Articles by S Mahendra Dev

Economic Reforms and the Rural Poor S Mahendra Dev BOTH the critics and supporters of the economic reform now agree that the poverty has increased during the first 18 months (July 1991 to December 1992) of the reform period. They disagree, however, on the factors responsible for the increase in poverty, particularly rural poverty.

A District Level Analysis S Mahendra Dev This paper examines the characteristics of 100 low yield districts and some non-low yield districts to bring out the constraints on agricultural productivity in the 100 low yield districts. Section II of the paper provides a methodology for analysing the constraints on low yield districts. Data base and definitions of the variables are given in section III, while section IV describes the location and significance of the low yield districts. Section Vanalyses the constraints on agricultural productivity in the 100 low yield and some non-low yield districts and discusses the role of fertilisers and fixed capital in raising agricultural productivity The last section presents the summary and conclusions.

out that there are substantial differences between the British and the Indian contexts which need to be recognised, but concedes that the British experience is likely to be more relevant to us than that of other countries. One can readily agree with the conclusions of this useful paper. His central contribution to the book, namely, the paper entitled 'Privatisation of Public Enterprises: Scope and Limits' recognises the need for examining the case for privatisation, as also the limits to privatisation, and deals briefly with some of the points which can be made against privatisation. However, this effort at objectivity seems somewhat half-hearted. Indeed, the paper explicitly admits that "there is a bias in this approach in favour of private ownership in the context of technical efficiency". The main thrust of the paper is to explore the scope for privatisation in certain sectors. The illustrative framework provided in the statement at the end of the paper lists a number of public enterprises in various sectors which could be considered for privatisation. For instance, it indicates that the refining units of the public sector oil companies could be carved out as independent units and privatised; that Indian Petrochemicals Corporation could be transferred by sale; and that each generating unit of National Thermal Power Corporation could be a separate entity for transfer. It is perhaps not Reddy's intention actually to advocate the privatisation of these units: he is probably merely indicating possibilities. However, can one responsibly put forward such ideas without entering into a discussion of the policy issues involved? The IPCL, Indian Oil Corporation and NTPC have all been successful with reference to both physical and financial indicators and one is not aware of any major customer dissatisfaction with IPCL or IOC; and all these operate in very important sectors. On what grounds should one consider their privatisation? Similarly, we have the following on the life insurance sector: "Split and transfer by sale of equity, joint venture, etc Split into units for yardstick competition." But should we not first go into the basic question of why life insurance was nationalised, and whether a change in the policy is now called for? Red- dy says somewhere that his paper goes into the question of "why privatisation", but the perfunctory remarks on "scoped and "need" are hardly adequate.

Economic Transformation of Rural Punjab S Mahendra Dev The State and Rural Economic Transformation: The Case of Punjab, 1950-85 by G K Chadha; Sage Publications, 1986; pp 369, Rs 195.

in Indian Agriculture Regional Dimensions S Mahendra Dev This paper examines the growth of labour productivity in agriculture during the period between the triennia 1962-65 and 1975-78 at the level of all-India and for 56 agro-climatic regions and the contributions of yield, cropping intensity and land-labour ratio to the increase/decrease of labour productivity in each of these agro- climatic regions. Finally, the author discusses the association between the level of labour productivity in agriculture and rural poverty.