Capacity In India Research Articles

Tele-Intensive Care Unit Networks: A Viable Means for Augmenting Critical Care Capacity in India for the COVID Pandemic and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has enormously stressed global healthcare systems compelling new approaches to care, especially by leveraging telehealth. In India, the timely release of the Telemedicine Practice Guidelines by the Government has enabled health providers to deliver essential medical evaluation, diagnosis, and triage remotely. Patients with COVID-19 present with a range of symptoms, and some need intensive care. The management of critically ill patients is resource-intensive and requires partnership between humans and machines. Monitoring vital physiology is key to effective critical care. In many countries, including India, the distribution of intensivists is skewed and tends to be predominantly based in urban tertiary care hospitals. Hospitals without on-site intensivists may benefit from tele-intensive care unit (ICU) services wherein electronic systems connect ICU patient data with intensivists at remote locations as part of a collaborative network. The tele-intensivists provide real-time data and audiovisual monitoring, diagnostic, and intervention services and work together with bedside teams bridging the critical care gap. This article is a practical guide for the logistics of telemedicine-based critical care in India for patients with COVID-19 and other conditions. In addition, this paper also suggests methods to expedite care. Information is provided for immediate use by physicians who have not practiced telemedicine in the ICU. As the number of patients affected increases around India rapid deployment of tele-ICU services will be essential to save lives. Caregiver stress can be minimized by remote care providers who can assist at any time.

Matrix Approach to Select Post Mining Land Use

India occupies 2.5 percent of the total land area of the world, but supports 16.7 percent of the world population. The per capita availability of agricultural land has shrunk to 0.3 hectare per farmer compared to over 11 hectares in the developed world. Land is the most important natural resource which embodies total ecosystem. Mining is a site specific industry and it cannot be shifted anywhere else from the location where mineral occur. Hence there is urgent need to reclaim and restore mined out land for its productive reuse. India is among the top ten mineral producing nations and contributes significantly in the production of coal, iron ore, bauxite, limestone and manganese ore in the world.To produce every million tons of coal, 4.0 hectare of land is degraded directly and another 4.0 hectares indirectly. The legal aspects of reclamation presently consider only bringing the mined out land to its original contour or to its original revenue earning capacity in India. There is no system of undertaking likes redeemable bonds as in European or American countries. Only the economic parameter is given highest weight age and filling up to the mined out land is still considered as best outcome of reclaimed land. Other uses which may be more socially and environmentally acceptable are overlooked. An attempt is made in this paper to develop a generalized matrix, covering environmental, social and economical parameters, which may help in selecting the best post mining land uses which are as per therequirements of local community. Presented case study will help understand the matrix solution.

Assessing Healthcare Capacity in India

We assess India’s healthcare capacity by comparing several countrywide and state-level metrics: per capita spending on healthcare, healthcare spending priority in budgets, hospital bed capacity, and capacity in terms of doctors, nurses, and total healthcare personnel. We find that, overall, India has very fragile healthcare infrastructure for dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. We make three recommendations: (1) India’s private-sector healthcare system has more capacity than government facilities, so the Indian government will need to rely on and incentivize the private sector by increasing funding and removing bottlenecks. (2) Healthcare capacity varies across states, and the union government should identify and assist at-risk states. (3) Compared to rural areas, urban areas are very poorly served by the state hospitals, creating an urgent need for state governments to identify and assist at-risk, high-density urban areas. In the absence of a vaccine, the lockdown may have to continue longer with measures such as a universal basic income implemented for the poor, allowing India to swiftly build up its healthcare infrastructure.

Exploring the Impact of Cross Subsidy on growth of Renewable Energy Generation Capacity in India

In last few years a very rapid growth has been seen in renewable energy generation capacity addition in India. There can be number of factors which are helping in this growth and exemption of cross subsidy surcharge for open access consumers for purchasing power from renewable energy sources might also be one of them. It is required to assess the impact of cross subsidy in the growth of the renewable energy in the country as policy makers have decided to reduce cross subsidy level to make tariff sustainable for industrial and commercial consumers and in that case it may impact the current growth rate of renewable energy. This study uses the panel data of state wise renewable generation capacity and cross subsidy levels over the years. As per results cross subsidy has a significant positive impact on growth of renewable energy capacity addition.

Exploring the impact of cross subsidy on growth of renewable energy generation capacity in India

In last few years a very rapid growth has been seen in renewable energy generation capacity addition in India. There can be number of factors which are helping in this growth and exemption of cross subsidy surcharge for open access consumers for purchasing power from renewable energy sources might also be one of them. It is required to assess the impact of cross subsidy in the growth of the renewable energy in the country as policy makers have decided to reduce cross subsidy level to make tariff sustainable for industrial and commercial consumers and in that case it may impact the current growth rate of renewable energy. This study uses the panel data of state wise renewable generation capacity and cross subsidy levels over the years. As per results cross subsidy has a significant positive impact on growth of renewable energy capacity addition.

