A. Webinars

Webinar on "Women Elected Representatives in the Local Governments in Kerala: Leaders hit the Political Glass Ceiling organized on 19 January 2023

Prof D Narayana, Former Director, GIFT, presented the paper. Prof KJ Joseph, Director GIFT welcomed the participants. Ms Akihila Pappan, Research Associate , GIFT chaired the session.

Abstract: Women in politics and leadership positions have captured our imagination in recent years. But, globally, continued underrepresentation of women in politics is the rule. By the end of 2021, only 26.1 per cent women are members of parliament globally. And the variation is wide across the countries. One of the key determinants of women's representation is gender quotas. India has, for close to thirty years now, implemented quota for women in the Local Governments. Has it made a difference to the rise of women leaders is a topic hardly discussed in India. Rise of women to the top of the political spectrum as leaders is incumbent on the number, pathways, and political clout (Jalalzai, 2014). Many states have raised the quotas to 50 per cent. The large numbers, however, have to be embellished by the supporting capabilities of women, especially gender parity in education and employment. In the absence of these two, the widespread phenomenon of 'proxies' may exist - someone else taking decisions for those elected women. As regards pathways to leadership, the political pipeline shapes women's chances of rising to the top. Political parties are considered as the "gatekeepers" of democracy. How the political parties function and how their functions are regulated have a significant impact on opportunities for women's political advancement.  Kerala is well-known for its human development achievements, and decentralised model of governance. It stands in the forefront of implementing 50 per cent quota for women and has a competitive political environment with multiple parties actively fighting for power. The issue of women elected leaders in the Local Governments of Kerala has not attracted much attention.  Especially the role of political parties as gatekeepers, and how their functioning has affected women's political advancement. This paper focuses on this issue. The paper begins by setting out the facets of gender parity in education and employment in Kerala to keep the issue of proxy out of the way. Then it turns to the numbers, pathways and political clout. Numbers in both rural and urban Local Governments, women's share and Party positions are discussed in detail. Political pathway is analysed by taking the proportion of women members getting re-elected. It is contrasted with the political parties retaining proportion of seats in Local Governments. Data for the three Local Government elections - 2010, 2015, and 2020 - are used for the purpose.  Women's representation in political party committees is, then taken up followed by a discussion of representation in Legislative Assembly and the pathways to it. The paper concludes that the patriarchal mores in the society and within the political parties of all hues is responsible for the lack of political advancement of women to leadership positions in Kerala. If Kerala with high gender parity in education and work participation rates shows such low advancement of women, then why talk of other states and India as a whole? India is paying a heavy price in terms of poor human development achievements by underrepresenting women in politics and legislative institutions. The way forward is too evident. 

GIFT organised a panel discussion on Economic Survey 2022-23 and Union Budget 2023-24 on 8 February 2023.

Prof. K J Joseph welcomed the panellists and the participants. The programme was chaired by Shri K M Chandrasekhar, former Cabinet Secretary and Distinguished Fellow GIFT. The panel discussion began with the opening remarks of Prof. M Govinda Rao, former director NIPFP, New Delhi. The panellists include Prof R Nagaraj, Former Professor, IGIDR, Mumbai, Prof Pinaki Chakraborty, Former Director, NIPFP, Prof M Suresh babu, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras and Advisor to the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Prof Lekha Chakraborty , Professor, NIPFP, Dr A V Jose, Former Director, GIFT and Prof D Narayana, Former Director, GIFT. Ms Rju Mohan, Research Scholar, GIFT proposed the vote of thanks.

GIFT jointly with Department of Political Science, University of Kerala and Trivandrum Management Association organised a panel discussion on Economic Review and Kerala Budget 2023-24 on  10 February 2023.

Prof. K J Joseph along with Shri C Padmakumar, TMA welcomed the panellists and the participants and chaired by Prof. M A Oommen, Distinguished Fellow GIFT. The discussion analysed the budget from various sectoral perspectives by eleven eminent scholars. The panellists include Prof K P Kannan, Former Director, CDS and Distinguished Fellow, GIFT, Shri C P John, Former Member, Kerala State Planning Board, Kerala, Prof Alwin Prakash, Former Chairperson, 5th State Finance Commission, Kerala, Prof Mary George, Former Chairperson, Public Expenditure Review Committee, Dr K Raviraman, Member, Kerala State Planning Board, Kerala, Prof R Ramakumar, TISS Mumbai & Member, Kerala State Planning Board, Prof Jiju P Alx, Member, State Planning Board, Shri Adikesavan, former Chief General Manager, SBI, Dr Sonia George, General Secretary, SEWA, Dr Christabell P J, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Kerala. Dr Ajitha S, Department of Political Science, University of Kerala proposed the vote of thanks.

