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This study examines the effects of corporate governance mechanisms on voluntary corporate carbon disclosure in Bangladeshi firms.

To investigate the association between corporate governance mechanisms and corporate carbon disclosures, this study employs ordinary least square (OLS) methods. To mitigate the potential endogeneity concerns, the authors also introduce firm fixed effect (FE) and random effect (RE). Primarily, the study sample includes 250 firm-year observations over the period 2015–2019 for listed companies on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) in Bangladesh. Subsequently, corporate governance mechanisms that influence voluntary carbon disclosure were examined using both univariate and OLS models.

The findings of this study suggest that firms with a larger board size and more independent directors have a positive impact on the firm's intensity to disclose carbon-related information. However, no evidence has been found of the existence of an environmental committee, and the presence of female directors on the board tends to be associated with a higher level of voluntary corporate carbon disclosure.

The study offers necessary evidence of the determinants of corporate carbon disclosures, which will be useful for managers, senior executives, policymakers and regulatory bodies. To improve corporate governance practices and formulate separate sets of regulations and reporting criteria, disclosing extensive and holistic carbon-related information obligatory. Further, the outcomes of this study based on Bangladeshi firms can be comprehensive for other developing countries to take precautions to tackle the effect of global climate change.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of financial inclusion on economic development.

Study 1 used World Bank Data to develop financial inclusion percentages of ownership of checking accounts, savings accounts, debit cards and loans for 179 countries among the poorest 40% of the population, from 2011–2017. Regressions established the financial inclusion, gross savings and GDP per capita growth linkage. Study 2 created and validated scales to measure social empowerment, economic empowerment and economic development, among inhabitants of Bangladesh villages. Structural equation modeling measured the mediation by social empowerment and economic empowerment of the financial inclusion and economic development linkage.

Total financial inclusion was significantly explained by gross savings, which was significantly explained by GDP per capita growth. Ownership of a checking account significantly increased gross savings, while ownership of a savings account significantly increased GDP per capita growth. Ownership of a checking account differentiated countries with the highest 5% of gross savings, while ownership of a debit card significantly differentiated countries with the GDP per capita growth. Social empowerment and economic empowerment significantly mediated the financial inclusion and economic development relationship.

The study is unique in examining financial inclusion from a multi country, macroeconomic perspective combined with measurement of its theoretical underpinnings through a primary data-based sample extracted from respondents in Bangladesh, a lower middle-income country in Southeast Asia.

This study intends to assess the research trends on natural disasters and their contribution to the various fields of policy decisions in India by conducting a bibliometric analysis between 2008 and 2022. The Scopus database was used to extract pertinent literature. The key relevant terms were used to seek relevant papers based on the query of two searches, ‘Natural disaster and India’ scenarios combined by the Boolean operator ‘AND’. Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer-Var1.6.16 were used to assess bibliometric indicators. The database yielded 1,293 papers in all, with 14,584 citations. There were 262 single authors and 1,031 multi-author documents among the publications that were retrieved, with an average of 11.28 citations per document. After 2016, there was a dramatic growth in the total number of publications. The journal articles were the leading source of the particular literature, and this study extracted approximately 858 journal articles from the Scopus database. About 713 and 580 articles were open and closed access, respectively. Earth and planetary sciences (28.07%), social science (31.01%), and environmental science (30.39%) had a higher proportion of papers than other topics. The most impactful authors were Rajib Shaw and Filip K. Arnberg from Keio University, Japan, and Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. Besides, the most funding institutions were from India (39.33%), China (13.11%), and the United States (11.9%) for natural disaster research, in the case of India. The current baseline information on natural disaster-related literature in the context of India showed that this field is growing rapidly but with inadequate research collaboration and low productivity as needed. Research collaboration in this field needs to be strengthened to improve the solid response to natural disasters in any place in India. In addition, there is a need to expand the research focus in this field to include associated indicators.

