Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Fix farm woes to power inclusive growth -Sanjoy Chakravorthy, S Chandrasekhar and Karthikeya Naraparaju

Fix farm woes to power inclusive growth -Sanjoy Chakravorthy, S Chandrasekhar and Karthikeya Naraparaju

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Jan 4, 2018   modified Modified on Jan 4, 2018
-The Hindu Business Line

Fragmentation of agricultural land has caused sharp, uneven fluctuations in farmer incomes. Policy must address this

Inclusive growth — also called “pro-poor” growth — has become an important idea in the development discourse in India. It has widespread support because it combines the two most important ideas in development: income growth along with a progressive (or more egalitarian) distribution. The term was first embraced in the early 2000s by the UPA-1 government under PM Manmohan Singh. It has since been taken up by the NDA government under PM Narendra Modi. But is “inclusive growth” anything more than a slogan like “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas?”

In light of the objective of the Government to double the income of farmers by 2022, we examined the issue of “Sabka Vikas” by analysing the National Sample Survey Organization’s Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers (2003) and Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households, 2013. Because agriculture employs close to half the labour force in India, but generates the lowest per capita output (and hence is associated with the highest levels of poverty), it is clear that if there is to be inclusive growth in India, it has to begin in the agricultural sector.

Growth matters

If there was overall income growth between the surveys, and incomes at the bottom end of the income distribution (of small and marginal landholders) grew faster than at the higher end (of large landholders), it would be possible to conclude that inclusive growth had taken place. We looked for evidence on the inclusiveness of growth in the agricultural sector. Between 2003-13, we found evidence of overall income growth by a factor of 1.34 in real terms. However, we also found that the land-rich saw incomes grow the fastest; the -poor, the slowest. Households with over 10 hectares of land (the largest landownership class) saw their incomes double. In fact, all households with at least 1 ha of land saw their income increase by at least 1.5 times. The slowest growth of income was among the smaller landholders; marginal landholders (less than 0.4 ha) saw their incomes grow by a mere 1.1 times.

In general, the smaller the landholding class, the slower the income growth. As far as land ownership is concerned, the opposite of inclusive growth — a regressive growth — had taken place.

These differences in averages were indicative of high income inequality. We used the Gini Coefficient — a popular measure of inequality that takes a value between 0 and 1, with a value of 0 for perfect equality and higher values indicating higher levels of inequality — to measure income inequality. We found a Gini Coefficient of about 0.6 for income between 2003-13. This is expected to be an underestimate because surveys are typically unable to reach households at the very top of the income distribution.

Please click here to read more.

The Hindu Business Line, 2 January, 2018, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/fix-farm-woes-to-power-inclusive-growth/article10009051.ece


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close