With the withering away of protectionist policies, the trade pattern of India is likely to march in the direction of its comparative advantage. The paper attempts to assess India’s revealed Symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) in export of major agricultural commodities. This study evaluates the structure of comparative advantage in India and the change in the scenario over a period of 21 years from 1991 to 2011. The present study has ascertained the changes in comparative advantage status of India’s major agricultural exports vis-a-vis global players during the post-reforms period. It has been observed in the study that in exports of certain commodities like rice, tea, tobacco, spices, groundnuts and castor oil, India has been able to maintain its comparative advantage, but several other commodities like coffee, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, cotton and sugar, etc. have been negatively affected. India has been found losing out its comparative advantage in export of some of the agricultural commodities to other global competitors during the period of post economic reforms.

The study attempts to analysis the status of migrant labourers working in the industries of Ludhiana city with respect to exploitation and discrimination that they face. The industrial migrant labourers are abominated by the locals and even suffer differentiation at the hands of the public and private organisations. The misery of these labourers can be estimated from the fact that the employers are prejudiced against these migrants as they are exploited during the routine and overtime work, payment of wages and other benefits, allocation of job, terms of employment etc. These migrants provide an important resource base for supply of labour and hence, there is a need to ensure congenial work

environment for the comprehensive development.

It is crystal clear that the development in the small scale and heavy industries after economic reforms has not been developed at a significant phase. It is much lower than before the implementation of economic reforms. Hence, it is concluded that necessary steps should be taken by the Government for effective implementation of economic reforms in the small scale and heavy industries.

This paper has examined the changes in the households’ income and employment pattern and has assessed the impact of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) -a social-security scheme for the rural poor households launched by India Government (2005). This study refers to an exhaustive survey in three villages in Bankura district, West Bengal, India covering 100 households during the year 2011-12. The impact of MGNREGA focusing employment security, income generation, and its governance and future perspectives were dealt in the study. It was found that MGNREGA covered all poor sections of the rural society irrespective of castes, genders or social orders. It was also observed that this project enhanced income as well as savings of rural households. Further, it was noticed that MGNREGA has created rural employment opportunities.

The study is an inquiry of prevailing farming systems in peri-urban mega city Kolkata. Due to lack of fresh water farmers are dependent on the domestic sewage water for cultivation of crops and running a pisciculture unit. The study revealed the pre-dominance of small farmers with abundant supply of workforce both male and female. Around 61.67 % (74 no.) of farmers have a fishery unit (small or large) under their execution. Due to the availability of ample wastewater throughout the year, 61.67 % (74 no.) of sampled farmers practices pisciculture and 59.17 % (71no.) of sampled farmers have intensive vegetable production unit. In this context, the study focuses on optimizing production with sustainability. The normative plan suggests that incorporation of a piggery or a poultry unit sufficiently increase the net income by 47 to 58 % over existing earnings. Intensive vegetable cultivation along with a fishery unit also increase the net income significantly (47.29%).

Over the years, the policy makers in India have adopted a wide range of strategies to ensure supply of fertilizers equitably by providing it at an affordable price. The major fertilizer policies implemented, including the retention price scheme, decontrol of prices, nutrient-based pricing, nutrient based subsidy etc., could not ensure a steady increase in the crop response to the fertilizers. Hence, it is important to trace the evolution of fertilizer policies and suggest some measures to improve them. Some changes in the policy regime like subsidy intervention from the input side, making the fertilizers available in smaller quantity along with other inputs, preferential taxes and tax holidays on the selected fertilizer products and the raw materials, fertilizer mix customised to the requirements of the soil in different regions, targeted distribution of fertilizers etc. can bring about improvements. Policies like that of the proposed Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) of fertilizer subsidies should be carefully studied for the fraught involved in it before being implemented.

Gender gap in wages is a major labour market discourse in policy circles and academia in India. Despite having many Constitutional provisions calling for removal of all gender based discrimination,

wage inequality across gender and race is a reality and it varies widely in terms of its intensity across States. This paper makes an attempt to study the dynamics of gender gap in wages of salaried class

workers Indian states. The paper recognises the need to study the extent to which gender plays a role in determining wages. This is particularly necessary for evolving effective labour market policies in

the country. On the basis of principal component analysis on the reported State level aggregates of various gender specific information, the paper argues that the policies for removal of gaps in skills

and other demand influencing variables may be necessary, but not sufficient conditions for ensuring gender equality in wages. Rather, variables explaining the level of participation of women in decision

making in different walks of their social and economic life and other supply-side factors may explain the gender gap in wages among salaried class workers. 

South Africa managed to have a gross saving rate of 30% to GDP before 1994 but 16% in 2009 (compared to China 52%, Russia 22%). No coincidence that China and Russia are among the economies enjoying rapid growth compared to South Africa. Could the prevalence of an ‘aspirational’ culture negatively impact the South African household savings in which consumption is encouraged by access to credit facilities- necessitated by the sophisticated financial sector? Econometric analysis found the following among others to be statistically significant determinants of household saving rate:level of income, uncertainty (expected inflation), public sector savings and financial development collaborating with many other studies. As both saving and consumer behaviour evolve slowly, the study estimated the correlations by means of an error correction model. This allowed me to estimate a long-run correlation between the variables and to model behaviour in the short run and 2SLS for robustness checks. The study results have diverse policy implications and the following proposals can be made: policy makers must consider fiscal tools e.g. tax incentives to encourage savings (this have been introduced in 2012 national Budget for SA), also consumer education on financial matters.

