S. Mahendra Dev

Impact of agricultural interventions on the nutritional status in South Asia: A review.

Highlights • Home production of targeted crops for nutrients intake and nutritional outcomes.• Homestead gardens for improved diet diversity.• Diversification of agriculture for improved diet diversity and nutritional outcomes.• No conclusive evidence of impact of irrigation on diet diversity.• Empowerment of women crucial for improving nutritional status.

Trade and stock management to achieve national food security in India and China

Purpose - – China and India have to provide food security to 1.36 billion and 1.25 billion populations, respectively. The purpose of this paper is to address the roles of trade and stock management in achieving food security in these countries, such as the impacts of trade on consumer and producer prices and incomes of farmers and others and implications for food security, and the impact of stock management on price stability, availability, access and nutrition. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper is based on secondary data and literature on these issues. It compares the policy tools of trade and stock management used in India and China for food security purpose, in terms of long-term efficiency, in order to provide better understanding on how to achieve food security through public interventions. Findings - – Although stock is an important tool for food security, it is likely to be costly if used for price support and redistribution purposes. Trade might provide cheap food to enhance access to food, the impact on domestic producers and the volatility in world market may lead to serious problems. A carefully designed policy combining stock management and trade may help achieving food security. Research limitations/implications - – This paper relies on existing literature of current issues and policies, and tries to conduct comparative study on India and China, the two largest countries in the world. The scale and depth of the study are restricted by authors’ knowledge, hence may not be adequate in addressing those important issues. Practical implications - – Both India and China are undergoing policy review regarding food security, under pressures in domestic market and from multi-nation negotiations. This study may provide better understandings of the issues related to policy reform and trade negotiation. Originality/value - – Though a large portion of factual materials are adopted from existing literature and statistics, the analyses are those of authors.

Labour Market Inequalities in India: Dimensions and Policies

This article deals with dimensions of labour market inequalities and policies for reducing these inequalities. The problem of inequality can be found across sectors, wages and earnings, quality of work, labour market access and, between organized and unorganized sector. Labour market segmentation is another important issue regarding inequalities. Reducing labour market inequalities is important for the sustainability of growth, reduction in poverty and a rise in human development in India. Macro policies, sectoral policies, skill related policies, education and social protection policies are important for reduction of labour market inequalities. At the global level, technological change has been one of the factors responsible for increasing labour market inequalities between skilled and unskilled workers. India has to be prepared for technological revolution and its implication for employment. The country has to address the “fundamental challenge” of improving human capital for all the workers in order to reduce inequalities. Political economy issues have to be tackled in order to address raising inequalities.

Poverty and Employment: Roles of Agriculture and Non-agriculture

This paper examines issues and policies in the roles of agriculture and non-agriculture in raising employment and reduction in poverty. First, it provides poverty trends in the pre and post-reform periods. Second, it analyses factors for decline in poverty and different views on the roles of agriculture and non-agriculture in reducing poverty. Third, it looks at the agricultural policies including doubling of farm income. Fourth, it examines briefly issues in rural non-farm sector, manufacturing and services, social protection programmes and inequality. Apart from agriculture, focus is needed on two areas for reduction in poverty: raising quality employment and education. Manufacturing and services are important sectors for absorption of labour. India has to forge its own path of manufacturing development. Reduction in inequalities is important for its own sake but also for poverty reduction. Finally, improvement in gender is equality crucial for raising GDP and poverty reduction significantly.

Introduction to Development in India: Micro and Macro Perspectives

Our focus in this book is to look at the big picture from the vantage points of contributing authors’ thematic or sector specializations in order to draw out the successes and challenges of development theory as well as policy. Each one of the main authors represented in this volume are known for laying out specific research agendas that have been pursued over decades if not life times. By design, they distil and present the core ideas in an accessible style, which to some extent eschews technicalities that are normally unavoidable in modern day economics writing. Given one common characteristic of their Indian origin, their writing is either voluntarily or involuntarily suffused with Indian development policy debates. However, their international characteristic adds a more nuanced general perspective to these universal development problems that transcend individual country experiences. The book is organized into six parts: Formal and Informal Institutions; Aid and Poverty; Indian Agriculture Growth and Distribution; Financial Markets and Macro Economy; Technological Change, Trade and Development; and, Energy and Ecosystems.

Agriculture, Food Security and Livelihoods in India: Performance, Issues and Challenges

Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the Indian economy. Although its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) is now around one-sixth, it provides employment to 56 % of the Indian workforce. Thus agriculture not only contributes to overall growth of the economy but also reduces poverty by providing livelihoods and food security to the majority of the population in the country and thus it is the most inclusive growth sector of the Indian economy. The global experience of growth and poverty reduction shows that GDP growth originating in agriculture is at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as GDP growth originating outside agriculture (WDR 2008). The 12th Five-Year Plan’s (2012–2017) approach paper also indicates that agricultural development is an important component of a faster, more inclusive sustainable growth approach. This chapter examines the performance, issues and challenges in agriculture and food security in India. It is organised as follows. Section 2 presents the performance in agriculture, while Sect. 3 looks at performance in food security. Section 4 examines issues and future challenges for achieving higher growth in agriculture and enhanced food security in India.

Food and Nutrition Security: Challenges and Opportunities

First, we look at Indian scenario before moving to the global level. Food security refers to availability, access, absorption and stability. available projections show that availability of food grain is not a problem. However, supply is inadequate in non-cereals such as pulses, oil seeds, fruits, vegetables, meat etc. India has been also suffering from high food inflation (10% to 20%) in the last five years. Stability is also a concern with high output and price fluctuations. as a whole, the country may be food grain secure at national level, but widespread food insecurity at household level exists (access problem). Much more problem is malnutrition particularly among women and children. Still 40 to 45 per cent of children suffer from underweight and stunting respectively. Food and nutrition insecurity varies significantly across states. For example, percentage of underweight children was above 50 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, while it was below 30 per cent in andhra Pradesh, tamil nadu and kerala.

Post-2015 Development Agenda: Employment and Growth with Special Reference to India

The Post-2015 Development Agenda provides an opportunity to focus on employment. Productive employment is also crucial for the success of the MDGs. This article first discusses the impact of the MDG approach in India. It then examines the state of employment and growth in India, before considering how Indian policymakers are looking at employment and growth in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Analysis of employment and growth in India shows that the elasticity of employment with respect to GDP has been declining since the early 1980s. Most new employment is generated in the form of informal work in both the organised and unorganised sectors. The Twelfth Five-Year Plan objectives match global thinking on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. A fresh perspective regarding employment and growth in India relates to shifting focus from quantity to quality and skill development. This is also important for taking advantage of the demographic dividend in India.