Archives: Event

How has COVID-19 impacted households in Odisha & Uttar Pradesh?

In the latest in its series of rapid telephone surveys to gauge the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, NCAER polled 2,068 households in four districts in Odisha and Uttar Pradesh (Districts Bargarh and Dhenkanal in Odisha and Chandauli and Firozabad in UP) during June 9-18, 2020, the second week of the so-called Unlock 1.

In this research done in collaboration with the Nossal Institute for Public Health at the University of Melbourne, the aim is to understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on incomes, jobs, migration, availability of essentials, and existing health conditions. The survey also gauged perceptions about the return to work, concern for one’s neighbours, the reliance that can be placed on others, fears related to the virus and isolation, and faith in government’s ability to handle the pandemic. The sample households come from a larger NCAER-Nossal study on “Health Seeking Behaviour in Four Indian States.”

On July 21, NCAER hosted NCAER Fellow Prabir Kumar Ghosh and NCAER’s collaborators from the University of Melbourne’s Nossal Institute for Global Health, Professor Barbara McPake, Director of the Institute and Professor Ajay Mahal to discuss the findings of this latest in NCAER’s series of telephone surveys. The discussion was moderated by NCAER Director General, Shekhar Shah. The webinar was attended by over 110 participants.

Skilling in Schools

Taking stock of the current system of teaching and
learning of skills in schools

The New Education Policy 2020 has ushered in innovative approaches to learning by adding job-oriented and job-linked inputs in the school curriculum by the Central Board of Secondary Education. To take stock of the current status of teaching and learning of skills in CBSE schools, the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and CBSE have entered into a collaboration to evaluate the goals, objectives, and delivery mechanisms of how CBSE schools currently teach vocational skills.

NCAER and CBSE  signed a Memorandum of Understanding to provide a framework for this initiative. The session hosted a presentation by the National Skill Development Council (NSDC) on their latest Skill Development Priority Index Report, which identifies priority regions in India in the needs for skill development. Based on indices of population, industry, labour supply and school and vocational education, the NSDC’s index is a guide for prioritising skilling development interventions and promoting new initiatives in the skilling space.

Senior government officials Praveen Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Anita Karwal, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Manoj Ahuja, Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), and Biswajit Saha, Director, CBSE  joined the proceedings. The session was moderated by K P Krishnan, IEPF Chair Professor, NCAER.

Community Masking to Help Halt India’s Second COVID-19 Surge

Lessons from a Large-scale Masking Experiment in Bangladesh

In mid-February this year, India was registering some 12,000 cases of covid-19 a day, fewer than many advanced countries in Europe. On April 23, India clocked some 333,000 new, positive cases, far higher than any other country at any time during this pandemic. The Economist notes that epidemiologists estimate the numbers could be 10 to 30 times higher, since testing is limited outside India’s cities. What happens in India will also matter for the world. Besides inexpensive vaccines, India may end up exporting dangerous, new SARS-CoV-2 strains.
As Indians learnt last year, lockdowns can cause deep scarring in labour markets and for smaller firms. This is likely to happen again. Even if vaccine production and imports increase, India’s sharp second surge will be difficult to halt with vaccines alone. Mounting scientific evidence is pointing to covid-19 primarily transmitting through airborne aerosol transmission.  This suggests that even as governments are working hard to arrange oxygen supplies, increase hospital capacity, and ramp up vaccine availability, communities should deploy effective masking strategies urgently.

Researchers at Yale University and the Stanford Medical School, along with IPA and local partners, have run a large, 350,000-person, randomized control trial in rural Bangladesh to evaluate ways to increase mask wearing in communities and to measure its impact on covid-19 transmission rates. The research identified the precise combination of mask design, distribution and promotion strategies that led to sustained increases in mask-wearing in the community. Their work answers questions such as, which interventions increase mask wearing the most? Do social nudges or incentives increase mask wearing? Does mask promotion inadvertently decrease social distancing? What kinds of masks work best? Urgent answers to these practical questions can help as India grapples with the mounting tragedy of its second wave.