Arsenic contamination in shallow groundwater aquifers in the lower Gangetic basin constitutes a major health hazard in the Bengal basin extended over Bangladesh and India. It has been estimated that at least 35 million people in Bangladesh and 6 million people in India are severely affected by arsenic-contaminated water. More so, about 57 and 9 million people in Bangladesh and West Bengal, respectively, are exposed to arsenic-contamination risk. The use of hazardous, arsenic-bearing groundwater for drinking, cooking, and irrigation in West Bengal and Bangladesh has led to what has been described by the WHO as the worst case of mass poisoning in human history. In case of West Bengal, the problem of arsenic contamination was discovered in the 1980s; since then several mitigation measures were adopted by the provincial and federal governments, community organizations, and NGOs. Yet, poor infrastructural arrangements, dire poverty, lack of awareness, and education increased the risk of arsenic exposure over the decades. In this chapter, an effort has been made to critically analyze the extent of mitigation measures adopted so far in the state of West Bengal. It discusses in detail the chronological responses of the provincial government in arsenic risk mitigation, implementation of adopted mitigation measures, and the consequent response and actions of arsenic-affected communities in West Bengal. The chapter also highlights the emerging challenges of arsenic risk mitigation in West Bengal and proposes a “system-based” framework for risk mitigation.

The present study aims to determine the existence of simultaneous relationship between economic growth, income inequality, fiscal policy, and total trade of the 13 emerging market economies as a group for the period 1980–2010. After establishing the existence of simultaneity between the above relationships, a simultaneous panel model has been formulated and estimated incorporating the nonlinearity among the variables as suggested by the existing literature. An inverted U-shape relationship is evident between (1) economic growth, income inequality, and total trade in economic growth equation, (2) income inequality, economic growth, and per capita income in income inequality equation, and (3) total trade and economic growth in total trade equation. Thus, the existence of a two-way nonlinear relationship is highlighted between economic growth, income inequality, and total trade. Apart from these nonlinear relationships, positive and significant effect of (1) gross capital formation, inflation, population growth, human capital, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and domestic credit to private sector on economic growth; (2) civil liabilities on income inequality; (3) gross capital formation and inflation on total trade; (4) total trade, population growth of those aged 65 years and above, political system on fiscal policy is highlighted. Also, negative and significant effect of (1) fiscal policy on income inequality and (2) income inequality on fiscal policy is revealed.

The contamination of groundwater by natural arsenic is currently a worldwide epidemic. Arsenic-contaminated groundwater has been reported in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, China, Hungary, West Bengal in India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Of these regions, Bangladesh and West Bengal are the most seriously affected in terms of the size of the population at risk and magnitude of health problems. Hence, chronic exposure to arsenic >50′′μg/L in drinking water can result in serious health problems. Common symptoms of arsenic-related ailments are skin, cardiovascular, renal, hematological, and respiratory disorders. Therefore, this chapter focuses on nature, origin, and extent of groundwater arsenic contamination, probable causes, and its impacts on food, drinking water, and social coverage. It further discloses mitigation approaches proposed and practiced by the different research groups to combat this problem and finally concludes.

Millions of people in Southwestern Bangladesh drink groundwater that has arsenic contamination levels above both Bangladeshi and WHO standards. Thus, arsenic, the king of poisons, presents significant social problems in the rural communities of Bangladesh. Lacking arsenic-free drinking water, the local populations are most adversely affected. Arsenic contamination of drinking water and food is the main pathway by which arsenic enters people’s lives, producing diseases such as melanosis, keratosis, skin lesions, skin cancers, and kidney failure. Therefore, to cope with and alleviate arsenic poisoning, whatever adaptation and mitigation strategy is adopted, it should, however, start with and be led by the local community wherever possible for it is local villagers who are often the real experts on arsenic contamination. Rather than implementing highly technical, expensive, and outsider-led interventions that are often untried in field conditions, priority should be given to using modified traditional coping and mitigation mechanisms developed in the communities in Bangladesh. Hence, this chapter highlights first the extent of arsenic poisoning in the Southwestern part; its adverse impact on livelihood, water sector, and social aspect; and then the focus shifts to community-level mitigation strategy led by the people along with the assistance of GO and nongovernmental organization (NGO); and finally there is the conclusion along with recommendations.