Major Metropolitan Cities Of India Research Articles

Seasonal variations in land surface temperature based on local climatic zone in the major metropolitan cities of India

Seasonal variations in land surface temperature based on local climatic zone in the major metropolitan cities of India

The role of brand experience, brand resonance and brand trust in luxury consumption

Consumption of luxury brands has been rising significantly, particularly in emerging economies.While some aspects of luxury consumption may be consistent across cultural settings, certain key differences may prevail; with particular attention to the relational and experiential aspects that characterize consumer-brand engagements. The purpose of the current research is to address this previously underexplored area and study the impact of consumer-brand dyadic attributes – incorporating brand experience, brand resonance, brand trust, and consumer involvement on the pursuit of luxury brands within the Indian context. Data was gathered using a survey distributed to 413 luxury brand consumers in four major metropolitan cities in India, employing Smart-PLS for analysis. In addition to the main effects, the moderating impact of gender, geographic location, and generation were explored. The results reveal that brand experience and brand resonance are both essential for luxury consumption, with an additional moderating role of generation and gender. Furthermore, consumer involvement is found to mediate the relationship. Implications for scholarship and practice are discussed.

Role of transport infrastructure in birth of census towns in West Bengal

In the Indian Census, the growth of villages into small towns (called Census Towns, CT) accounted for almost 30% of urbanization during 2001–11, which was significantly higher than the preceding decades. This paper evaluates the role of the transportation infrastructure in this phenomenon by using data from the State of West Bengal, which has experienced the birth of the largest number of such towns. We use the probit regression method involving binary dependent variables. The results show that the existence of state/national highways in the neighborhood increase the probability of a village, designated as a ‘would be CT’ in the 2001 Census, to be converted into a CT in the 2011 Census. The closer the location of the highway, the more intensive the positive effect. The rail infrastructure does not play a significant role in this process. Interestingly, the paper shows although the density of local road networks generally complements highways in the formation of cities, the complementarity relationship is the opposite in the districts bordering Kolkata. The role of the Golden Quadrangle (GQ) project, highway construction project undertaken in India during this time to connect the four major metropolitan cities of India, had a limited impact compared to national/state highways in the birth of CTs.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41685-021-00224-5.

Analysis of heat stress and heat wave in the four metropolitan cities of India in recent period

Cities are becoming hotter day-by-day because heat is trapped near the earth's surface due to a decrease in green cover, rapid urbanization, energy-intensity activities, and concrete structures. The four major metropolitan cities of India, i.e. Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, have experienced heat waves and heat stress frequently during the summer season. This study analyses heat wave and heat stress patterns in these cities using 30 years of data from 1990 to 2019 during the summer season. We used daily maximum temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation datasets for the above mentioned period in this study. To understand the episode of a heat wave, we have used the 95th percentile method. Furthermore, we have also used Humidity Index (HD) to evaluate the degree of discomfort and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) to categorize the level of heat stress. The analysis indicates that the number of heat wave events in the Delhi region is 26.31%, 31.58% and 63.16% higher than Kolkata, Chennai, and Mumbai regions respectively. It is also seen that the risks of extreme heat stress and dangerous-heat stroke events in the Chennai region during heat wave periods are higher than that experienced in other metropolitan cities because of high temperature with higher values of relative humidity. The risk of extreme heat stress is less in Delhi because of lower relative humidity compared to other metropolitan cities although temperature is higher in this region. However, the risk of extreme heat stress is lower in Mumbai region because of relatively lower temperature than Chennai during summer season. The likelihood of experiencing great discomfort during heat wave periods in Kolkata city is higher than that experienced in other metropolitan cities in India, however, during non-heat wave periods the probability of extreme discomfort is higher in Chennai.

Time-varying Intensity-Duration-Frequency relationship through climate-informed covariates