On Monday, April 26th, to discuss the potential for concerted community masking in India, NCAER, Yale, Stanford, and IPA hosted Mushfiq Mobarak, Professor at Yale University leading the Bangladesh work, Gagandeep Kang, FRS, Professor of Microbiology at CMC Vellore and one of India’s foremost epidemiologists, D K Tiwari, Principal Secretary, Medical Education & Research, Government of Punjab, and P S Harsha, Commissioner of the Department of Information and Public Relations at the Government of Karnataka. The discussion was moderated by NCAER Director General Shekhar Shah.

 

Does the Indian consumer buy better with full disclosure on financial products?

Niyati Agrawal, Monami Dasgupta, Anand Sinha, Ashwani Bhatia,
Krishnamurthy Subramanian and Rajesh Chakrabarti 

in conversation with 
Ananth Narayan

In recent times, financial markets have seen an increase in consumers seeking better returns through innovative investments to secure their wealth and savings. This has led to diversification of investments from old and trusted avenues to newer areas of investment.

However, many investors are generally not well-informed about the products they are about to buy. It has been observed that when given full disclosures, consumers are 80-90% less likely to buy high-risk financial products. Although financial managers are expected to act as securers of consumer interests, they are often guided more by incentive structures rather than the needs of investors. Consequently, consumers may end up buying financial products that do not meet their goals. The result is usually mis-selling, wherein consumers with little-to-no knowledge about the risks involved are left feeling short-changed.

What are the ways in knowledge-asymmetrical financial markets can shift attitudes from caveat emptor (buyer beware) to caveat venditor (seller beware)? How can regulators and banking institutions meaningfully craft sale incentive systems towards informed consumer decisions? And lastly, how can a system of informed consumer decision-making be crafted for an India flush with investors?

On Tuesday, March 23rd, NCAER hosted Monami Dasgupta and Niyati Agrawal of Dvara Research to present their research on the latest and most egregious instance of mis-selling of AT1 bonds. The presentation was based on the paper that Niyati and Monami have co-authored with Monika Halan, Misha Sharma, and Madhu Srinivas, titled Impact of Information Disclosure on Consumer Behaviour: Case of AT1 Bonds.  This was followed by a panel discussion by leading experts Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India, Ashwani Bhatia, Managing Director at the State Bank of India, Anand Sinha, former RBI Deputy Governor and Rajesh Chakrabarti, Dean at the Jindal Global Business School. The discussion was moderated by Ananth Narayan, Additional Director, Yes Bank. A press release for this webinar is available on this page.

Data Talks: The NCAER Data Innovation Centre Methodology Seminars (First Seminar)

Data Collection vs Data Construction: How Methodology and Substance are Inextricably Interwoven

The first in a new NCAER seminar series on Data Collection Methodology was organised by the NCAER National Data Innovation Centre on March 18, 2021. This first seminar, presented by Stanley Presser, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, is part of a series of provocative discussions on data collection methodologies in which distinguished speakers in the field share their views and one or more discussants reflect on them from an Indian perspective. Data Journalist Rukmini S. was be the discussant for this seminar. This first seminar was held virtually.

Professor Presser argued that data collection is a misleading metaphor because data are constructed not collected. Hence, methodology and substance are inseparable. The implication is to upend the distinction between “results” and their “interpretation”. He illustrated the argument by two examples of social change in the United States, one involving volunteering activities and the other, attendance at religious services.

Professor Presser is interested in the interface between social psychology and survey measurement. His research focuses on questionnaire design and testing, the accuracy of survey responses, non-response, and ethical issues stemming from the use of human subjects. His journey as a social science researcher exemplifies the title of his talk: how methodology and substance are inextricably interwoven. His books on the subject, as co-author and Chief Editor, include Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys (with Howard Schuman), Survey Questions (with Jean Converse), and Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questionnaires (as Chief Editor). He has served as Editor of Public Opinion Quarterly, and as President of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association. He was Director of the Maryland Survey Research Center from 1989 to 2000.

Rukmini S. is one of India’s few data journalists and was the first Data Editor of an Indian publication while at The Hindu. She was most recently Editor—Data and Innovation at HuffPost India. Rukmini writes mainly on gender, crime, law, caste, inequality and is passionate about engaging storytelling. She studied in Mumbai and London, worked in Delhi, and now lives and works in Chennai.

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