Cognitive Antecedents of the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Intentions of Indian University Students

The purpose of this chapter is to extend the research on determinants of entrepreneurial intentions in the agricultural industry by using the theoretical framework of determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and entrepreneurial event model. By employing the DEI and EEM, the researchers evaluate how perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, individual background, and triggering events can influence the attitude of an individual and in turn how entrepreneurial attitude can control entrepreneurial intentions. To achieve the objective, a questionnaire survey was held using the sample of 335 PhD, master, and bachelor students in commerce, business, and economics from an Indian central university. The data was analysed using a linear regression model. The findings advocate that perceived desirability, perceived feasibility, individual background, and triggering events are positively related to entrepreneurial attitude, and the entrepreneurial attitude positively and significantly influences entrepreneurial intentions in the agricultural sector.

Visualization/Contemplation Sutras (Guan Jing)

The “visualization/contemplation sutras” (Ch. guan jing觀經) refers to six scriptures in the modern Sino-Japanese Buddhist canon Taishō shinshū daizōkyō大正新脩大藏經 (“T”). The six scriptures are each devoted to particular buddhas and bodhisattvas, and in some cases, the pure lands or heavens linked to them. They include: (a) Sutra on the Sea of Samādhi Attained through Contemplation of the Buddha (Guan fo sanmei hai jing觀佛三昧海經; T 643); (b) Sutra on the Contemplation of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life (Guan Wuliangshoufo jing觀無量壽佛經; T 365); (c) Sutra on the Contemplation of the Two Bodhisattvas Bhaiṣajyarāja and Bhaiṣajyasamudgata (Guan Yaowang Yaoshang erpusa jing觀藥王藥上二菩薩經; T 1161); (d) Sutra on the Contemplation of Maitreya Bodhisattva’s Ascent to Rebirth in Tuṣita Heaven (Guan Mile Pusa shangsheng doushuaitian jing觀彌勒菩薩上生兜率天經; T 452); (e) Sutra on the Contemplation of the Cultivation Methods of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra (Guan Puxian Pusa xingfa jing觀普賢菩薩行法經; T 277); and (f) Sutra on the Contemplation of the Bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha (Guan Xukongzang Pusa jing觀虛空藏菩薩經; T 409). All six scriptures use the Chinese term guan觀 (or kuan) in their titles. All also feature instructions on contemplative techniques, which include fantastic visual imagery and other visionary phenomena. Due largely to these visual qualities, in English-language scholarship since the late 1950s, the most common translation for guan in their titles has been “visualization.” There is, however, no scholarly consensus for an Indic-language equivalent to guan in these scriptures, and the “visualization” designation has been increasingly questioned since the 2000s. Thus many scholars prefer the translation “contemplation,” while some opt for “discernment.” Further complicating study of the visualization/contemplation sutras are persistent questions of their provenance. The traditional translator attributions preserved in the Taishō canon all credit Indian or Central Asian monks for the “translations.” However, all six scriptures are extant only in Chinese or in translations based on the Chinese, and those translator attributions have been widely contested. Scholars thus variously posit Indian, Central Asian, or Chinese origins for the individual scriptures. The consensus as of 2020 is that, as Chinese texts, they all date to around the first half of the 5th century ce, and many scholars do accept the influence of Indian or Central Asian meditation masters active in China then. Such influence receives support in the near-contemporary emergence in China of meditation manuals that share distinctive terminology with the visualization/contemplation sutras and are often grouped with them in modern studies. Further research into the sutras should thus enrich the understanding of scriptural translation processes, the emergence of specific deity cults in East Asian Buddhism, and interlinked developments in the devotional, visionary, and contemplative practices associated with those cults.

