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    ItemOpen Access
    A study of the status of women in religious laws of the SAARC Nations
    (University of North Bengal, 2023) Kejriwal, Shruti; Chakraborty, Gangotri
    Equality for women has been a dynamic topic for centuries. Gender inequality is rooted in the societal practices, culture and custom of personal laws of all the SAARC nations. All the major religions of the SAARC countries are influenced by the patriarchal set up. The underlying basis of all personal laws, regardless of religion is, ‘Men and Women are not equal’. There exists discrimination in the personal laws relating to marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, adoption and guardianship in the SAARC nations. All major religions have deep influences upon the people that follow them and, in the countries, where they are dominant or where they are proclaimed as state religion. In the recent past, personal laws have witnessed advances with the constantly changing nature of human relations. In such a scenario, it is an impediment to hold onto the age- old beliefs and traditions of the personal laws, which were adhered to during those times but are a hindrance to today’s growth and betterment. Therefore, there is a duty on the legislature of every SAARC nation to reform the conservative personal laws that are biased against the women. The Judiciary has also through its pragmatic judicial pronouncements and judicial creativity developed and reformed the draconian gender unjust personal laws to meet the dynamisms of the society. Therefore, the need of the hour is to legislate progressive laws to mitigate every inequality that exists in the personal laws of the various religions. This mitigation shall gradually lead to the equality of personal laws for men and women in every religion. Every SAARC nation has a multi-cultural and multi-religious population. In this backdrop, to have a universal secular law for all the SAARC nations is presently a distant dream. However, every SAARC nation may obliterate the gender unjust personal laws by framing progressive laws for the women of each religion. Thus, a parity will inevitably be achieved for the women of every SAARC nation. The title of this thesis is A STUDY OF THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS LAWS OF THE SAARC NATIONS. The title of Chapter I is ‘Theoretical and Conceptual Framework of Religious Laws’. The chapter states the interpretation of the religious laws to be synonyms to the personal laws. It examines the nature of personal laws such as private laws, public laws, group rights or individual rights. The chapter also discusses the evolution of personal laws and the views of legal philosophers in context to the personal laws. The title of Chapter 2 is ‘Politics of Personal Laws’. The chapter explains the politics of personal laws in the British era. The chapter further elaborates on the democratic politics behind enacting the laws to regulate the personal laws in India during the 1950s and 1980s. The discussion on the recent politics involved in the Triple Talaq Case and the Sabrimala Case also finds place in the chapter. The two prime jurisprudential theories, centrist and pluralist, relating to the topic has also been examined in the chapter. The chapter also discusses the unpleasant politics behind the righteous policies framed in India. The title of Chapter 3 is ‘Personal Laws and the issues of Gender Inequality’. The chapter examines the personal laws prevailing in India and highlights the issues of gender inequality in them. The laws on marriage, nullity of marriage, maintenance, restitution of conjugal rights, divorce, judicial separation, inheritance, guardianship and adoption applicable to the Hindus, Christians, Parsis and Muslims in India have been critically examined on the basis of gender inequality. The title of Chapter 4 is ‘Judicial Opinion whether Personal Law is a ‘Law’ Under Article 13 of the Constitution of India’. The chapter has recorded the evolution of ‘Personal Laws’ in India starting from the neutrality of British towards the Hindu and Muslim law and then the gradual legislations passed by the Britishers. The chapter discusses the debates held in the Constitution Assembly in relation to the personal laws. The chapter analyses the interpretation of various judicial pronouncements on whether the Personal Laws are ‘Laws’ under Article 13 of the Constitution of India. The title of Chapter 5 is ‘Comparative Study of the Personal Laws of the SAARC nations’. The chapter provides with the interface of law and life lived by the women of the SAARC nations while being governed by the personal laws applicable to them. It examines the status of personal laws in the Constitution of every SAARC nation. The chapter critically examines the laws governing the aspects of marriage, maintenance, divorce, inheritance and guardianship of the SAARC nations on the basis of its application to the women. The title of Chapter 6 is ‘International Instruments relating to Gender Equality’. The universally accepted concept and meaning of ‘gender’, ‘sex’ ‘gender equality’ and ‘stereotypes’ has been discussed in the chapter. The chapter extensively elaborates on the gender inequality issues dealt by the various international instruments of the United Nations. The chapter also incorporates the agendas relating to the rights of the women discussed in the various SAARC summit. The Beijing Declaration and the follow-up action across the world, the UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2018-2021 and the Sustainable Development Goals also finds the place of discussion in the chapter. The title of Chapter 7 is ‘Scope, Ambit and Applicability of Secular laws in the SAARC Nations’. The chapter elaborates on the concept of secularism imbibed in the Constitution of all the SAARC nations. The chapter also provides with the gap in the metanarratives of secularism and the real time experiences of people belonging to the different religions in the same nation. The chapter also examines the shift in the conceptual meaning of secular laws as explained in different countries and the politics behind it. It studies the government and the societal respect for religious freedom in every SAARC nation. To substantiate, the recent occurrences relating to religious affairs have been incorporated in the chapter. In Chapter 8 the researcher has concluded the entire research work by providing a detailed description of each chapter. The chapter also incorporates suggestions and recommendations to ensure gender just personal laws. Therefore, this research work is carried out with an objective to study the status of the women in the SAARC nations and examine the major religions of the SAARC countries namely: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. The researcher has drawn out the understandings and inferences of the teachings of these religion to bring out the correct and favourable conditions for the women of the SAARC nations.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Biological Evaluation of Indigenous Medicinal Plants from Darjeeling Himalayan Region of West Bengal for Natural Compound(s) As Inhibitor of Cancer Cell Proliferation and Studies on their Molecular Mechanism
    (University of North Bengal, 2023) Rai, Vijeta; Ghosh, Shilpi; Kumar, Anoop
    Cancer remains one of the major world health issue after cardiovascular diseases. The area of cancer research is continually expanding with better understanding of molecular mechanism of progression of the disease, which has resulted in development of new drug targets for more efficient cancer therapy. In addition, the search for new anticancer lead compounds is a great challenge due to the development of drug resistance, deleterious side effects and unaffordable cost of current chemotherapeutic drugs. The enormous success of plant based natural products as anticancer agent represents medicinal plants as an important pool for the identification of novel drug. Darjeeling Himalayan region has a rich diversity of therapeutic plants that can be utilized for development of novel drugs. In this study some ethnomedicinally important plants of the Darjeeling Himalayan region, such as Astilbe rivularis, Tupistra nutans, Zanthoxylum oxyphyllum, Bergenia ciliata, Artemesia vulgaris and Eupatorium cannabium were screened for various phytochemicals, and antioxidant, antimicrobial activities, and cytotoxic potential against cancer cell lines, and finally, Astilbe rivularis was selected futher studies on isolation of active compound with anti-cancer potential. A steroid ester compound, spectrometrically characterized as Stigmasta-5(6), 22(23)-dien-3-beta–yl acetate, designated as A11, was isolated for the first time from the plant rhizome in a bioassay guided approach. The catalytic inhibition and structural alteration of human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR) by A11 was evaluated using methotrexate (MTX), a DHFR inhibitor anticancer drug as a reference. The compound was found to inhibit the in vitro activity of hDHFR) with IC50 values of 1.20 μM. A11 interacted with hDHFR as revealed by concentration dependent quenching of the tryptophan fluorescence of the enzyme suggesting its effect on structural alteration of the enzyme. Molecular docking of A11 on crystal structure of hDHFR revealed significant interaction with free energy of binding and Ki values of -10.86 kcal mol-1 and 11 nM, respectively. Subsequent in vitro studies at cellular level showed a relatively greater cytotoxic effect of A11 against human kidney (ACHN, IC50 60 μM) and liver (HepG2, IC50 70 μM) cancer cells than their respective normal cells (HEK-293, IC50 350 μM and WRL-68, IC50 520 μM). Scanning electron microscopy of A11 treated cells revealed the morphological feature of apoptosis, like cell rounding and surface detachment, membrane blebbing, loss of cilia and increased number of pores of decreased sizes. A11 mediated apoptosis of cancer cells was found to be correlated with induction of intracellular of reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and fragmentation of genomic DNA, which is a hallmark of apoptosis. A11 mediated induction of apoptotic feature of ACHN cells was found to be correlated with increased accumulation of cleaved active form of the pro-apoptotic proteins, like caspase 3, caspase 7, caspase 9 and PARP1. The cleaving of caspace 3 and caspase 7 was further confirmed by western blot analysis. The results thus provide an insight into the anti-tumorigenic potential of A11. The function of A11 in both inhibition of hDHFR and induction of apoptosis suggest that the compound could act via diverse signaling pathways of cancer cells without affecting normal cells. However, a possible link between hDHFR inhibition and cell cycle regulation needs to be illustrated in future studies. The outcomes of this research contribute to the growing field of natural product-based drug discovery and highlight the significance of traditional medicinal knowledge in the context of cancer treatment.
