Metro Cities Of India Research Articles

An Analysis of Factors Affecting on Growth of Organic Food Perception of Consumers in a Metro City of India

Purpose: Food gives us essential nutrients to lead a healthy lifestyle but lately it has been found that many food products have become hazardous due to contamination and lead to many diseases. The rampant use of pesticides and chemical-based fertilizers in agriculture has, increased the productivity but at the same time they have created an alarming situation for the environment. The demand of the hour is to therefore to encourage organic farming and offer a better choice to consumers as well as save the environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand the factors affecting perception of consumers on organic food products in Indian context. Design – Methodology – Approach: The study used a structured survey of 300 respondents covering metro city (India). Exploratory research was used to know the variables from the literature that affect the perception of consumers regarding organic food. Descriptive research was used to understand the demographic profile of the organic food consumer’s. Conclusive research design was used to test the hypothesis based upon the motivating and inhibiting factor in the growth of organic food. Findings: The data collected from the survey were analyzed using percent analysis and ANOVA tests. Results indicated that the intention to purchase organic products was impacted by the consumer’s belief on the safety and health aspect of the product, trust and certification, information and availability and lifestyle and are hence drivers of growth. And certain impeding factors were identified like doubt in the professed quality of organic food, lack of awareness and price parity. Social Implications: There are enough evidences of fertile land being converted into wasteland because of use of agro- chemical-based fertilizers in farming. There are also enough incidents of polluted water (ground and surface) due to agrochemical-based farming. Heavy use of pesticides leads to adverse effect on the health of farmers also. There were many reports of farmers committing suicide because of debt due to heavy investment on pesticides and fertilizers. Organic farming is a win-win proposition for environment, farmers and consumer’s. Originality/value – The study was an effort to understand awareness and perception of organic food consumers in urban India post-agriculture revolution. The result would help the organic food producing and marketing companies to understand the factors that influence the belief of consumers when they purchase organic food and henceforth they can formulate communication strategies and marketing policy based on consumer’s expectations.

Epidemiological surveillance of Chikungunya cases – Findings from a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi

Background: Chikungunya epidemic is a major public health problem in metro cities in India especially during rainy season. There was an epidemic of chikungunyain the year 2016 in New Delhi. Therefore, this present study was planned to understand epidemiological and clinical profile of Chikungunya cases attending fever clinic in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Delhi. Methods & Materials: A total of 200 patients with fever of up to 7 days duration who reported at fever clinic of a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi were studied over a period of 6 months. A total of 47,874 fever cases were reported in fever clinic in same duration. Serum specimens were screened for chikungunya infection by serology (IgM). Chikungunya infection was detected in 16.5% patients by anti-CHIKV IgM antibodies by ELISA. A preformed semi-structured, interviewer administered questionnaire was used for the purpose of data collection. Results: Among these 200 suspected cases of chikungunya, fever (96.0%), joint pain (81.0%), myalgia (77.5%) and lower backache (57.5%) were the major clinical features. Major joints involved were knee joint (45.5%), wrist (32.5%), hand (phalanges) (34.5%) and ankle joints (31.0%). Myalgia, rashes, joint pain and joint swelling was frequently observed among chikungunya confirmed cases (p < 0.05). All group of ages, both gender and all class of socioeconomic scale were equally susceptible to chikungunya infection. Conclusion: Chikungunya virus had a wide spectrum of clinical features and all age groups, gender and socioeconomic status people were equally susceptible to Chikungunya infection. All acute febrile illness patients with joint pain should be screened in the laboratory for both Chikungunya IgM antibodies. Predictability of chikungunya is more in presence of joint pain and swelling, myalgia and rashes. This study emphasizes the need for a continuous surveillance on the disease burden.