The Policy of Free Electricity to Agriculture Sector: Implications and Perspectives of the Stakeholders in India

The Indian central government is pursuing state governments to replace free power supply to agriculture with the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). This article examined the free power policy from the perspective of various stakeholders and suggested alternate policies based on a field survey in the state of united Andhra Pradesh (AP), India, in the year 2018. The team interviewed all stakeholders: farmers, economists, policy experts, power distribution companies and administrators. The study team also visited four villages in AP and conducted focus group discussions with farmers to record their perceptions and alternative policy choices. The opinions are substantiated and cross-checked with the published sources. Free electricity for agriculture is seen as a lifeline in drought-prone areas as it helped them to expand the area under irrigation and increase incomes. However, many experienced huge capital expenditures in drilling-failed borewells. Other stakeholders opine that free power leads to overexploitation of groundwater, lowering groundwater levels, rising cost of drilling deep and piling up of power subsidies, and expanding water-guzzling crops like paddy even in water scarce areas, failure of borewells leading to farmer’s distress. The study suggests that replacing free power with DBT to farmers will help them maintain their incomes without overexploiting water resources.

BHARAT TOWARDS ATMANIRBHARTA: A TWITTER BASED ANALYSIS USING NVIVO

It’s been over a year now and Covid-19 is still among us and most of the countries are still in fight against Covid-19. Lockdown was the only possible solution but the impact of lockdowns on economies was devastated. Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) a Covid-19 pandemic economic package of twenty lakh crore rupees was announced by the Indian central government on the 12th of May, 2020. The package was released to make the country independent and to primarily empower the poor, labourers, and migrants who were adversely affected by Covid-19.

BASIS AND PROMOTION OF NATURPHILOSOPHIC IDEAS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE PEOPLES OF CENTRAL ASIA

Today it is important to study the important ideas of Eastern philosophy in the field of natural science and important conceptual ideas in the teachings of thinkers on this subject. The need to study medieval Muslim philosophy In African countries, the question of the role of spiritual traditions, including traditions based on Beruni, in modern ideological life are of great importance.The concept of Eastern Aristotelianism was analyzed, representing not only the philosophical system or doctrine of Aristotle, but also rationalism, firmly associated with natural philosophy, and through it -medieval rationalistic philosophy. His relentless struggle for independence led to the spread of the achievements of Indian, Central Asian, Iranian and especially Greek scientific thought, which contributed to the development of secular science. In the 10th century, there were 17 madrasahs in Samarkand, in Samarkand alone, which during the Caliphate had a large library and an astronomical observatory, which are considered to have made a radical turn in cultural life

Yes bank: an untold story

Learning outcomes The learning outcomes are as follows: understand the mechanism of sourcing and allocation of funds in the Indian banking industry; compare financial indicators of Yes bank with the industry average and interpret the hidden stress; understand the role of NPAs in the banking industry and analyze Yes bank’s performance; and identify the possible red signals in the business model of Yes bank. Case overview/synopsis The case narrated the story of Yes bank which was considered as one of the most promising and rising banks of India. The stock of Yes bank had been the preferred investment choice for many investors because of its outstanding performance in almost all the important parameters of the industry since 2005. Since its inception, investors favored the stock with an assumption that this new generation bank had a unique as well as a sustainable banking model. However, after the year 2016, Reserve Bank of India (Indian central bank and banking regulator) found huge under-reporting of non-performing assets (NPAs) in the three (i.e. 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2018–19) out of its four annual regulatory inspections, casting doubt in the way Yes bank functioned. Risk and aggression seemed to be the two most important aspects of Yes bank’s culture and this case tried to narrate the same through various financial indicators. The ratio comparison with the industry average indicated the possible gray areas of Yes bank, which was once considered as the most promising bank of India. Unfortunately, even the change of guard at the helm of Yes bank did not change the fate of the bank. Complexity academic level MBA/PGDBA/Executive MBA. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Book Review: Indian Federalism (Oxford India Short Introductions)

The relationship between the Indian central government and the states has become increasingly fractious in the recent past with chief ministers tabling laws in state legislatures to counter those enacted by Parliament, protesting pandemic protocols and vociferously demanding compensation for losses in tax revenues. In this context, Louis Tillen’s Federalism is an apt publication to dissect the political economy of India’s state-centre relations in a country marked by deep socio-political and myriad regional divisions.