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    A study of the legal framework for accountability of individuals for crimer against humanity and the role of the international law enforcement agencies.
    (University of North Bengal, 2014) Ghosh, Satarupa; Chakraborty, Gangotri
    The principle that individuals are and can be held criminally accountable for violations of the laws of war dates back to many years. However, it was only after World War II and the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, set up to judge those German and Japanese military leaders accused of serious crimes during the war, that the idea of individual criminal responsibility for serious breaches of international law gained ground. In this thesis an attempt has made to trace the evolution of individual’s responsibility for crime against humanity, the present legal framework in national and international level and the role of various law enforcement agencies to deal with the problem. Evolution of the Problem: History is witness to the fact that wherever an individual or groups of individuals have become powerful, they have flagrantly tortured the weak and the defenseless. Even where power is legitimated and turned into a legally valid authority, abuse of power and torture of the weak and the defenseless has continued. In this back drop considerable legal mechanism has developed for the exercise of such raw power. An international crime has been broadly defined as “an act universally recognized as criminal, that is, an act that is considered a grave matter of international concern and for some valid reason cannot be left within the exclusive jurisdiction of the state that would have control over it under ordinary circumstances”. Crimes against humanity now are established as jus cogens norms and are implicitly recognized as such in the preamble of the Hague Convention, which served to codify the customary law of armed conflict. Unfortunately, despite several attempts for fixing liability to the individuals who have committed crime against humanity and subjecting them to trials like Nuremberg trials and Tokyo trials the legal framework for fixing liability to individuals guilty of the act of committing crime against humanity to this day remains obscure and vague and ad hoc mechanisms are used to settle such cases. In the face of recent developments in countries like Libya, Egypt, Iraq the lack of legal framework to deal with such matters has become a cause for international concern. The main thrust of this work is to study the existing legal framework for determination of individual’s accountability for the crime against humanity and to propose changes into the existing framework. Hypothesis There is insufficient legal framework for the control and regulation and for fixing liability on the individual for committing crime against humanity and the present mechanism works through international ad hoc tribunals internationalized or mixed tribunals, the International Criminal Court as well as national courts, military tribunals and ordinary courts which allows any state to try alleged perpetrators, even in the absence of any link between the accused and the state exercising jurisdiction which leads to miscarriage of justice on one hand and multiple trials on the same cause of action on the other hand. Research Questions 1. What is the genesis for global movement for accountability? 2. What are the shortcomings of the present legal framework for accountability of international crime? 3. What is the role of the International Law Enforcement Agencies to provide proper justice to the victims? 4. What are the shortcomings of the institutional mechanisms to prevent the growth and spread of the international crime? 5. What is the concept of global movement towards accountability and what is the scope of its growth? Methodology Having selected the above topic for this research, the work will perforce be based on theoretical doctrinal research. The methodology followed is traditional non-empirical research. Chapter Summary Chapter I: “ACCOUNTIBILITY OF INDIVIDUALS FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK”. The jurisprudential rooting of the present research work is discussed under this chapter. This chapter also explains the concepts used in this research and international legal theories. Chapter-II: HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE CONCERN FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY AND FIXING OF ACCOUNTABILITY: This chapter discuss about the preliminary concepts of international crimes, such as aggression, genocide, war Crimes and crime against humanity and the historical evolution of crime against humanity, this is also an attempt to establish individual criminal liability for the crime against. Chapter-III: CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY BY INDIVIDUALS: PRE 1945 SPECTRUM: This chapter deals with the scenario of crime against humanity by individuals before 1945. Chapter-IV: CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY BY INDIVIDUALS: A POST 1945 SPECTRUM: This chapter describes the scenario of the framework of the trials of individuals for crime against humanity after World War II (1939-1945). Chapter V: “A ROADMAP OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES FOR DEALING WITH INDIVIDUALS ACCUSED OF CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY”. In this chapter the matter of discussion is about various international law enforcement agencies like International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, Ad Hoc Tribunals and Hybrid Tribunals. Chapter-VI: “A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE INTERNATIONAL AND INDIAN LEGAL FRAMEWORK RELATING TO CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY BY INDIVIDUALS”. This chapter mainly deals with the Indian legal framework and also the various Indian incidents regarding the crime against humanity in comparison with international