Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Susan Thomas Author-Name-First: Susan Author-Name-Last: Thomas Author-Email: sthomas.entp@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Author-Name: Diya Uday Author-Name-First: Diya Author-Name-Last: Uday Author-Email: diyaudaypatkar@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Title: Does the quality of land records affect credit access of households in India? Abstract: Under-utilisation of land as collateral for loans is often attributed to the poor quality of the land records infrastructure, which is seen to both increase the cost of closing credit transactions and the risk in collection if a loan fails. In this paper, we examine the link between the heterogeneity of the quality of the land records infrastructure across states and the access to credit by households in these states using two new data-sets for the analysis. The state-level variation in land record quality is measured using the NCAER Land Records Services Index score while the Consumer Pyramids household data is used to capture household borrowing. Our findings are that there is a weak link between the borrowing patterns of households and quality of land records infrastructure, particularly the availability of spatial records. However, it does not appear that this is sufficient to capture the extent to which households are able to access credit from formal financial sources. Length: 36 pages Creation-Date: 2021-02 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/thomasUday2021_lrsiAndHouseholdBorrowing.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 1 Classification-JEL: E2, G2, R1, R5, O4 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:1 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Gautam Bambawale Author-Name-First: Gautam Author-Name-Last: Bambawale Author-Email: gbambawale@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: Former Ambassador of India to China, Pakistan and Bhutan Author-Name: Vijay Kelkar Author-Name-First: Vijay Author-Name-Last: Kelkar Author-Email: kelkar.vijay42@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: Pune International Centre Author-Name: Raghunath Mashelkar Author-Name-First: Raghunath Author-Name-Last: Mashelkar Author-Email: ram@mashelkar.com Author-Workplace-Name: Pune International Centre Author-Name: Ganesh Natarajan Author-Name-First: Ganesh Author-Name-Last: Natarajan Author-Email: ganeshn@5fworld.com Author-Workplace-Name: 5F World and Lighthouse Communities Author-Name: Ajit Ranade Author-Name-First: Ajit Author-Name-Last: Ranade Author-Email: ajit.ranade@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: Aditya Birla Group Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: Jindal Global University Title: Strategic patience and flexible policies: How India can rise to the China challenge Abstract: India's China stance has to irreversibly change, in light of recent developments, both bilateral and global. The earlier strategy is simply not tenable in the light of an increasingly confrontational, if not hostile neighbor. We sketch elements of a strategy which coheres and unifies, rather than compartmentalises economic, diplomatic and geopolitical aspects of the relationship. We recognize the need to build strong coalitions with partners who have aligned objectives. In the longer term, a domestic economy energised by strategic patience and high sustainable growth is we believe the appropriate new framework. Coalitions, calm confrontation, continuous growth is the recommended new China strategy. Length: 26 pages Creation-Date: 2021-03 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/bambawaleetal2021_strategicPatienceandFlexiblepolicies.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 2 Classification-JEL: F, P Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:2 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Renuka Sane Author-Name-First: Renuka Author-Name-Last: Sane Author-Email: renukas@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: NIPFP Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum and Jindal Global University Author-Name: Bhargavi Zaveri Author-Name-First: Bhargavi Author-Name-Last: Zaveri Author-Email: bhargavizaveri@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Title: Should consumers be prohibited from storing card data on the internet? Abstract: In March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India's guidelines on Payment Aggregators and Payment Gateways prohibited merchants from storing data on cards used by customers. This paper argues that such a prohibition on card data storage impacts upon the ease of transactions for consumers, and effectively tilts consumer preference towards other payment instruments. This runs the risk of technological choices in the industry being made or substantially shaped by the regulator. The documents released lack a cost-benefit analysis of this prohibition and do not demonstrate that the chosen intervention is the best one. This raises concerns in the light of emerging Indian jurisprudence on the standards of regulatory governance to be met by statutory regulatory agencies. We show alternative approaches to address concerns relating to breaches of card information stored by consumers on the internet. These include better security standards, tokenisation, and liability frameworks. Length: 21 pages Creation-Date: 2021-05 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/SaneShahZaveri2021_card_data_storage_prohibited.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 3 Classification-JEL: H83, K22, K23 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:3 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum and Jindal Global University Title: Indian health policy in the light of Covid-19: The puzzles of state capacity and institutional design Abstract: The pandemic has constituted a severe stress test for the Indian health system. In this article, we review India's experience with Covid-19 in 2020. An array of initiatives are required in response to these experiences, in public health and in health care. In testing and in health care, the substantial role of the private sector needs to be recognised, and integrated into thinking about health policy. There is a need to reform government organisations, which wield coercive power or spend public money, so as to refocus them upon addressing market failure, and achieving state capacity. There is considerable knowledge, in the field of state capacity in India, which can help in this task. Length: 38 pages Creation-Date: 2021-05 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/Shah2021_puzzlesofStatecapacityandInstitutionaldesign.