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

Articles by Sirisha C NaiduSubscribe to Sirisha C Naidu

The Continuing Saga of Women’s Work during COVID-19

This paper employs a social reproduction framework to argue that the two main institutions of capitalism—the markets and the state—have failed to adequately provide for the working people of India during the pandemic while fostering gender inequities. While the demand for gender equity in the domestic sphere and the workplace is not new, the pandemic further underscores its urgency.

 

Domestic Labour and Female Labour Force Participation

The declining female labour force participation in India alongside high economic growth is puzzling. Increasing educational enrolment, and higher household incomes have been offered as hypotheses to explain the decline in women's participation in work. Increasing participation in domestic activities has been considered "status production," and as evidence that economic growth has been beneficial. However, these explanations do not fully account for why women from households with lower incomes and fewer assets are leaving the labour market. National Sample Survey Office data on "domestic activities" reveals that a significant proportion of women are working to ensure the daily survival of households. It is argued that the shift of women's labour to domestic activities may in fact be a strategy to cope with the immiserating tendencies of the Indian economy.

Contemporary Fault Lines in Applied Economic Research

A widely-cited social cost-benefit analysis conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research projected net benefi ts from the POSCO steel project in Odisha. Yet, a close examination of the report suggests a fl awed methodology and inexplicable changes in assumptions. As a result, the two primary benefi ts claimed for the POSCO project - employment and revenues to the state - seem to be grossly incorrect. The privatisation of base data used in some of the projections not only makes the task of verifi cation arduous, but also puts it beyond the reach of democratic oversight. The issues in applied economic research in this case can be seen as symptomatic of structural problems in neo-liberal policymaking.

Neo-liberalism and Its Discontents

India's New Economic Policy: A Critical Analysis edited by Waquar Ahmed, Amitabh Kundu and Richard Peet (New York: Routledge), 2011; pp xii + 321, Rs 6,360.

Primary Accumulation, Capitalist Nature and Sustainability

The relationship between capital and nature gravitates towards a policy of primary accumulation. This article provides an analysis of the imposition of capitalist property rights over natural resources in India as processes of primary accumulation. These processes are evidenced by the construction of large dams and mines, in addition to the proliferation of free market environmentalism. Moreover, the scope for primary accumulation remains substantial in view of the hydel potential and new circuits of accumulation emerge under the auspices of free market environmentalism. Are the desiderata of ecological sustainability and human development realised under the logic of primary accumulation and a neoliberal commitment to economic growth?

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