Considerable participation of women in socio-economic, political and cultural set-up of the society is the pre requisite for the development of an economy. It is the fact that the economies which used the growth of agricultural sector as a base for their development path towards industrial and service sector growth shifted their surplus labour from agricultural sector to these sectors. Punjab has a different story regarding rural female employment. After green revolution, the state recorded tremendous agricultural growth. But this achievement in agriculture did not contribute in terms of female participation in economic activities and even this remarkable growth upto 1980’s in agriculture sector brought a sharp decline of female work participation in farm-sector. In the nineties when major economic reforms were introduced in Indian economy, the major sectoral shift was noticed in employment which in result brought a rapid shrink in the number of agricultural workers in the state. Census 2011 figures present a gloomy situation for the gender equality in work participation in Punjab. Punjab continued backward for providing equal employment opportunities for the women. High mechanisation of agriculture and low growth of a non-agriculture sector made the situation worse for women to get employment. It is high time for a gender sensitive employment generation strategy to secure the socioeconomic interests of females in the state.

In the aftermath of introduction of major agricultural marketing reforms such as amendment of APMC Act, e-NAM in the state of Odisha, there was hardly any study assessing the performance of regulated markets in Odisha. Therefore present study was undertaken to study the performance of existing regulated markets, scope of e-NAM and various constraints faced by the farmers to market their produce in the state. Both primary as well as secondary data was collected from respective APMCs and AGMARK net portal. Trend analysis was employed to study the pattern of arrival and prices of major commodities. Garret ranking was done to study the constraints faced by farmers. Findings show that state is gearing up to establish the required infrastructure for implementation of e-NAM, arrivals showed mixed trend and lack of remunerative prices and lack of market information emerged as major constraints faced by farmers in the state.

India accounts for only about 2.4 % of the world’s geographical area and 4 % of its water resources, but has to support about 17 % of the world’s human population and 15 % of the livestock. Agriculture is an important sector of the Indian economy, accounting for 17% of the nation’s GDP, about 11% of its exports, about half of the population still relies on agriculture as its principal source of income and it is a source of raw material for a large number of industries. Accelerating the growth of agriculture production is therefore necessary to meet the rising demand for food, but also to increase incomes of those dependent on agriculture to ensure inclusiveness. The productivity of farms depends greatly on the availability and judicious use of farm power by the farmers. Agricultural implements and machines enable the farmers to employ the power judiciously for production purposes. Agricultural machines increase productivity of land and labour by meeting timeliness of farm operations and increase work out-put per unit time. Besides its paramount contribution to the multiple cropping and diversification of agriculture, mechanization also enables efficient utilization of inputs such as seeds, fertilizers and irrigation water. Mechanization in agriculture enhances production and productivity of crops through timeliness, better management of inputs, improved quality of work and reduction of post-harvest losses. The study revealed that the domestic sale of tractor is the highest (45.41%) for the 41-50 hp range followed by 36 % for the 31-40 hp range during 2015-16. The demand of high power category tractors in India increased for using high capacity farm machines on custom hiring basis. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra together account for about 45.21% of the total tractors sale in India during 2015-16. The net area sown by a tractor was 487 ha during 1975-76 and reduced to 24 ha by 2015-16 that still lags behind the developed countries and even some of the developing countries of the world (e.g. China) in terms of the net area sown by a tractor. Farm power availability of India was 0.48 kW/ha in 1975-76 reached to 2.13 kW/ha in 2015-16, which is 4.44 times higher over a period of forty years. A positive direct correlation was found between available farm power, food grain productivity and cropping intensity for the country. With the increase in intensity of cropping, the turnaround time is drastically reduced and it is not possible to harvest and thresh the standing crop, on one hand, and prepare seed bed and do timely sowing operations of subsequent crop, on the other hand, in the limited time available, unless adequate farm power and matching implement is available.