framework for accountability of individuals for crime against humanity. Chapter-VII: “A STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL PRINCIPLES REGARDING LIABILITY OF INDIVIDUALS FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY IN SELECTED NATIONAL JURISDICTIONS”. The subject matter of this chapter is about the various national laws to combat crime against humanity and the implementation of those laws by the nation states. Chapter-VIII: “INDIVIDUAL LEADER’S LIABLE FOR CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY: A COLLAGE”. In this chapter I have discussed about various specific instances of individual leader’s liability. It is a narrative chapter. Chapter IX: SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUDING REMARKS: In conclusion it can be summed up that the hypothesis that legal framework for the control and regulation and for fixing liability on the individual for committing crime against humanity is insufficient, has been proved and in this regard certain suggestion has been put in the thesis.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Sports and sports policy in India since 1982 : Transformations and impact
    (University of North Bengal, 2023) Sharma, Shakti; De, Soumitra
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    ItemOpen Access
    Challenges to social security : a study on the management of crisis in the tea gardens of Dooars in North Bengal
    (University of North Bengal, 2023) Biswakarma, Biki; Chakraborty, Ranjit
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    “STATE, NGO’s and Ecotourism: A Study of Select Ecotourism Projects of Sikkim
    (University of North Bengal, 2022) Tamang lama, Nisha; Chakraborty, Ranjita
    The present study seeks to address the understanding of community-based ecotourism projects in Sikkim associated with how community-based ecotourism has been able to promote sustainable tourism and at the same time understand what has been the nature of interlinkages between the state, NGOs, and the local community in the promotion of sustainable ecotourism in the region under focus. The study also seeks to look into the degree of freedom given to the communities in planning and managing ecotourism in the context of hegemonic state-market relations in the area under focus. The present study focused on the Ecotourism Policy and the nature of the linkage between the government of Sikkim, the local NGOs, and the local community of the Ecotourism destination. We would probe the successes as well as the weaknesses of the projects and in the process address the question of how to promote and sustain community-based ecotourism. A major success has been the emergence of a community-based Non-Government Organization. NGOs have a potentially valuable role in supporting and building the capacity of local communities to participate in ecotourism programs, especially in defining the zoning and designing interpretation materials and facilities. Many NGOs have been participating in the tourism industry based on their different aims, but their major involvement has occurred within the area where tourism is linked with the local Community and environment; "community-based ecotourism''. Field trips were undertaken to study the ET projects in Sikkim. No study has focused on the conditions of the operation as well as the outcome of these projects. The present study seeks to examine Sikkim's Ecotourism Policy establishing the state as an ultimate and unique ecotourism destination offering memorable and high-quality learning experiences to visitors while contributing towards poverty alleviation and promotion of nature conservation. In Sikkim, though ecotourism projects are in operation, studies have focused on community participation and promoting conservation and sustainable development
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    ItemOpen Access
    Online shopping attributes and its influence on customers satisfaction, trust and behavioural intention : an empirical study
    (University of North Bengal, 2023) Prasad, Narayan; Bhattacharya, Debasis
    Shopping is an integral part of one’s daily life routine. In online shopping, buying and selling goods and services is done on a virtual platform (here, e-stores of retailers) with the help of the Internet. Online shopping helps retailers to get connected with their customers 24x7. Similarly, it allows buyers to place desired orders on the retailers’ e-stores (or web stores) anywhere and anytime. However, customers cannot interact face-to-face with retailers in online shopping. Moreover, they can only physically evaluate goods and services (such as touch, smell or test) once they receive and use them. Therefore, it is challenging to satisfy and build trust among online shoppers towards online shopping compared to traditional shopping. Consequently, it is necessary to evaluate (or a research gap) how e-retailers are satisfying customers and building trust among customers to adopt online shopping platforms. Moreover, it also needs to be checked that if the customers are satisfied with the online shopping platform and the online sellers successfully build trust, do they adopt online shopping into their behavioural intention? This study conducts empirical research to answer the above questions and bridge this gap in the body of knowledge. Based on previous research and theories in the areas of online shopping, the study identified the relevant online shopping dimensions (e.g., product reviews, perceived risk, website interface quality, perceived security, customer trust, customer satisfaction, and customer purchase behavioural intention) that influence customers’ buying behavioural intention on online shopping platforms. The study developed a structured questionnaire to measure the identified online shopping dimensions and analyze the online buyers’ demographic profiles. The study uses a five-point Likert scale to measure the items/questions of