The overwhelming increase and variations in the extreme rainfall events demand the use of a nonstationary Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curve for the design and management of water resource infrastructure. Generally, nonstationary IDF curves are developed by incorporating the trend in the distribution parameter using Generalized Extreme Value distribution (GEV) with time as a covariate. The physical processes influencing the variations in a hydrologic variable can be captured by utilizing relevant climatic variables (climate-informed) as covariates, since time alone cannot be the best covariate. Hence this study investigates the potential climate-informed covariates influencing the extreme rainfall and incorporates the best covariates to develop a realistic nonstationary IDF relationship. Unlike previous studies, a Time Sliding Window (TSW) approach is employed to detect the changing distribution parameters before performing Nonstationary Modeling (NSM). The proposed covariate based TSW-NSM is effectively used to construct IDF curves for seven major metropolitan cities of India. Several models are generated based on the detected changing parameters and combinations of covariates. Then, Bayesian Differential Evolutionary Monte Carlo (DE-MC) algorithm is employed to estimate the uncertainty bound of the nonstationary parameters, and the best model is chosen using the Deviance Information Criterion (DIC). The results reveal that the best covariate combinations for short duration events are dominated by local processes (i.e., Local temperature changes and diurnal temperature changes), whereas the same for longer duration events are dominated by the global processes (global warming, ENSO Modoki cycle, and IOD). However, the acceptable nonstationary models reveal that all the temperature-based covariates are capable of capturing the dynamic behavior. It is also observed that the local processes carry the signature of global processes. Finally, the return levels computed through the best nonstationary model show that the return periods are decreasing, and the short duration events have undergone drastic changes than the longer duration events. Thus, the results suggest that employing climate-informed covariates based nonstationary IDF curves is indispensable for devising long-term strategies to address the changing climate.

Asymmetric nexus between air quality index and nationwide lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic in a part of Kolkata metropolitan, India

The diffusion of COVID-19 or Coronavirus since last few months is the prime matter of concern for the entire world. The government of India had declared the complete lockdown from 24th March. After the second step lockdown, now third step lockdown was declared. So, India in Lockdown 3.0 situation. Although the economy of our country has severely been affected by the impact of lockdown, this situation is good for natural healing. Major metropolitan cities of India are trying to recover from various pollution. This study, therefore, attempts to analyze the trend of air pollution before and during a lockdown situation in Kolkata metropolitan and surrounding areas. To identify air pollution trends before and during the lockdown, the non-parametric Maan-Kendall test and Sen's slope estimator have been applied in this study. This research has been done based on air quality index data of the Kolkata metropolitan region's observatory stations. The time range of the data set is from mid of February to 2nd May. The study results show that air pollution has been reduced up to 80% in almost all the stations due to strict lockdown.

Effect of Lockdown on HCHO and Trace Gases over India during March 2020

ABSTRACT COVID-19 is one of the deadly Epidemics that has impacted people living in more than 200 countries. In order to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, India observed total lockdown in the first phase for a period of 21 days (24 March–13 May 2020), so that social distancing is maintained. However, this sudden decision severely affected the normal life of people. The air quality improved due to lockdown, some relaxation was given in different cities and within some areas in the city where the people were not affected by COVID-19. In this paper, we discuss results of detailed analysis of trace gases (HCHO, NO2, SO2, CH4, CO and O3) and particulate matter concentration using satellite and ground data in major metropolitan cities of India during 10–31 March, 2020 and compared with the same period in the year 2019, to study the impact of total lockdown. Our analysis suggests, pronounced qualitative changes in HCHO, NO2, SO2, CH4, CO, O3and PM2.5 concentration during complete lockdown period in the month of March 2020. We did not consider the period after 31 March 2020 to avoid influence of anthropogenic sources since the Government made relaxation in the lockdown periods after 31 March 2020.

Air quality assessment among populous sites of major metropolitan cities in India during COVID-19 pandemic confinement.

The present study aims to determine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic confinement on air quality among populous sites of four major metropolitan cities in India (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai) from January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020 by analyzing particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ammonia (NH3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone levels. The most prominent pollutant concerning air quality index (AQI) was determined by Pearson’s correlation analysis and unpaired Welch’s two-sample t test was carried out to measure the statistically significant reduction in average AQI for all the four sites. AQI significantly plummeted by 44%, 59%, 59%, and 6% in ITO-Delhi, Worli-Mumbai, Jadavpur-Kolkata, and Manali Village-Chennai respectively. The findings conclude a significant improvement in air quality with respect to reduction of 49–73%, 17–63%, 30–74%, and 15–58% in the mean concentration of PM2.5, PM10, NH3, and SO2 respectively during the confinement for the studied locations. The p values for all of the four studied locations were found significantly less than the 5% level of significance for Welch’s t test analysis. In addition, reduced AQI values were highly correlated with prominent pollutants (PM2.5 and PM10) during Pearson’s correlation analysis. These positive results due to pandemic imprisonment might aid to alter the current policies and strategies of pollution control for a safe and sustainable environment. Graphical abstract

Assessing total factor productivity growth of the passenger-bus transit systems in Indian metropolitan cities using the sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index approach

ABSTRACT This article examines the patterns of total factor productivity (TFP) growth in eight state-owned passenger bus companies operating in major metropolitan cities of India. A state-of-the-art and innovative sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity index (SMLPI) approach is applied to compute unbiased estimates of TFP growth and its decomposed components. The empirical results based on the panel data set for the period 2011–2016 suggest that technical inefficiency is a common characteristic of bus companies providing passenger services in metropolitan cities. The analysis of TFP growth at the aggregate level reveals that the public bus transit system placed in Indian metropolitan cities experiences mild productivity regress, which is entirely attributable to efficiency loss. The disaggregated analysis provides that only four bus companies experience productivity gains throughout the sample period. Pune Mahamandal appears to be the most innovative bus company.