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 4 Classification-JEL: I18, H4 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:4 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Harleen Kaur Author-Name-First: Harleen Author-Name-Last: Kaur Author-Email: hrlin.kaur@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: Independent Researcher Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum and Jindal Global University Author-Name: Siddhartha Srivastava Author-Name-First: Siddhartha Author-Name-Last: Srivastava Author-Email: siddharta93@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: King's College, London Title: How elements of the Indian state purchase drugs Abstract: Quality problems in drug purchasing by Indian state agencies lie at the intersection of the field of drug quality in India and the field of government contracting in India. Improvements in the procedures used by state agencies when buying drugs can improve the working of public health care programs, and potentially also influence drug quality in the private market. The first step towards policy analysis and reform lies in careful description of how drug purchase works at present. In this paper, we describe how some elements of the Indian state buy drugs. Length: 22 pages Creation-Date: 2021-08 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/KSS2021_how_india_drugs_procurement.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 5 Classification-JEL: I18, H51, H57, H83 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:5 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Ila Patnaik Author-Name-First: Ila Author-Name-Last: Patnaik Author-Email: ilapatnaik@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: NIPFP Author-Name: Renuka Sane Author-Name-First: Renuka Author-Name-Last: Sane Author-Email: renukas@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: NIPFP Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Author-Name: S. V. Subramaniam Author-Name-First: S. V. Author-Name-Last: Subramaniam Author-Email: svsubram@hsph.harvard.edu Author-Workplace-Name: Harvard University Title: Distribution of self-reported health in India: The role of income and geography Abstract: Background: We obtain evidence on self-reported health in India using a new large-scale survey database. Methods: We report summary statistics about the self-reported ill-health rate, and explore relationships with socio-economic parameters through logistic regressions. Results: The overall average ill health rate is 3.25%. The most important correlates are age, income and location. We find substantial variation across the 102 'homogeneous regions' of the country. Higher income is correlated with better health in 40% of India. Conclusions: The maps of ill health seen here diverge from conventional wisdom about North vs. South India. Epidemiological studies are required in the hotspots of ill-health and the regions where higher income does not correlate with improved health. Keywords: Self-reported health, India, geographical variation, SES and health. Length: 24 pages Creation-Date: 2021-09 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/srh2021.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 6 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:6 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Ayush Patnaik Author-Name-First: Ayush Author-Name-Last: Patnaik Author-Email: ayushpatnaik@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Author-Name: Anshul Tayal Author-Name-First: Anshul Author-Name-Last: Tayal Author-Email: tayal.anshul498@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Author-Name: Susan Thomas Author-Name-First: Susan Author-Name-Last: Thomas Author-Email: sthomas.entp@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Title: But clouds got in my way: Bias and bias correction of VIIRS nighttime lights data in the presence of clouds Abstract: The VIIRS nighttime lights dataset constitutes progress in the measurement of night lights radiance, with monthly data at a pixel of roughly 0.5km × 0.5km. We identify a downward bias in the reported radiance when the number of cloud-free images in a month is low. This bias often takes on large values from -10% to -30%. We develop a cautious bias-correction scheme which partially addresses this problem. This scheme is applied upon the pixel-level dataset to create an improved dataset. The bias-corrected data hews closer to the ground truth as seen in household survey data. Length: 39 pages Creation-Date: 2021-10 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/Patnaiketal2021_nighttimeLightsData.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 7 Classification-JEL: C8,E0,E1,R1 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:7 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Akshay Jaitly Author-Name-First: Akshay Author-Name-Last: Jaitly Author-Email: akshay.jaitly@262advisors.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Author-Name: Ajay Shah Author-Name-First: Ajay Author-Name-Last: Shah Author-Email: ajayshah@mayin.org Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Title: The lowest hanging fruit on the coconut tree: India's climate transition through the price system in the power sector Abstract: The heavy lifting in the climate transition is done in the electricity sector. Decarbonisation of the economy requires a large-scale rearrangement of technology and business models, in supply and demand, in the electricity sector. The Indian electricity sector is ill-suited to perform this role and this constitutes the major roadblock for the climate transition in India. The solution lies in electricity reform, that addresses the long-standing fundamental problems of the electricity sector, that places this sector on the foundation of the price system. Once electricity works through the price system, an escalating schedule of a carbon tax will deliver the cost-minimising climate transition through myriad actions of self-interested actors spread all over the country, without requiring central planning. Many elements are coming together, through which this reform is feasible today while it was not in the past 30 years. Length: 40 pages Creation-Date: 2021-10 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/jaitlyShah2021_lowest_coconut.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 9 Classification-JEL: H11, H23, H31, H32, H73, H77, H87, G31, P31, Q42, Q48, Q54, Q56, Q58 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:9 Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0 Author-Name: Anjali Sharma Author-Name-First: Anjali Author-Name-Last: Sharma Author-Email: sharma.ad.anjali@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: National E-Governance Services Ltd. Author-Name: Susan Thomas Author-Name-First: Susan Author-Name-Last: Thomas Author-Email: sthomas.entp@gmail.com Author-Workplace-Name: xKDR Forum Title: The footprint of union government procurement in India Abstract: A missing link in the field of public procurement in India is an empirical sense of the magnitudes involved. In this paper we construct conservative estimates of basic facts about purchases by the union government and by central public sector enterprises. These calculations are based on fiscal statistics from the detailed demand for grants of union ministries and the annual statements published by the CGA. We obtain estimates of revenue, capital and total procurement in 2016-17. The estimated total purchases work out to about 11 to 12 per cent of GDP of that year. This suggests that a 10% improvement in purchasing capability would yield gains of about 1% of GDP. Length: 39 pages Creation-Date: 2021-11 File-URL: https://papers.xkdr.org/papers/2021SharmaThomas_publicprocurementestimation.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf File-Function: First version, 2021 Number: 10 Classification-JEL: H, H5 Handle: RePEc:anf:wpaper:10