Inclusions and Exclusions of Tribal Narratives in the Indian Education Policies of India

The COVID-19 situation in India exposed the deep social and economic divide that exists within. Revealing these existing inequities and vulnerabilities, the pandemic situation critically questions what this divide means for the already marginalized communities in India. The founding fathers of the Indian Constitution foresaw the profound challenge of creating social, political, and economic equity with huge diversity. They saw education with development as a solution to create a just society. Therefore, the structures of reservation and economic support were built into the Constitution. However, these government policies of development and education were intensely geared towards integration as a nation-building exercise. Meanwhile, access to education is still provisional, subject to factors like lack of infrastructure, and that access is not always enough for emancipation. Through this chapter, the nation-building exercise will be critically examined in the light of diversity and the missing narratives of the consent of marginal citizens through the post-colonial lens.

Is Income Inequality Influenced by Financial Knowledge? A Macroeconomic and Longitudinal Analysis

Our objective is to analyze whether financial knowledge influences income inequality. For this purpose, we resort to a new index of financial knowledge that differs from the existing ones in that it is both longitudinal and macroeconomic. We use this index as one of the explanatory variables of the Net Gini Index in our panel data estimations. Based on a sample of 63 countries over the period 2008–2014, our results allow us to conclude that financial knowledge is related to income inequality and that, moreover, this relationship is non-linear. Thus, increases in financial knowledge could reduce income inequality when starting from relatively low levels of such knowledge. However, at a certain threshold, the income redistributive effect of financial knowledge could disappear or even reverse. Even so, national strategies for financial education could be useful to achieve economic equity in those countries where financial knowledge levels are low. In addition, we shed light on the effect that other variables (such as institutional quality or under-education) have on income inequality.

“Will America Work? Racial and Economic Equity in a Post-COVID World”

Due to a variety of structural, political, and economic changes, the US is currently in the midst of record levels of economic inequality. At the same time, the country is rapidly becoming more racially diverse (and dealing with the backlash of these demographic changes). In this article, I use Kalleberg’s (2003) framework of “good jobs” and “bad jobs” in conjunction with several sociological theories of race and racism to assess the implications of these changes. I suggest that the United States is at an inflection point that will either result in a shift toward policies that produce more racial and economic parity, or a commitment to forces that will further entrench these inequalities.

Study on the impact of the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway on regional economic equity based on economic performance

According to the panel data of stations along the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway (BSHR) from 2008 to 2018, the influence of BSHR on regional economy of cities along the line is analyzed, and the influence of the opening of the BSHR on regional economic equity of cities along the line, through constructing the difference-in-differences model. The research result shows that the opening of the BSHR greatly promotes the growth of the GDP per capita of the site cities along the line and the optimal allocation of resources, such as labor, information and technology, and accelerates the two-way flow of factors of production between big cities and small and medium-sized cities at stations along the high-speed railway, makes high-quality resources from small and medium-sized cities flow to big cities along the line, while some backward resources from big cities gradually tilt toward small- and medium-sized cities along the line. In short, the opening of BSHR promotes the economic growth of the cities along the line, shortens the economic gap between the cities, is conducive to realizing regional economic equity.

Examining equity in the utilisation of psychiatric inpatient care among patients with severe mental illness (SMI) in Ontario, Canada