Measuring gap in expected and perceived quality of ICT enabled customer services: a systematic study of top ten retailers of India

The objective of this research paper is to explore the gap between customer expectations and customer perceptions towards the quality of ICT enabled customer services in smart retailing contexts. Researchers have used empirical research design with a sample of 843 customers of top ten retail stores based in major metropolitan cities in India. Results of the study reveals a significant gap between customer expectation and customer perception towards quality of ICT enabled customer services, and a positive impact of quality of these services on overall customer satisfaction and further, on customer loyalty. Researchers have also developed a technology driven model for customer services in retail stores based on customers' perceptions. Suggestions for reducing negative service quality gap in ICT enabled customer services provided by retailers have also been discussed. Study is limited to analysis of ICT enabled customer services in organised retail sector in urban Indian context.

Of Modernity, House Prices and Suspending Singularity of Time

Why do we buy houses as opposed to renting one? This question, in its simplistic formulation captures, inter alia, some of the most fundamental emotions of temporal values that we impose on ourselves. Yet, the question has attracted little scholarly scrutiny. The article, using this question as a case, attempts to excavate the silences of our imagination of time in the cacophony of modernity. Time has had varying versions of existence in the modern world. When time is singular, it has the same meaning attributed to by everyone in the same community. A pluralistic conception of time is the exact opposite. I use discount rates as a unique entry point to understand how people view their future (time), and thereby a conceptual aperture to see if time is losing its singularity or not. More importantly, how so. I collected data on house prices in India in five major metropolitan cities in India and compared those prices with rental values. The crude estimation is a useful proxy to observe discount rates, and consequently, varying conceptions of time. I show that time has become a homogenized entity for people falling in similar economic class while it has lost its singularity for those within the same social class (community). This gets folded into questions of ethical implications of modernity’s impact on one’s aspirations.

Measuring gap in expected and perceived quality of ICT enabled customer services: a systematic study of top ten retailers of India

The objective of this research paper is to explore the gap between customer expectations and customer perceptions towards the quality of ICT enabled customer services in smart retailing contexts. Researchers have used empirical research design with a sample of 843 customers of top ten retail stores based in major metropolitan cities in India. Results of the study reveals a significant gap between customer expectation and customer perception towards quality of ICT enabled customer services, and a positive impact of quality of these services on overall customer satisfaction and further, on customer loyalty. Researchers have also developed a technology driven model for customer services in retail stores based on customers' perceptions. Suggestions for reducing negative service quality gap in ICT enabled customer services provided by retailers have also been discussed. Study is limited to analysis of ICT enabled customer services in organised retail sector in urban Indian context.

Assessment of Air Quality Changes in the Four Metropolitan Cities of India during COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown

In view of emerging threat of COVID-19 pandemic, stringent lockdown measures have been implemented in India since 25th March, 2020. The present study aims to assess the changes in air quality before and during lockdown in the four major metropolitan cities of India viz., Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. The data on major air quality parameters and meteorological parameters was collected for 15 days before lockdown (i.e., March 10th–March 24th, 2020) and 15 days after implementation of lockdown (25th March–April 8th, 2020). The lockdown measures reflected a significant reduction in air pollutants, most significant fall was estimated for NO2 (29.3–74.4%) while the least reduction was noticed for SO2. On the contrary, levels of ground level ozone were found to be increased (except in Mumbai), could be related to the lower utilization of O3 owing to decrease of NOx in the environment. Since, the lockdown period has been extended, therefore further reduction of most pollutants is expected. Among the various metrological parameters, significant increase in diurnal temperature was observed at Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai, however relative humidity has changed significantly only in Mumbai. In the absence of any major violent meteorological phenomena in India during recent months the significant difference in air quality parameters could be majorly attributed to the effect of lockdown measures. However, the regional differences may be because of the local emission of pollutants and the prevailing effects of secondary pollutants. These observations highlight the contribution of anthropogenic sources in air pollution, therefore, sustainable polices for mitigation of air pollution are essential in India.

