The 16th Annual HPRC
Program
16th Annual Himalayan Policy Research Conference
Event Sponsor: Nepal Study Center (NSC), University of New Mexico
Dec. 4th & 5th, 2021
Zoom: Register
PROGRAM OUTLINE
December 4, 2021
Welcome Remarks
(6:00-6:05am MST)
Dr. Alok K. Bohara (Founding Director, Nepal Study Center)
Keynote Presentation
(6:05-6:30am MST)
Dr. Swarnim Waglé (Chief Economic Advisor at the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (RBAP))
PANEL I: Gender Based Violence Research and Practice in South and Southeast Asian Regions
(6:35-7:25am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Nafisa Halim
Karra Mahesh (Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy, Boston University, USA)
Sikder Shefa (Senior Technical Advisor, Health Equity & Rights, CARE USA)
PANEL II: Asian Populations & Health
(7:30-8:20am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Janani Thapa
Haider Mohammad Rifat, James W. Hardin, Zaina P. Qureshi, Md. Abdul Hamid Salim, Janani R. Thapa & M. Mahmud Khan, “Cost Effectiveness of Shorter Regimen for Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment in Bangladesh”
Kalauni, Deepak, Kiran Thapa & Janani R. Thapa,
“E-cigarettes use and its associated factors among undergraduate students in Kathmandu Metropolitan City”
Tiwari Biplaw Babu & Donglan “Stacy” Zhang,
“Differences in Mental Health Status among Asian Americans during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from the Health, Ethnicity and Pandemic Survey”
BREAK (8:20-8:30am MST)
SESSION 1: Gender Studies
(8:30-9:35am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Disha Shende
Karmakar, Abhradeep, “Household Debt and Female Labor-force Participation in India”
Bhattarai, Anisha & Kiran Giri, “Toilet as ‘mainland’ of institutions: A study of toilets in Tribhuvan University Clock Tower Building”
Chakrabarti, Anjan, Rimu Chaudhuri & Arindam Chatterjee, “Defending Polyandry and An Exploratory Note from Lachung Valley of Sikkim, India”
Chakraborty, Anup Shekhar , “Sexually Ambivalent Gorkha and Pink Migrations from North-East India”
SESSION 2: Renewable Energy
(8:30-9:35am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Samrat Kunwar
Katuwal, Hari, “Biogas adoption in Nepal: drivers and challenges”
Hassan, Gazi & Sakib Mahmud, “Can Remittances Finance Clean Energy in Developing Countries? Evidence from a Natural Experiment”
Chhetri, Aashish & Lakpa Tamang, “Urban Water Security in the Darjeeling Himalaya, India”
SESSION 3: Human Trafficking
(9:40-10:45am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Mohammad Mashiur Rahman
Letsie, Nthabiseng Claudia, Bandak Lul & Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, “An Eight-Year Analysis of Child Labor Trafficking Cases in the United States: Exploring Characteristics, and Patterns of Child Labor Trafficking”
Blair, Hannah Elizabeth, “Survivors at the Core: The Effectiveness of Anti-Trafficking Organizations Who Place Survivors in Leadership Positions”
Niumai, Ajailiu, “Human Trafficking in Manipur: A Study of Tribal & Nepalese Survivors”
SESSION 4: Environment & Natural Resources
(9:40-10:45am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Sakib Mahmud
Bhandari, Medani, “Landslide Associated to Unplanned Road Construction – An Inevitable Problem in Nepal”
Bista, Rajesh & Conghe Song, “Does rural out-migration influence forest product use and household participation in community forest management?”
Raut, Nirmal Kumar, “Natural Disaster and Assets Recovery: Empirical Evidence from Nepal’s Earthquake”
Dhakal, Bhubaneswor, “Nepali Diasporas need different stand on global initiative for upscaling forest resource and ecological restoration”
BREAK
(10:45-11am MST)
PANEL III: Covid-19 (11-11:50am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Siobhan Yilmaz
Sardar Md Ferdous Zaman,
“How COVID-19 Risk Information Affects Beliefs and Behaviors: Experimental Evidence
from Bangladesh”
McGee Spencer, Siobhan Yilmaz, Alok Bohara,
“Project HOPE’s COVID-19 training program: Does it help health professionals in Nepal?”