Onion is extremely important vegetable for earning foreign exchange grown in an area of 1.04 million hectares with a production of 15.74 million tonnes in the country during the year 2011-12. The world’s largest exporter India exported 15.53 lakh tonnes in the year 2011-12. Dehydraion of onion has the potential to reduce the storage losses as well as in price stabilization. Gujarat state with 6 % share in area and 10 % share in production occupied third rank in area and production and first rank in productivity of the onion in 2011-12. The onion dehydration industry of the state is the biggest in the country and it comprises 80 % of the total dehydration units. This study explores processing cost, marketing cost and margin and employment generation in onion dehydration industry of Gujarat as well as growth of export of onion from India. The study based on primary data on

processing and marketing cost collected from Junagadh and bhavnagar district of Gujarat state and time series data on export of onion. It was found that the cultivation of onion is concentrated in the

Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The area, production and productivity of onion crop increased at the rate of 9.53, 8.74 and 0.52 % annum, respectively during the period from 2001-02 to 2011-12. The cost of raw material in onion processing was found to be the major cost in total cost of processing. The net profit of ` 1931.64 per tonne of onion processing was realized by the processors. The processors got `1.15 per investment of one rupee while they recovered their total investment in 5.08 years. The processors preferred round shaped white onion having average diameter of 58 mm in order to obtain better quality of processed products. The export of dried onion and fresh onion from India increased at the rate 17.46 and 6.86 % per annum during 2001-02 to 2012-13, respectively. An appropriate export policy along with policy on fixing Minimum Export Price during glut season and efforts to minimize the variation in prices of onion in order to stabilize the area of the crop are the suggestions emerges from the study.

The brinjal is the major vegetable crop of South Gujarat. The present investigation was carried out to study the growth rates, cost structure, returns and resource use efficiency. The study was conducted

in Surat, Navasari and Tapi districts selected on the basis of area under brinjal. A sample of 240 brinjal growers was selected with probability proportional. The CGR of area, production and productivity of brinjal were positive and significant in South Gujarat but these were non-significant in all the three selected districts except CGR of productivity in Surat district which was significant at 5 % level of significance. The analysis of CV in area, production and productivity indicated that variability was less in case of Tapi as compared to other districts. Hence, a Tapi district was more stable in growing brinjal.

An attempt was made to examine the stability in growth rates of G20 countries during the period 1980 2010. The results showed that among 18 countries studied in G20 group, there are 4 fast growing countries, 8 medium growing countries and 6 slow-growing countries. Out of 4 fast growing countries, China is the fastest growing country followed by Korea, India and Indonesia. The 8 medium growing countries include China, UK, Brazil, Argentina, USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Turkey. Out of 6 slow growing countries, Italy is the slowest growing country during the period of study i.e. 1980 2010. The study showed that besides some exceptions, the fast, medium and slow growing countries remained in their same categories in all the periods, which shows stability in the growth rates of G20 countries. Coefficients of correlation between all the periods were high and

significant which indicates that GDP growth rates of G20 countries are stable. Similar results were shown by rank correlation analysis. This proves the stability in economic growth of G20 countries over time.

This study was carried out to assess technical efficiency in wheat and paddy cultivation with regard to laser land leveling technology in two regions of Central Punjab. For this purpose, the data were collected from 80 farmers, using multi-stage random sampling method. The results indicated that those sample farmers whose fields were leveled with laser leveler were better water managers. The results revealed that the reduction in the use of inputs by up to 23 % will make the sample farmers reach the optimum scale of efficiency. The adoption of laser land leveling technology resulted into water saving of 28 % and 12 % in paddy and wheat crops, respectively. Further, the incremental increase in returns over variable cost was ` 3311 per ha in paddy crop, whereas it was ` 4268 per ha

in wheat crop.

The present study was conducted in Jaipur district of Rajasthan. A sample of 221 farmer borrowers was selected by using the random sampling technique. The results of repayment performance of credit indicated that only 81.27 % of short-term credit, 84.34 % of medium-term credit and 77.82 % of long-term bank credit was repaid by due date and the remaining amount was overdue as on due date. The repayment performance of co-operative credit for rabi season was 92.62 % and that for kharif season was 95.44 %. It was higher as compared to banks. The results also indicated that out of 221 farmer borrowers, 124 (56.11 %) were non-defaulters and 97 (43.89 per cent) were defaulters. The percentage defaulters among the farmer borrowers ranged from as high as 61.11 % in the large farmer borrowers to as low as 36.36 % in the marginal farmer borrowers. The regression results revealed that out of eleven explanatory variables only seven variables significantly affected the overdues of defaulters, however, their degrees and numbers varied from category to category. Out of these significant variables, four variables viz., amount borrowed, amount put to un-productive purposes, expenditures on family consumption and old debts were positively and the remaining three variables viz., gross farm income, non-farm income and cropping intensity negatively influenced the overdues.