various online shopping parameters. In this five-point Likert scale, five represents “strongly agree”, four represents “agree”, three represents “undecided/neutral”, two represents “disagree”, and one represents “strongly disagree”. The target population of this study is college and university-going students who buy goods and services online. The study applied convenience sampling {as suggested by Gopinath (2021), Sunitha & Gnanadhas (2014), and Dani (2017)} to select institutions, departments, and centres. After that, the study used systematic random sampling techniques {as suggested by Alwan & Alshurideh (2022), Farzin et al. (2022), and Ariansyah et al. (2021)} to collect the responses from online shoppers. The study takes the help of Cochran’s formula (1977) to determine the sample size for an infinite population. The study took a sample of 576 online shoppers to explain the purchase behaviour intention of customers in online shopping platforms. The study considers parameters such as gender (Slyke et al., 2002), age (Khare et al., 2012), educational qualification (Susskind, 2004) and income (Mahmood et al., 2004) to analyse online customer demographic profiles. In addition, the study takes two new variables, called “payment method” and “time spent on the Internet” (suggested by Brown et al., 2003), to gauge consumers’ payment method preferences and Internet experience. The study used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method to extract the underlying dimensions of online shopping that influence customer buying behavioural intention on online shopping platforms. Furthermore, the study used varimax rotation with Kaiser normalisation to obtain the Rotated Component Matrix (RCM). The univariate normality of the data is checked with descriptive statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis. The study takes the help of Mardia’s coefficient test (1970) to test the multivariate normality of the data of online shopping parameters. The study examined the internal consistency in scale items or reliability of the online shopping construct with the help of “Cronbach alpha (α)” and “Composite reliability (CR)”. The validity of an online shopping construct is examined with the help of “discriminant validity” and “convergent validity”. The study established discriminant validity by average variance extracted (AVE) and convergent validity by the Fornell-Larcker test. The study develops an online shopping behaviour intention measurement model, structural model and respecified structural model of customers with the help of a rotated component matrix using statistical software (AMOS). The study established the fit indices of these models with the help of various specified model fit indices, such as the overall fit index (i.e., CMIN), absolute fit index (i.e., GFI, RMSEA, RMR, SRMR, and Normed chi-square), incremental fit index (i.e., NFI, CFI, and RFI) and parsimony fit index (i.e., AGFI and PNFI). The study found that women (57.5 per cent) are more inclined towards online shopping than men (42.5 per cent). Compared to shoppers in other age groups (such as up to 20, 26 to 30 and over 30), shoppers aged 20 to 25 are more interested in online shopping (40.8 per cent). Of the 576 online shoppers, 53.5 per cent are pursuing graduate programs. The study reveals that 33.9 per cent of online shoppers have a household income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Furthermore, the study shows that 46.5 per cent of online shoppers prefer the cash-on-delivery (COD) option payment method, and 50.2 per cent surf the Internet for 2 to 4 hours per day. The statistical results of this study show that perceived security (PSEC), product review (PRV), and perceived risk (PRK) affect both customer satisfaction (CSAT) and trust (CTRT). Web interface quality (WIQ) affects customer trust (CTRT) but does not affect customer satisfaction (SAT). Customer satisfaction (CSAT) is influenced by customer trust (CTRT) in the online shopping platform. Furthermore, the study shows that the behavioural intention (BI) of customers in online shopping platforms is directly influenced by customer satisfaction (CSAT) and trust (CTRT) and, indirectly, by perceived security (PSEC), product reviews (PRV), perceived risk. (PRK), and Web Interface Quality (WIQ). The square multiple correlations (R2) of customer satisfaction (CSAT) and customer trust (CTRT) in the online shopping platform are 0.43 and 0.38, respectively. This means that the proposed model (i.e., a model for estimating customer’s purchase behaviour intention in online shopping platforms) explains 49 and 38 per cent variation in customer satisfaction (CSAT) and customer trust (CTRT), respectively, with the help of taking online shopping factors in this study. The square multiple correlations (R2) of customer behavioural intention (BI) in the online shopping platform is 0.32. This means that the proposed model explains a 32 per cent variation in customer purchase behaviour intention (BI) with the help of taking online shopping factors in this study. There are some research limitations of this study. This study does not consider the responses of other online shoppers (such as housewives, senior citizens and professional online shoppers). This study proposed a customer purchase behaviour model on online shopping platforms considering relevant dimensions (such as product reviews, perceived risk, perceived security, website interface quality, customer trust, customer satisfaction and customer behavioural intentions). However, these online shopping dimensions are only indicative lists and not exhaustive lists of online shopping dimensions. Since online shopping uses technology and the Internet, it can be a new dimension if any technological innovation is adopted to make online shopping convenient. Hence, online shopping dimensions are dynamic as technological innovations are dynamic. Thus, assessing customers’ buying behaviour on online shopping platforms is dynamic and continuous, and the research on online shopping is considered a never-ending process.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Measurement of efficiency among life insurance companies in India during the post reform period