COVID-19 Lockdown: Impact on Air Quality of Three Metro Cities in India

Covid-19 health pandemic resulted in nationwide lockdown in India. With the closure of almost everything from educational institutions to industries less no of vehicles came out on roads. As the vehicular emission is one of the reasons of higher rate of pollution in metro cities so this step of lockdown has shown positive impact on environment with decrease in pollution level. Despite various attempts made by the government over the last few years nothing proved fruitful but this forced decision has shown some great results. We have analysed the changes in the quality of air during lockdown period from 25th March to 30th April, 2020 over pre-lockdown period from 1st March to 24th March, 2020 of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata which are the polluted cities of India. Seven air pollutants PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, SO2, NH3, and NO2 have been used to calculate Air Quality Index (AQI) to see the changes in quality of air. The results showed that due to lockdown concentration of various pollutants PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 has decreased significantly. There is a heavy reduction of 42.27%, 69.28% and 74.80% in concentration of NO2 in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata respectively. It has been deduced from change in AQI values that there is a significant improvement in quality of air during lockdown in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Quality of Life in Metropolitan cities of Uttar Pradesh

Urbanization is a population shift from rural to urban areas, "the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas", and the ways in which each society adapts to the change. Being a complex socio-economic process closely connected with scientific technological revolution, urbanization exercises a growing influence on all aspects of society, reflecting the nature of economic and regional development.&#x0D; The numbers of metro cities in India are continuously increasing from 12 in the year 1981 to 23 in 1991, 35 in 2001 and 54 in 2011. This shows that urbanization is increasing but mostly in or nearby metro cities of the country. But the capacity of metro to assimilate increasing urban population is not as good as it should be.&#x0D; The sheer magnitude of the urban population, haphazard and unplanned growth of urban areas, and a desperate lack of infrastructure are the main causes of such a situation. The rapid growth of urban population (decadal growth of total population in India is about 17.7 percentage points during 2001-2011 while urban population growth is about 31.8 percentage points)[1] both natural and through migration though there is decline of rural-urban migration[2], has put heavy pressure on public utilities like housing, sanitation, transport, water, electricity, health, education and so on. So the study of metro cities is needed.&#x0D; This study is about the quality of life in seven metro cities (Kanpur, Lucknow, Ghaziabad, Agra, Meerut, Varanasi and Allahabad) of Uttar Pradesh. For the analysis some index are used in this paper like deprivation index, multi-dimension poverty index and quality of life index. This could give us insight of the sustainability of the metropolitan cities.&#x0D; &#x0D; [1] Census of India, 2011&#x0D; [2] Amitabh Kundu, ‘Urbanisation and urban governance – search for a prospective beyond neo-liberalism’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 29, July 19, 2003, pp. 3079-3087.

Consumer E-Loyalty for E-Grocery Shopping in a Metro City of India

This study focuses on the e-loyalty of the grocery consumers. Understanding online behavior in developing countries is an emerging issue in these days. The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of antecedents of flow on attitude and perceived ease of use in the context of online grocery purchase behavior in a developing country perspective. Further, the study also examines the role of attitude and perceived ease of use in building e-loyalty. The present study analyzes the data of 250 respondents collected through an online survey. The data were analyzed employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equational modeling (SEM). The results show that the flow variables (concentration and enjoyment) have a positive but differential effect on attitude towards online grocery purchase. However, both concentration and enjoyment were equally important in influencing the perceived ease of use. The study also found that attitude positively influences the e-loyalty, and perceived ease of use influences both attitude and e-loyalty.

Prevalence of High Cadmium Levels in Major Metro Cities of India

Prevalence of High Cadmium Levels in Major Metro Cities of India

Examining moderating role of personal identifying information in travel related decisions

