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The purpose of this paper is to develop a method to benchmark the service quality of any public facility based on users’ perception, by taking the case of “bus design”. While some researchers have defined level of service (LOS) for highways, transit system and pedestrian facility to measure their service quality, limited attempt has been made to measure users’ perception of service quality for other public facilities which cannot be described by quantitative service levels.

In this research, an average weighted scoring technique has been integrated with the method of successive interval scaling to develop a five graded LOS scale that benchmarks users’ perception of service quality for “bus design”. The method has been exemplified by taking five types of buses currently operating in Kolkata that represent five types of “bus design”. This method can be applied for other public facilities.

By applying the method an LOS scale from LOS A to LOS E was developed for “bus design” in Kolkata that represent users’ perception from “very good” to “very poor”. “Bus design” has been described by a list of attributes identified in this research. “Degree of criticality” of different design attributes based on users’ requirements was used to identify the key attributes for improvement which was also found to vary for different bus user groups in Kolkata.

This research is the first ever attempt to benchmark service quality of a qualitative facility like “bus design” based on users’ perception instead of expert opinion as used by previous researchers.

In the rapidly urbanizing Indian cities, large buildings are being built demolishing old buildings often with historic, cultural and architectural merit bringing the conflict between development and conservation. In Kolkata, the authority has taken a unilateral decision to construct high-rise buildings demolishing a hundred-year old Bow Barracks housing complex. The purpose of this paper is to present a research study that empirically explored the appropriateness of the policy decision and a recommendation for appropriate development based on the research result.

The design of the research is formulated on the survey method that encompasses observation, interview and collection of data through questionnaire, and survey, documentation and testing of architecture. All findings are analysed; research question and hypothesis are tested with validation.

The research has found that the old housing is of cultural heritage and use value, and the inhabitants are a very special community in Kolkata. The new development proposal in terms of space generation and cost involvement over the benefit of conserving the existing housing is not beneficial. Therefore, the decision of the local body, in terms of value for money, architecture, culture, heritage and sustainability is not proper.

Such a research exploring the benefit between development and conservation for choice of appropriate path of development in managing the development of a city in global south stands for its uniqueness.

Gateway cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata are central in the tourist experience to India, yet the official government authorities and destination marketing organizations tend to underestimate the potential of these destinations to prospective and returning international tourists. In particular, there is little empirical research on urban tourism, food tourism and city marketing in the aforementioned cities. This paper aims to explore the scope for the promotion of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata as food urban destinations.

For the purposes of this study, a case study methodology using content analysis was developed to ascertain the nexus between food and tourism in the three observed cities. Materials were gathered for the year 2019, with a focus on brochures, tourist guides, websites and social media accounts for Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. A two-coding approach through NVivo was designed to analyse and report the findings.

The findings of the study suggest that the cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata fall short in positioning themselves as food urban destinations. Moreover, the study reports a dissonance between the imagery of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata portrayed to international tourists through induced images and the food-related experiences available in the cities. This divide reflects a pattern in destination marketing in India observed in previous research.

The exploratory nature of this study calls for more research in the trends and future directions of food tourism and urban marketing in Indian cities. Moreover, this study calls for further research on the perceptions of urban food experience in Indian cities among international and domestic tourists.

A series of practical implications can be drawn. First, urban and national destination marketing organizations need to join efforts in developing urban marketing campaigns that place food as a key element of the urban experience. Second, cities worldwide are rebranding themselves as food destinations and Indian cities should reconsider local and regional culinary traditions as mean to reposition themselves to food travellers’ similar niche segments.

The quest for authenticity is central in the expectations of incoming tourists. Moreover, the richness and variety of local and regional food in the cities analysed in this study can enhance urban visitor experience, with obvious economic and socio-cultural benefits for the local businesses and residents.

This study is the first of its kind to provide preliminary evidence on the nexus between food and tourism in Indian cities. Building from the literature, it developed a conceptual framework for the analysis of food tourism and urban branding and shed light on a currently overlooked aspect of incoming tourism to India.

The study attempts to look into the poverty and deprivation in slums across various social and religious groups and its bearing on the children. It not only analyses income poverty but also looks at derivation of access to basic services including water, sanitation and drainage. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the income and non-income deprivation of childbearing and non-childbearing households.

The study is based on a survey of 541 sample households selected from 23 slums of Kolkata, India. The authors have adopted a mixture of cluster sampling and systematic sampling technique. The slums of Kolkata have been segregated into three regions and further segregated by overlaying the population and average monthly income of slums. Slums have been selected randomly from these stratums. Households have been selected from the slums by systematic sampling method.