    (University of North Bengal, 2022) Sarda, Madhu; Roy, Indrajit
    An economy is built upon financial intermediation. The efficacy of financial intermediation ripples through distant economic boundaries and benefits all the stakeholders. Insurance has emerged as one of the significant constituents of the Indian financial intermediation; thus, the question of its efficiency should not be lost sight of. Time and again, the Indian insurance industry was found at crossroads. Each time, whenever structural changes took place, the insurance industry got transmuted. The latest structural change took place in 2000 when the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999 was enacted. It marked the ending of state exclusivity and the beginning of market-driven competition in the Indian insurance sector. Then policymakers believed that the liberalisation-led competition would persuade both the public insurer and private insurers to perform efficiently and to grab higher shares of the uninsured market. They prophesied that the reform would bring a positive impact on key insurance parameters. The potential insurance market of India appeals for unabated scale expansion. However, scale expansion policy should be subject to scale efficiency analysis. The present study primarily focuses on the measurement of scale efficiency scores of the life insurance companies operating in India during the post-reform period. This study measures and analyses scope efficiency also. The scale efficiency relates to the volume of production and the scope efficiency relates to the variety in production. The efficiency aspect of the Indian insurance industry has not been researched as substantially as compared to foreign insurance industries. The Econometric Frontier Approach (EFA) and the Data Envelopment Approach (DEA) are popular techniques in the realm of efficiency studies. The present study chooses the EFA over the DEA. In the Indian context, the econometric path of the efficiency measurement is almost not travelled. The study undertakes the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method of estimation to measure the scale efficiency of the life insurance companies operating in India during the period from 2003-04 to 2018-19. It measures the scope efficiency of the entire industry, as well as the public sector and the private sector individually. It adopts the translog cost function. Separate output sets are adopted to measure the scale efficiency and the scope efficiency. Benefits paid (QR) is one of the output variables to measure scale efficiency. The other output variable is investment (policyholders’) and income from investment along with assets held to cover linked liabilities (QI). Three output variables, namely, life fund (Q1), pension and group fund (Q2) and ULIP fund (Q3) are adopted for the measurement of scope efficiency. Three input variables are chosen, namely, labour (L), capital (K) and technical provision (TP). Cost (C) is the single dependent variable. Operating expenses related to the insurance business along with payment to suppliers of labour, capital and technical provision is used to surrogate the cost. Labour (L) is priced with commission per agent (W). Insofar as the price of shareholders’ fund (R) and that of technical provision (P) are concerned, income from investments per rupee of shareholders’ fund and prime lending rate are adopted respectively. It is found that the reform has caused a structural break in the life insurance premium series. It has driven the average premium upward. However, the slope, i.e., growth rate per year, has reduced by 5.9 per cent. Around 73 per cent of life insurance companies enjoy scale economies throughout the study period. No life insurance company is scale-neutral, i.e., scale efficiency equals unity. Two life insurance companies, namely, TATA-AIA Life Insurance Company Limited (TALIC) and Shriram Life Insurance Company Limited (SHLICL), experience scale diseconomies. Around 18 per cent of life insurance companies experience both scale economies and scale diseconomies during the study period. Insofar as the entire life insurance industry is concerned, scale economies prevail. The public life insurance sector enjoys scale economies, whereas the private life insurance sector experiences scale diseconomies, except in two financial years. Hence, the entire life insurance industry should expand its scale of production, and such expansion should be contributed by the public sector. The yearly scale efficiency scores of the entire life insurance industry stay in between the public and the private life insurance sector except in the financial year 2009-10. It is due to the combined impact of scale economies and scale diseconomies as prevailed in the public sector and the private sector respectively. It is also found that with the increase in asset size and with the expansion of scale (output), the value of scale economies, though remaining less than unity, increases. Insofar as the scope efficiency is concerned, this empirical study indicates that a higher cost is involved in specialised production than in joint production. In other words, joint production is better as dropping any two of three outputs would lead to higher costs. Hence, the entire life insurance industry, as also individually the public life insurance sector and the private life insurance sector, are scope efficient, as they are currently pursuing joint production.
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    Enquiry into the causes and consequences of rural urban migration in West Bengal with special reference to Coochbehar District
    (University of North Bengal, 2022-11) Majumdar, Sujit; Bagchi, Kanak Kanti