Nirankar Srivastav

Rural Non-Farm Employment in India: Spatial Variations and Temporal Change

In this paper we propose to re-evaluate the relationship between non-farm employment and poverty and urbanization in rural India for the years 1983 and 1999-00. The choice of the initial and terminal period is deliberate. During this period, the per capita income has broken free from the “Hindu rate of growth”. A larger proportion of the rise in income at least in the 1990s has been in the urban sector (Srinivasan, 1999). It would, therefore, be interesting to take a fresh look at the findings of earlier researches. In this paper, we have tried to find out how the variations in rural non-farm employment during 1983 and 1999-00 has been affected by the reduction in poverty, changes in the degree of urbanization and changes in the occupational structure, if any. Specifically, we propose to test the following hypotheses: (i) poverty and levels of rural non-farm employment are inversely related, (ii) the degree of urbanization of the region has positive impact on the non-farm employment, (iii) the changes in the degree of urbanization of region has positive impact on the growth of non-farm employment, and (iv) increase in the sectoral real wages in non-farm sector has positive impact on the growth of non-farm employment.

Unemployment in North-East India: Some Issues

In this paper we provide an elaborate exposition of different facets of unemployment within the NER. The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the incidence of unemployment among the seven northeastern states. This study also highlights other relevant issues like relationship of unemployment with education and poverty.

Out of Pocket Health Care Expenditure and the Poverty Trend in the Seven Sisters and the Himalayan State of India

Out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on health care has got capacity to impact the households negatively. It can push the people into poverty and into poverty trap to those who are already poor. Therefore, it is important that the strategy to mitigate the menace of poverty have got to focus on the health sector as well, lest the action becomes one-sided. It is seen amongst the north eastern states (NES), the level of poverty increasing from 2004–05 to 2009–10 in all the states except in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Sikkim. Thus, this paper tries to look into the OOP spending of the north eastern states of India on health care based on 71st National Sample Survey Organizations, India. It has been found that those states which are having universal health coverage schemes have lesser OOP expenditures on health care and they could also lessen their number of poverty. Furthermore, the paper found that the urban OOP spending is higher than the rural OOP spending in the north eastern states, thus, contradicting the earlier studies which postulate that rural spending is usually higher than the urban OOP spending. This could be because in the region (NES) people mostly depend on subsidized government health care services irrespective of their quality. Another reason could be, in the region rural areas are basically dominated by the poor and tribal people who are illiterate and less informed and those who have less financial capacity to seek health care unless met with emergency health shocks.

Poverty, Public Distribution System and Food Security in India: A Household Level Analysis

This paper attempts to estimate the impact of PDS on poverty and calorie deficiency. First we have undertaken an analysis of the households that have access to the PDS, what they purchase, and what are their rupee savings due to their access to the PDS. Next we estimate its impact on poverty levels (as is conventionally defined) due to the existence of the PDS. An understanding of the expenditure component facilitates the later sections that discuss calorie deficiency and impact of the PDS.

Inter-Sectoral Linkages in the Economy of Uttar-Pradesh: A Graph Theoretic Approach

The purpose of present paper is to analyse the structural properties of the economy of Uttar-Pradesh (U.P.), India using Input-Output approach. This state is a geographically large state having highest state wise population in India. In this paper we explore the possibility of analyzing inter-sectoral through Graph Theory approach. We are using a revised disaggregated (64x64) input-output matrix for the U.P. The inter sectoral linkages derived from 64x64 I-O matrix directed graphs were constructed which shows the flows between linked sectors in the state economy. An adjacency matrix is derived from I-O matrix. Each sector in this matrix is represented as a node (vertex) in the directed graph. The flow of goods or services from sector i to sector j is indicated by and arc (edge) joining the two nodes in the direction i → j. The inter-sectoral dependency within the group implies that it would be difficult to develop a single sector of the group in isolation. The group as a whole should be developed in order to have maximum gains from the technological links of the sectors in the context of overall regional development.

Public Distribution System, Poverty and Food Security: An Inter-State Analysis with Special Reference to North-East India

This paper reviews status of public distribution system and its relationship with the problem of food security and poverty incidence among the north-eastern states of India. Poverty indices for all the states in the NE region are calculated. It appears that the PDS is widely accessible to the households in the region; it is lack of purchasing power that comes in the way of ensuring food security in the region. The problem of food security in these states is due to general underdevelopment of the region. Therefore, for improving food security situation in the region, the income generating opportunities are to be created and made accessible to the poor household especially in the rural areas. We also found that the access to PDS does not affect poverty incidence significantly among the north-eastern states of India.

