Department of Liberal Arts

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) is a premier institute of science and technology established in 2008. IITH has been consistently ranked in the&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/reports/" rel="noopener noreferrer">top 10 institutes</a>&nbsp;in India for Engineering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2021/EngineeringRanking.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">according to NIRF</a>&nbsp;making it one of the most coveted schools for science and technology in the country.

IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/under-graduate/">undergraduate programs</a>&nbsp;in all the classical engineering disciplines, applied sciences, design, as well as several modern interdisciplinary areas. Students are given a flexibility to explore a broad set of areas, and potentially pursue a minor or double major in a discipline that is not their own. Students who wish to seek a deeper understanding of their own discipline are strongly encouraged to get involved in cutting-edge research with the help of a faculty to mentor them, and earn an Honors in their own field.

The very foundation of IIT Hyderabad is based on&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/">research and innovation</a>. The vibrant research culture is evident from the number of patents and publications that IITH produces consistently every year. IITH offers&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/programmes-offered/">graduate programs</a>&nbsp;at both a masters, and a doctoral level, in several diverse areas. There are separate programs for technology, design, science, and liberal arts. The&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/academics/post-graduate/">MTech program</a>&nbsp;is offered in various modes and durations to cater to the ever-growing need of postgraduate level professionals in the country.

IITH encourages and supports&nbsp;<a href="https://iic-iith.netlify.app/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">innovation and entrepreneurship</a>&nbsp;at every stage. The minor program in entrepreneurship is open to all students of IITH, and many of the courses are offered by industrialists who are entrepreneurs themselves. There are various&nbsp;<a href="https://iith.ac.in/research/centres-incubators/">innovation centers and incubators</a>&nbsp;that promote entrepreneurship and help mentor young innovators. IITH has been very successful in building tie-ups with leading academic institutions around the globe.

IITH enjoys a very special relationship with Japanese universities and industries that goes beyond academic and research collaborations. In fact, some of the iconic buildings in IITH campus will carry the signature of Japanese architecture.

IITH creates a unique holistic ecosystem for education that offers interactive learning, a very flexible academic structure, cutting-edge research, strong industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship. This is an environment which enables students and faculty to translate their dreams into realities.

IIT Hyderabad

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether the interest rate differentials Granger cause expected change in the exchange rate during the COVID-19 period. The study examines if the investors in the international assets and exchange rate markets take advantages of the relevant information obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used daily data ranging from January 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020 and considered BRIICS economies. The study implemented the Toda–Yamamoto’s Granger causality approach to identify the causality between interest rate differentials and exchange rates. For robustness checks, the study used ARLD short-run dynamics to infer causal relations. Findings: Overall, the results indicate that the interest rate differentials improve the predictability of subsequent exchange rate changes in all six BRIICS economies during the COVID-19 period wherein investors are forward-looking. The empirical results pass the robustness checks. Originality/value: There is a lack of studies exploring the relationship between interest rate differentials and exchange rates in the presence of an unanticipated event such as the current pandemic. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the causal linkages between interest rate differentials and expected change in exchange rates, focusing on the COVID-19 outbreak period. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Fulltext

Studies in Economics and Finance

The nexus between the exchange rates and interest rates: evidence from BRIICS economies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is widely reported to be a rapidly escalating global health threat. Investigations into the social dimensions of AMR have tended to focus on economically wealthier nations, even though economically poorer countries are a site of considerable and often increasing antibiotic (mis)use. Understanding the global and local dynamics of antibiotic resistance, we propose, requires critical sociological investigation at the nexus of economic development, structural constraints, cultural norms, and infection-management practice. Here, to begin to unpack these intersections, we draw on qualitative interviews with physicians and pharmacists in Hyderabad to explore their accounts of the social dynamics of AMR in India. In particular, we focus on their accounts of practices of improvisation and self-medication with antibiotics; the nexus of informal and formal pharmaceutical economies and the vested interests therein; and the everyday brokering of antibiotics. We posit that responses to AMR need to be deeply embedded in the specificities of everyday practice, local market forces, and regulatory (im)possibilities with attention paid to the locally prevailing cultural norms. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Critical Public Health

Improvisation, therapeutic brokerage and antibiotic (mis)use in India: a qualitative interview study of Hyderabadi physicians and pharmacists

Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies

“Not a muscle at my command”: Mesmeric Trance, Consent, and #MeToo in Richard Marsh

This article focuses on the contradictions that exist between economic development and gender equity in India. It deploys concepts of cultural violence and symbolic hegemony to understand how gender and caste-based violence is normalized and institutionalized over time through cultural norms. It also uses an intersectional lens to examine the layers of marginalization and oppression. Based on field studies in rural Bihar, it shows that despite development gains, old forms of gender-based discrimination and violence such as son-preference, dowry, witch-hunting, and discriminatory practices associated with menstruation persist. It notes that there are new forms of violence used by the upper caste groups against the lower ones when the latter resist and refuse to continue performing traditional caste-based tasks. We argue that this refusal by lower caste women can be seen as symbolic resistance against historically defined norms of caste. The emerging patterns of violence discussed in the paper need a more concerted and nuanced exploration of reconfigurations of relations within and between caste groups, as well as the cultural and social contexts in which changes are taking place. © 2020, © 2020 Asian Center for Women's Studies, Ewha Womans University.