LG DISPLAY DOUBLES DOWN ON OLED

LG DISPLAY DOUBLES DOWN ON OLED

Biometric Smartcards and payment disbursement: a replication study of building state capacity in India

ABSTRACTMost low- and middle-income countries lack the infrastructure to efficiently process and deliver payments to beneficiaries of welfare programs. As a result, many poor people are financially excluded or receive only a portion of the funds intended for them. There are few empirical studies for policy reference to identify and justify potential returns of public investment in building technology-based infrastructure. This study replicates a recent experimental study that fills this empirical gap by examining the effect of biometrically authenticated payments, ‘Smartcards,’ on India’s two largest welfare programs (a work-for-payment scheme and a national pension program). We evaluate the original study’s findings and obtain comparable outcomes – that Smartcards decrease the time lag for recipients to receive funds, reduce leakages of benefits and increase enrollment rates in the two programs. We also examine the robustness of the original study to outliers, alternative model specifications, changes in estimation methods and treatment effects heterogeneity bias.

Emissions and energy metrics analysis in current Indian roof top photo voltaic market

ABSTRACT India achieved a significant milestone by enabling electric access to all villages in April 2018. More importantly, the focus is now on stable and regular electric supply. Government of India’s various modifications in the Electricity Acts, revised Tariff Policy, and various State-level policies along with other market-friendly incentives together have increased Roof Top Photo Voltaic (RTPV) system installation rates and capacity in India over the last decade. Yet, key regulatory and operational issues are observed in the RTPV market set-up during the study (2016–2018), delaying adoption of the roof top PV systems in India. These include skills for solar panel installations, maintenance and higher costs of operations. Research is required to develop interconnectivity, designing and installation-related engineering skills. The solar market analysis has emphasised that awareness among users, ease of installation and energy payback time as important parameters considered for technology diffusion. Typical north Indian market observed through interviews and an experiment using 1.5 kW domestic RTPV system experimental set-up and Energy Pay Back Time of the RTPV system in India is 8.61 years owing to market barriers and lack of skilled manpower. RTPV system brings reduction in the CO2 emission as compared to the coal-based plant.

Green Growth & Trade Restrictions: Assessing Socio Economic Impacts of Local Content Requirements in Indian Solar Policy

The renewable energy policies of many countries have actively endorsed Local/Domestic Content Requirements (LCR/DCR) on the assertion of providing protection to their niche technology markets. However, potential usefulness and legality of local content requirements (LCRs) are regularly contested on the premise of their trade distorting impacts and lower allocative efficiencies. The initial Indian solar policy also provided differentiated incentives for ground mounted grid connected solar deployments using domestically manufactured Crystalline-Silicon (C-Si) panels (DCR) over the imported ones. This study maps socio economic impacts of the two categories of deployment using Input Output (IO) analysis. The methodology introduces solar generation as a new production activity into Indian economy. An independent solar I-O block is constructed and integrated as a new sector in 35x35 national input output table (2011) obtained from world input output databases (WIOD). The analysis involves tracking Inter industry transactions involved in installing a unit of grid connected ground mounted photovoltaic solar power capacity in India. Both solar blocks compile data at purchasers' price for PV module, mounting structure, power conditioning unit, construction and preoperative costs of the power plant. Followed by adjustments for existing fiscal elements like applicable subsidies, VAT, excise duty and incurred transportation costs. The DCR block is differentiated by dissociation of solar panel manufacturing Industry into inputs for manufacturing module, wafer and cells with in the economy while in case of non DCR solar blocks, solar panels feature in the imports column. Direct and indirect impacts in terms of output, employment and income generation are estimated followed by distributive efficiencies of the sectoral wage generation associated with the two categories of deployment. The results reveal that direct and indirect output (GDP generation) of DCR deployments is 24.74 % higher than of open category projects. The DCR projects also produce 36.64 % more economy wide employment when compared to open category projects. Further, distributive efficiencies associated with quality of employment generated favors DCR deployments in India. This study thus provides initial evidence and policy guidance on usefulness of domestic content requirement in promoting regional green growth for the growing solar sector in India.

India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) - an initiative for building research capacity in India.

