Manifest 2009-003

Cross-Border Synergies and the Quality ofLife

A Conceptual Framework

Sati ShankarGlobal Synergetic Foundation

New Delhi,Feb,11th, 2009www.satishankar.com

Abstract: Socio-cultural similarities on either side of the international border, a universalphenomenon, are more pronounced in the case of Nepal-India border, because such ties havebeen enhanced by open border with no restrictions on the movement of people on either side.Social and cultural similarities do exist along the Nepal China boundary as well but more soin the case of Nepal India border where people have easier access and interaction. Ethnic andlinguistic similarities exist along the Nepal-India border both in the south plains and hills inthe east and west. The open border has naturally promoted social and cultural interactionamong the nationals of both sides through matrimonial relationship as well.

Keywords: Open borders, synergies, quality of life, development, welfare, economic,

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Creative Commons LicenseManifest by Sati Shankar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.globalsynergetic.org. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://manifest.satishankar.com/

Cross-Border Synergies and the Quality ofLife

A Conceptual Framework

Dr.S.S.D.Pandeywww.satishankar.com

200902111. Statement of the Problem:

The Indo-Nepal Border: Open and Closed

We are taking case of Indo-Nepal Border Region. Bound bythe 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, neither India nor Nepalis in a position to unilaterally introduce such travel provisionrestricting the free movement of their people across the border,however, the 1751 km long Nepal-India border was fixed by theSugauli Treaty of 1916, return of Naya Muluk to Nepal by BritishIndia in 1858. Both the countries are socially and culturallylinked and have been deeply imbibed into the socio-culturalhistory of both the countries. The Terai region of Nepal borderingIndia is an extension of the Indo-Gangetic plain. The"geographical factors have been reinforced by religious,

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cultural and ethnic affinities between the inhabitants of Terairegion and their counterparts across the border.

The overwhelming presence of people of Indian origin in and thepresence of Nepalese population in the Terai region contiguousto the Indo-Nepal border has made socio-cultural intercourseindispensable. The 1700 km long Indo-Nepal open border has notonly facilitated socio-cultural exchanges that date back tocenturies but have been strengthened by age old historical ties.The geographical proximity and socio-cultural affinity havedetermined the contour of the relationship between both thecountries. The geographically contiguous and open border in thiscontext has serious implications. In this context, "it is virtuallyimpossible to stop the streams of ideas, information, weapons and money movingthrough the trans-state networks...and these networks have become moresophisticated as a result of recent development in communication andtransportation.” The open border has the potential to facilitatesuch transactions very smoothly. This is possible becauseDiasporas often create trans-state networks that permit andencourage exchanges of significant resources such as money,manpower, political support and cultural influence, with theirhomelands as well as their ethnic community living in otherparts of the world.

Socio-cultural similarities on either side of the international border, a universalphenomenon, are more pronounced in the case of Nepal-India border, becausesuch ties have been enhanced by open border with no restrictionson the movement of people on either side. Social and culturalsimilarities do exist along the Nepal China boundary as well butmore so in the case of Nepal India border where people haveeasier access and interaction. Ethnic and linguisticsimilarities exist along the Nepal-India border both in thesouth plains and hills in the east and west. The open border hasnaturally promoted social and cultural interaction among thenationals of both sides through matrimonial relationship aswell.

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When health infrastructures in Nepal were not developed, a largenumber of people from the Terai of Nepal as well as from thehills used to go to hospitals in India across the border. Duringthe last few decades, Nepal has been able to develop healthfacilities in the country, particularly in itsTarai region, withthe establishment of regional, zonal and district hospitals withmodern medical facilities. This has resulted in the large-scaleflow of patients from India into these hospitals. One noteworthydevelopment of medical facilities in the Terai has been theopening of the modern eye hospitals and ophthalmology units inzonal and regional hospitals. These facilities have resulted inthe large scale inflow of eye patients from the bordering statesof India because of quality and cheap services. A medicalinstitution that has attracted a large number of cancer patientsfrom India is the cancer hospital in Bharatpur with ultra moderncancer treatment facilities. The flow of Nepalese cancerpatients to Mumbai is still continuing.

There are 10 medical colleges in Nepal, most of them in theprivate sector. Three medical colleges are located in Kathmandu,one in Pokhara and 6 in the Terai: Dharan, Birgunj, Bharatpur,Bhairahawa, Nepalganj and Chisapani. These medical colleges haveattracted a large number of Indians including non-residentIndians seeking medical education and also patients seekingmedical services in these hospitals. The flow of Nepalesestudents seeking medical education in India is also continuing.

