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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between rates of firearm homicide in New York State (NYS) and indicators of access to and quality of healthcare from 2011 to 2017.

Utilizing data from the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services Uniform Crime Reporting Supplemental Homicide Reports and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings Program, a county-level ecologic study was conducted, descriptive statistics provided and multivariable analyses conducted to determine the associations between critical indicators of county health and firearm homicide.

The majority of firearm homicide victims (n=2,619) were young, Black, men and the highest rates of firearm homicide were situated in urban centers. Subgroup analyses excluding large urban centers and controlling for key demographics illustrated that those counties with lower rates of clinicians were significantly associated with higher rates of firearm homicide.

Despite challenges integrating two large data sets, the present findings were able to illustrate the critical relationship between access to healthcare and prevalence of firearm homicide.

The results of this study reinforce the importance of access to primary healthcare services and its relationship to critical health outcomes.

In urban settings, firearm homicides disproportionately impact young Black men, who are among the least likely to have access to healthcare. In more rural areas, access to healthcare is related directly to improved health outcomes, including reduced rates of firearm homicides.

This is the first study to explore and subsequently establish the relationship between indicators of community health and firearm homicide in NYS.

This study attempts to critically assess one of the financial inclusion policy “Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna” introduced by the government of India in 2014.

Number of bank accounts opened (rural, urban and overall) under the policy, total balance in such account and total number of debit cards issued till October, 2017 were taken as the criterion variables. The macroeconomic indicators, infrastructure, literacy, regional dummy and percentage labour participation were taken as predictors. Finally, a State index for financial inclusion under the policy was developed through Normalized Inverse Euclidean Distance using per capita number of accounts, total balance and number of debit cards issued as the parameters.

Andaman and Nicobar, Puducherry and Chandigarh came out to be the top three State indexes for Financial Inclusion under the policy. Status of infrastructure (such as number of roads) was found to be the most significant determining factor. Other factors were labour force participation, poverty and regional disparity.

This paper is unique in the sense that financial inclusion policy has been assessed both through its reachability and assessment of its predictors.

Amidst the backdrop of a wide array of structural developments that have revolutionized the competitive landscape of Indian commercial banking, this paper aims to empirically examine the role of two external monitoring mechanisms – competition and concentration on financial stability and further highlights the significance of bank-level heterogeneity in the nexus.

The study uses the Lerner index, defined through a translog specification, as a measure of market power. A system generalized method of moments technique accounts for the dynamic associations among the competition-concentration-stability nexus. The study further examines the moderating effect of ownership, size and capitalization on the nexus. The study also uses the Boone indicator and comments on the competition-bank stability relationship after controlling for bank governance.

The findings indicate that banks are less stable in a more competitive and higher concentrated environment. Exploring bank-level heterogeneity, first, the authors report that as competition increases, state-owned banks have greater incentives to undertake risky activities than private and foreign banks, which point to implicit sovereign guarantees that characterize the former. Second, the authors document an adverse influence of competition on the soundness of larger banks consistent with the “too-big-to-fail” assertion. Third, results corroborate the disciplinary role of regulatory capital and lend support to stricter capital norms under Basel III in a more competitive environment.

This paper is perhaps the first to capture competition and concentration in a single model; to reconcile conflicting evidence on competition-risk nexus; to shed light on the joint effect of competition and Basel accords for Indian banks.

Historically, as a result of complex intersections of marginalisation, women and girls in India are known to have had less access to economic and social capital than men and boys. Progress on poverty alleviation and the advancement of women’s and girls’ development continues to be slow and has even been described as ‘regressive’ (UN Women, 2015). This chapter provides a microanalysis of experiences and perceptions of gender and poverty in Mumbai, India. It puts forward new insights into everyday forms of agency, resistance and subversion while confronting western centric ideas around development and colonialist notions of victimhood.

Based upon research conducted in 2012–2013, the qualitative study adopting a multi-methods approach draws on participatory action research, participant observation and ethnography. This chapter draws on a small number of interviews from the original sample of 40 participants.

This chapter is based on findings from a small research sample.

The study finds evidence that confirms experiences of gendered poverty permeate across class divides, suggesting that access to economic capital does not necessarily result in equitable gender relations. The findings also uncover the diverse ways in which women and adolescent girls strategise and negotiate to acquire agency, through acts of resistance and/or subversion.