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically verify the role of determinants of information quality in shaping attitudes and intention of respondents from major metro cities of India towards electronic word of mouth (e-WOM) using personal identifying information (PII) as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachFor the purpose of measuring the role of information quality in predicting attitude towards e-WOM (moderated by PII), the study proposes and validates the research framework by collecting responses from 375 respondents with diverse demographics, belonging to select metro cities of India.FindingsAll the constructs of information quality have a significantly positive effect on attitude of travellers towards e-WOM. Attitude further impacts the behavioural intention to book via an online travel agency/agent (OTA). PII successfully moderated all the hypothesized relationships with attitude except review sidedness.Research implicationsThe study offers a rationale to fill the gap between information quality and attitude as well as exploring new relationships using PII as a moderating variable. It further opens new avenues in researching the behavioural intention of travellers from metro cities of India with the disruptions created by Web 2.0.Practical implicationsOTAs in this competitive time must try to harmonize their systems to create content that is timely updated, unique, convincing and useful to build long-term relationships and generate continued revenues.Originality/valueIn the context of OTAs in India, this study has successfully identified the most relevant constructs of information quality and examined their effectiveness in creating a positive attitude towards e-WOM. The use of contemporary construct “PII” as a moderator will help marketers develop effective strategies for reducing anonymity in reviews and capturing the intention of experience-oriented travellers from the metro cities of India.

Elements impacting the utilization expectation of various health-care apps in India: a study conducted on smartphone users

PurposeThis paper aims to find out the impact of seven important factors towards behavior intention on various health-care applications in India. The spectacular rise of uses of smart phones in India has introduced various mobile applications in the market. The mobile applications have become very useful and popular amongst the urban consumers due to several reasons such as reducing time, effort, money, etc. Health-care applications which are used in various smart phones are still in an infancy stage in India. Health-care applications have several advantages and facilities and consumers receive few alerts or suggestions for free. Though the health-care applications have various benefits for everyone, still people are less aware of the services they provide. Fewer studies have been done on this particular subject, and people may find the apps interesting if they understand the benefits of these applications.Design/methodology/approachThis study aims to find out the impact of seven factors towards behavior intention on various health-care applications in India. The 331 samples have been chosen with the help of a structured questionnaire. The researcher has used stratified random sampling to collect the data for conducting the study, and the samples have been collected from four metro cities of India, namely, Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis have been conducted to find out the most influencing factor towards intention with SPSS v 21.FindingsThe result reveals that out of seven factors, perceived usefulness, enjoyment and time are the most influencing and significant factors towards utilization expectation. The other four variables, namely, cost, increased dependability, perceived ease of use and increased protection do not have a significant impact on the dependent variable. The paper has also revealed that marketers need to penetrate the market with some innovative marketing strategies. The findings of the study is providing the hint for implementing the strategies.Originality/valueThe study is unique in the context of a country like India where no such studies on this subject have been conducted before.

Shrinking Gender Barriers, - Sustainable Business Opportunity in Unisex Beauty Salons for Entrepreneurs in Urban India

The paper attempts to explore the potential for entrepreneurial opportunities in Unisex beauty salons in urban India. It also explores the cultural and socio-economic factors creating this unique business domain which attempts to enlarge the space of beauty practices breaking gender barriers. India in particular, presents a paradoxical situation where in one hand, the Unisex Salons are growing craze in metros particularly, among the youth, yet it largely remains a caste-based profession. Hence, it becomes imperative to carry out a study exploring the cultural, socio-economic factors and the stigma that surrounds the beauty salon practices in India today. The shrinking gender spaces which are engendering the places of beauty practices can be seen as reflecting the shift in, the ‘people’ aspect of sustainability. From secondary data analysis and review of literature it is found that India as an emerging market has potential for entrepreneurship and job creation in the wellness and beauty segment. As beauty is becoming an important discourse of modern lifestyle changing gender identities in the metro cities of India and favorable socio-economic condition are creating unique opportunity which can be explored by females and male entrepreneurs. The unisex salons segment has the potential of creating jobs for beauticians and hairstylist in both organized and unorganized sector.

Gastric cancer in Jammu and Kashmir, India: A review of genetic perspectives.

