| |
| Shrinking
Cereals, Growing Food Parks |
| May
4th 2010. Rahul Goswami |
|
|
Although
controlling food inflation and ensuring food security
to the population are two major concerns of the government
at present, data and reports of various studies show
very little improvement on both fronts. On the contrary,
the increasing corporatisation of food production, procurement,
movement and distribution is contributing to household
food insecurity, particularly amongst the rural and
urban poor. |
|
| The
Public and the Private |
| Sep
4th 2009. Prabhat Patnaik |
|
|
The
fact that the agrarian crisis or the current raging
inflation in India has not evoked major spontaneous
struggles is linked to the country's transition from
a dirigiste to a neo-liberal economic regime. As Indian
capital becomes increasingly integrated with global
financial capital, and the State increasingly represents
the exclusive interests of the bourgeoisie, the interests
of the people are sacrificed for the sake of the ''nation's''
emergence as an economic power. Further, the capacity
for resistance in our society is also closely linked
to the balance between the public and private sectors,
which too undergoes a fundamental shift under neo-liberalism. |
|
| Indian
Labour Market Report 2008 |
| May
11th 2009. |
|
|
The
paradoxical feature of a positive GDP growth rate along
with unfavourable employment trends have been one of
the most pressing contemporary concerns related to the
opening up of the Indian economy. This first bi-annual
report published by the Adecco-TISS Labour Market Research
Initiatives seeks to provide a thorough analysis of
the current situation of the Indian labour market in
terms of its composition across different segments,
sectors, regions and gender. It includes detailed analysis
of unemployed and underemployed labour force and even
those who are not in the labour force. The industry
perspective on issues of employment is also captured
through a primary survey of select industries in the
manufacturing and emerging sectors. |
|
| The
Impact of Macroeconomic Change on Employment in the
Retail Sector in India: Policy Implications for Growth,
Sectoral Change and Employment |
| May
15th 2008,
Jayati
Ghosh, Amitayu Sengupta & Anamitra Roychoudhury |
|
|
This
study is concerned with the employment situation in
India’s retail sector. High economic growth in India
has not produced satisfactory outcomes of job growth,
both in terms of quantity and quality. Concern has arisen
that many of the working poor engaged in small-scale
retailing and street vending are crowded by entries
of large-scale domestic as well as foreign retailers.
Share of workers’ income in manufacturing has also seen
a decline, despite labour productivity growth, during
the last decade. This paper argues that economic policy
in India needs to be made more inclusive and equitable.
The only sure way of doing so would be making it more
pro-job and pro-poor, through examining employment implications
of macro policies that accompany economic liberalization. |
|
| Farmers'
Suicides in India: Magnitudes, Trends and Spatial Patterns |
| Mar
3rd 2008,
K.
Nagaraj |
|
|
Given
the very large number of suicides by farmers in various
parts of India over the last decade, there is a need
to probe the issue by utilizing a data source which
would provide a comprehensive, nation-wide picture.
This paper is a modest attempt to fill that gap. Its
basic objective is to put together, and carry out a
preliminary analysis on, the secondary data that are
available on farmers’ suicides in the country. The paper
studies, first, the magnitude and trends in farmers’
suicides in India over 1997-2006; and second, the regional
patterns, if any, in the incidence and trends in these
suicides. |
|
| Private
Equity: A New Role for Finance? |
| May
22nd 2007,
C.
P. Chandrasekhar |
|
|
Given
that a substantial proportion of companies in Asian
developing countries are either unlisted or have a small
proportion of free-floating shares, the surge in investments
by private equity firms suggests that foreign acquisitions
could increase in the region sharply. With foreign investors
controlling a rising share of total assets, the ability
of domestic forces and the domestic State to influence
the pattern and pace of growth of domestic economic
activity would be substantially eroded. |
|
| Indian
Economy in the Era of Contemporary Globalisation: Some
Core Elements of the Balance Sheet |
| May
17th 2007,
Praveen
Jha & Mario Negre |
|
|
In
recent years, the ‘official’ India has been patting
itself on account of accelerated economic growth rates
and the presumed progress in poverty reduction. However,
as this paper argues, the recent economic growth has
been extremely lopsided; more than ever before. Further,
large sections of the country’s population continue
to suffer, very acutely, with reference to a whole range
of development deficits. This paper is an attempt to
sketch a snapshot of India’s economic growth performance,
along with some of the major development deficits it
is facing. |
|
| The
Progress of "Reform" and the Retrogression of
Agriculture |
| Apr
25th 2007,
C.
P. Chandrasekhar |
|
|
The
consequence of recent structural shifts is that the
Indian economy can record the observed creditable rates
of non-inflationary growth of aggregate GDP even when
its agricultural sector languishes. It appears that
a feature of the growth process in a more open and liberalised
environment is that the peasantry has a much smaller
a role in sustaining economic growth and can thus be
partially excluded from development. What is disconcerting
is that the self-correcting mechanism that existed in
the earlier period to restore a semblance of balance
between agricultural and non-agricultural growth are
no more operative. |
|
| A
Model of Growth of the Contemporary Indian Economy
|
| Apr
10th 2007,
Prabhat Patnaik |
|
|
This
paper provides a simple model of the current pattern
of India’s economic growth process, to reckon with the
fact that even an accelerating growth rate may leave
the unemployment problem completely unresolved, or even
accentuated, as labour productivity rises at a faster
rate than investment. An obvious conclusion that emerges
is that the widely-held perception that higher and higher
growth rates would eventually eradicate unemployment
in the country, is untenable. |
|
| Recent
Employment Trends in India and China: An Unfortunate Convergence? |
| Apr
5th 2007, C.
P. Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
|
This
paper argues that both China and India, despite the
similarity of the current international hype about their
future economic prospects and also despite their obvious
differences, face rather similar economic problems at
present with respect to the labour market. In both countries,
the strategy of development is delivering relatively
high growth without commensurate increases in employment,
especially in the organised sector; and the bulk of
new employment is in lower productivity activities under
uncertain and often oppressive conditions. It is argued
that this paradox may be a common result of the similar
strategy of economic expansion currently being followed
in both countries. |
|
|
Some
Aspects of the Well-Being of India's Agricultural Labour
in the Context of Contemporary Agrarian Crisis |
| Feb
22nd 2007, Praveen Jha |
|
|
The
tremendous economic pressure that the Indian countryside
has come under in the recent years is bound to impact
the well-being of the masses in the rural economy. This
paper is an attempt to examine the key elements of the
contemporary agrarian crisis and its possible consequences
for agricultural labourers. It appears that their economic
conditions, in any case quite fragile and vulnerable
even in 'better' times, have taken quite a battering
in the recent years. |
|
|
Poverty
and Neo-liberalism in India |
| Jan
6th 2007, Utsa Patnaik |
|
|
This
paper explores why the official poverty estimates show
low levels as well as decline in poverty in India over
the 1990s, whereas all other economic and social indicators
suggest that absolute poverty is high. The former do
not capture the true picture because the official method
involves the 'fallacy of equivocation'. It is also argued
that when actual rural poverty is as high as nearly
four-fifths of the population and poverty depth is increasing
with a higher proportion of people being pushed down
into lower nutritional status, there is an urgent need
to revert to a demand-driven universal public distribution
system. |
|
|
Archives >> |
| |