The Muslim and backward caste households are more deprived with respect to income and access to basic services as compared to Hindu general (upper) caste. Deprivations with respect to income and basic services are more pronounced for households having child than for households not having child. Childbearing households are less likely to receive better water supply, sanitation and drainage services as compared to others due to their religious and residential identities. Slum children get affected by the complex political economy of basic service delivery. The study also finds that electoral competition has positive and political clientelism has negative impact on access to basic services.

The study is based on results obtained from survey in one city of India. Hence, these results cannot be generalized for India or for the developing countries taken together. Further studies across cities of developing countries are required to arrive at any generalized conclusion.

The study suggests that public policies should attempt to disentangle minorities and children from the local political economy. Otherwise, deprivation and disparity even across low income households living in slums would persist. Deprivation of child bearing households would lead to a deteriorating future for the slum children.

This paper have pave the path for new generation public policy for the urban poor and minorities.

This paper highlights the incidence of deprivation of minorities and childbearing households vis-à-vis other households in the slums. It contributes to the overall understanding on urban poverty.

The paper introduces a lesser-known cultural landscape along the sacred Bhagirathi-Hooghly river in the Indian city of Kolkata, with particular reference to its built and natural heritage. The narratives cover the cultural and ecological qualities of the unique “ghat-scape” (riverfront pavilions with steps descending into the river) and their contemporary urban challenges. It also explores the suitability of the Historic Cultural Landscape (HCL) tools, or their adapted versions, in managing this exceptional landscape.

The paper is structured under six discrete sections covering the inventory and assessment, interpretation and evaluation and possible roadmap for the ecological restoration of the riverfront cultural landscape. Primary and secondary studies were conducted to understand the related challenges and opportunities. The authors then examined the application of the HCL tools based on a conceptual framework and identified the alternative approaches suitable for its restoration. Finally, a successfully restored ghat environ is taken as a model and reviewed against the most potent approach in addressing the eco-cultural criticalities.

The paper argues in favour of a paradigm shift from riverfront “development” to riverfront “restoration” with particular emphasis on the ghat-architecture. Three eco-cultural restoration alternatives were derived out of the HCL principles. A practical case study found that a community-led approach positively influences restorative actions, cultural heritage management and long-term sustainability.

The HCL tools comprising planning, regulatory systems, financial designs and community engagement have been explored for the first time in the context of the unique riverfront “ghatscape” of Kolkata. An under-discussed topic, it has been brought to the centre stage to gain new insights into the Indian cultural landscape heritage. An HCL-based new approach in their management came forth through a review of a successful case study.

Geographical location has been of noted importance for technology entrepreneurship, i.e. technology clusters. While social resources have been investigated as strategic in management literature, media reputation appears to be an overlooked reason why technological entrepreneurship has been less prevalent in some geographical locations, despite there being fertile economic parameters. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Utilizing methodology developed by Rindova et al. to explore how media (local and foreign) describes technological entrepreneurship (local and foreign), the paper compares Boston, MA and Kolkata, India in terms of positive or negative valenced recognition and explores their relation to technology entrepreneurship location.

Geographical media reputation is contextualized and does not transfer readily. Unlike the absolute positives of economic reasoning, positive media reputation in the local context does not scale globally. Also, negative reputation is very hard to overturn at the global level. Social resources often have their own social dynamics that are localized in culture and environment.

This paper is an exploratory, illustrative analysis of the relation between geographical reputation at local and global levels and the location choice of technology entrepreneurship. Other factors do exist that the paper does not examine specifically but tries to match through sample selection, realizing no two geographical locations can ever be exact matches and in this case are rough equivalents.

Geographical location imputes social resources – namely media reputation – that can affect the location choice of technology entrepreneurship beyond economic considerations.

Practical conservation of heritage buildings in Kolkata started in the 1990s and the first restoration project was the Town Hall, a public building built by the British in 1813, in the central business district by a public‐private partnership. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the restoration process and adaptive reuse of the Town Hall as a case study.

A team of conservationists, architects and structural engineers worked during 1996‐1998. The methodology included surveying and documenting the existing structure; examining old materials and methods of construction, earlier repairs and the suitability of matching new materials; analysing the structure, defects and their causes; prescribing remedial measures; preparing items of work, estimating and tendering for appointment of contractors; allocating funds for restoration; supervision and monitoring of the works.

