Examines one of the most important reforms relating to public enterprise (PE) policy in India, namely divestment of their share‐holdings. Discusses the philosophy, process, organizational mechanism, expectations and outcomes of divestment in PEs. Finally, points out the major weaknesses retarding the success of the newly introduced divestment policy and outlines some reformatory measures to overcome them. As a backdrop, presents the historical background, current scenario, and problems and performance of PEs in India, but has been restricted to the central PEs, i.e. enterprises owned and managed by the central government only.

The main purpose of this study was to assess practices and challenges of preschool education in Jijiga City administration. Mixed design was employed (both quantitative and qualitative) for this study. 19 preschool centres (6 public and 13 private preschools) were randomly selected for the study. 51 preschool teachers (12 teachers from public and 39 teachers from private teacher) were selected.  A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data in which 57 items were filled by preschool teachers which are dealing with Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) practices. Interview, FGD, observation and document analysis were used to triangulate the data collected using questionnaire. Percentage and thematic analysis were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data respectively. The main findings revealed that preschool practices in all sampled preschools were found to be below standard, unable to use local stories since teachers were not from the community and knowledge of parents, teachers and principals towards contribution of the preschool was found to be limited. It was found that 82.4% of the preschool had no early childhood care and education qualification, and 70.6% of the preschool teachers did not agreed that all sampled preschools had inadequate classroom space, 64.7% of the preschool centres did not have age appropriate chairs. Similarly, 76.5 % of the preschool had no any out-door playing material and 100 % of all preschool did not used approved curriculum and lack of appropriate teaching used in most of the preschool were some of the main finding.  The Ethiopia Somali Regional Education Bureau is recommended to address shortage of trained ECCE teachers, develop standardized ECCE curriculum, applying developmentally appropriate content, materials, and teaching methods, use locally and culturally appropriate materials and assign teachers who can speak the local language of the community.

State‐Industry interface has always been a subject of debate because the role of the state in relation to industry depends on the economic philosophy adopted by a country. The two extreme economic philosophies, capitalism and socialism, have their own limitations. Once Winston Churchill observed: “Capitalism is unequally shared wealth while Socialism is equally distributed poverty”. India has followed the path of a “mixed economy” which thrives on the co‐existence of public and private sectors. The joint sector which provides a compromise between public and private sectors has been a subject of debate in the country since the early 1970s. Today when the Indian economy is in transition there is a need to make a fresh assessment of the joint sector. The basic idea underlying the concept is a combination of joint ownership, joint control and professional management. It is a pattern wherein the Government, through its Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), holds 26 per cent of equity capital, the private sector partner holds 25 per cent and the remaining 49 per cent is meant for the public. In fact, the joint sector is the application of the concept of a mixed economy at the micro level.

Development Banks (DBs) are specialized financial institutions created for the purpose of balanced industrialization. A development bank has to act more as a promotional agency than a mere financial institution. Therefore separate institutions have been set up, namely State Industrial Development Corporations (SIDCs) in almost all the states in India for undertaking promotional activities. With the growing role of Development Banking in India, the SIDCs are facing financial hardships as they are wholly dependent on Government grants. The paucity of funds for SIDCs has prompted them to opt for divestment of their shareholdings from the existing units to recycle the funds for increasing industrial promotion. Divestment decisions are concerned with the quantum and timing of divestment and the determination of share prices for this purpose. SIDCs are different in that their divestment decisions need not be primarily guided by economic factors (capital appreciation). Highlights the divestment policy and share evaluation models adopted by a development bank, namely Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation Ltd, which is basically responsible for transforming an agrarian Indian state (Andhra Pradesh), into a moderate industrial organization.

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