Gastric Carcinoma (GC) is one of the most common malignancies, which accounts for 6.8% of total cancer population worldwide. In India, the northeastern region has the highest gastric cancer incidence, and the Kashmir Valley has a very high incidence of gastric cancer as compared to other parts of Northern India. It exceeds 40% of total cancers with an incidence rate of 3-6-fold higher than other metro cities of India. Gastric cancer is a heterogeneous disease where most of the cases are sporadic, and <15% are due to obvious familial clustering. The heterogeneous nature of the disease can be associated with differences in genetic makeup of an individual. A better understanding of genetic predisposition toward GC will be helpful in promoting personalized medicine. The aim of this review is to analyze the development and progression of GC and to explore the genetic perspectives of the disease with special emphasis on Jammu and Kashmir, India.

Investigation &amp;amp; Examination of Noise Pollution - Definition, Sources, Effects, Monitoring and Control

Purpose – The study examines and investigates the problem of noise pollution in relation to its harmful effects on the human life. This study provides most appropriate definition of noise, identifies various sources of noise, investigates awareness level of public for noise, examines harmful effects of excessive noise and provides valuable suggestions for controlling the noise level. Methodology - This study is based on primary data collected from population of Delhi through a structured online questionnaire with sample of 350 respondents. The analysis has been carried out based on “cross-classifications’ in terms of ‘age’ as well as ‘gender’. Findings – This study revealed that male community is more aware about the noise pollution compared to female community. Most of the community is ignorant of what constitutes noise pollution as well as its adverse socio-economic & health impacts. Further the control of noise pollution has been hampered by insufficient knowledge of its harmful effects on human. The sound from traffic and loudspeakers is turned out major sources of outdoor noise pollutants. Primarily “traffic volume” expanded by road, rail and air traffic as a noise has gained wider recognition in terms of increasingly serious risk to human health. In case of indoor pollutants, television and different home appliances are reported as major noise sources. Even youngsters are also victim of noise at large scale. Noise extensively results in annoyance, disturb sleep, harmful effect on hearing, reduce working efficiency and interfere with communication. Public awareness programmes, education and technological solutions appeared to be the best methods to achieve the goal of noise reduction. Government can also play a significant role in putting efforts towards reduction of noise level by establishing & enforcing noise guidelines, standards and strict regulatory framework. Research Limitations and Practical implications – This study is limited to population of Delhi metro city in India. The findings in this study have several policy implications. Government should develop management strategies and action plans for noise control. The empirical evidences gathered through this study can be employed for developing appropriate legal and public action programs and awareness programs to disseminate knowledge about harmful effects of noise on human health and routine life.

Urban Female Labor Force Participation and Its Correlates: A Comparative Study of Slum-Dwellers and Their Urban Counterparts of Three Metro Cities in India

Urban Female Labor Force Participation and Its Correlates: A Comparative Study of Slum-Dwellers and Their Urban Counterparts of Three Metro Cities in India

Managing future air quality in megacities: Emission inventory and scenario analysis for the Kolkata Metropolitan City, India

Air pollution in Indian cities is a serious problem and a threat to human health. Kolkata Metropolitan City (KMC) is one of the Indian metro cities urgently requiring policy interventions to ensure breathable air in the near future. We developed a detailed emissions inventory of key air pollutants for 2015 in KMC, considering both particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5, BC, OC) and gaseous pollutants (SO2, NOx, CO, VOC and NH3). We estimated the emissions in a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario for the year 2030, while accounting for the impacts of current and planned policies. Our results reveal that current policies/measures are not sufficient to reduce PM2.5 emissions substantially in KMC by 2030. We thus explored three alternative policy scenarios considering various emission control strategies and non-technical city-specific control measures, along with associated cost implications. Our results indicate that significant emission reductions can be achieved (35% for PM2.5 and 45% for NOx) by spending €1.15 billion for advanced control measures across various sectors, compared with the business-as-usual scenario, are expected to cost €0.78 billion by 2030. Advanced control measures, coupled with the control of non-technical emission sources, may prove to be the most effective solution, yielding a significant reduction of key air pollutants (51% for PM2.5 and 54% for NOx) with a cost implication of €1.18 billion by 2030. Low carbon policies may also be able to substantially reduce key air pollutants with the additional co-benefit of reduced emissions of greenhouse gas, CO2 by 24% in 2030, with a running cost of €0.70 billion.