Changing Profile of the Service Industries: A Hope for Industrial Development in North Eastern States of India

This paper analyses the sectoral composition of Net State Domestic Products of the North-Eastern states of India for the period 1980-1996. It is revealed that there has been a growing trend of ‘tertiarisation’ of the structures of production. The emergence of service sector in a dominating fashion drew the attention to examine further, the possibility of its ‘catalytic’ role in the economic development of the region. For this purpose the structure of service sector and changes with in the sub-sectors of the service industries for the same period is further investigated. The recent development trends show that major contribution towards the growth of service industries is due to increase in public administration expenditure. Though, construction and trade, hotel and restaurants sector are also developing in some of the NE states. But other important service sectors like transport, storage and communication and banking and insurance are yet to develop to their full potential in this region. The issue related to sustainability of growth of service sector and thus generating employment and income opportunities in the absence of significantly developed industrial sector is also discussed. It is emphasized that in the short run growth of service sector may provide impetus to generate additional employment and income opportunities, however in the long run the simultaneous growth of agricultural, industrial and service sector is desirable in order to maximize the inter sectoral linkage advantages. Inter-state comparative analysis suggests that the states which are adopting more focused approach towards economic growth by implementing state level economic reforms policies will move ahead in future to give better employment and income generating opportunities and thus better standard of living to their people. For marching towards the balanced and sustainable economic development, North-Eastern states have to adopt and implement a more focused growth oriented policy measure.

Poverty in North-Eastern States: An Inter Temporal Comparative Analysis

The present paper is an attempt to analyse the status of poverty, its trend and the process of its reduction in the north-eastern states using the three conventional measures of poverty such as head count ratio, poverty gap ratio and Foster-Greer-Thorebecke method The paper is based on data collected by the National Sample Survey Organisation for two quinquennial 50th and 55th rounds for the years 1993-94 and 1999-2000 respectively. A multi dimensional poverty analysis is presented for the districts of Assam. This analysis is based on Human Development and human Poverty indices. The study reveals that not only the magnitude of poverty has varied from one state to another but also has declined over the reference period for most of the states in the region. This declination was observed to be more in urban areas and in hill states as compared corresponding rural areas and plain states. The findings of this study have important implications in identifying the poor regions and call for a target oriented and region specific poverty reduction programs. More importantly by way of policy implications it also calls for a good governance of the delivery system and strong political commitment.

Structure of Service Sector and Development Strategy for Meghalaya

The present paper highlights some of the recent developments and trends in the service sector of a northeastern state of Meghalaya. We also analyse the structure of the service sector and the changes among the sub-sectors of the service sector from the period 1980-81 to 1993-94. This paper further deals with the possibility of the growth of service sector in and some of the possible suggestions for the developmental strategy for the state.

Non-Farm Sector and its Contribution in Transforming Rural India with Special Reference to Uttar-Pradesh

The present paper has two objectives. The first objective is to re-evaluate the role of non-farm sector in generating productive employment and alleviating poverty in rural areas. An attempt has been made to analyze the recent growth of rural non-farm activities to explore the determinants and factors that might be responsible for its growth. The sources of growth and nature of activities undertaken are important considerations while analyzing the significance of non-farming sector in transforming the economic life of rural households. In this regard the inter-relationship of rural non-farm sector (RNFS) employment with agricultural wages and degree of urbanization is also highlighted. It also examines the major changes in the occupational structure in the RNFS during the period 1983 to 1999-2000. This paper is based mainly on the unit record level data on employment-unemployment collected by the NSSO in the 38th round (1983) and 55th round (1999-2000) across seventy one comparable rural NSS region nation wide. The second objective of the paper is to study the growth of RNFS in the rural Uttar-Pradesh (U.P.) and the factors, which could explain the process of growth is discussed at length. An attempt is made to look in to the inter relationship between growth of RNFS labour employment with poverty and degree of urbanisation. It also analyses at the structural and gender distribution of non-farm rural employment along with intra-state regional variations in U.P.. Finally, paper identifies the issues for further research and suggests some policy measures for developing RNFS.