While communicable diseases may pose the most immediate concern,the significant impact of globalization on noncommunicablediseases is also beginning to be recognized. Much of thisimpact arises from the global production and trade of health-related goods.Notable are pharmaceuticals, food and drink(including alcohol), biologicals such as blood products(Kimbrell 1993; 1998), and increasingly health information.

Most immediately, this creates the potential forspreading health risks far wider than previously. Infectedblood products traded globally in the 1970s, for example,

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resulted in the worldwide spread of Hepatitis BandHIV/AIDS. More subtle are influences over lifestyle throughthe global marketing of fast-food diets, tobacco products andalcoholic drinks.

The temporal dimension of health impacts is also varied. Foremostis the speed in which health risks arise and are spread withinand across countries. The seventh cholera pandemic, beginningin Indonesia 1961, has been both the longest pandemic in history(i.e. 38 years), as well as the most rapidly spread. Within twoyears of being introduced to Peru in 1991, it had spread tonineteen other countries in Latin America (Lee and Dodgson1998). Relatedly, it is expected that global climate changewill affect the seasonal range of many vector-borne diseases(e.g. malaria, Lyme disease, dengue fever). As Kaferstein(1997) writes, “over the last two hundred years, the averagedistance travelled and speed of travel has increased onethousand times, while incubation periods of disease have not.”Similarly, the Harvard Working Group on New and ResurgentDiseases (1997:165) observe, that the more specific impacts ofthe cognitive dimension on health include influences, led by themass media, on healthy or unhealthy lifestyles.

Beginning with the spatial dimension, one of the most prominentfeatures of is an increased mobility of people, animals, plantsand objects across national boundaries. The most directconsequence for health is the increased potential for the spreadof communicable diseases. Greater movements of people throughbusiness activities, immigration, rural-urban migration,displacement and tourism create more opportunities for thetransmission of disease because of more widespread, frequent andclose physical contact.

Recent pressures to make cross border movements stringent is nottotally unjustified keeping the above facts in view but we mustnot forget the ties between the people of both the countries thecontribution of cross border accesses of health and other

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variety of facilities which have been contributing to thequality of lives of the people of both the sides. From this newperspective, it is hoped that the present study would be asignificant contribution to the understanding of the Indo Nepalborder problems, helpful in policymaking and surveillanceactivities and in restoring and retaining the Quality of life ofthe people of both countries.

2. Overview of literature:

Cross-border co-operation

Although, India and Nepal have been having a long history ofcollaborative association, and many studies on Indo-NepalRelations on various dimensions can be found, formal studies onsustainable development, from collaborative regional planning point of view, arerelatively few and far between.

Even in the world literature, until recently, cross-border co-operation on a sub national level has not gained much attentionin major social science discourses. However, around thebeginning of the 1990s scholars of federalism and of regionalscience started to trace the growing international activities ofsub-national political units in Europe and North America(Michelmann & Soldatos 1990; Brown & Fry 1993; Hocking 1993a;Groen 1994 and 1995). Whereas much attention was given to “para-diplomatic” (Soldatos 1990, 1993) or „interregional“ (Raich1995) activities of provinces, states and cities, the longesttradition and the most enhanced features of internationalactivities of these units are micro-diplomatic or cross-border activities(Cohn & Smith 1996; Martinez 1986; Swanson 1976). Developmentsin some border regions have advanced to the point that the oldernotion of micro-diplomacy needed to be replaced by one of cross-border institution building, even though most of these cross-borderinstitutions are rather soft, not very formalized and mostlynetwork-like institutions. 

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Global economic, technological, ecological and socialdevelopments contribute to a rapid increase of interdependence

across territorial boundaries and to a political process.Brian Hocking (1993b) called localizing foreign policy. In addition,factors within the political system, including trends towarddecentralization in most western countries and, most

importantly, the political processes of continental integration have createdopportunities for increasingly professionalized sub national units to pursue. In

Europe, the Single European Act (1987) initiated theEuropean Internal Market. The Maastricht Treaty (1992) then setthe framework for the Monetary Union. In North America, theseprocesses were fostered by the Free Trade Agreement betweenCanada and the U.S. (FTA 1988) and by the North AmericanFree Trade Agreement (NAFTA 1994) between the USA, Canada andMexico. These highly visible signs of cross border cooperationcan be seen as catalysts for facilitated new cross-border

activities on a sub-national level. Studies onsustainable development of Indo-Nepal border region and

specifically the location we are concentrating upon, fromcollaborative regional planning point of view, was initiated byPandey (2000). His subsequent studies (2000a, 2001, 2001a,2001b, 2002, 2002a, have layer a sound foundation. At thispoint of time, help from UGC in the form of a Major ResearchProject is gratefully acknowledged.