An attempt has been made in this study to examine the price spread of minor millets in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Four villages of Jagdalpur block namely Bhatagudai, Turenar, Kalcha and Kumhrawand were selected to collect the required information and the study was confined to three commercial minor millets namely Kodo, Kutki and Ragi. The data were collected for the crop year 2007-08. The total marketing cost paid by the retailers was ` 32.60 per quintal. The sale price of producer came to ` 395.00 and ` 400.00 in channel-I and channel-II respectively. Net price received by producer was being ` 400.00 in channel-II, which came to 74.90 % to consumer price. Net margin received by the retailer was ` 101.40 per quintal i.e. 18.98 % to consumer purchase price. The price paid by consumers for per quintal of minor millets products was calculated `534.00 in Channel-II. Producer’s share in consumer rupee was 74.90 % in Channel-II of the minor millets. 

Paddy area (25.45 lakh ha) occupies more than 90% of the net cropped area (28.11 lakh ha) and 61.18% of the gross cropped area (41.60 lakh ha) during 2011-12 in Assam. Production of rice in the state was 50.45 lakh MT during 2011-12. Being the single major source of agricultural GDP, rice plays a significant role in the state economy. In Assam, rice has been the major food in the consumption

basket. However, the growth scenario of rice in the state has yet to gain the required momentum. Considering the unparalleled population growth in the state, the matter requires greater attention. The population of Assam has increased at an alarming rate in the last three decades. With this trend, rice requirements for the state would be 120.0 lakh tonnes by 2020. Drought, submergence and flash flooding, low resource base of farmers, and lack of proper infrastructural facilities are varied obstacles to obtain higher rice productivity in rainfed areas. There is no other way but to increase the per capita productivity of land, as there is limited scope of increasing crop area due to rapid urbanization in the state. There is need to motivate, mobilize and activate the extension programme for adoption of modern technology in every nook and corner of the state.

The study was conducted to know the farmers willingness to pay for public agricultural extension services. All the four districts of India’s state Tripurawas selected for the study and 80 farmers were selected randomly from two villages of each district. The results of the study revealed that 100 percent of the respondents were willing to pay for getting extension services. The average amount farmers were willing to pay was ` 34.42; whereas, the willingness to pay was according to the farm size of the farmers, farmers having more land were willing to pay more than the farmers having less cultivated area. All the farmers wanted to pay for plant protection information (100 %), followed by majority of the farmers were willing to pay for marketing information (93.33 %), credit services (86.67 %) etc. From the findings of the study of the it was recommended to introduce fee based extension services on selected topics/area based on the preferences of the farmers to provide need-based and quick services to the farmers’.

Livestock plays an important role in socio-economic development of the rural population and also contributes significantly to India’s economy. Dairy farming is one of the water intensive livelihood activities in rural area because it consumes lot of embedded water in the form of feed and fodder. The overall objective of the present study was to estimate the irrigation water productivity of milk production in water rich and water scarce regions of India. The study shows that total irrigation water used to produce a litre of milk from buffalo, crossbred cow and indigenous cow is 3.27 m3, 2.18 m3 and 2.30 m3 respectively in Gujarat, whereas, 5.49 m3, 3.01 m3 and 4.86 m3 respectively in Punjab. In case of Kerala, total water used for producing a litre of milk from buffalo, crossbred cow, and indigenous cow is 3.90 m3, 2.51 m3 and 3.45 m3 respectively. India has a vast bovine population dominated by unproductive/ low milk yielding animals and these animals are competing with the natural resources i.e. land and water. Further amplification of bovine population in the country would add additional burden on already over-exploited natural resources including water. The gradual replacing a part of water intensive milk producing animal with water efficient milk producing animal, would help not only reduce the population of the unproductive animals but also substantially ease the pressure on our precious irrigation water without compromising on milk production. It is imperative to use available natural grasses which are available in forest/grazing land as a fodder for dairy animals to cut down the irrigation water which is used for fodder production. Further more it

is required to cultivate water efficient green fodder crops to cut down the blue water use for milk production.

Groundwater has become the main source of irrigation occupying more than 60 % of total irrigated area in India. While the fast development of groundwater based irrigation has helped to improve the livelihood security of rural population and reduce the poverty; it was at the cost of high level of energy intensification and negative externalities. In this backdrop, this paper estimates empirically the implication of groundwater based irrigation in India on rural poverty and groundwater sustainability. The results establish that a higher share of groundwater based irrigation in total irrigation strengthen the poverty reduction effects of irrigation. However, escaping poverty through unrestricted access to groundwater is not sustainable. Since the property rights on land accords unrestricted access to groundwater, location specific regulations need to be devised for sustainable management of groundwater. Along with this, incentivising rainfed agriculture through price policies and market opportunities; and promotion of watershed based agricultural planning are critical for sustainable agricultural development.