Research and innovation are growing in India with significant investments being made towards institutions, researchers and research infrastructure.Although still under 1% of GDP, funding for science and technology in India has increased each year for over two decades. There is also increasing realization that public funding for research should be supplemented with that from industry and philanthropy. Like their counterparts worldwide, Indian researchers require access to professional research management support at their institutions to fully leverage emerging scientific opportunities and collaborations. However, there are currently significantgaps in the research management support available to these researchers and this has implications for research in India. The India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) was launched by the Wellcome Trust/DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Government of India) India Alliance (hereafter India Alliance) in February 2018 to narrow these gaps. A 12-month pilot phase has enabled conversations across multiple stakeholders. In this Open Letter, we share some insights from the IRMI pilot phase, which could aid systemic development and scaling up of research management as a professional support service across India. We anticipate these will stimulate dialogue and guide future policy and interventions towards building robust research and innovation ecosystems in India.

India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) - an initiative for building research capacity in India.

Research and innovation are growing in India with significant investments being made towards institutions, researchers and research infrastructure.Although still under 1% of GDP, funding for science and technology in India has increased each year for over two decades. There is also increasing realization that public funding for research should be supplemented with that from industry and philanthropy. Like their counterparts worldwide, Indian researchers require access to professional research management support at their institutions to fully leverage emerging scientific opportunities and collaborations. However, there are currently significantgaps in the research management support available to these researchers and this has implications for research in India. The India Research Management Initiative (IRMI) was launched by the Wellcome Trust/DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Government of India) India Alliance (hereafter India Alliance) in February 2018 to narrow these gaps. A 12-month pilot phase has enabled conversations across multiple stakeholders. In this Open Letter, we share some insights from the IRMI pilot phase, which could aid systemic development and scaling up of research management as a professional support service across India. We anticipate these will stimulate dialogue and guide future policy and interventions towards building robust research and innovation ecosystems in India.

Epidemiology of dengue fever in India, based on laboratory surveillance data, 2014–2017

ObjectivesThe Indian Council of Medical Research and the Department of Health Research have established a network of Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) to strengthen laboratory capacity in India. We analyzed the data generated by the 52 VRDLs during 2014–2017 to describe the epidemiology of dengue fever (DF) in India. MethodsAs per the laboratory protocol, suspected DF patients reporting to various hospitals where VRDLs are located, or samples from suspected DF outbreaks are investigated for the presence of NS1 antigen or IgM antibodies against dengue. The data were analyzed to describe the distribution of DF by time (month and year), place (district and state) and person (age and sex) characteristics. ResultsBetween 2014–2017, VRDLs investigated 211,432 suspected DF patients, 28.4% of whom were serologically confirmed. The median age of dengue positive patients was 25 years (IQR: 16-36). Dengue positivity was significantly higher among males. The mean monthly dengue positivity ranged from 7.7% to 37%, with higher positivity reported during September and October months. VRDLs provided diagnosis to 190 suspected outbreaks. ConclusionsThe data from the VRDL network indicate dengue was the etiology in one-fourth of AFI cases. Dengue was the second commonest etiology of suspected outbreaks diagnosed by VRDLs.

Protecting citizens from the state post Puttaswamy: Analysing the privacy implications of the Justice Shrikrishna Committee Report and the Data Protection Bill, 2018

In this paper we seek to conceptualise the right to privacy and its implications from the State and private actors, post the Puttaswamy judgment. We then examine the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 submitted by the Justice Srikrishna Committe and evaluate how it has fared in regulating the actions of the State relative to the private sector, with a broad focus on consent, surveillance, and the interaction between the State and private sector including the ability of the latter to deny data requests of the former. Finally, we emphasize the implementation challenges of a legislation given the weak state capacity in India, focusing on regulation making and enforcement, and highlight that both give substantial power to the State (as regulator) over its regulated entities. We argue that considering the privacy concerns against State action, the challenge to implementation in the area of personal data may only get exacerbated.

Role of Renewable Energy in Indian Power Sector

Renewable energy in the form of small hydro, biomass, solar, urban waste, industrial waste and wind together accounts for 14.8% of the total installed power generation capacity in India (as on Dec 2016). Deregulation, liberalization and opening up of Indian electricity market post enactment of Indian Electricity Act 2003 has ensured complete participation by private producers. Today 99% of total installed generation capacity using Renewable energy (other than Hydro) is by private producers. In this study we review the role played by Renewable Energy in Indian Power sector, REC trading and the role played by power/energy exchanges in Indian electricity market with the objective of aiding policymakers to bring forth further measures to stimulate future growth of Renewable energy in India for decades to come.