Health Policy Measures of Quality of life

Both health policy analysts and social scientists have doneconsiderable works constructing and employing measures of healthand quality of life for use with large and diverse populations.There is a voluminous medical and health policy literaturefocused on the people’s quality of life as it is affected byvarious diseases and /or treatments to ameliorate or cure thosediseases. (40.p116) but a point to note is that the quality oflife measure in medical and health care literature tends tofocus on individual’s dysfunction and its relation to some such

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norms. At the deeper level, medicine views bodily parts andorgans and human body and the people from functional point ofview.

In recent years health policy researchers have developed avariety of measures that go substantially beyond crude morbidityand mortality measures. It should be noted that the importanceof life plans for a good life suggests at least two other waysin which different mortality rates within society affect theopportunities of their members to attain good life- expectancy.

A few examples may be put in order. The Sickness Impact profile(SIP), was developed by Marilyn Bergner and his collogues tomeasure the impact of a wide variety of forms of ill health. Astudy that measures the quality of life but without focusing onhealth care and disease can be found in the Swedish Level ofLiving Surveys (Erickson, 1993). A second example of anevaluative framework is the Quality of Life Index (QLI)developed by Walter Spitzer and colleagues to measure thequality of life of cancer patients. A third prominent measuredeveloped by Milton Cohen, S Franshel and others is the healthstatus index (HSI) which measures the level of functions alongcertain dimensions. (Cohen, Bush, and Patrick, (1975))

The point to note is that both the practical and theoreticaldifficulties in constructing valid measures that are feasiblefor large and varied populations require compromises.Nevertheless, several features of these measures are significantin showing the complexity of the quality of life measuresemployed in health care and should be acceptable for not veryspecific purposes.

Studies on quality of life under the influence of cross-bordersynergies and specifically the location we are concentrating

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upon are again few and far between. An attempt has been made byPandey (2002c) to analyse health and quality of life under theinfluence of cross-border synergies using the capabilityapproach, Sen. (1985, 1992, and 1993) and “Capability Sets,Pandey (1999).

3. The Conceptual Framework:

Towards an effective response to health issues, one of the mostimmediate needs is for a better understanding of the crossborder access (which may, if one wishes so, be seen asglobalization) through sound empirical research. Two keyquestions may begin to guide such research:

(a) To what extent is the cross border access of health occurring within different spheres and along different dimensions? And

(b) What positive and negative effects are the cross border access of health facilitieshaving (or expected to have) on the health of residents of the region and groups?

Health, broadly defined, concerns many spheres of humansocieties. It accounts for significant economic activitythrough, for instance, substantial public and privateexpenditure, large workforces and manufacturing of medicalsupplies and pharmaceuticals. It is highly political, forexample, because of allocative decisions concerning treatment,research and salary levels. There are clear cultural aspects inthe form of lifestyles, and cultural beliefs about health andillness. And there are clear environmental implications such asurbanization, climate change and resource depletion.Beginning with the spatial dimension, one of the most prominentfeatures of is an increased mobility of people, animals, plantsand objects across national boundaries. The most directconsequence for health is the increased potential for the spreadof communicable diseases. Greater movements of people through

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business activities, immigration, rural-urban migration,displacement and tourism create more opportunities for thetransmission of disease because of more widespread, frequent andclose physical contact.

In general, political, non-technical activities of sub-nationalcross-border units are much more recent .The followinganalytical description will focus first on the opportunitiesopened up by cross-border institutions. Four important functionsof cross-border co-operation can be distinguished:  Establishing a“regulatory regime”, Functioning as a “transfer hinge”, creating an “innovation pole”,facilitating cross-border “coalition building”

In reality these functions often overlap; the differentiation ismerely analytical but useful in highlighting various elements.These functions have different disciplinary origins. Whereas thefirst function represents the dominant legalistic and normative approach, the next tworesults from economic considerations and the last represents a typical political scienceapproach.