Background Severe mental illness (SMI) comprises a range of chronic and disabling conditions, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychoses. Despite affecting a small percentage of the population, these disorders are associated with poor outcomes, further compounded by disparities in access, utilisation, and quality of care. Previous research indicates there is pro-poor inequality in the utilisation of SMI-related psychiatric inpatient care in England (in other words, individuals in more deprived areas have higher utilisation of inpatient care than those in less deprived areas). Our objective was to determine whether there is pro-poor inequality in SMI-related psychiatric admissions in Ontario, and understand whether these inequalities have changed over time. Methods We selected all adult psychiatric admissions from April 2006 to March 2011. We identified changes in socio-economic equity over time across deprivation groups and geographic units by modeling, through ordinary least squares, annual need-expected standardised utilisation as a function of material deprivation and other relevant variables. We also tested for changes in socio-economic equity of utilisation over years, where the number of SMI-related psychiatric admissions for each geographic unit was modeled using a negative binomial model. Results We found pro-poor inequality in SMI-related psychiatric admissions in Ontario. For every one unit increase in deprivation, psychiatric admissions increased by about 8.1%. Pro-poor inequality was particularly present in very urban areas, where many patients with SMI reside, and very rural areas, where access to care is problematic. Our main findings did not change with our sensitivity analyses. Furthermore, this inequality did not change over time. Conclusions Individuals with SMI living in more deprived areas of Ontario had higher psychiatric admissions than those living in less deprived areas. Moreover, our findings suggest this inequality has remained unchanged over time. Despite the debate around whether to make more or less use of inpatient versus other care, policy makers should seek to address suboptimal supply of primary, community or social care for SMI patients. This may potentially be achieved through the elimination of barriers to access psychiatrist care and the implementation of universal coverage of psychotherapy.

Modelling of beyond budgeting, competitor accounting, transparency, competitive advantage, and organizational performance: The case of Indonesia SMEs

SMEs are the backbone in driving the Indonesian economy and play an essential role in creating jobs throughout Indonesia. Indonesian SMEs are the key to designing inclusive development through the merger of large & small businesses so that economic equity can touch all levels of society. This study examines several factors of Indonesian SMEs' organizational performance, such as beyond budgeting, competitor accounting, and transparency through competitive advantage. This research was conducted by distributing online questionnaires to business owners, financial managers, or financial supervisors of SMEs in Indonesia spread across six islands. A total of 155 questionnaires were obtained in this study and analysed by SMART PLS 3.2.9. The results show that beyond budgeting and transparency influence competitive advantage, while competitor accounting does not. Other results show that competitor accounting, transparency, and competitive advantage influence business performance, while beyond budgeting does not. Path analysis in this study shows that competitive advantage mediates beyond budgeting and transparency, while competitor accounting is not mediated. Researchers are aware that this study has limitations in data dissemination and was distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic conditions, which allowed for differences in results with other similar studies. Hopefully, with this research that practitioners will be able to provide other views beyond budgeting, competitor analysis, and the side of transparency for Small and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia. Policymakers can encourage SMEs to be more innovative and responsive to science through programs to increase business scale, considering the contribution of SMEs to Indonesia's gross domestic product. Further research is expected to analyze more deeply what factors affect the competitive advantage and organizational performance of small and medium enterprises, such as the availability of working capital, SME access to banks, how digitalization plays a role, etc.

Construction of Public Opinion about Religious Moderation on NU Online Instagram Accounts (@nuonline_id)

This study tries to describe how NU Online constructs the content of religious moderation in influencing public opinion. Starting from the development of social media in the digital era, which plays a significant role in building public opinion and culture, NU Online uses Instagram (@nuonline_id) to spread the concept of moderation. The spread of the moderation message aims to maintain the country’s integrity and prevent radicalism or extremism in religion. This research is descriptive qualitative research. The study conducts by online observations of the @nuonline_id Instagram page to detect religious moderation content. This study succeeded in finding the construction of religious moderation on the @nuonline_id account using text analysis (images and text). The study results explain that NU Online carries out the structure of religious moderation in six aspects of life: (a) Aspects of inter-religious relations. In this aspect, NU Online invites Muslims to maintain harmony with people of different religions. (b) Aspects of social life by suggesting the Indonesian people live in harmony with each other as Indonesian citizens. (c) Political factors and state management by asking the government to develop moderation in carrying out their duties. (d) The education aspect is by the inculcation of the moderation concept in the curriculum. (e) Legal aspects and understanding of religious texts encourage Islamic scholars to consider the religious context in establishing laws. (f) Economic factors, taking into economic equity.