Marital Disharmony among Working Couples in Metropolitan Life: an In-depth Study in Kolkata City

In India, traditionally and from time immemorial, marriage has always been a sacred bond for people of this country. The aim of this study is to explain a socially sanctioned sex relationship involving people of two opposite gender whose relationship is expected to endure beyond time required for gestation. The functional method of the study has been set up on the field-based observation to find out the reasons behind rising of marital disharmony among working couples. But the problem is initially in modern times the concept of marriage is gradually taking a different turn between couples. Hence the focus of this paper is to study the various factors giving rise to marital disharmonies among working couples in urban India and how these discords can be solved so that couples can lead a happy harmonious married life ahead. Survey has been done in the city of Kolkata taking people from various walks of life. As Kolkata is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India it was easier to find people belonging to different professions. The result of this study is every marriage brings challenges in life. Maximum working couples are losing attachment with each other as they have lack of time for each other. Bringing work at home, sharing of parenthood, indifference towards each other, lack of adjustments are the causes for which level of disharmony is increasing.

Assessment of anti-malarial drug prescribing pattern in pediatric and adult malaria patients in a tertiary care hospital in Eastern India

Background: Kolkata, one of the major metropolitan cities of India, is also the capital of the state West Bengal, contributes largest number of malaria cases reported from West Bengal. The present study was undertaken to assess the anti-malarial prescribing pattern in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kolkata.Methods: This was an observational, prospective, cross-sectional study for a period of one year (from March 2017 to February 2018) in which prescriptions of diagnosed pediatric and adult malaria patients were scanned and reviewed for anti-malarial use pattern. Core drug use indicators were also analyzed to assess the rational prescribing pattern.Results: During one-year study period, 122 adult and 24 child malaria patient encounters were screened. Among adult patients, 48(39.3%) patients had P. falciparum and 74(60.7%) patients had P. vivax malaria; in children, 9(37.5%) patients had P. falciparum and 15(62.5%) patients had P. vivax malaria. All adult and pediatric P. vivax malaria patients were treated with chloroquine. Artemisinin derivatives were prescribed to 91.67% of adult and 88.88% of pediatric falciparum malaria patients, 77.09% of adults and 66.67% of children received ACT. Artemether- lumefantrine was the most commonly prescribed ACT (33.34% in adults and 55.56% in children). Prescriptions were usually in generic name and from National EDL. Percentage of encounters with antibiotics was high in both age group but percentage of encounters with injections was low in adults and children. Conclusion: Chloroquine was used rationally for treatment of P. vivax malaria patients. Artemether-lumefantrine was the most common ACT used for treatment of P.falciparum malaria cases though the National guideline for treatment of malaria does not recommend Artemether-lumefantrine for this state and region for treatment of falciprum cases.

Bringing realism into a dynamic copula-based non-stationary intensity-duration model

Dynamic behavior of extreme rainfall characteristics heightened by the abrupt warming of the environment has affected the sustainability of the existing water resources systems and infrastructure, which were designed employing the traditional ‘stationary’ assumption. Here, we propose a realistic and efficient framework to detect non-stationarity in the observed hydrologic variables, to overcome a few limitations suffered by the traditional non-stationary approaches. The methodology is demonstrated over the short period rainfall series of four major metropolitan cities of India, where the intensity of the rainfall is reportedly increasing sharply accompanied by the changes in the pattern of rainfall. Since direct runoff is influenced by the intensity and duration of rainfall, it is important to study the joint characteristics of intensity and duration in the context of non-stationarity, especially in urban regions where the relationship is more distinct. Hence, we estimated the time-varying joint return period/return level of its extremes, utilizing a dynamic Bayesian copula. We have implemented time-varying multivariate probability frequency analysis to derive the time-varying Intensity-Duration relationship. Here we employed a Bayesian approach through Differential Evolution Markov Chain (DE–MC) algorithm to estimate the uncertainty bound of the time-varying return level. The results emphasize that the probabilistic distribution parameters vary both temporally and spatially, and recommend the incorporation of non-stationarity in the extreme event modeling, only if there is a change in the probabilistic distribution parameters. This non-stationary model can be seamlessly employed to compute return levels with better accuracy and reliability than traditional stationary/non-stationary methods. We observe that the short duration return level increases at a faster rate than the longer ones, with the credibility interval larger than that of long duration return levels. The results also highlight the importance of adopting event based non-stationary IDF curves for the design of water resource systems and to devise long-term decision-making strategies to address the changing climate. However, we do not draw any conclusion concerning climate change, in general, from the short duration rainfall records used in this study.

