Works of my student life
My works at IIPS, Mumbai
I have started research systematically while I was a student of population studies at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India. I have worked on fertility under the supervision of Prof. F. Ram. The topic of my research was: “A Critical Review of Bongaarts’s Aggregate Model and Development of an Index as a Suggestive Measure.”
Abstract: TFR is age-standardised. Variations in TFR cannot be explained by variations in age structure. Bongaarts explained variations in TFR by variations in four proximate determinants of fertility. As age pattern of fertility is shaped by those proximate determinants, variations in TFR are explained by variations in age pattern of fertility only. However, as CBR is not age-standardised, Bongaarts explained variations in CBR by variations in age structure. But that measure does not reflect true picture as CBR is affected by age pattern of fertility also. This paper highlights that and also as a suggestive measure develops an index, which is used to explain fertility changes and differentials of fifteen major States of India from 1980 to 1994.
(Abbreviations: TFR – total fertility rate, CBR – crude birth rate)
The article is indexed in POPLINE.
Suggested citation: Majumder, A. 2000. “A Critical Review of Bongaarts’s Aggregate Model and Development of an Index as a Suggestive Measure,” Demography India, 29 (2): 135-147.
A copy of the paper is available here: Amlan Paper Demography India-Download Link.
The paper received ‘Srinivasan Award’, which was meant for the best technical paper of the Year 2001 in the journal of Demography India awarded by the Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP).
Other works at IIPS, Mumbai
During my tenure at IIPS, as a part of the programme, I have also participated in ‘group work for survey research’. The objective of the project was to apply various survey techniques in the practical field being a member of an interdisciplinary team. Our team was consisting five members. I am including names of them with previous backgrounds: Aparajita Chattopadhyay (Presidency College, Kolkata/Geographer), Bipul Hazarika (Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi/Geographer), Saswata Ghosh (Jadavpur University/Applied Mathematics), Sunit Kumar (Patna Science College/Statistician), and Amlan Majumder (University of North Bengal/Economist). We worked under the supervision of Prof. G. Rama Rao and Dr. S. Acharya. The topic of our project was: “Women Domestic Workers: Their Life, Problem and Dream.”
This has been a very interesting work. However, after the completion of the programme we left our Institute and we never came together to modify or revise it for possible publication. Of course the paper is documented and kept at the IIPS library.
In 2002, I got one opportunity to submit it one National Conference on “Indian Women: Rights, Economic Position and Empowerment” at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. Among us, Bipul agreed to attend the Conference to present the paper. The paper was included in the agenda of the Conference and was distributed among the participants. The paper drew attention of the researchers working on women in the informal sectors of the region. However, while reading please keep in mind that there may be syntactical / typographical errors in it (as we did not find time to revise it)!
Citation: Hazarika, B., S. Ghosh., A. Chattopadhyay., A. Majumder., S. Kumar. 2002. “Women Domestic Workers: Their Life, Problem and Dream.” Paper presented at the National Conference on “Indian Women: Rights, Economic Position and Empowerment” at the Centre for Women’s Studies, University of North Bengal, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India, 28-30 January 2002.
A copy of the work is available here: Amlan Group Work on Women Domestic Workers-1999-Download Link.
My works at IIT Delhi
I have worked at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) as a full-time Research Scholar (PG Student) for nearly two years (July 1999-April 2001) under the supervision of Prof. V. Upadhyay. My major research was on economics of health care utilisation. However, I could not finish my work there, as I got an offer of full-time permanent Lectureship from the West Bengal College Service Commission in April 2001. I left IIT Delhi and joined Dinhata College (my present place of work).
During my tenure at the IIT Delhi, I have done a thorough review of literature on health care utilisation. And based on that, utilising some secondary data we have developed a paper (which was co-authored by V. Upadhyay): “An Analysis of the Primary Health Care System in India with focus on Reproductive Health Care Services”. The paper was presented at the National Seminar on “Structure of Employment and its Interface with Technology: Present Status and Policy Imperatives for Productivity Enhancement”, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, 27-28 March 2002 and was published in Artha Beekshan (the Journal of Bengal Economic Association).
Citation: Majumder, A. and V. Upadhyay. 2004. “An Analysis of the Primary Health Care System in India with focus on Reproductive Health Related Services,” Artha Beekshan (Journal of Bengal Economic Association), 12 (4): 29-38. (ISSN: 0972-1185)
A copy of the paper is available here: Amlan First Paper on Healthcare utilisation-Download Link.
Seminar papers at IIT Delhi
At the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), I have done some courses on Social Research Methods, Planning and Economic Development, and Environmental ethics. For each of the above-mentioned courses, I had to write term papers.
For Social Research Methods, I have written (and presented in a departmental seminar): “Qualities of a good spouse – a qualitative study applying free listing technique” under the supervision of Prof. A. Khurana.
Abstract: The objective of the paper is to know what people desire from their respective spouses or in other words what are the desired qualities that a souse should have. The study used free-listing technique to collect data and applied a very simple method to analyze those. The study found as many as 114 qualities or items mentioned by 17 respondents. Importance or salience of each item or quality in respondent’s mind has also been computed. There are considerable differences in preferences according to marital status and gender. The method used here can also be used in other opinion research studies.
Key words: Cognitive psychology, Free-listing, Honest, Qualities of a good spouse, Understanding.
A copy of the Seminar Paper is available here: Qualities of a Good Spouse
For more information please write me to: amlan@amlan.co.in.