Articles by Vinish Kathuria

This paper analyses the productivity performance of both the organised and unorganised segments of the Indian manufacturing sector using unit level data. Both partial and total factor productivity measures are employed. Our analysis reveals that labour productivity has increased for the organised sector over time, whereas both labour productivity and capital intensity growth have slowed down in the unorganised sector during the period between 2000-01 and 2004-05. The improvement in TFP growth in organised manufacturing in the post-2000 period as compared to the second half of the 1990s across most states in India is heartening as also the fact that output growth was mostly productivity-driven in the post-reform period. However, the declining TFP and the increasing capital intensity of the unorganised sector are causes of worry and raise several important questions.

Delhi's CNG experiment has been hailed as among the few success stories of its kind in recent times. This paper investigates whether the enactment of policy instruments in Delhi affected ambient air quality and whether CNG conversion impinged on the pollution profile. To carry out the analysis, daily ambient air quality data was used from June 1999 to September 2003 from the busiest crossing in Delhi. The results do not indicate an all-round improvement in ambient quality as NOx rose after the conversion, whereas SPM and PM10 showed only a marginal fall; CO was the only parameter that showed a significant decline. But the problem so far has been addressed from a limited perspective and there are in fact three ways to approach it: reduction in emissions per unit of fuel used; fewer vehicle kilometres travelled in total and less fuel use per vehicle kilometre travelled. Unless all three modes are enmeshed, one would not expect the air quality to improve.

The present study attempts to analyse the performance of rural public health systems of 16 major states in India using the techniques from stochastic production frontier and panel data literature. The results show that not all states with better health indicators have efficient health systems. The study concludes that investment in the health sector alone would not result in better health indicators. Efficient management of the investment is required.

Stringent regulations to control pollution due to effluents have not stifled the growth of the palm oil industry in Malaysia; rather, they have complemented the industry's efforts to innovate and remain competitive.

Many command and control instruments, such as banning old commercial vehicles and banning leaded petrol have been implemented to curb Delhi's air pollution. This paper is an attempt to investigate whether these efforts have led to a commensurate fall in air pollution in Delhi. Our analysis shows that it has not resulted in concomitant improvement in ambient air quality. One of the reasons is reliance on new vehicles, with little emphasis on in-service vehicles. The containment of vehicular pollution requires an integrated approach, with combined use of transport policies and air pollution control instruments.