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In the developing world, the adoption of new technology in agriculture has emerged as a tool to address the problem of investment-disincentive effect of capital investment on smallholders. In Indian agriculture, which is dominated by smallholders, technological adoption becomes very essential. In this regard, along with the government, local level organizations also provide training and other support to adopt the new agricultural technique. The present study is an attempt to assess the counterfactual impact of this sort of initiative in the context of Bihar, a state in India.

The study uses field survey data which are collected from the Gaya district of Bihar. Overall, 249 sample farmers are surveyed from 23 villages of four blocks of the Gaya district. There are two groups of selected farmers: treatment and control groups. Farmers who adopted the new technique belong to the treatment group, and otherwise, the control group. For analytical purpose, a propensity score matching method has been used to estimate the counterfactual impact of the adoption of the new technique of farming on farmers' agricultural income.

The study observes a significant improvement in the agricultural income of the farmers who adopted the new technique. New agricultural techniques, propagated through the local level organization, might be instrumental to enhance farmer's skill as well as income.

This type of approach may be adopted, complementary to the government's extension initiative to enhance farmers' income through adoption of the advanced farming process, as well as to improve the human capital of agriculture production.

The study laid a framework of assessing the counterfactual impact of intervention of local level organization and adoption of new farming techniques in the context of Bihar, India.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2022-0606

Electric Vehicles (EVs), owing to their low carbon emissions, have gained immense importance in achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. They have also appeared as viable substitute to conventional vehicles. Aligning with global initiatives, India has created a favourable ecosystem and has implemented several policies since 2011 to achieve its target. Consequently, the market share of EVs has surged, both globally and in India, over the past decade. Taking this into account, this study aims to identify the factors that influence EVs in a developing economy using the context of India.

This study identified important determinants of EV adoption from global literature and employed a multiple linear regression model (MLRM) using the ordinary least squares (OLS) technique. Secondary data were utilised to identify determinants in the Indian context, sourced from the Ministry, NITI Aayog, AQI, the Lok Sabha Question, and the Economic Survey of India.

This study found that the number of charging stations and local pollution levels significantly influence EV adoption in India. The insignificance of the other variables may be due to the emerging state of the Indian EV market.

This study adds to the growing body of literature on EV adoption in developing economies by analysing the factors that impact its adoption using regional data. In addition, this study provides a unique perspective on a developing economy and advocates a comprehensive policy for EV adoption that reflects long-term sustainability.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-06-2023-0479.