The area under maize crop has been consistently decreasing in the Punjab state over the last few decades, despite its multiple uses. Ineffective implementation of price policy along with certain problems, the maize growers could not earn remunerative returns form maize cultivation in the state. The present study was designed to highlight the various problems in the context of production and marketing front of maize crop in the Punjab state. The data with respect to various problems being faced by the maize growers were collected through well structured pre-tested schedule. The data recorded on scales and severity analysis was carried out by using mean rank score. Garret ranking technique was applied to extract the important problems that influence the maize cultivation in the Punjab state. The severity analysis indicated that among biotic constraints, the emergence of diseases (mean score=1.82) was reported as the most severe problem faced by the maize growers. Plant protection measures being adopted by the maize growers for effective control of insect, pest and management of diseases could increase the production cost of maize. Based on the value of mean score, shortage of labor supply during peak season (mean score=2.82) was the most important problems amongst abiotic problems, while the intensity of the problems like price variability, shortage of farm machinery was moderately high in the study area. Low price of the produce was exposed as the most influential problem by applying Likert scale. Shortage of labour supply during peak season, emergence of diseases, insect-pest attack and weeds infestation were exposed as moderately severe problems. Hence, the effective and suitable measures to address the highlighted problems of maize could provide impetus to increase maize acreage in the Punjab state.

Financial and real sector linkages have been the subject of interest among economists since the global financial crisis. This paper investigates the cointegrating relationship and the causality between the financial and real sector in India for the period 1982 to 2015 using time series annual data. The financial sector is proxied by liquid liabilities, domestic credit given by financial sector and market capitalisation as percentages of GDP. The real sector is proxied by real GDP with net capital formation and real interest rate used as control variables. The Augmented Dickey Fuller and Phillips Perron tests show that all variables are stationary at first differences. The Johansen cointegration test reports cointegrating relations between financial and real sector when domestic credit given by financial sector and liquid liabilities as percentages of GDP represent the financial sector. However, the error correction model gives the speed of adjustment between the financial and real sector only when domestic credit as a percentage of GDP is used as an indicator of financial sector. The Granger test reveals that there is a unidirectional causality from real to financial sector when domestic credit and liquid liabilities as percentages of GDP represent the financial sector. We find evidence of a demand following hypothesis or growth driven finance hypothesis. These results have significant inferences for economists and policy makers.

The present study was conducted to analyze the rice cultivation scenario in Punjab from 1994-95 to 2015-16. The study was based on secondary data collected from various sources. Study showed that growth rate of area, production, yield, area under HYV and irrigation was much higher in period I (1994-04) than in period II (2004-16). Among the districts Sangrur had the highest growth rate in yield and in terms of area and production Muktsar had highest growth rate in overall studied period i.e. period III (1994-16). Sangrur and Amritsar was among the top three districts in terms of both area under rice cultivation and production. The coefficient of variable GCA had positive and significant effect on growth of area, production and yield. Rainfall (R) and literacy rate (LR) had positive and significant effect in growth of area. Fertilizer consumption (FC) had negative and significant effect in terms of growth of area and positive and significant effect in terms of growth of yield.

Research in marketing channel proves that managing relationship between partners, both individuals, and organizations, that manage distribution functions are very important. Successful principals require proper management of distribution channel to provide the best business performance. The management of marketing channel has been widely discussed as an important element in the supply chain and retail trading. Research on distribution channels generally takes economic concepts that explain distribution channels as a flow of goods and services. Interaction between principal and agent is the benefits optimization or minimization of costs, and neglect of non-economic factors. The development of research on channel management leads to non-economic factors which are describe the relationship between channel partners as a new era in principal and retailers relationships. The concept of relationship value is a social exchange theory aims to build long-term and sustainable relationships between partners.

Analysis of production efficiency of rice cultivation of Wet Rice Cultivation (WRC) in Dimapur and Wet Terrace Cultivation (WTC) in Phek district of the state of Nagaland revealed that, WRC under Dimapur district experienced the highest productivity than WTC under Phek district. The reason for higher productivity for WRC when compared to WTC is due to the better use of seeds, fertilizer, machines, and availability of irrigation facility which had a great impact on production and productivity. Both the farming systems in the two districts are labour intensive and the average labour absorption per acre in Phek district is 41.57 labour man days whereas, in Dimapur district it is about 43.9 labour man days. Result from Cobb-Douglas production function shows that capital plays the predominant role in production in both the districts. The study is based on primary data and the data was collected from 300 household from the two districts and three villages each district using a pre-tested interview schedule. The period of the study was the crop year of 2016-17. The study was found that the cost of production is high in case of small and medium farmers, while the profit rate was high for marginal farmers showing inverse relation between farm size and profitability.