There are two key aspects of this research that can be considered original: the use of a multi-methods approach and by bringing together of a combination of different voices. The theoretical and sociological contribution of this research lies in showcasing the value of expanding the definition of poverty and gender beyond a purely economic analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the type and severity of domestic violence faced by Indian women. An attempt has also been made to analyze and interpret demographic variations of domestic violence. The authors have highlighted steps taken by several government, community and private organizations on issues of domestic violence.

The analysis of National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-III data (2005) was used for determining the socio-economic factors, which are predictors of domestic violence against spouses and children. Logistic Regression Technique was applied.

Results suggest that increased formal education for women, increase in family wealth, and financial independence may decrease spousal violence. Younger women and those who belong to a nuclear family are more vulnerable to spousal violence.

The research paper only limits its focus on women in India in the age group of 15-49. A cross-country comparison and a longitudinal study would have given better idea on the issue. Besides in India, there are serious issues of concerns of violence against children and elders which have not been part of discussion on this paper.

The paper not only discusses causes of domestic violence but also on its effects on physical and psychological well-being of women and children.

The uniqueness of the study lie in on not only extracting out from NFHS survey-III data, the socio-economic factors which are determinants of domestic violence but also analyzing the politico-religious-cultural factors which play major role on the issue. The authors have also thrown light on consequences of domestic violence.

The purpose of this study is to measure the level of total factor productivity of the Indian banking sector and to identify both the bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants of the total factor productivity after the global subprime mortgage crisis.

The research sample consists of 61 commercial banks including 21 public sector banks, 18 private sector banks and 22 foreign banks. The annual data is collected from the website of Reserve Bank of India from 2008 to 2019. The authors employed the non-parametric DEA approach to estimate Malmquist total factor productivity index for each bank as well as across different ownership groups. The panel data estimation technique was used to identify the determinants of total factor productivity.

The results suggested that an increase in the technological shift raised the bank's productivity above the optimal frontier. Among the bank-specific determinants, the bank size and bank diversifications are significantly declining productivity, whereas credit-deposit ratio and return on asset significantly increasing productivity. Among the macro-specific determinants, inflation, growth rate and fiscal deficit ratio negatively affect productivity, whereas capital formation to the GVA ratio boosts the level of productivity.

The authors have used intermediate method to select the inputs and outputs as per the suitability to the context. However, the disaggregate level such as state and district level analysis can be done using production and value-added approaches to explore the regional variations of the banking performance. Furthermore, the parametric methods such as stochastic frontier analysis can be used to examine banking performance, which the authors left for the future research.

This study suggested that banks should increase the economies of scale of their total assets and focus on the interest-earning activity. The banks need to proactively operate the business policy by following the changing path of inflation. The banks need to reduce their rate of fiscal-deficit to the GVA with the purpose to boost their level of productivity.

The study provides an important implication for bankers and policymakers in terms of heightening the banking performance during the period of dynamic economic events.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to measure the performance of the Indian banking sector in terms of efficiency and productivity levels and their determinants during the post-reform period.

The present study is a novel attempt as it has used pooled data for a duration of 15 years (i.e. 1997/1998-2010/2011) from 59 selected banks for estimating the Hicks-Moorsteen (HM) total factor productivity (TFP) index.

Poor technical efficiency has experienced with scale efficiency change exerting dominant factors; whereas relatively better productivity growth has been experienced by the banks with major contributions from technical change components. The study found relatively underestimated efficiency and productivity levels by traditional data envelopment analysis-based Malmquist index. Additionally, the study brings into account the results for external and environmental determining factors contributing to the TFP growth.

Using HMTFP indices has helped to eliminate certain drawbacks of data envelopment and provided the more elaborative decomposition of productivity growth along with their components so as to have lucid and multidimensional insights about the performance of the Indian banking industry after the initiation of financial reforms.

This study was intended to ensure learner-centred pedagogy in an open and distance learning environment by applying scaffolding and positive reinforcement techniques.

This study critically analysed the context and current instructional practice of Bangladesh Open University (BOU) via document analysis and literature review. The conceptual framework of this study was adapted from the ADDIE model, i.e. the analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation model.

The study explored that the instructional practice of BOU was dominated by teacher-centred pedagogy. Hence, to ensure learner-centred pedagogy, the researchers developed three model lesson plans. These lesson plans infused the theoretical directives of scaffolding and positive reinforcement as well as several assessment tasks which can assess the learners’ lower-order and higher-order thinking skills. The researchers also presented possible challenges for the sound implementation of these model lesson plans and suggested pragmatic solutions accordingly.

This study recommended that the combined application of scaffolding and positive reinforcement would effectively ensure learner-centred pedagogy.