Asian Journal of Women's Studies

Women, development, caste, and violence in rural Bihar, India

This study examines fiscal sustainability using Indian state-level data from 1980-81 to 2017-18. The results, derived from cointegration and dynamic ordinary least squares techniques, show strong fiscal sustainability for the majority of states. Our results also confirm that northern, western, and southern states are more fiscally sustainable as compared to eastern states. Further, we find fiscal sustainability for both revenue and capital accounts. Moreover, political alignment does not affect fiscal sustainability, except in a few states. From a policy perspective, state governments need to revisit their expenditure patterns to minimize non-developmental expenditure, particularly for those states with weak sustainability. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Economic Modelling

What do we know about fiscal sustainability across Indian states?

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to examine whether the classification of industries into the tradable and nontradable matters for the Balassa–Samuelson (BS) effect. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses annual data for 38 countries from 1995 to 2014. To examine whether the classification of industries matter, the study proceeds with two approaches, that is, “traditional” and “benchmark”. Findings: First, by applying panel cointegration tests of Pedroni and Westerlund, the results validate the BS hypothesis. However, the coefficients of long-run elasticities show appreciation of real exchange rate (RER) due to increase in productivity in the case of “traditional approach”, whereas depreciation of RER in the case of “benchmark approach”. Second, by applying the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel Granger causality test, the results reveal the bi-directional causality among RER and productivity for both the approaches. Further, to provide more insights, the study employs a fixed-effects panel threshold model. The results indicate that increase in productivity leads to both appreciation and depreciation of RER depending on threshold regimes. Practical implications: The study ascertains that the evidence of BS effect depends on the choice of approach considered. However, irrespective of the classification, there exists a BS effect beyond a threshold. Originality/value: Although the BS effect is well established in the literature; there is no study examining the importance of classification of industries at a disaggregated level. Furthermore, there is no consideration of threshold effects. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Journal of Economic Studies

Does productivity drive the real exchange rate movements? A re-examination of the Balassa–Samuelson hypothesis

We investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian financial market and compare it with the outcomes of two recent structural changes of the Indian economy: demonetization and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Using daily stock return, net foreign institutional investment, and exchange rate data from January 3, 2003 to April 20, 2020, we find negative stock returns for all the indices during the COVID-19 outbreak, unlike during the post-demonetization and GST phases. Markov switching vector autoregression shows the impact of COVID-19 on stock returns is severe in comparison to that of demonetization and the GST. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Emerging Markets Finance and Trade

Does the Indian Financial Market Nosedive because of the COVID-19 Outbreak, in Comparison to after Demonetisation and the GST?

The origin, evolution, and growth of the Indian education sector have been phenomenal. The Indian higher education system presently faces multiple challenges for its growth and expansion in the direction of meeting the demands of the country. The competition among higher education institutions has been a global challenge in terms of equity, access, quality, relevance, globalization, and privatization. The aim of this review paper is to critically examine the potentiality of expansion of higher education in India and the ability to overcome its challenges to emerge as the best destination for the world-wide scholars to pursue their higher education and build a robust career in research in India. © 2019 by Advance Scientific Research.

Journal of Critical Reviews

Review of the expansion of higher education in India: Cardinal concerns in the traverse

The study empirically investigates the effect of financial integration (FI) on business cycle synchronization (BCS) in the Indian context. Using concordance index, dynamic conditional correlation, and 3SLS, we find: (1) India's business cycle is significantly synchronized with nine economies (2) The evaluation of BCS shows a higher synchronization with the five economies (3) FI, directly and indirectly, reduces BCS (4) The direct effect of FI occurs through wealth effect, in most cases, indicating dominance of portfolio diversification against portfolio rebalancing associated with balance sheet effect (5) FI reduces the BCS, indirectly through intra-industry trade and differences in economic specialization. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Business cycle synchronization: Disentangling direct and indirect effect of financial integration in the Indian context

This chapter examines Richard Marsh’s treatment of the animalistic in his Imperial Gothic works, The Beetle: A Mystery (1897), The Goddess: A Demon (1900), and The Joss: A Reversion (1901). I show how, in each of these novels, the appearance of a colonial idol on the British landscape sets up a transgressive space between the colonial and the animalistic, and then connects it to the figure of the gender-subversive Victorian New Woman. Threading together these socially marginalised figures of the racial-, gender-, and animalistic-other, the novels strategically provide for an implicit questioning of the sociopolitical hierarchies of race, gender, and sexuality. I demonstrate how it is in the overlap of the fears of the colonial animal and the fears surrounding the woman, more specifically the iconically rebellious New Woman, that the threat of the animal becomes most intense, viscerally challenging the hierarchies of white middle-class patriarchy often through a near-erotic proximity of the New Woman and the colonial animal. © 2020, The Author(s).