Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Hunger, Ethics And The Right To Food, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

he management of hunger has to look into the issues of availability, accessibility and adequacy of food supply. From an ethical perspective, this paper argues in favour of the right to food. But, for this to become viable, the state has to come up with an appropriate and effective bill on food and nutrition security, address the issue of inadequate provisioning of storage space by state agencies leading to rotting of food grains - a criminal waste when people are dying of hunger; and rely on local level institutions involving the community, that complement the administrative structure to identify the …

Access To Land: Some Issues, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

The paper, or rather note, is a brief review of some existing literature. It underscores the need for improved land access to the tiller from the point of view of both equity and efficiency. Some of the suggestions are: (i) opening up of the land lease market so that tenancy does not go underground (ii) in states like West Bengal where tenancy is protected, provision could be made to make them owners in part of the land while giving up claims for the rest, (iii) reduce transaction costs in land markets, which include fees but also bribes being paid, (iv) …

Persistence Of Crisis In Indian Agriculture: Need For Technological And Institutional Alternatives, Srijit Mishra, D. Narasimha Reddy

Srijit Mishra

The crisis in Indian agriculture has two dimensions - agricultural developmental and agrarian livelihood. Some aspects of the agricultural crisis are decelertion in production, productivity and value of output from early 1990s in almost all crops. Withdrawal of the state from public investment in irrigation and related infrastructure, providing access to formal credit, and waning link between research & extension and farming. As a result, the farmer faces multiple risks, vagaries of weather, price shocks, and spurious inputs among others, further compromising on his already lower returns. On agrarian crisis, what is worrying is that the deceleration in agriculture happened …

Nutrient Based Subsidy (Nbs) & Support Systems For Ecological Fertilization In Indian Agriculture, Srijit Mishra, Gopikrishna Sr

Srijit Mishra

The intensive agriculture model was introduced in India in the 1960s as part of the Green Revolution. This brought in a package which included massive irrigation projects, new high yielding input responsive varieties and chemical fertilizers. Initially, it did increase production. But now, the food production is stagnating and one has been observing diminishing returns and falling dividends, especially in the agriculture intensiveareas of the country.

The chemical and synthetic fertilizers, particularly Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK), are highly subsidized. The amount of subsidy on this has grown exponentially during the last three decades from a mere Rs. 60 crore …

Agrarian Scenario In Post-Reform India: A Story Of Distress, Despair And Death, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

Indian agriculture today is under a large crisis. An average farmer household’s returns from cultivation would be around one thousand rupees per month. The incomes are inadequate and the farmer is not in a position to address the multitude of risks: weather, credit, market and technology among others. Social responsibility of education, healthcare and marriage instead of being normal activities add to the burden. All these would even put the semi-medium farmer under a state of transient poverty. The state of the vast majority of small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers is worse off. An extreme form of response …

Suicide Mortality Rates Across States Of India, 1975-2001: A Statistical Note, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

Age-adjusted (5+ years) suicide mortality rate (per 100000 persons) has been calculated by sex across states of India for 1975-2001. Farmers and non-farmers suicide mortality rate are also given for 1995-2001.

Farmers' Suicides In Maharashtra, Srijit Mishra

Srijit Mishra

An agrarian crisis has precipitated a spate of suicides in Maharashtra. The suicide mortality rate for farmers in the state has increased from 15 in 1995 to 57 in 2004. The rain-dependent cotton growing farmers of Vidarbha are faced with declining profitability because of dumping in the global market by the US, low import tariffs, failure of the Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme and withdrawal of the state (resulting in declining public investment in agriculture, poor government agriculture extension services and the diminishing role of formal credit institutions). The farmer now depends on the input dealer for advice, leading to supplier-induced …