G.G. Gopika

We analyze the consumption inequality in India among different caste groups namely SC, ST, OBC and Others using three rounds of Household Level Consumption Expenditure Survey Data from 1993–94 to 2009–10. Regression analysis shows disparity in consumption expenditure across various caste groups. Values of Gini coefficient, Theil’s Index and overlapping index display an increasing trend in both within- and between-group inequality over time. The possibility of stratification among “Others” is identified. It is found that SCs and STs in particular bear the burden of increasing inequality, indicating possible inefficient implementation of the welfare schemes aimed at these communities.

Gandhi's idea of self-reliant villages or Gram-swaraj is a unique conceptualisation of economic decentralization. He proposed Gram-swaraj as a developmental model for India even before independence. This alternative notion of development that is critical of Western modernity and industrialization can offer valuable insights for India in this post-liberalization period. This paper argues that Gram-swaraj needs to be reinvented in the new context of neo-liberal development which proved to be exclusionary, inequality widening, prone to wide economic fluctuations and environmentally unsustainable.

With a view to reduce the burden of food subsidy and targeting it better to the really needy people, the Government of India adopted the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) from June 1, 1997. TPDS aims at providing food grains to people below the poverty line at highly subsidised prices from the PDS and food grains to people above the poverty line at much higher prices than the poverty line Thus, the TPDS adopted by the Government of India maintains the universal character of the PDS but adds a special focus on the people below the poverty line (known as BPL).
TPDS schemes are implemented by Aadhaar authentication with biometric and iris authentication. Main objectives of Aadhaar enabled Public Distribution System are to improve service delivery through online real time transactions, to issue food rations to the genuine and eligible cardholders in time, to make a fool proof PDS System, free from hoarding, stock diversions and corruption etc.  At ePOS level the application is provided bilingual - in English and local language to the user.

Over the past few years the Indian tea industry is experiencing a crisis that is caused by a multitude of factors both global and local causing rampant incidents of closures and abandonment in many tea gardens in the states of Kerala and West Bengal. Mahavir plantation in Bonacaud is just one among such abandoned plantations. In this chapter a detailed analysis of the condition of the workers, and how the closing down of the plantation affected their livelihood and living conditions are analyzed. Extent of poverty and impact of unemployment are assessed. Current alternative livelihood options are also studied.

In order to maintain the level of living standards in at least the same way as we live for the future generations, resource extraction should be sustainable. Environmental impact of the resource extraction and industrialization need to be checked. Mining is a classic example of this contradiction between present consumption and sustainability of the resource extraction. Mining is an industrial process in which the environmental impact is very serious. Pollution out of mining process affects soil, water and air. And the minerals are non renewable resources which can’t be reproduced in the short future.  Extraction of these minerals in excess for current consumption will put pressure on future generations. Minerals like bauxite perform many other functions in the ecosystem like absorbing moisture. And most of the minerals lie under the forest land, which need to be mined to get this resource into use. If these mining operations are not done properly after considering the impact on forest and biodiversity, the loss will be irreversible. Mining industry in India is expanding at a high pace nowadays. Foreign as well as Indian MNCs are competing to gain the mining rights in the mineral rich areas of remote India. Investment along with infrastructure development and other industrial expansion like steel plants and ports are considered to be progressive changes for the economy and government tries to promote these initiatives in spite of the local people’s protest against the mining industry. But mining is not a life time industrial process.

Traditional theories like that of Arthur lewis’ stress the importance of absorbing the surplus labour from agriculture to industry in order to create investible surplus. Agriculture works under the condition of diminishing returns from land while industrial output experience increasing returns. As an economy transform from primary stage of development to secondary and third stages, role of agriculture diminishes and that of manufacturing and service sector increase. In the Indian case this transition has not happened yet, instead of manufacturing, service sector is dominant in terms of income generation while agriculture still stands first in employment generation. This paradox itself needs to be addressed in order to improve the condition of the rural peasants who still depend on agriculture and most of them remain seasonally and disguisedly unemployed. As Indian agriculture still remains primitive in terms of the technology and farming method used, the productivity also remain low while large number of unskilled labour (unlimited supply of labour as lewis calls it) still remains in the primary sector. These add to the inequality in the economy. As this condition can’t help the nation to attain more development, the dominance of agriculture should give way to industry and service sectors. This is the main problem posed by the main stream development thinkers.

The impact of democratic decentralization and neoliberal interventions into the Kerala economy, and how it altered Kerala’s development can be studied only if we understand the change in the nature of State during this period. In order to assess the extent to which Kerala state retained its social democratic features that had once helped the state to ensure better developmental experience, and if at all the state has departed from a social-democratic path  how it is unraveling will be discussed in this paper. The constraints and pressure over the pro-active state is very much connected to the way development has changed in Kerala after Nineties.  Course on ‘Democracy and social democratic development in the Global South’ offered by Olle Tornquist at University of Oslo during May 2017 has helped me to understand the nature of challenges faced by democratic governments across the globe and how Social Democratic Development works in various contexts given the emerging challenges. The comparative studies from different countries and its critical understanding about the way democracy develop,  mature  and accommodate new challenges with respect to development gives me clarity regarding the way Kerala’s development trajectory changed in the Nineties and I am trying to analyze it by seeing its influence and departure from Social Democratic Development”.

Marginalization of tribes and the lack of socioeconomic progress among tribal communities is one of the major drawbacks of Kerala’s development. There are many studies about the socio economic condition of tribes in Kerala in general. Kani Tribes that mainly live near Agastyaarkoodam in Trivandrum district is well known for the traditional medicinal practices and immense knowledge of natural herbs that found in Western Ghats.  Socio economic survey of  Njaraneeli, which is one of the tribal settlements of Kani tribes in Peringammala Panchayat in Vamanapuram Block is conducted in order to understand the social and economic conditions of Kani tribes.