Availability, accessibility, and inequalities of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services in Indian metro cities

We examined the availability and accessibility of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and the overall ‘WASH’ performance in terms of levels, trends and inequality across the six cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, and Hyderabad) of India using data from two rounds of the India Human Development Survey conducted during 2004-05 and 2011-12. Findings summarise that accessibility and overall WASH performance during 2011-12 were better than 2004–05. The change was not significant across cities in terms of WASH availability during the survey years. The availability of WASH was poor, but accessibility was better in Mumbai. Chennai reported a reverse trend, where availability was better, but accessibility was poor. The overall level of WASH became significantly better in Mumbai during 2011-12 compared to 2004-05, but changes were minor in other cities. The cities with poor WASH performance (Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai) exhibited more inequality compared to better performing cities (Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi). The intra-city inequality is attributable to housing conditions, economic status, educational level, socio-religious affiliation, and occupational status. The efficiency with equity in WASH performance – both between and within cities should be the prioritised issue for urban policies to make cities more socially inclusive and sustainable.

Readiness of Indian Consumers Towards the Adoption of Shared Mobility

Public perceptions on shared mobility has substantially altered human mindsets in current times, gaining widespread popularity, particularly in the context of emerging economies struggling with increasing population density and shrinking infrastructure resources. The purpose of this study is to examine Indian consumers’ readiness towards the adoption of such shared mobility services in metropolitan cities. An online survey questionnaire was implemented to understand consumers’ readiness to adopt, commuting habits, perceived benefits, and challenges while consuming these services. A total of n=257 usable responses received from randomly selected consumers from 5 metro cities in India were critically analyzed for statistical significances. Findings suggest that in terms of readiness to adopt the consumers are showing a willingness to use shared mode of transport, major perceived key benefits are “cost”, “convenience” and “environmentally less polluting” while prominent challenges are “quality of service” and “customer satisfaction” when consumers engage with shared mobility services. Our study results will benefit public/private transport operators, policymakers, government agencies, and shared mobility consumers towards adoption, management, harnessing, and optimizing the potential benefits achieved through shared mobility strategies. The researchers propose an empirical exploration of consumers’ readiness to include multiple perception variables encompassing users from wider geographical contexts for gaining deeper insights into shared mobility adoption patterns as future research directions.

A Novel Self-Organizing Approach to Automatic Traffic Light Management System for Road Traffic Network

Traffic network is basically a “network of networks” consisting of mainly two types of networks: road network and a travel network. Due to drastic increase in population of vehicles, traffic congestion in metro cities of India is a severe problem. To resolve this use, we have proposed an approach to dynamic and automatic road traffic light management system. The approach is based on arithmetic mean theorem. The input to the control interface of traffic light of proposed approach are six different parameters : velocity of traffic units (v), queue length (l), inter-arrival time between vehicles (t), centrality measures value(c) and predicted value (prdt v) of traffic congestion by historical database and output is level of congestion. On the basis of congestion level, we build inference rules. The proposed approach automatically updates duration of green and red light as per the level of congestion at a particular junction. Proposed approach follows forward reasoning of If–Then rules. A study of this approach is done in this paper on various traffic situations of Delhi, India depending on queue length of vehicles.

ELEMENTS IMPACTING THE ADOPTION OF M-APP AMONG THE TRAVEL COMPANIES IN INDIA

Nowadays, adoption of various mobile apps through smartphone is a common practice. Throughout the world, smartphone users are exposed to various apps. The purpose of the study is to find the factors impacting when the consumers are adopting the mobile apps amongst various travel organisations. Simple random sampling has been used to collect the samples from all the four metro cities of India. One hundred eighty-two responses have been collected from various areas of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. Multiple regression analysis has been used to conduct the study through SPSS v. 21. The findings of the study revealed that technological, organisational, environmental, perceived cost and perceived trust significantly affected the adoption of mobile applications by tourism organisations in India.

