Journal Press India^®

          This issue of MANTHAN continues with its tradition of addressing diverse and topical areas in the field of management and commerce. One of the focus areas in this issue has been the behvioural aspects of work and occupation related issues. An interesting paper by Dr. Jayarajan T.K. and Dr. R.Vasanthagopal deals with the issue of causes and effects of occupational stress in private sector. The empirical study, based on a sample of executives from the state of Kerala assesses the causes of stress and its effects among executives in the private insurance, IT and banking sectors in Kerala. The authors find that work-related causes such as working under pressure, monotonous and meaningless task, and long and unsocial hours are the major causes of stress among executives, which, in turn, affect the psychological, physical and occupational levels of executives. Another paper by Ms. Sandhya Ruhela and Dr. Ajai Prakash examines the saving preferences and financial literacy of Self Help Group (SHG) members for the state of Uttar Pradesh. The authors find that the predominant savings preferences are own business development, education of children and repairing of house. Further, they observe an improvement in financial literacy of SHG members after joining of SHGs. The paper on work engagement by Dr. Urvashi Sharma and Ms. Bhawana Rajput analyse the psychometric properties of Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) in an India sample. The results of confirmatory factor analysis reveal that for India, 9-item UWES and single construct work engagement scale is better than the three factor model. Another paper by Dr. Mayank Aggarwal looks at the employee perception of HRM policies for the case of insurance sector in Rajasthan. The findings of his study  indicate that better HRM practices have a positive impact on employees in the form of higher degree of satisfaction, dedication and higher retention.

          In addition to the above focus area, this issue has a paper on ‘Modelling Volatility of BSE Realty Index using Conditional Heteroscedasticity Models’ by Mr. Dhananjaya Kadanda and Prof. Krishna Raj. This study empirically examines the nature of volatility in BSE Realty Index and finds that the volatility is persistent in the Index return indicating the presence of volatility clustering in the series. Further, the study reports the presence of asymmetric or leverage effect in the series indicating that negative shocks have significant effect on volatility. However, the study did not find significant risk-return trade-off in the series. This issue has two papers on recent developments in the Indian economy: the ‘Make in India’ campaign and demonetisation. A paper on the topical area of ‘Make in India’ campaign has been contributed by Dr. Amit Kumar Singh, Ms. Annu Aggarwal and Mr. Rohit Kumar Shrivastav. Assessing the likely economic impact of the ‘Make in India’ campaign, their analysis shows that Indian economy is gaining momentum slowly, and growth estimates are in line with projections made. The authors also observe that since this concept is new, it will take some years before analysts can effectively measure the success of this campaign. Ms. Richi Simon and Dr. Sadhana Singh Bisen examine the socio-economic effects of demonetization for the case of employees of BSSS in Bhopal. The paper presents the problems faced and perspective developed by the employees in academia in Bhopal during the course of demonetisation and also provides an outlook of what got presented by media and how it differed in reality.

          Agricultural productivity which has been an important issue confronting Indian economy has been examined in the paper on ‘Determinants of Agricultural Productivity in India: An Econometric Analysis’ by Ms. Biswashree Tanaya Priyadarsini and Dr. Chittaranjan Nayak. Based on the econometric analysis, the study suggests that the government should take initiatives for non-product specific support to major inputs like organic fertilizer, power and irrigation and also promote private investment in agricultural sector to enhance agricultural productivity. Related to the area of employment, the paper by Mr. Radhagobinda Basak overviews the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) across the states of India. On the basis of some selected parameters, performance of the states, in implementing the Act, has been measured and ranks have been assigned to the states according to their merit in implementing the scheme.

          This issue also has a review paper on ‘Evolving Framework of Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment’ by Rahul Bhasin and Prof. K V Bhanu Murthy. Through this paper, they trace the evolution of FDI theory along with changes in the significance of determinants of FDI over a period of time. The review provides insights into changing aspects of FDI decision-making.

          We hope that our readers find this issue of MANTHAN interesting and insightful, and continue to provide us their support and patronage for constant improvement in our endeavour.

Dr. Himanshu Sekhar Rout

Dr. M. C. Pande

Editors