It was necessary to undertake structural strengthening and physical restoration through corrective measures, and reinstallation of all service systems, which resulted in the opening up of this edifice again for various kinds of public use, that included a museum.

This was a pilot project for the state administration and the people of Kolkata. After this project, the conservation of historic buildings became an agenda of government and civil society. The lessons learned here were applied to the restoration of other similar buildings in Kolkata.

Conservation‐researchers, academics and practitioners will gain from this paper an in‐depth understanding of the restoration process in Kolkata.

The study is designed to explore the drivers of customer satisfaction of leading mobile network providers in a high‐growth market like Kolkata a metropolitan city in India.

A framework was developed based on earlier study of eminent researchers pertinent to customer satisfaction of mobile network providers in Germany, France, Korea, Canada, the USA and Greece. The construct flexibility was considered as a new determinant for customer satisfaction. For this data were collected from 277 respondents and pertinent analysis were made using multivariate techniques.

The study finds that generic requirements, price, and flexibility are major drivers of customer satisfaction of mobile network providers and brand wise relevance of these key determinants.

The fixed line telephone directory was the sampling frame, and all the respondents considered in the survey had a fixed line but there are situations where customer subscribes only to mobile phones. It is also necessary to study other metropolitan cities of India to validate the results we have obtained for Kolkata. Originality/value – The current research has taken into account new driver of customer satisfaction in a high‐growth market and this is the first study on drivers of customer satisfaction of leading mobile network providers in the city of Kolkata, India.

The consumer-based study was conducted among the population of Kolkata metropolis to assess the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on the purchase intention of selected cooking oil brands.

Data were collected from a questionnaire based survey on 322 respondents residing in Kolkata metropolis. Reliability of the scales was ascertained by Cronbach’s alpha values. Kendall's W test was used for rank analysis. Pearson’s correlation was examined to correlate the cognitive criteria. Factor analysis was used to sort out influential cognitive criteria which were compared between genders by the Kruskal–Wallis H test. The involvement of CSR components in enhancing the brand equity was analysed by multiple linear regression.

The brands vouching for the cause of health and nutritional value of the society attained significant loyalty and generate considerable brand association. The regression model predicts a socially accepted cooking oil brand to be one which addresses health, transparency and ethics in unison.

The study was restricted within the resident population of Kolkata metropolis which ratifies the CSR perception of a confined mass.

The study delineates the plausible avenue of CSR investments to touch the cognitive centre of the consumers’ mind.

The consumers expect to embrace a healthy yet reasonably priced cooking oil brand which imparts a notion to address multiple social causes.

The study identifies the strategic CSR attributes which might influence the mind of the consumers while they select cooking oil brands for household use.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are heterogeneous disorders, and heterogeneity lies both at genetic and phenotypic levels. To better understand the etiology and pathway that may contribute to autism symptomatology, it is important to study milder expressions of autism characteristics – autistic traits or milder expressions of autism phenotype, especially in intergenerational context. This study aims to see the trend of association, if any, between child autism symptom and mothers’ autism phenotype as well as mothers’ theory of mind and to see if mothers’ theory of mind was associated with their own autistic traits.

Data were collected from 96 mothers of children with varying symptom severity of autism (mild, moderate and severe) using Autism Spectrum Quotient and faux pas recognition test. Analysis of variance, trend analysis and t-test were done.

Results showed a linear trend of relationship between mothers’ autism phenotype and child symptom severity. However, the groups did not have significant differences in theory of mind. Only a few components of theory of mind were found to be associated with autistic traits. These findings question the prevailing idea that theory of mind can be a reliable endophenotype of autism.

There has been a lack of research assessing the possible link between parents’ autism phenotype and symptom severity of ASD children. This study is a preliminary step towards that direction. This study indicates a probability of shared genetic liability between mothers and offspring, which would have important consequences for understanding the mechanisms that lead to autism.

This study offers implications for treatment planning of those with clinical ASD. An awareness of parental factors is critical for any holistic intervention plan when a family seeks treatment for their child. This study suggests that while individualising interventions, clinicians may consider possible presence of high levels of autistic traits and related cognitive features present in the probands’ parents.

There has been lack of research assessing the possible link between parents’ autism phenotype and symptom severity of ASD children. This study, even though preliminary, is a step towards that direction. This study suggests that autism traits might be influenced by common genetic variation and indicates a probability of shared genetic liability between mothers and offspring, which would have important consequences for understanding the mechanisms that lead to autism.