Redevelopment plans threaten the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people who live and work in Dharavi, a city within the city of Mumbai. This book dispells the idea that a “slum” can only be a location for despair. Dharavi: Documenting Informalities reveals thriving communities, innovative architecture and powerful grass roots politics. By moving beyond abstract concepts such as globalization and post-colonialism, Dharavi: Documenting Informalities gives detailed, personal accounts of the many ways in which we are all linked to Dharavi’s people and industries.

Essays by Saskia Sassen, Arjun Appadurai and Sheela Patel complement
maps, photographs, drawings and interviews made by a group of artists and architects from The Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm.

In Dharavi, houses and workplaces have developed over generations. Markets, alleys and the landscape itself were created as a result of actions and hard work, through negotiations and mutual needs. Memories of these
struggles, stories and dreams all intertwine in Dharavi.

This chronicle twists the informal society toward a formal one. It aims to show the creative power of the grass-roots and encourage politicians and other stake-holders to listen and to provide the means for infrastructure
and services.  — Maria Lantz and Jonatan Habib Engqvist, editors

This book is one of the first of its kind on socioeconomic aspects of agricultural biotechnology in the country. It covers a range of issues relating to potential, performance and concerns regarding biotechnology in India and offers valuable suggestions for policymaking. The debate on biotechnology so far focused mainly on the likely risks instead of objectively assessing the technology on a case-by-case basis to come out with suitable policy implications.

The present book attempts to fill this serious gap by discussing the nature and organisation of biotechnology, present pattern of product development, concerns for poverty reduction arising from the nature and pattern of product development and the performance of the first biotech product in the country viz., Bt cotton. It uses the results of two longitudinal surveys conducted in all the cotton growing agro-climatic zones of Andhra Pradesh and employs a conceptual framework to bring out the performance of this technology.

The essays in this book, Regional Disparities, Smaller States and Statehood for Telangana, written on different occasions over a period of four decades reflect the understanding and vision of the author with regard to the complex issues of regional disparities and emerging regional tensions, and the revival of the demands for the creation of smaller states.

The author observes that inter-state and intra-state disparities in development have not only persisted but have even increased in certain cases especially where backward regions do not have the necessary political clout in decision-making regarding public investment and provision of jobs. This has led to regional tensions and persistent demands for carving out separate states consisting of such backward areas. Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are some recent examples.

The need to reduce regional disparities in development has emerged as one of the biggest challenges in the post-reform period. According to Professor Rao, to ensure greater accountability for the development of backward regions in bigger states, it may be desirable to constitute Regional Development Boards and, where necessary, to carve out separate states comprising some of the backward regions. As early as 1969, he had argued for the economic viability of a separate Telangana state, “There is every reason to believe that separation would create conditions for the proper development of material as well as human resources of the region.”

The book is of great relevance today in view of the renewed interest in the subject.

Putting the right infrastructure is critical to India’s plans for inclusive growth. Increasingly, responsibilities for infrastructure development will be decentralised to the local governments, whether rural or urban. There is now an increasingly urgent need for large-scale environmental improvement programmes and for strengthening governance and the capacity of local institutions to plan, implement, and finance infrastructure provision and service delivery.

Building from the Bottom: Infrastructure and Poverty Alleviation provides critical insights into infrastructure governance from different angles—policy making, urban and rural aspects, technology, connectivity, capacity building and participation. Some of the most distinguished scholars and practitioners have contributed to this volume that encapsulates the key issues in mainstreaming poverty alleviation strategies in infrastructure programmes. Some important questions it seeks to answer are: How can we ensure infrastructure access and affordability for the poor? What are the implications for development planning and decision-making processes? What are the financing options? The book also contains a number of best practice case studies to reflect community participation, innovation and commitment, all vital ingredients to the process of building from the bottom.

The book will serve as a useful reference and planning tool for administrators, planners, policymakers and researchers of development economics.

The strategic partnership between India and Russia was signed during the visit of President Putin to India in the year 2000. Since then, the Indo-Russian relationship has diversified enormously and today it is uniquely strong and also expanding in the areas of defence, nuclear energy, hydrocarbons, space research and in science & technology. This relationship is based on a strong national consensus in both countries that has cut across ideologies or political differences. Although differences arise over certain issues on certain occasions, the overall parallelism in the Indo-Russian relationship definitely symbolises the trust that still exists between them.

India and Russia have now reached a stage where the economies of both the countries are resurgent and at the same time diversifying. Both economies are developing significantly to provide a good base for expanding business contacts and promoting new projects. Nonetheless, in spite of accelerated growth and immense opportunities, statistics show that business transaction is much less than the potential which exists between them. On the whole, it is necessary to publicise the positive experiences and growth of both countries, which will help people in both countries to orient themselves to the present realities and will boost bilateral cooperation in various fields.