While cross-boundary co-operation has been found to serveimportant functions in furthering policy goals, this does notnecessarily mean that cross-border cooperation helps to promotesustainable development based solutions. The preconditions thatpromote sustainable development may be summarized as theexistence of institutions that help to overcome intersectoralcleavages. It is also true, however, that some categories ofcross-border linkages make it harder to create suchpreconditions.  Sustainable development is the development thatmeets the needs of the present without compromising with theability of future generations to meet their own needs (WorldCommission on Environment and Development (1987).  In attemptsto operationalise this goal, one procedural principle gainedcentral importance: the need for cross-sectoral integration. As Thiersteinand Walser (1997) put it: “The strengths lie in its cross sectional characterwhich integrates economics, ecology and social aspect”. The Rio Declaration

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states that peace, development and environmental protection areinterdependent and indivisible (Principle 25).

Sustainable development is comprised of three problem dimensionsthat should be analyzed in parallel (Daly 1992 according toThierstein/Walser 1997):

(i) Economic Dimension: where the focus is on allocation;

(ii) (ii)          Ecological Dimension: where the focus is on scale;

(iii)          Social Dimension: where the focus is on distribution.

A striking characteristic of cross-border regions is that thelinkages across the border are almost always centered onpectoral focal points.

We can see this pectoral differentiation in the process ofcross-border region building on the basis of,

(a)        The formation of various selective “policy networks” (Marin & Mayntz 1991),

(b)        The existence and relevance of antagonistic “epistemic communities“(Haas1987), and

(c)          The appearance of antagonistic „visions“in respect to what the cross-border region is intended to accomplish.

The essential feature of cross border accesses is that it is aprocess changing the nature of human interaction. Foremost arechanges to spatial (e.g. state) boundaries, but temporal andcognitive boundaries are also being crossed. As a result, many healthissues are also being changed by these global dimensions. Towards an effective

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response to quality of life and these health issues, the mostimmediate need is for a better understanding of globalizationthrough sound empirical research.

It is expected that a research of this type would help andfacilitate policy initiatives at local, national, regional andglobal levels. This might begin with encouraging greaterawareness of the global dimensions of health among policy makersand health practitioners, but could then be followed by specificpolicy decisions to optimize the benefits, and mitigate thecosts of health and raise the quality of life of the humanbeing.

4. Research Questions or Hypotheses:

Objects:

(a) To explore the ground realities on Indo-Nepal Border region in relation to crossborder socio economic interactions with a view to quality of life.(b), To explore the ground realities on Indo-Nepal Border in relation to cross borderaccesses of health care facilities and utilization (c) To analyse Indo-Nepal Policy compatibilities from the point of view ofenhancing Quality of life, (d) To devise a policy framework for effective border management with optimal

access to health facilities.

Hypotheses to be tested are:

2000 Cross border synergies and Quality of life of the people of Indo-Nepal order regionare positively related.

2001 Any attempt to restrict open nature of Indo-Nepal border will have negative impacton the quality of life of the people of Indo-Nepal order region are positively related.

5. Coverage

Focus is to be given on three levels:

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(1) At the global level – a bird’s eye view of the cross borderimpacts on quality of life,

(2) At the country level –policy frames of reference,

(3) At the micro level – ground realities, cross-border socio-economic dynamics and its policy implications.

(I) Universe of study

The present study is concerned with the quality oflife, especially the health dimension of the peopleresiding along the border of India and Nepal, of course,with a focus on certain Districts, It becomes therefore,necessary to get hold of the first hand information on bothsides of the Indo-Nepal border.

The present study will cover the residents of Indiaand Nepal residing nearby Indo-Nepal border, in theDistricts Mahrajganj and Siddharth Nagar of Eastern UttarPradesh from India side and Naval Parasi and Roopandehi andKapilvastu on the Nepal side.

(ii) Sampling Frame:

Selection of samples from the both sides of the borderof India and Nepal in the specified region will bedone with the following schemes:

With an assumption that the cross-border Socio-economic interactionbetween India and Nepal diminishes as the distance from the borderincreases, a gravitating approach will be followed forsampling and data collection. Thus, density of sampleswill be decreasing accordingly.

This approach can be understood with the help of thefollowing conceptual scheme:

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______________________________________________________________________

INDIA>> [NO MAN’S LAND] <<NEPAL<Secondary Layer>< Primary Layer>> [NO MAN’S LAND] << Primary

Layer><Secondary Layer><_5KM ____><____5KM____>> [NO MAN’SLAND] <<___5KM

__><__5KM_>>________________________________________________________________

________

Beyond ten kilometers on both the sides are tertiarylayers. The primary, secondary and the tertiary layersrepresent the regions which are farther and farther fromthe no man’s land respectively.