Changes in food consumption and expenditures of households in developing country have been a topic for research throughout the twentieth century. Consumption expenditure patterns and estimates of expenditure elasticities can give an indication of the potential for demand-led growth in a particular economy and also helps in assessing the food security-related policy issues. This study uses the recent household survey data of NSSO (round 68) to estimate a complete demand system for Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ) of Tamil Nadu State, with special emphasis on the food commodity group. A Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (QUAIDS) specification was employed for this study. The QUAIDS model is an example of the empirical demand systems that have been developed to allow expenditure nonlinearity. Price and expenditure elasticities were computed for seven food aggregates which includes cereals, pulses, milk, edible oil, meat, fruits and vegetables and other foods. The results revealed that the most of food groups considered for this study were demand inelastic implies that they are staple foods and the magnitude of the cross-price elasticities suggesting the limited possibilities of substitution among food groups. The estimated expenditure elasticities suggested that the expenditure share on these food groups would increase with an increase in real income, prices held constant. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that the QUAIDS model which allows for more flexibility is superior to the traditional AIDS model.

Farm level capital formation by farmers is largely for the creation of productive assets. An understanding of pattern of investment on capital assets and the source of funds for investment at farm level has greater significance in the present context from the point of view of agricultural development. With this background, the study aims at analysing the farm level agricultural investment in Southern Karnataka specifically focusing on progressive (Tumakuru) and less progressive (Ramanagara) agriculture districts with an objective understanding the pattern of investment and source of funds at farm level. The study revealed that, a lion share was accounted by investment on irrigation structures, livestock and farm machinery and implements, across all type of farms in both progressive and less progressive regions. However, magnitude of investment was different across the region. On an average, in both progressive area and less progressive area, large farmers invested greater amount on farm assets per farm followed by irrigated farmers, small farmers and rainfed farmers. In the progressive area, the irrigation development was the preferred area of investment, where as in less progressive area, it was the livestock. The small and rainfed farmers depended on borrowed funds for investing in assets. In progressive area, institution source of funds played a major role than the non- institutional source of funds and vice versa in less progressive area. On the other hand, the large and irrigated farmers, because of their resource base, made investment from their own sources.

The purpose of the study is to examine why Farmers suicide is a burning issue in India. Farmers are life savers then why they are killing themselves. Is there any nexus between farmers’ suicide and government actions. Agriculture sector data like GDP for 1960-2016, Share of agriculture sector to GDP and disparities in Agriculture and Non agriculture income also agriculture census data from 1951 to 2011 were obtained. Study depicts about what NSSO and NCRB data says about farmers’ distress in India. Doubling farmers’ income by 2022-23 could become the only panacea for thwarting farmers’ suicide in India comparison of agricultural income with non agricultural income also another area of study. In this way farmers suicide issues challenges and remedies has been discussed.

Present study analyzes value addition of the Jackfruit, its marketing by rural women and women empowerment in Tubagere Hobli in Bengaluru Rural district. Data was collected from all the women entrepreneurs in the study area. Six value added Jackfruit products viz, chips, jam, papad, juice, halwa and mixture are produced. A return per rupee of expenditure was highest in Jam (` 2.54) and lowest in Juice (` 1.05). They transacted an average 240 kg of chips, 120 kg of mixture, 4000 papads, 190 litres of juice, 30 kg of jam and 150 kg of halwa in 2015-2016 through direct marketing. Profit generated through value addition was higher (95 %) compared with marketing of raw fruit. Women empowerment index has shown that 50, 10 and 40 per cent of women had high, medium and low level of empowerment respectively. Thus, value addition and direct marketing have enabled them to become better empowered.

Purely monetary approach to poverty measurement does not provide a true picture of deprivations or wellbeingness of households. Aspects based poverty measurement using multiple dimensions of deprivation gives a more complete picture of poverty. In this investigation, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) has been used to study deprivations experienced in multiple dimensions of drinking water, sanitation and housing facilities in urban Haryana. For estimation of the poverty across the urban areas of Haryana, household level secondary data from 69th round of NSSO survey on selected indicators of drinking water, sanitation and housing facilities have been used. Based on MPI estimates the urban households in the district of Mewat have been found to be most deprived in reference to drinking water, sanitation and housing facilities in urban Haryana followed by Fatehabad, Rohtak, Mahendragarh, Jhajjar and Ambala.

Gujarat’s has been blessed with one of the longest coast lines. Besides, it also has a long glorious past, dated to almost 3000 years, manifested by the maritime commercial ties that it had developed with countries such as China, Egypt, Sri-Lanka, Greece, African and Arabian countries. Data is collect through survey in 2014-15. At start the ship breaking sector was on peak and become the No. 1 sector around the globe but unfortunately this sector in performance getting down and down with time. There are three main reasons, first, the high tax rate was imposed, second, there was no proper safety measures as we see deaths and injuries incidents are taken place, no proper medical facilities are available and third there was no proper training and education for the workforce which are engaged in this sector. All the needs of this sector to make it Green are addressed in this study properly. If all the measures which we addressed for the improvement of this sector is handled properly than this sector will contribute much more to GDP in different ways as this sector in terms of employment, and will also produce much more steel which not only fill the demand of steel domestically but also we will export it to different countries.