GIFT and Kerala Economic Association organised a panel discussion on Kerala Economy: Drivers for the future. This program is a culmination of 17 public lectures on Kerala economy on 25 February

Prof. K J Joseph welcomed the panellists and the participants.  Prof. M A Oommen, Distinguished Fellow GIFT chaired the programme. Prof. T M Thomas Isaac, former Finance Minister Kerala and Distinguished Fellow GIFT delivered the inaugural address. Prof K N Harilal, Centre for Development Studies delivered the keynote address.. Commentators of the panel discussion  include  Prof Anitha V, Department of Economics, University of Kerala, Kariavattom, Lt Dr Abdul Jabbar A T, Farooq College, Kozhiode, Mr Anil Kumar B M, Kerala State Planning Board, Mr Bennet Thomas, Beja Modle College, Kasaragod, Dr Biju Mathew, Department of Economics, University of Calicut, Mr Emmanuel Thomas, Deapartment of Economics, St Thomas College, Trissur, Mr Hemant Kumar R, Principal, Ettumannoorappan College, Mr Justin George, Department of Economics, St Paul's Kalamassery, Dr G Mallika M G, Department of Economics,  Malayalam University , Dr Midhun V P , Department of Economics, Govt College, Kasaragod, Dr Nirmal Roy V P, Department of Economics, Kannur University, Mr Ratheesh Krishnan P, Department of Economics, Govt College, Nedumangadu, Dr Rejuna C A , Department of Economics, Govt College, Kasaragod, Mr Santhosh T Varghese, Department of Economics, Maharajas College, Ernakulam, Dr Shanavas P H, KMM, Govt Women's College, Kannur, Dr  Shinu Varkey, Department of Economics, SB College Changanasery.                       

GIFT Faculty and KEA  members  were participated in the webinar. Prof Hari Kumar, Vice President , KEA proposed the vote of thanks to the programme.  Smt Anitha Kumary L, Associate Professor ,GIFT,  Prof Hari Kumar, KEA, Dr Anoop S Kumar, and Dr Kiran Kumar Karkalapudi , Assistant Professors, GIFT were the coordinators of the programme.

 

B. Teaching and Training programmes

1. Post Graduate Diploma in GST (PGDGST)

165  hours ( 150 hours is the mandatory training hours ) of Training programme for the Fifth batch of PGDGST students were completed till the month of March 2023.Model question paper discussions for each paper will be started in the month of April 2023. Final Examination will be conducted during the month of June and July 2023.  Dr N Ramalingam, Smt Jenny Thekkara and Smt Anitha Kumary L, Associate Professors, GIFT are handling the sessions.. 

Course Co-ordinators: Dr. N Ramalingam and Smt. L Anitha Kumary

For more details: https://www.gift.res.in/index.php/course/detail/14/PGD-GST

2. PhD programme

The activities in PhD programme during January, February and March 2023 are listed below.

Update from the first batch, 2018

• Lekshmi Prasad, fourth-year PhD Scholar, presented a research paper titled "Role of Caste in Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Indian States" at the International Conference on Public Finance, Public Policy and Economic Development, organized by Pondicherry University on November 11th and 12th, 2022"
• Lekshmi Prasad presented research on "Role of Caste in Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Indian States" at a workshop entitled "Credit Markets and Policies in South Asia: Issues and Challenges," jointly organized by the HSS Department of IIT Tirupati, the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), and INET's Young Scholar's Initiative South Asia Working Group."

Update from the second batch, 2020

• • Jerome Joseph, third-year PhD Scholar, presented a research paper titled "Digital payments and GST revenue: an empirical analysis" at the "National conference on Impact of GST on Indian economy" held at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy in New Delhi on November 28th and 29th, 2022.
  • Jerome Joseph presented a research paper titled "Do digital payments enhance GST revenue in India?" at the international conference on Public Finance, Public Policy and Economic Development organized by the Department of Economics at Pondicherry University on November 11th and 12th, 2022.
  • Jeorme Joseph, presented a research paper titled "Do digital payments enhance GST revenue: Evidence from India" as part of the GIFT webinar series organized by the Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation on November 18th, 2022.

