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

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The Everyday Wars on World Agri-cultures

The Agricultural Dilemma: How Not to Feed the World by Glenn Davis Stone, Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2022; pp 232, price not mentioned (UK Edition) (hardback).

Measurement and Analysis of the Productivity of Indian Banks

The paper reveals that cash holdings, the “growth rate of assets,” the “incremental gross non-performing assets,” and the “incremental cost of funds” negatively impact the productivity of banks, whereas the net interest margin has a positive impact. The paper also benchmarks major banks in India that can be used as an input in strategic decision-making.

 

Assessing Direct Benefit Transfer of Agricultural Subsidies in Bihar and Odisha

Subsidies have played a major role in expanding the ownership and use of machines in agriculture in India. Many states have shifted from price subsidy to the direct benefit transfer of machine subsidies. This study uses administrative data on the sale of 4.9 lakh subsidised agricultural implements in Bihar and Odisha to evaluate the effectiveness of the DBT of agricultural subsidies in the two states.

 

Literary Cultures in North East India

The history of a community’s literature has usually been inseparable from the history of the language in which the literature is produced. In North East India, the problem arises in the case of those communities which have a rich and vibrant oral tradition, but no written texts. When writers from these communities adopt a literary language which is alien to their culture, they have to understand the historical conditions that enable them to use that language. The literary cultures in this region have witnessed a gradual shrinking of frontiers from the trans-regional vernaculars to a confined and limited regional space, where atomisation of cultures is more visible than development of cosmopolitan vernaculars.

Why Wage Differences Exist across Sectors?

Inter-industry differences in wages are substantial, and over time, they do not seem to be disappearing. Productivity is a determinant of wage differences across industries, though the association between them is not very strong at the aggregate level or for intermediate goods, capital goods, and consumer non-durables. Trade liberalisation enhances productivity and wages at the aggregate level, and also in the case of basic goods and capital goods. However, in an attempt to raise productivity, firms may extract more work from those who are already engaged, and tend to pay them less than their due share in certain industry groups. Contractualisation and feminisation show similar effects for all the industry groups except the intermediate goods industries, and has a worsening effect on wages and also productivity.

Doubling Farmers' Incomes by 2022

How realistic is the objective of the Government of India to double the income of farmers by 2022? Is there a precedent? From estimates of change in income of agricultural households over the period 2003-13, this article suggests what needs to be done to achieve a doubling of real incomes. A focus on income from cultivation alone will be inadequate. Policy aimed at increasing net income from animal farming will be key.

Public Sector Textile Mills

A review of the productivity performance of the National Textile Corporation in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry presents a disturbing picture of poor capacity utilisation, outdated technology and machinery, poor maintenance and excess humanpower. The situation calls for drastic restructuring to improve the economic viability of the Corporation

What Ails Kerala's Economy:A Sectoral Exploration

The `Kerala model' of development has been facing a serious crisis due to low growth, high cost, low productivity, low investment and low employment in the state economy. This paper analyses the performance of major sectors of the state economy, such as agriculture, industry and the financial sector, during the past two decades and brings out the problems they confront. The paper highlights the lack of a development strategy in Kerala for growth and employment generation.

Risk and Productivity Change of Public Sector Banks

While the relationship between portfolio risk and capital and its interrelationship with operating efficiency has been explored elsewhere, limited evidence has been forthcoming on the interrelationships among capital, non-performing loans and productivity. The paper makes an attempt to examine the same in the Indian context. Using data on public sector banks (PSBs) for the period 1995-96 through 2000-2001, the paper finds capital, risk and productivity change to be intertwined, with each reinforcing and to a degree, complementing the other. The results imply that inadequately capitalised banks have lower productivity and are subject to a higher degree of regulatory pressure than adequately capitalised ones. Finally, the results lend some credence to the belief that lowering government ownership tends to improve productivity.

McKinsey's Plan for Russia

Well researched and penetrating though it is, the report on Russia prepared by McKinsey, the renowned consultants, is no more than a wish-list of foreign investors in Russia, actual and potential. Far from unlocking the forces of growth, the report's recommendations would lead to further underdevelopment and the enormous talents of the Russian people would be effectively bottled up for long years.

Economic Reforms and Productivity Trends in Indian Manufacturing

This paper analyses the trends in growth and efficiency in the utilisation of resources in the Indian manufacturing industry before and after the introduction of economic reforms. It uses a comparative analysis of all-India figures with Gujarat, one of the most industrially developed states of the country. The study shows that both the organised and unorganised sectors in Gujarat seemed to be doing better than the all-India average in terms of growth of value added. Growth in the manufacturing sector in Gujarat was also more efficient than average all-India growth after the reforms were introduced. Gujarat's strategy of physical infrastructure development, leading to industrialisation, has been the main reason for the growth of the state's manufacturing sector.

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