Customer Satisfaction Towards Food Service Apps in Indian Metro Cities

The appearance of the internet, together with the development of related advancements, has made a noteworthy effect on the lives of individuals around the world. For advertisers, a standout among the various effects has been the rise of virtual stores that sell items and administrations online. Consumers are now be able to buy products and ventures for all intents and purposes anywhere, 24 hours daily, 7 days and without land and fleeting limits. While numerous advertisers recognize the significance of utilizing the internet in their promoting blends, little research has exactly tried the basic factors that impact a person’s choice when purchasing items or administrations on the web. This investigation looks at the determinants of the client-requesting knowledge, which incorporates information quality of the app, payment system and design of the app, customer services, customer satisfaction and the quality of food. The levels of determinants are indicated site quality and administration quality. Study information of 369 online sustenance-requesting clients was used to test the examination display, utilizing multiple regression analysis. Results uncover that not exclusively is there a huge positive relationship between customer services and satisfaction, yet additionally a huge positive relationship between quality of food and consumer satisfaction. Moreover, huge positive connections are additionally found not just between the app and consumer satisfaction but in addition between services and satisfaction also. There is a negative and insignificant connection between design of the app and satisfaction. By and large, the examination gives important bits of knowledge for working on web sustenance-requesting administrations effectively.

Quantification of Fundamental Frequencies of 3D Basins and Structures and Site–City Interaction Effects on Responses of Structures

Large-scale commercialization in Indian metrocities has made realtors develop new construction sites by filling land depressions with loose soil, which may behave as small three-dimensional (3D) basins. This study presents the development of empirical relations to predict the fundamental frequency of basins ( $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{B}}$$ ) and structures ( $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{S}}$$ ) on rock for different shape ratios to study the effects of site–city interactions (SCIs) on the response of structures under a double resonance condition. The S-wave responses of the various considered basins, structures, and site–city models are simulated using the finite-difference method. Analysis of the simulation results reveals that the $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{B}}$$ of the basin and the $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{S}}$$ of the structure depend strongly on the shape ratio, on average matching with those obtained using the SV-wave response of the section of the respective basin/structure. However, the spectral amplification factor (SAF) obtained at $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{B}}$$ / $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{S}}$$ for the basin/structure is much larger than that obtained using the SV-wave response of a section of the respective basin/structure. Empirical relations are developed to predict the $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{B}}$$ of basins and $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{S}}$$ of structures in terms of the shape ratio and one-dimensional (1D) fundamental frequency of the respective model. Analysis of 3D SCI effects reveals a reduction of the SAF at the fundamental frequency of the structure in the basin ( $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{SB}}$$ ) with an increase of the number of structures as compared with that at the fundamental frequency ( $$F_{{03{\text{D}}}}^{\text{SB}}$$ ) of a standalone structure in the basin, being on the order of about 60 % in the case of a city with 25 structures. This finding indicates the need for 3D SCI studies in urban environments for cost-effective earthquake engineering.

Influence of IoT Policy on Quality of Life

In this study, an attempt was taken to identify the issues concerning to regulations and governance which could substantially influence the citizens of India relating to adoption of the Internet of Things. The objective of this study is to highlight the importance of Internet of Things policymaking by the Government of India prescribing proper regulatory frameworks and good governance for effective and successful adoption of the Internet of Things by the citizens of India. An empirical approach has been taken for understanding the impact of IoT policy towards adoption of IoT enabled devices by the citizens of India. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been used towards analysis of the data collected from three metro cities in India. The study finds out the impact of IoT policy towards adoption of the Internet of Things by the citizens in India and its importance towards improving the quality of life of the citizens of India.