Influence of People Mix in Selecting Institute of Technical Education

There is a rapid growth of technical education in last decade in terms of the number of institutes and intake capacity in India but non-directional. There is noticeable gap in between the actual no. of enrollments and intake capacity of these institutes. In the year 2015-2016, as per AICTE, New Delhi, 46% of seats were vacant in Technical Education in India. Segmentation and the ‘People' factor of service mixing is very important aspects in education services. The purpose of this article is to highlight the influence of the people mix on geographical and demographical factors of students in selecting technical educational institutes. Different communication strategies of people mix can be used based on geographical and demographical factors, which will confirm growth as well as the development of technical education in the proper direction.

Eco-restoration of coal mine overburden dump

Energy is needed for economic growth and more than 70% of the energy generation capacity in India is by using coal. The production of coal was 430.83 Mt out of which opencast contributed to around 373 Mt in 2006 with an estimated overburden removal of 600 million m3. In India, opencast mining is most prominent method of coal excavation. However, each year hundreds of acres of pristine forest and productive agricultural land are brought in the gambit of open cast coal mining. Moreover, open cast mining leaves behind a lot of over burden which is an environmental problem. Faced with a burgeoning population, agriculture in India must bring under its gambit the non-conventional or non-traditional area, to feed the teeming millions. Reclaimed coal mine areas could be the non-traditional areas. Among the two methods of restoration, physical methods are costly and not viable. Biological methods are of low cost hence most appropriate. Among biological technique using tree species to restore coal mine spoil holds great promise because it accelerate the soil-forming processes, control erosion, build up organic matter, develop microbial communities, initiate nutrient cycling, decreases air and water pollution, reduces geo-environmental disasters, maintain biodiversity and enhance overall aesthetics of the area.

BASF expands mobile emissions catalysts capacity in India with new facility

BASF expands mobile emissions catalysts capacity in India with new facility

Promoting an Institute: An essential obligation for Technical Education Evolution

Purpose Technical education in India contributes a major share to the overall education system and plays a vital role in the social and economic development of the nation. Despite of rapid growth of technical education in last decade in terms of the no. of institutes and intake capacity in India, institutes failed to attract enrollments. Last three years saw, increasing gap in between the actual no. of enrollments and intake capacity; 46% of seats were vacant in Technical Education in India in 2015. The purpose of this paper is to highlight institute’s role in promoting enrollments in Technical education. Design methodology A qualitative research by a survey (through a structured questionnaire) of students who are presently enrolled (Current-students) and those who have completed their study (Alumni) belonging to the institutes offering Technical Education situated in Khandesh region of India and affiliated to the North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon. Findings The study found that diversified characteristics of enrollments are related with the promotion mix of TE institute in selection of technical educational institute. This study investigates the usefulness of school visits, institution publications, websites, campus visits, word-of-mouth (friends, alumni, school teachers), advertisements (radio, television, magazines) and events on campus, as a tool of promotion. Social Networking and Institute’s Website are the new forms of promotion mix in selection TE institute in rural part of India. Research limitations The survey is delimited to the enrollments of technical education belonging to North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon and located in Khandesh region of India. Practical implications 60-70% of population belongs to rural part of India. Different promotional strategies of promotion mix can be used based on geographic and demographic segmentation. This will enhance, making awareness, fondness regarding Technical Education in the rural part and will act as lubricant in decision making of selecting their technical educational institute.

Building Oral Health Research Capacity in India: Identifying Barriers and Enablers Using Mixed Methods.

Knowledge Transfer Statement: This article will provide a brief overview of the methods in finding barriers and enablers in doing oral health research in India. This mixed-methods approach can be used by researchers in finding barriers and enablers in doing oral health research in other developing countries and building oral health research capacities.

Encouraging Enrolments by People’s Influence; A desperate need for Technical Education Evolution

— There is a rapid growth of technical education in last decade in terms of the no. of institutes and intake capacity in India but with improper and non-directional development. As per AICTE reports, there is noticeable gap in between the actual no. of enrolments and intake capacity of these institutes. In the year 2015-16, 46% of seats were vacant in Technical Education in India. Segmentation and 'People' factor of service mix is very important aspects in education services. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the influence of people mix on geographical and demographical factors of students in selecting technical educational institute. The study found that geographical and demographical factors of students are highly related with the people mix in selection of technical educational institute. Several studies have revealed that the marketing segmentation of technical education will be better developed if we consider geographical and demographical factors and then implementing people mix. It is found that there are some People mix-influencers-related to the institute and previous schools along with peoples associated with the students that are associated with geographical and demographical factors. So, it is useful to consider this association rather than considering only traditional factors. This article provides empirical support for the importance of such factors and their effect on educational choices. Different communication strategies of people mix can be used based on geographical and demographical factors which will proceed to not only growth but development of technical education in proper direction also. The paper represents new form of geographical and demographical factors with various people mix of educational service, that together affects students' decision in selecting their technical educational institute.