With these aspects as a backdrop, this book India-Russia Strategic Partnership: Challenges and Prospects has been conceived. This book is an outcome of the research papers presented during the conference held at Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi, India, along with the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. The book covers a wide spectrum of issues and concerns related to India-Russia Strategic Partnership, and outlines various challenges and prospects for developing this relationship further. An attempt has been made here to contextualise the debate in a more cogent form.

Today more than ever it is evident that financial organizations that fail to heed the principles of sound financial management will rapidly find themselves in trouble. Over ten years ago, Robert Peck Christen observed this in the context of microfinance programs burgeoning in the late 1990's. His concern spurred the writing of this manual.

Developed to help microfinance program administrators manage for financial success, this best-selling manual today still offers practical and clear applications of traditional financial topics to microfinance institutions.

In this manual, Christen addresses interest rate policy, management of assets and liabilities, capital and portfolio risk, and strategic financial planning—all key issues for microfinance institutions and all important for the donors, consultants, and regulators who work regularly with microfinance institutions to understand. The manual presents the theoretical framework along with numerous examples, allowing the reader to deepen his or her understanding of the subject matter.

Today more than ever it is evident that financial organizations that fail to heed the principles of sound financial management will rapidly find themselves in trouble. Over ten years ago, Robert Peck Christen observed this in the context of microfinance programs burgeoning in the late 1990's. His concern spurred the writing of this manual.

Developed to help microfinance program administrators manage for financial success, this best-selling manual today still offers practical and clear applications of traditional financial topics to microfinance institutions.

In this manual, Christen addresses interest rate policy, management of assets and liabilities, capital and portfolio risk, and strategic financial planning—all key issues for microfinance institutions and all important for the donors, consultants, and regulators who work regularly with microfinance institutions to understand. The manual presents the theoretical framework along with numerous examples, allowing the reader to deepen his or her understanding of the subject matter.

Capitals of big countries like India are supposed to have a Long View of their world. Does Delhi have one? The US government, when presented with a Long View from Washington by Herman Kahn of the Hudson Institute in the early seventies is supposed to have protested “But they employed only three people for the study.” Kahn replied “True, but that was three more than the government employed to look at the future”. Laymen imagine that those in the lofty reaches of government spend time in contemplation, brainstorming where their societies will be two decades hence. Disappointed they are when they learn that politicians drive policy more to ensure re-election four years later, than to shape their environment. They say they have no choice.

This book, the first such attempt, by Menon and Kumar, uses the Net Assessment Method to write the scenarios India will be confronted with in 2020. Policy, they feel, should address scenarios, that will inevitably evolve from myriad complex drivers. Scenarios cannot be created: only God does that. Menon and Kumar follow a transparent method to build, brick by brick, three scenarios that India could face, comparing them to three others evolved by the United States National Intelligence Council and by a group of Indian practitioners. The book closes with a possible Grand Strategy of Foreign Policy that will leave readers in India, and abroad with a clearer understanding of the choices that await a rising India.

The Uttarakhand Development Report review the experience of Uttarakhand and highlights issues critical for the State's development in the years ahead. The report is expected to be an important document and will impart value for development practitioners interested in the state and act as a road map for accelerated growth in the future has decided to prepare State Development Reports (SDRs) for all States and Union Territories. The purpose of bringing out these reports is to provide quality reference document of the development profile of the States. The SDRs aim at spelling out the constraints and challenges facing the States and suggest blueprints for their overall progress and prosperity.

Vijay Laxman Kelkar has been one of the most creative, contemplative and versatile public policy makers of India. Whether it has been articulating a vision for the role of markets and government, or stressing for the importance of a sound public sector balance sheet, or arguing for tax reform and fiscal federalism, or making simple and sound policies through consensus, his contributions are non-parallel. The essays in this festschrift are by some of the leading economists, bankers and policy planners of India. While saluting his visionary role in the government, they also provide an insight into some current and critical macroeconomic and finance issues. The writings cover a broad set of topics, among them fiscal, monetary and external sector policies, infrastructure, financial inclusion and education.

This volume commemorates the conferring of the Skoch Challenger Lifetime Achievement Award 2010 on Dr. Kelkar for his unique contributions to the Indian economy in general and his key role in financial sector reforms process in particular. This timely book will appeal to policy makers, political scientists, economists and other social scientists conducting research and teaching courses in political economy, fiscal and monetary policy, development studies, public policy and governance.