Update from third batch, 2021

The second-year PhD scholars successfully defended their research proposals and have now begun working on their research projects.

Update from fourth batch, 2022

The scholars continued their coursework that started in August 2022.

Course Coordinators: Prof. K J Joseph and Dr Santosh Kumar Dash

3. RCBP programme

The Research Capacity Building Programme (RCBP) for the year 2022-23 was conducted between June 2022 and February 2023. The program was concluded with fifteen lectures in the months of January and February, which covered the third and fourth modules of the program. The third module focused on Database in Research, which included a wide range of micro and macro databases such as the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), World Development Indicators (WDI), Trade data using World Integrated Trade Systems (WITS), NSSO unit level data, Yahoo Finance data, and RBI data. Two special lectures were dedicated to introducing different statistical software, including STATA and R software. Dr. Santhosh Dash and Ms. Vipasha Ray Hajong conducted these sessions, respectively. Mr. Gopal Krishna Roy conducted a session on 'Introduction to ASI Panel Data using STATA', and Dr. Santosh K Dash conducted a session on 'Introduction to World Development Indicators using STATA'. Dr. Kiran Kumar Kakarpudi conducted two sessions on databases related to the Industrial Sector and International Trade. Dr. Zakaria Siddiqui conducted a session on the Effectiveness of NSSO Surveys in Capturing Socio-Economic Diversity, while Dr. Anoop S Kumar conducted a session on 'Economic Data Using R', respectively. Dr. P S Ranjith conducted a session on the RBI database.

The final module of the program, Research Writing, Publication and Ethics, consisted of eight lectures. Prof. D Narayana conducted two sessions on "How to Write a Research Proposal", while Prof. Vinoj Abraham delivered a lecture on 'Analytical Framework for Research'. Prof. Mala Ramanathan conducted four lectures on research ethics. The program concluded with a session on the 'art of publishing in academic journals' by the Director of GIFT, Prof K J Joseph on March 5, along with feedback from the participants. The feedback received from the participants was positive. After the assignment-based evaluation, 47 participants qualified for the certificate, which was issued during the concluding session.

Coordinator : Dr. Renjith P S

 

C. Publications

1. Kerala Tax Reporter (KTR)

December, January and February issues of KTR published Online and offline.

https://www.gift.res.in/ktr

2. Innovation and Development

A Routledge journal from GIFT, Volume 13, No. 1 (2023) published, Editor in Chief,               K J Joseph.

For details, please visit https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/riad20/current

 

 

3.  Weekly update on Finance, Taxation and the Indian Economy

This is an attempt by the Young Scholar' Forum in GIFT, led by Smt. Shency Mathew to update on important developments on Finance, Taxation and the Indian economy. Latest issue: 25-31 March   2023.

For details, please visit https://www.gift.res.in/index.php/publish/publish_list/14/ Weekly-Updates-on-Finance

 

D. Faculty Publications

Determinants of innovation and interactive learning in informal manufacturing enterprises in India, Science and Public Policy, 49(3), Pages 427-440  , K J Joseph and  K Chandra Shekar

India's GST paradigm and the Trajectory of Fiscal Federalism: An analysis with Special Reference to Kerala, The Indian Economic Journal, 2023 ,71(1) 187-203,  K J Joseph and  Anitha Kumary L

Media articles

Ramping up resources from state's own tax revenue is need of the hour , The Times of India,February 4, 2023, (Anitha Kumary L).

