We impose a value judgment that a decrease in failure should be accompanied by a decrease in gap (difference or ratio) between sub-groups. In other words, the same gap at lower levels of failure is to be considered worse off. This, in line with transfer sensitivity axiom of poverty indices, is...

Provision of modern energy services for cooking (with gaseous fuels) and lighting (with electricity) is an essential component of any policy aiming to address health, education or welfare issues; yet it gets little attention from policy-makers. Secure, adequate, low-cost energy of quality and...

Commercialization efforts to diffuse sustainable energy technologies (SETs) have so far remained as the biggest challenge in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency. Limited success of diffusion through government driven pathways urges the need for market based approaches. This paper...

The conventional measure of the Human Development Index (HDI) is a linear average in three dimensions, HDI1. This is indifferent to uniformity in attainment across dimensions. An alternative, HDI2, based on the shortfall from the ideal using Euclidean distance, addresses the above anomaly. These...

Bruntland Commission's report led to popularization of notion of sustainability and a boom in the development of sustainable development indicators (SDIs). Numerous efforts have been made worldwide in constructing SDIs at global, national and local scales, but India has been lacking in such...

The selection of an optimum number of indicators is the key to any sustainable development indicator (SDI) research. Indicators, too less in number, may be inadequate to convey the message and; too many may dilute the purpose. To arrive at an optimum number of indicators from a larger set of...