Cotter Tom & Emi Dukovski,
“Covid 19 Response in Nepal- Project HOPE 2020-2021”
END OF DAY WRAP-UP
(11:50 -12pm MST)
December 5, 2021
Welcome Remarks
(6:00-6:10am MST)
Dr. Alok K. Bohara (Founding Director, Nepal Study Center)
PANEL IV: Women & Entrepreneurship in South East Asia: Bridging the Gap
(6:15-7:05am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Rimu Chaudhuri
Majbouri, Mahdi (Associate Professor of Economics, Babson College, USA)
Chakraborty, Sabitri (Cyber-Security Advocate & “Courting Coffees” Founder)
Guha, Somrwita (Founder & CEO of Papercup Online)
PANEL V: Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Women: Studies in India and Nepal
(7:10-8:00am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Sreyasi Chakravarty
Chakravarty Shourish,
“Impact of Workfare Programs on Household Fuelwood Usage”
Sharma Bonita,
“Human, Economic, and Environmental Capital Influence on Women’s Health Decision-Making in Nepal”
Mohanty Monalisa & Barsha Poricha,
“Organizing urban poor women towards sustainable habitats: A Case Study of UDRC and CURE”
BREAK
(8- 8:10am MST)
SESSION 5: Income & Health Inequality
(8:10-9:15am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Vinish Shrestha
Purohit, Brijesh C., “Nature of Health Insurance Demand in India”
Dulal, Rajendra, Shankar Ghimire & Kul Kapri, “Causes of socioeconomic inequality in Nepal: evidence from a panel study”
Naher, Samsun & Md Atiqur Rahman, “Relationship between Life Expectancy, GDP, and Public Health Expenditure in Bangladesh from 1974 to 2019: A Vector Autoregressive (VAR) Model”
Karkora, Tejeswar, “Role of Women in Achieving Household Food Security in South Asia”
SESSION 6: Environment & Health
(8:10-9:15am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Rajan Bishwakarma
Md Atiqur Rahman & Samsun Naher, “The Role of Air Pollution and Economic Growth in the determination of Health Expenditure in SAARC countries”
Khatiwada, Niraj & Alok K. Bohara, “Public Preferences for Air Quality Improvement: Are More Exposed More Likely to Pay?”
Thapa, Arjun Kumar & Babu Kaji Thapa, “Analyzing Willingness to Pay for Improved Tap Water Quality: A Case of Kathmandu Valley of Nepal”
Wilkins, Ben & Doug Hill, “An interdisciplinary approach to understanding water resources in the Jhikhu Khola catchment, Nepal”
SESSION 7: Finance, Trade & Econ. Development
(9:20-10:10am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Veeshan Rayamajhee
Adhikari, Ambika P. & Keshav Bhattarai, “Diaspora’s Role in Nepal’s Development: Potential in the 2020’s”
Dasgupta, Nandita, “India’s FDI to Nepal: Analysis of Trajectory, Nature, Causes, Outcomes”
Basu, Shubhabrata & Rimu Chaudhuri, “Effect of COVID 19 pandemic on Pharmaceutical Industry in terms of Inventory and Logistics Management”
SESSION 8: Democratization, Conflict, & Post-Conflict Processes (9:20-10:10am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Prakash Adhikari
Pun, Khusiman & Kira Villa, “A Decade Long Maoist Insurgency and the Loss of Child Health in Nepal”
Yonzan, Nishant, “State Capacity and Armed Civil Conflict: Evidence from a decade-long Civil War in Nepal”
Gyawali, Varsha, “Gender, Inequality and Agency - The women’s narratives on claiming justice”
PANEL VI: Undergraduate Research
(10:25-11:15am MST)
Moderator: Dr. Soumyajit Chakraborty
Jawhari Ahmed Amine, Carlos Ortega Lujan & Silas V. Wyatt,
“The Effects of Air Pollution on School Absenteeism: Evidence from Siddharthanagar Municipality of Nepal”
Sandweiss Ethan & Matthew Goldman,
“Impact of Political Views on Support for Carbon Tax Policies in the United States”
Mancha Aaron, Khanh Nguyen & Roberto Morales,
“Role of Agronomical Literacy on Farming Decisions: A Case Study of Nepal”
END OF CONFERENCE WRAP-UP
(11:15 -11:30am MST)