 Own Tax Revenue will improve (in Malayalam), The Malayala Manorama, January 4, 2023 (Anitha Kumary L)

Paper presented in seminars/conferences

1. Presented a paper titled Centre Grants in aid to State and Local Bodies in Kerala: Utilisation and Challenges , at the Seminar  on  Kerala State Finances,  on 5th December 2022 organized by Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishat (KSSP) at  Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram (Anitha Kumary L)
2. Presented a paper titled How Safe is Bitcoin as a Safe Haven Asset? Evidence from the Crude Oil Market, at the 57th Annual conference of the Indian Econometric Society, held between 4-6 January,2023 at University of Hyderabad( Anoop S Kimar)
3. Presented a paper titled Impact of GST on Inflation: Evidence from Causal Analysis at national conference on "Public Finance Issues", held on the 20th and 21st of January 2023 at the Centre for Public Finance, Madras School of Economics, Chennai.(Anoop S Kumar)
4. Presented a paper titled "Sustainability and Threshold Value of Public Debt of Central and All State Governments in India" on "Problems of Public Finance" at the first National Conference organized by Centre for Public Finance, Madras School of Economics, Chennai. 20-21 January 2023. (Renjith P S)
5. Presented a paper titled "Post-Pandemic Challenges to Indian Economy" as a Keynote Address at the National Conference organized by PG Department of Economics, Nedunkandam MES College from 10th to 11th January 2023.(Renjith P S)
6. Presented a paper on "GST and Debt Sustainability: The Indian Experience" at the 57th Annual Conference of The Econometric Society of India organized by the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad on 4-6 January 2023 (Renjith P S)

Professional Involvement outside GIFT -Prof K J Joseph, Director, GIFT

1. 1. Member State Audit Advisory Board
   2. President Globelics till September 2022 and Secretary General Globelics, since January 2023
   3. National Research Advisory Committee member, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India.
   4. Founding Editor In Chief Innovation and Development published by Routledge     (T&F), London
   5. President, Kerala Economic Association till February 2023
   6. Faculty Selection Committee member St. Pius X College, Rajapuram, Kannur University
   7. Faculty Selection Committee member Digital University, Kerala
   8. Faculty Selection Committee member for Assistant Professor at Department of Economics, Kannur University on 24/05/2022 (Online)
   9. Advisory Committee Member - Madras School of Economics at May 27
   10. Member, Board of Post Graduate Studies , Tripura University on 10th MAY 2022
   11. Member Board of studies meeting of SoDiHLA, Digital University Kerala - June   27 2022
   12. Expert Committee Member of the project for the renovation of the ancestral home of Dr John Matthai Centre, Thrissur on 25th June 2022- Department of Economics, University of Calicut
   13. Faculty Selection Committee IIM Bangalore

Involvement in Academic Events outside GIFT- Prof K J Joseph, Director , GIFT

1. 1. 1. Delivered a lecture on Expanding the Interactive Learning space for knowledge generation, relevance of cross disciplinarity, in the Online Faculty Development program organized by Kerala Higher Education Council. 24th January 2023
      2. Chaired a session in the national seminar on Sustainable Development Goal- II, zero-hunger ensuring food security for all at 10 march 2023, Department of Economics, University of Kerala
      3. Delivered Keynote Address on Centre State Financial Relations : Which way now,17 March 2023, Sreenarayanaguru Open University,
      4. Chaired the Eminent Scholar Lecture on - "Peace Economics and Peace Science- Theory Methods and Cases" 2 March 2023, Department of Sociology, University of Kerala, Karyavattom Campus
      5. Delivered the keynote address on How rocky the road ahead to the Amritkaal in the seminar on Union budget 2023-24 organized by Fathima College, Kollam, 13 February 2023
      6. Chaired the Professor George Joseph Memorial Union Budget Analysis 2023-24 by Prof Sudipto Mundle, 16 February 2023, SB College, Changanaserry
      7. Panelist in the Workshop on Crisis in Natural Rubber Sector organized by Inter University Centre for Social Science Research and Extension, 13 January 2023 M G University, Kottayam
      8. Chaired a session on Agri Start Ups - Success Models in the 6th edition of VAIGA 2023: Developing Value chain in Agriculture, 1 March 2023, Department of Agriculture, Government of Kerala
      9. Delivered the Inaugural Address in the 4 day workshop on Financial Analytics in Practice for Finance Researchers, 18 January 2023, Department of Commerce, University of Kerala
      10. Delivered a lecture on Fiscal Federal Relations and Sub National Development in India in the workshop on Centre State Financial Relations, 10 March 2023, K.N Raj School of Economics, M G University, Kottayam
          1. Panel List in the Discussion on The Reflections on The Union  Budget 2023-24, 6 February 2023 organised by Centre for Budget Studies, CUSAT, Cochin