Economic and Political Weekly

Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

Some Recollections and Reflections

Vol - XLVIII No. 51, December 21, 2013 | M S Prabhakara

Commentary

In death Nelson Mandela is undergoing a droll kind of transformation. A revolutionary fighter who led an armed struggle against the apartheid regime became towards the end of his life a universally beloved, almost cuddly, icon of peace and reconciliation. It is true that Mandela mellowed towards the end of his life, evident in what one saw of him in photographs. But the fi re never died, except to the extent that the body itself was losing its vigour. Mandela himself took pains to deny that he was a "saint".

Food Security Uncertainties after Bali

Vol - XLVIII No. 51, December 21, 2013

Editorial

The Government of India claims "victory" at the WTO; it has only bought time.

Editorial Warning Bells The recent elections indicate a deep-seated disaffection towards the Congress Party. Read more	Editorial Détente between Tehran and Washington The détente between the US and the Islamic Republic opens a door for the Iranian people. Read more
Commentary Reassessing the Brent Benchmark for Crude Oil Akshay Mathur There is reason to believe that the Brent benchmark for global crude oil prices is being manipulated. This has serious implications for oil import dependent countries like India. The opaqueness of the price setting process makes it diffi cult to... Read more	Commentary Hunting for Consensus Neha Sinha "Problem animals" such as tigers and leopards are routinely eliminated by state government machineries in an act that is represented as the "hunting down" of "man-eaters", and framed as a public service. In a country... Read more
Commentary Gender Issues for the Fourteenth Finance Commission Dakshita Das In confi rmation of its gender-based commitment, the government should not consider revenues arising out of alcoholic beverages as part of the overall gross state domestic product of any state; this will automatically have an impact on the... Read more	Commentary Policy for Punjab's Agriculture Will It Deliver? Sukhpal Singh Punjab's new agriculture policy based on a report prepared by the Committee for Formulation of Agriculture Policy for Punjab focuses on yield enhancement and market orientation instead of demand-driven agriculture. While the report talks... Read more
Commentary Fifty Years of E P Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class Dipesh Chakrabarty In confirmation of its gender-based commitment, the government should not consider revenues arising out of alcoholic beverages as part of the overall gross state domestic product of any state; this will automatically have an impact on the revenue... Read more	Book Reviews Abuse of the Law When in Custody Raju Ramachandran In Custody: Law, Impunity and Prisoner Abuse in South Asia by Nitya Ramakrishnan; Sage Publications; pp 451, Rs 995. Read more
Book Reviews The Crime of Cruel and Unusual Punishment in the US Bindu Desai Out of Control: A Fifteen Year Battle against Control Unit Prisons by Nancy Kurshan (San Francisco: The Freedom Archives), 2013; pp 229, $20. Race to Incarcerate: A Graphic Retelling by Sabrina Jones and Marc Mauer (New York: The New Press... Read more	Perspectives The Provincial Self in the Town of Love Aarti Wani The film Shuddh Desi Romance departs from other Bollywood films in its attempt to reconfigure gender relations, its anti-marriage stance and its advocacy of relationships of love outside the realm of conventions and customs. It not only espouses... Read more
Glimpses from the Past / Web Exclusives Value Through Exogenous Distribution Krishna r bharadwaj Krishna R Bharadwaj is well known for, among other things, her research into the Cambridge economist Pierro Sraffa's work on economic theory. Her review of Sraffa's book 'Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities: Prelude to a... Read more	Web Exclusives A Message to the Aam Aadmi Party V Krishna Ananth The Aam Aadmi Party’s victory lends credence to the belief that idealism can triumph over established political parties like the Congress and the BJP and shows that violent and unscrupulous means are not the only way to gain electoral... Read more
Special Articles The Nature of Economic Development and the Economic Development of Nature Partha Dasgupta This paper reviews and in part extends an emerging literature that integrates development and environmental thinking. It focuses on a small part of the literature: economic evaluation, and goes on to develop the notion of sustainable development... Read more	Notes Double-Digit Inclusive Growth Not without Robust Agricultural Growth Kirit S Parikh, Probal P Ghosh, Hans P Binswanger-Mkhize India aspires for a double-digit growth rate. For that, agriculture will have to grow at least 4% annually to support gross domestic product growth rates in excess of 8% if we are to constrain imports at slightly higher levels than at present.... Read more
Special Articles Dalit Humanism, Literature and 'Technologies of Deification' Understanding the Politics of Matang Samaj K V Cybil This paper attempts to analyse the plea for a social change made by the anti-caste movements in India, of which the dalit movement is perhaps considered the leading light. It tries to situate the aim of this movement for a better future against... Read more	Special Articles Tribal 'Annihilation' and 'Upsurge' in Uttar Pradesh A K Verma Issues of identity, inclusion, social justice, political representation and empowerment form the backdrop of this enquiry that highlights the sufferings of tribals in Uttar Pradesh and points to a historical wrong that failed to recognise tribes... Read more
Web Exclusives Translating Symbolism into Action: AAP's jhadus Devaki Jain The Aam Aadmi Party should engage with the problems of the manual scavengers and waste pickers earnestly to translate their symbolism - using the jhadu as their election symbol, into action. Read more	Glimpses from the Past / Web Exclusives Glimpses from the Past: Export Strategy for the Take-Off Manmohan Singh This article written by Manmohan Singh, then a young economics scholar, was published in the Special issue of July 1963 of the Economic Weekly. Fifty years later, he occupies the position of the Prime Minister of India, yet the... Read more

Vol - XLVIII No. 51
December 21, 2013

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Review of Rural Affairs: June 29, 2013
With Indian agriculture growing slowly, employment in agriculture too has been increasing at a low rate. Urban employment has not expanded rapidly enough to provide work for the growing rural population. So, is the rise in non-agricultural employment in recent years driven more by distress than demand? Three articles in this edition of the Review of Rural Affairs look at aspects of this issue.
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