India grapples with the paradox of endemic backwardness in over 200 districts while certain sections and sectors are moving at a pace that is making global headlines. This report on “Creating Vibrant Public-Private-Panchayat Partnership (PPPP) for Inclusive Growth through Inclusive Governance” presents some new perspectives and solutions by bringing together the local governance agenda through the Panchayati Raj, the issue of agricultural development which influences the livelihoods of a vast majority of Indians, and the role that the business sector could play in rural transformation. It presents case studies which show that partnership models which could ensure an income of over Rs.25,000 per annum on 0.5 hectare plots are feasible even in the context of a highly hostile eco-environment.

In view of its cross-cutting theme, this crisp report is a ‘must read’ for policy makers and practitioners in the area of pro-poor growth, rural development, local governance and public-private partnership.

This book in your hands, I Can Do Financial Planning, is a valuable addition to the several ongoing efforts of the Reserve Bank towards enhancing financial literacy. It is aimed at youth who are just about getting into jobs and careers, and who will have to wade through a complex array of financial products and make judgements. It is an attempt towards educating the readers on the importance of thrift and equipping them with the skills of planning and budgeting for a financially secure future. Written in an easy style and simple language with live examples, the book’s central message is that people can improve their financial security through defining their financial goals, then drawing up and implementing a savings and investment plan to achieve those goals.

Jobless growth is a major concern in today’s world. Over and above, employment becomes the first casualty of financial crises that seem to occur almost in a periodic manner. How well the countries have mainstreamed employment in their macro strategies? How coherent are the macro policies that countries follow from the perspective of centrality of Decent Work in the context of investment and growth?

The volume scans the macro-economic settings of the seven countries of South Asian subregion that include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and explores how well the macro economic strategies pursued by these countries cohere with the Decent Work objectives.

The papers contributed by various authors in this volume present elaborate research based empirical information and analyses for the readers, researchers, policy makers and multilateral institutions.

The analytical import in this volume also provides a perspective on globalization. Are these countries reaping the benefits of this process? Is globalization helping in achieving the Decent Work goals? The book raises many issues and opens up wide areas of debate.

The present volume makes an important contribution to the rich literature on impact of trade reforms on growth and employment by undertaking an indepth investigation into relevant issues in the context of the developing economy of Bangladesh. The study tracks and investigates the various phases of trade reforms pursued by Bangladesh over the past years. By applying appropriate analytical and estimation techniques, the study captures how and to what extent trade reforms have impacted on growth of manufacturing sector of the country during the various stages of the reforms and how employment scenarios have changed in labour-intensive and export-oriented sectors of the country over the corresponding periods as a consequence of the reforms. The book argues that further trade reforms should be guided by concerns of employment creation and should be tailored to the demands of accelerated industrial growth as Bangladesh enters into a heightened pace of global integration of her economy.

'Dilli' is the heart of India. It embodies centuries of life and living, of changing cityscapes and fine architectural masterpieces that draw together ancient fortresses, mediaeval cities, and a metropolis that has, without hesitation, embraced the diverse, multilayered and dynamic reality of India and all Indians.

This book walks you through some of the symbols that compel Delhi to stand apart, showcasing an old civilization and more importantly, an energetic, creative and entrepreneurial young nation grappling with the excitement of constant reinvention, of change.

Delhi has the best of all worlds within her open borders, from the ancient past to the vibrant present and Dilliwallahs are an engaging lot, proud of their epic legacy, raring to keep the ethos of change alive.

Developed country experts on international affairs and the global economy have consistently underestimated the speed with which China’s economy and power would rise relative to Germany, Japan and the USA. They are now similarly underestimating the speed at which India’s economy will close the economic size and power gaps. This book shows, why and how a tri-polar global power structure will emerge from the current confused system variously described as ‘multipolar’, ‘apolar’, ‘pluripolar’, ‘West and the rest’ and ‘unipolar with an oligopolistic fringe’. The Book goes on to draw out the implications and consequences of this evolving global power structure and makes suggestions on the policy options that need to be explored and pursued to increase the possibility of a peaceful transformation .

These essays have wide-ranging themes on different aspects of socio-economic development. All of them were written during the last four decades and some were published in well-known national and international journals like Economic and Political Weekly, International Journal of Development Banking in India, American Economic Review (USA), Bulletin of the Oxford University Institute of Economics and Statistics (UK) and KYKLOS (Europe). Some others were published in the publications of international institutes like United Nations, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The context in which these essays were written (as others in author's develop-ment perspectives) is indicated in his latest book Perspectives on Development: Memoirs of a Development Economist (Academic Foundation, 2008).

