ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

Articles by Biswajit ChatterjeeSubscribe to Biswajit Chatterjee

Business Conduct in Late Colonial India

Economic historians have tended to recognise an almost unfractured racial solidarity that prevailed among the European business class in colonial India, not only locally within the country but also with the "white" colonial government and the manufacturers in Britain. This almost unexceptional race-based harmony was attributed to the complementarity of business interests including an attempt to keep off native competition. It has been generally agreed that the larger interests of race took precedence over economic interests of individual members of the European business community in India. This paper presents data on a section of the European business community, that reveals behaviour contradictory to this general understanding. Based on an analysis of business behaviour of the European business community in Kanpur between 1900 and 1939 it is argued that the business conduct of the European commercial community in colonial India was primarily influenced by economic interests and not by any reasons of racial solidarity.

Pattern of Industrial Growth in West Bengal during Last Two Decades-Some Policy Suggestions

during Last Two Decades Some Policy Suggestions Ajitava Raychaudhuri Biswajit Chatterjee In the last two decades, West Bengal had a slow rate of industrialisation but witnessed a relative growth of small and informal industries, This growth of small industries began largely as an ancillarisation operation of large and medium industries. However, the ancillarisation and the small and informal based industrialisation proved productive for industries which grew depending on government orders, but was counterproductive for expansion of consumer goods industries facing market competition and risk. This feature can be explained in terms of risk perception of producers which is conditional upon uncertainties attached to future net returns of investment. The responsibility for reversing this situation lies with the government its commitments as well as on the innovative management practices of entrepreneurs.

Poverty in West Bengal-What Have We Learnt

What Have We Learnt?
Biswajit Chatterjee This article reviews some of the existing studies on the incidence of poverty in West Bengal, with particular emphasis on the decades of 1970s and 1980s, Discussions of the implications of all-India or inter-state poverty studies on the poverty scenario in West Bengal are followed by a critical review of some of the major studies of rural and urban poverty in the stateThe aggregative state level scenario as portrayed by these studies has been contrasted with the grass roots level picture of rural poverty as it has been brought out by some of the recent case studies based on household surveys tresurveys. The implications of all these studies for formulation of effective anti-poverty policies in West Bengal are also emphasised in this paper.

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