Variability in climatic factors is one of the main determinants of agriculture production. Past agrarian studies have shown that variability in rainfall and temperature has decline agriculture production in entire North Indian States. Farmers, especially small and marginal are adversely affected from climate variability. They have less resources and coping strategies against the climatic variability. Rice is the one of important crop for all North Indian State’s people. Level of temperature already reaches to tolerance level of crops and it is increasing day by day. Also variability in rainfall during Kharif cropping season has been reported in all North Indian states. Incidence of extreme climatic events such as drought and flood is also repeated in these areas. Level of carbon dioxide is also increased due to over exploitation of natural resources and industrial activities in these states. Growth in population is much higher in last three decades. So burden on natural resources such as on agriculture is becoming very high. Agriculture sector needs immediate action against climate variability. Mitigation strategies are time taking process. However, an adaptation method is best technique to mitigate consequences of climate variability. Sowing date and use of technological tools are the best adaptive method to minimize the impact of climate variability.

There is no doubt that Punjab farming is capital intensive and agricultural production increased with the use of machinery, high yielding varieties of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers. But the use of technology made agriculture more capital intensive. Punjab farmers are suffering from stagnated agricultural production and their expenditure on agricultural inputs are increasing over the time. This situation creates financial problems for the farming class. The present paper tried to shows the current situation of Punjab’s agriculture in terms of operational land holding, productivity, irrigational sources, marketing of agricultural produced, and transformation from labour intensive to capital intensive farming etc.

Inequality is more visible and widespread in the developing countries of the world like India. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is a flagship programme of poverty alleviation and reducing income inequalities, of the Government of India. The programme seeks to guarantee at least 100 days of employment every year to the rural poor or enhance livelihood security by 100 days of employment a year to one member of every rural unemployed family. In this paper, an attempt is made to study the magnitude of inequalities in the distribution of household income among the MNREGA beneficiaries in the economy Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. This study shows that there still exists income inequality in all categories of land holdings and the reduction of income inequality may be caused due to reason that the members of all categories of land holdings obtained more employment opportunities under NREGS or MNREGA.

Apple is the main fruit crop of Himachal Pradesh and is grown in nine out of the twelve districts. It contributes to 40 per cent of the fruit growing areas in Himachal Pradesh. A sample of 60 farmers cultivating apple was selected using multistage simple random sampling. Out of 60 farmers 30 farmers are with drip irrigation and 30 farmers are without drip irrigation. Literacy situation revealed that 93.37 per cent family members were literates with a literacy index of 3.37 in case of with drip irrigation farms. In case of without drip irrigation farms, 91.61 per cent family members were found literates with a literacy index of 3.05. Average size of land holding was 1.34 and 1.38 ha on with drip and without drip irrigation farms, respectively which is low due to more area under apple. Area under apple has been found to be 64.35 per cent out of total cultivated land on with drip irrigation farms and in case of without drip irrigation farms it was 67.09 per cent out of total cultivated land. The main problems of farmers with drip irrigation were clogging of emitters (83.33%), difficulty in inter cropping and high cost of spare parts (66.67%) each and irregular electric supply and spare parts not available at village (63.33%) each. The main problems of farmers without drip irrigation were high cost of establishment (86.67%), lack of knowledge on subsidy (73.33%) and lack of technical knowledge (70.00%).

The present study attempts to assess child multidimensional poverty in rural farm households and find out its determinants. The study was conducted in six randomly selected villages of Tura and Ampati sub divisions of Garo Hills, Meghalaya. From each household child aged between of 5-14 years were considered either one or two children from each household was selected for the study, A total 80 children from 60 households were selected as subjects of the study. Six dimensions and seventeen indicators of child poverty were used for the study. Average child deprivation score of the study area was worked out to be 34 percent. The indicators in which the majority of the children were deprived were safe drinking water (87.50%), cooking fuel (81.80%), housing (71.25%), and child labour (66.25%). Parents’ education, parents’ age, family income, land holding and livelihood diversification were found be important determinants of child poverty.