In Bangladesh the high economic growth during the last few decades caused the tightened labor markets and high wages even in the agricultural sector. In this context, the land tenancy market, which has been underdeveloped in the country for long, has expanded remarkably in recent years. This paper, based on data collected from all households in two villages from Bogra and Tangail Districts both in 1992 and 2009, confirms the expansion of land tenancy market, clarifies its characteristics, and analyzes the factors which caused the expansion. In spite of the difference between the two villages in terms of the detailed forms, the two phenomena ; i.e., withdrawal from large-scale farming by big landowners and increasing land rental by landless and marginal farmers were observed. The expansion of land tenancy market can be attributed to such factors as, 1）the difficulty in continuing large-scale farming depending on hired labor faced by big landowners because of the wage hike and labor unavailability, 2）the development of remunerable non-agricultural employment opportunities in rural areas such as service, business, and international migration, 3）the development of conditions which enable landless and marginal farmers to manage tenant farming ; such as the development of lease market for power tillers and/or tractors.

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In the late 1970s and early 1990s, five South Indian states legislatively amended the 1956 Hindu Succession Act or established a new act at the state level. These Hindu succession amendments, which pertained to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, granted women the right to inherit joint family property, such as agricultural land and ancestral homes. This paper discusses the correlation between these inheritance reforms and the changing educational attainments of Hindu women in India. It assumes that these inheritance reforms altered the framework of intergenerational transmission in household resources, such as material and human capital. Using four-period data from India’s National Family Health Survey（NFHS）, this paper examines the correlation between inheritance reforms and education levels. The results show that Hindu daughters of household heads who own land in the states where inheritance reforms have been enforced benefit from acquiring education and reading newspapers and magazines. The paper also creates a placebo for the same nonreligious conditions, which is compiled from the NFHS with regard to Muslim and Christian daughters, who are not subject to the Hindu Succession Act. The study uses the placebo for a robustness check. These women showed no significant increase in educational level.

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His Majesty the King of Bhutan is often called “the People’s King,” or “the Bodhisattva King,” and the people love and respect him. Although the King’s influence is strongly reflected in Bhutanese society, there has been little discussion about the role of the monarchy in the country’s nation building. This paper seeks to identify the impact of the King’s provincial visits on nation building by analyzing the purpose and function of the visits, using the newspaper- Kuensel, published from 1967 to 2000. The King has repeatedly advocated for participation and cooperation in development in the course of his visits around Bhutan, delivering speeches and interacting directly with the people. His provincial visits have been closely linked to development plans, and functioned as a venue for defining and reinforcing “Work Together for Development” attribute in the context of changing social conditions.

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