Criteria for Selection of Region/Districts: The comparativebackwardness of the Maharaj Ganj and Siddharth Nagardistricts, from the point of view of the Quality of life,in Uttar Pradesh has formed the basis for selection.Interaction and cooperation among the people residing inthe neighborhood is highest, therefore, the two districtsNaval Parasi and Roopandehi are selected as they lie in theextreme vicinity lest a no man’s land dividing theneighborhood but without affecting the socio-culturalinteraction attributed to the open border.

(3) Sampling procedure

Given the nature of the study, it is obvious that we needto obtain primary data for analyzing the issues at hand.Information the project will draw from its field work andprimary evidences that would allow us to devise a comprehensive

platform for policy analysis & formulation. A random andpurposive clustered sampling procedure will be adopted in the study.

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Methodologies to be employed include: Institutional analysis,ethno-methodology, ethnography, participant-observation method, unobtrusive

measures, content analysis, secondary analysis and comparative analysis ofthe experience of countries with different policies,institutions, etc;

The survey instrument will be designed to take into account countryspecific factors. Some standard rules for taking fieldnotes have to be followed in collecting such data, i.e.,taking notes as soon as possible, and not to talk to anyonebefore note taking, counting the number of times key wordsor phrases are used by members of the folk group, carefullyrecording the order or sequence of events, and thesequence, not to take anything as too insignificant;recording even the smallest things, drawing maps ordiagrams of the location, including the movements and anyreaction by others, writing quickly and devising ones ownsystem of punctuation, avoiding evaluative judgments orsummarizing; always make backup copies of your notes andkeep them in a separate location and so on.. The key pointbehind all of these is that the researcher must operate on two levels: becomingan insider while remaining an outsider. These notes would containrich, detailed descriptions of everything that went on.There would be no attempt at summarizing, generalizing, orhypothesizing. The notes would capture as factual adescription of the drama as possible to permit multipleinterpretations, and most of all, to later infer culturalmeaning.

Almost all case studies involve unstructured interview andethnographic methodology (meaning the subject was allowedto express themselves in their own words). It's difficultto describe the variety of techniques used to arrive atuseful generalizations in a case study. Homothetic (group)designs simply add up the totals and look at averages.Idiographic (single subject) designs have the advantage ofrescuing individual data from the pile of averages. This

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argument works best if the individual in question fallsinto some extreme category (successful at crime or acomplete failure at it). Scientists refer to these cases as"outliers".

Secondary analysis is the reanalysis of data that wasoriginally compiled by another researcher for otherpurposes than the one the present researcher intends to useit for. Secondary data analysis is only limited by theresearcher's imagination. While the technique is mostlyquantitative, limitations exist that often force suchresearchers to have some qualitative means of garneringinformation also. In such cases (as with much Historical-Comparative research), the qualitative part of the study isused as a validity check on the quantitative part.

(4) Units of observation and sampling size:

Selection of Respondents

With this conceptual scheme, a selection will be made out ofa total of two tehsils and twenty five blocks, includingtehsils as sadar blocks of the two districts from Indiaside. A total of sixty observation sites will be selected onrandom basis, out of which thirty will be taken from Indiaside and thirty from Nepal side.From each observation site, a total of twenty individualswill be interviewed on pre structured questionnaire, thus, we willbe having nearly1200 respondents to provide necessaryinformation. The selection of respondents will be made on the bases offollowing parameters:(I) Distance of unit from no man’s land(ii) Population(iii)Composition of urban, semi urban and rural settlement.

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On Nepal side the criteria of sampling will be the same.

7. Data Collection

Given the nature of the study, it is obvious that we need toobtain primary data for analyzing the above issues. Data arenot inherently quantitative, and can be bits and pieces ofalmost anything. They do not necessarily have to beexpressed in numbers. Data can come in the form of words,images, impressions, gestures, or tones which represent realevents or reality as it is seen symbolically orsociologically (If people believe things to be real, they are real in theirconsequences - the Thomas Dictum). Qualitative research usesunreconstructed logic to get at what is really real -- thequality, meaning, context, or image of reality in whatpeople actually do, not what they say they do (as onquestionnaires). Unreconstructed logic means that there areno step-by-step rules. Qualitative research most often isgrounded theory, built from the ground up.

