they equally or more effective than the familiar allopathic tretment? So, this study is an approach to (i) the determination of the socio-economic factors that influence the choice of complementary and alternative medical services by health purchasers, and also (ii) the estimation of the cost-effectiveness of these medical services.

Environmental consequences of parallel marketing of LPG in India

In 1993, the government of India introduced a parallel marketing system for petroleum products, particularly for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). LPG, under the parallel marketing system, is distributed at higher price without any subsidy. The government distributors, however, distribute LPG at subsidized rate. The consumers who get LPG at higher price, therefore, opt for a mixed energy use. The present study, based on a field survey, deals with the pattern of this mixed energy use and its environmental consequences.

Sustainability of marine fishing: a case study of West Bengal.

The marine fishery sector in India is important not only for domestic demand for protein food requirements but also from the imperatives of exports. An increased investment in this sector has taken place during the last few years and the fishing fleet has expanded at a very rapid rate. Presently, however, marine fishers are facing difficulties in fish capture in spite of exerting the same and sometimes more effort. Thus the question of the sustainability of marine fishing arises. The sustainability of marine fishing in the Digha-Shankarpur coastal region has been studied through estimation of the maximum sustainable yield based on a simple bioeconomic model. WLS estimation has been done to remove heteroscedastic disturbances. Estimated results show that actual yields of all varieties are still below maximum sustainable yield (MSY) except prawn, which has reached near optimal levels.

Energy technology choice in rural India

A new mathematical model shows that a direct subsidy for an improved wood stove is not the best way to promote its use in rural India. The possibility of multiple uses of woodfuel and its sustainability are also discussed.

Conflict, Displacement and Inequality of Opportunities

Various factors affect the ability of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to achieve socioeconomic stability. Aid and repatriation attempts have a short-term impact, whereas opportunities like access to education and healthcare have a long-term impact. Thus, a measurement of inequality of opportunity is needed in order to formulate an appropriate development policy that can achieve socioeconomic stability. The objective of this study is, therefore, to measure inequality of opportunity affecting a community in India that has been displaced for a period of less than twenty years by ethnic conflict. A field survey revealed that IDPs were more deprived than non-IDPs. Inequality of opportunity has been measured using a D-Index, and determinants of the inequality of opportunity have been identified.

Can Singularity Problem in Economics be solved by Omnipotent Mathematics

In mathematics, singularity signifies a point at which a given mathematical function or its derivatives is not defined. Singularities are mostly mathematical that occur in the mathematical models describing physical systems. In social science compared to physical science, fewer cases of singularity arise, among which the mostly discussed one is technological singularity. Omnipotent mathematics (OM) is an approach to analyze singularity in a mathematical framework. In this approach “zero” is a non-existent entity which decomposes into quasi-existent entities, which in turn interact with each other to generate an existent entity. The focus of this paper is to address a typical hypothetical singularity problem in economics and try to solve it using omnipotent mathematics. Here the economic input-output model has been used to showcase an economic singularity problem that can be resolved in terms of quasi-existent entity.