Urban heat island intensity during winter over metropolitan cities of India using remote-sensing techniques: impact of urbanization

ABSTRACTThe present study aims to quantify spatial relationship of land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes and land surface temperature (LST) using remote-sensing and geographical information system techniques over 10 major metropolitan cities of India. For this purpose, Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus images of these cities during winter period from 2001 to 2013 are used. Statistical analysis of the LULC classification has shown overall accuracy ranging between 85% and 88%. The LULC classification and estimated LST using the satellite imageries reveals the presence of multiple urban heat islands (UHIs) and their increase in number in all cities. Significant increase in built-up/urban areas are noticed at the expense of vegetated lands and barren lands over Lucknow, Nagpur, and Jaipur, whereas in Hyderabad and Bengaluru the built-up area and the dry/barren lands are observed to be increasing, at the expense of crop/grass lands. Higher UHI intensities in the range of 8.9–10.3°C are noticed over Mumbai, Nagpur, and Hyderabad compared to the other cities. Higher temperature zones (hotspots) are found to be increasing in the built-up area as well as in barren lands. Varying increase in UHI intensity among the cities is noticed which may have implications in the regional climate over the cities.

Soil concentrations, occurrence, sources and estimation of air–soil exchange of polychlorinated biphenyls in Indian cities

Past studies have shown potentially increasing levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Indian environment. This is the first attempt to investigate the occurrence of PCBs in surface soil and estimate diffusive air-soil exchange, both on a regional scale as well as at local level within the metropolitan environment of India. From the north, New Delhi and Agra, east, Kolkata, west, Mumbai and Goa and Chennai and Bangalore in the southern India were selected for this study. 33 PCB congeners were quantified in surface soil and possible sources were derived using positive matrix factorization model. Net flux directions of PCBs were estimated in seven major metropolitan cities of India along urban-suburban-rural transects. Mean Σ33PCBs concentration in soil (12ng/g dry weight) was nearly twice the concentration found in global background soil, but in line with findings from Pakistan and urban sites of China. Higher abundance of the heavier congeners (6CB–8CB) was prevalent mostly in the urban centers. Cities like Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata with evidence of ongoing PCB sources did not show significant correlation with soil organic carbon (SOC). This study provides evidence that soil is acting as sink for heavy weight PCB congeners and source for lighter congeners. Atmospheric transport is presumably a controlling factor for occurrence of PCBs in less polluted sites of India.

Perceptions on Public Health Facilities by Slum Dwellers in the Metropolitan Cities of India

Rapid urbanisation and quest for better livelihood, push-pull factor of occupations education, policy changes attract large scale rural population to urban areas. It is well documented that in spite of better public health facilities including tertiary care hospitals which are available in the urban areas but the services are underutilised by the urban poor. Aim: Hence, in this paper, it is attempted to comprehend the reasons for underutilisation of available public health facilities and to compare the difference with non-slum areas of the major metropolitan cities of India. Methods: A secondary data from National Family Health Survey-III for five major metropolitan cities namely, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai is used for the analysis. Slum data which are classified by both the agencies, that is census of India and NFHS-III as slum households only considered for analysis. Results: In Mumbai slums about 90% of the households are having water sources from public tap or piped to yard followed by Hyderabad having better water supply and Chennai slum dwellers having minimum access to good water sources. About 11.4% of the households do not know where their toilet drainage is connected. There is a significant (P 0.05) 75% to 79%, Kolkata and Chennai have parallel high proportion, that is more than 95% (P > 0.05) and Mumbai stands as median percent age as 89.6. Apart from Delhi, about 40% to 45% of the slum population is in the opinion of “long waiting time” in the government hospitals, and the same trend of proportions is observed for “poor quality of service”.

An empirical study on hospital selection in India.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the different factors patients consider in choosing a hospital in a major city in India, prior to admission. A 20-item scale to identify various factors a patient considers in choosing a hospital was developed. A field survey was conducted on patients who were discharged in the recent past from a public or a private hospital. The data collected were analysed using multivariate techniques. The data analysis highlighted several factors in the hospital choice selection process, namely quality of treatment, referral, transport convenience, cost, and safety and services. This research study was carried out in one of the four major metropolitan cities of India. Nonetheless, the study provides valuable insights into the hospital selection process in a developing country like India. Hospital managers, in general, can use the study findings to improve the operating performance of their hospitals so that they are able to attract more patients in the future. Additionally, the information can be useful to the marketing managers for developing appropriate marketing strategies for their hospitals. Majority of the empirical research on hospital choice process has been conducted in Europe and North America. Limited knowledge exists on the same in a developing nation like India. This research illustrates a comprehensive study to address that concern.