Criteria for Data CollectionVillages, hospitals, offices and various other departmentswill be surveyed in a random way without informingbeneficiaries, Panchayat officials, developmental officialsand others. Different approaches like social and villagemapping, group discussions, involvement of beneficiaries inthe discussions will be adopted. All the individuals willbe interviewed separately without interference, at theirconvenient time in an open, informal, conducive, non-threatening and non-promising. Officers and Sarpanch willbe interviewed separately for collecting various data.

As already mentioned above, study will be heavily based onthe primary information, needless to say that secondarydata will also be used. It may come from published(Publicly available) or arranged from official records.Primary data will be collected by means of questionnaire,

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interviews, and observations and by various methodsdetailed in the preceding section. For secondary data, wewill have to rely on government publications as well as onthe information from the revenue, police and surveillanceauthorities of both the countries. It will, therefore, betime consuming and expensive.

For Questionnaire/Schedule to be used

(1)Identification of data:Since Quality of life is directly related to level of earning:On the basis of occupation: Self employed, Service, Agriculture, Labour. Out ofwhich, a selection will be made on proportional ground for a maximum of 20schedules per observation point to be administered by the investigator byvisiting personally. (2)Approximate number of questions to be asked:Approximately 35 to 40 questions.(3)Scaling Techniques (If used)(4)Projective Tests incorporated (If any)(5)Time per interviewOne to one and half hour per schedule, as each schedulewill have 35 to 40 items.(6)Index construction (If any)(7)Coding Plan (whether questions and responses will beprerecorded or not; whether the coding is done for computeror for hand tabulation)

Questions and responses will be prerecorded and coding willbe done for computer. It will be done keeping the followingfacts in view:

Coding scheme will be devised, usually in basic terms likefrequency (amount of content), direction (who the content isdirected to), intensity (power of content), and space (size ofcontent). Manifest coding is found to be quite reliable because one cantrain assistants to do it, ensuring inter-coder reliability, andall one is doing is using an objective method to count the

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number of times a theme occurs in your coding scheme.Latent coding requires some knowledge, usually gained fromfieldwork or observation, about the language rules, or semiotics,of the subjects. It is less reliable than manifest coding, butinvolves the researcher using some rubric or template to makejudgment calls on implicit, ironic, or doubtful content. Sincenot everything always fits in categories, there's always someleftover content to be accounted for, and it must be interpretedin context by a knowledgeable researcher who knows somethingabout the culture of his/her subjects.  A key point to rememberis that the more quantitative aspects of content analysis comefirst; the qualitative part of the analysis comes last, althoughsome advocates say the technique involves moving back and forthbetween quantitative and qualitative methods.

For Interviews

(1) How (Freeassociational,nondirective,focused,direct or on telephone)

Direct associational & in-depth interview to fill the questionnaire;

(2) Particular characteristics Quality of life comprises many characteristics; a few ones may only be

stated here. For, the broadercategoriesareoutlook,support,health,dailyliving,activities,socialinteractions,socialadaptivity,alertness,,communication, emotional behavior, education, earning capacity ,since Quality

of life is directly related to level of earning..

Observation Techniques

(i) Type of observation; participant/quasiparticipant ornonparticipant

Participant/quasiparticipant(ii) Units of observation

Individuals and households(iii) Whether there will be the only technique or other

will also be employed

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Techniques are most efficiently and cleverly usedwhen researcher keeps is eyes open and adapt to the delicatenature of the data and information he/she has gathered.Therefore, it is not fixed and proper adjustments arepossible and other techniques may be used as the datastructure and data bases of India and Nepal may not behomogeneous.

7. Data Processing

This study intends policy formulation; data will be coded andanalyzed in such a manner that simulation studies are possible.Most of the general softwares are available with the host

institution only specialized analysis will require customizedsoftware which will have to be developed by some professionaldeveloper or will be hired.

8. Time Budgeting

The proposed research work will be broken up in to several sages and time required for each stage (tentative) is given below:

1Preparatory work, including selection 1 monthand appointment of staff and their training

2 Pilot study, if any

3 Drawing of Sample3 months

4 Tool Construction3 months

their pretesting and printing)

5 Data collection5 months

6 Data processing(including coding4 months

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editing, sorting, computer analysis)

7 Data analysis & interpretation4 months

8 Report writing4 months

TOTAL

24 MONTHS

(iii) Organizational Framework

Details of the project staff, other than the Project Director, tobe appointed:

9. Cost Estimation

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