The South Asia Economics Students' Meet is a unique platform created in 2003-04 to give young undergraduate students of Economics an opportunity to interact academically and discuss important contemporary economic issues pertaining to South Asia. The papers in this volume were presented at the 5th Meet, held in Delhi in March 2008, on the theme “Economic Challenges to Make South Asia Free from Poverty and Deprivation.”

This collection of papers is special in several ways. It is topical; it not only reiterates the capabilities of the young contributors, it also reflects the quality of teaching and academics on the sub-continent. The youth of the contributors is well compensated by their intellectual maturity. This volume is the repository of the hope and effort that we have invested in our students, and in our future. It will give the reader some idea of the capabilities of our ‘future economists'.

Agriculture production and farm incomes in India are frequently affected by weather and climatic aberrations like droughts, floods, cyclone, frost, storms, land slides, etc. Outbreak of epidemics, fire, and market fluctuations are the other factors which seriously affect production and farm income. All these events are beyond the control of the farmers. With the growing commercialisation of agriculture, the magnitude of shock due to unfavourable eventualities is increasing and the need to protect farmers against production and income losses is becoming stronger. Agricultural insurance is considered an important mechanism to effectively address the risk to output and income resulting from various natural and manmade events. Despite various schemes launched from time to time, agricultural insurance in India has not made much headway even though the need to protect country’s farmers from agricultural variability has been a continuing concern of agriculture policy. This book examines the genesis of agricultural insurance in India and discusses various agricultural insurance schemes launched in the country from time to time and the coverage provided by them. The book also looks into the role of government in implementing various agricultural insurance schemes and suggest effective agriculture insurance programme for India.

The International Civil Service of the United Nations is not fully aligned with the compelling demands of the 21st century. Once reputed as one of the most attractive organisations to work due to its noble objectives, global outreach, and attractive conditions of service, the world body has been fast losing its lustre and pulling power and its ability to perform. As a result, the organisation has been sustaining loss in its ability to deliver on its principles, purposes and mandates in a timely, efficient and effective fashion and in its good will, image and reputation. If it does not pursue far-reaching reforms urgently, particularly in the area of human resource management (HRM), the United Nations will surely decline and become irrelevant not too far into the future.

This book identifies strategic issues facing the HRM of the world body, analyses their impacts on its performance, suggests remedies to address these lacunas and proposes measures to make the entity competitive, efficient, and effective. It tells you where you need to strengthen UN's HRM, where to make cutbacks, and where to remove duplication and overlaps. Frequent references to the HRM of the European Commission and national governments gives a refreshing taste of best practices. This volume will make an interesting read for general readers and a great source of information for experts and professionals. In particular, it is a must-read for politicians and diplomats as a reference source, for UN staff to have a better perspective of their HRM, and for academics and students of international relations, diplomacy and political science in universities and colleges as a textbook and reference material. There is a special chapter to assist prospective new entrants seeking a career with the United Nations.

Community participation or people's participation in the process of development has entered into development lexicon permanently in the past 50 years. New methods, tools and approaches (variously called as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA), Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) or its earlier incarnation Rapid Rural Appraisal) to enlist people's participation, have been invented, improvised and developed by development practitioners and academicians all over the world.

This book is an unique exercise in exploration and synthesis, demonstrating and documenting the experiments which have revealed that the participatory tools, methods and approaches can be very efficiently used in several fields of human exploration, including organisation and institutional development, action research (on the need to adopt an inter-sectoral approach to dealing with development issues, on hunger, participatory poverty assessment, bio-diversity conservation and conflict resolution over sharing of resources), macro-policy evaluation and democratic processes. Each chapter, dealing with these issues, describes both the process followed in the application of participatory tools and methods in the respective field and the synthesis of the theory of participation with practice as well. The book will be an invaluable guide to practitioners, researchers, academicians and students of development economics and poverty planning.

Demographic processes and health outcomes are highly gendered in India. At the same time, studies on the impact of gender on demography and health issues are scarce and the impact of demographic changes on gender is nearly nonexistent. Mere recognition of the gender issues does not provide policy guidance to make appropriate changes in the programmes. This calls for innovative methods to understand demographic changes, health scenario and gender systems and also a critical analysis of various public interventions. India is also experiencing rapid demographic changes in recent years which will have definite implications for demographic pattern, gender system, health progress and governmental policies and programmes. There are several policy and programmatic interventions to generate conducive demographic and health changes through gender equity.

This volume brings together contributions from scholars on demographic changes, gender and health system and health policies and programmes in India. It highlights achievements and challenges facing the country in the area of population, gender and health in different settings. It also brings up new methods of analysing the relationship. This volume, undoubtedly, will be a useful guide to students, researchers and policy makers in India and across the world.

The importance of Uttar Pradesh in India's socio-political firmament is never overstated. That evolves naturally on account of a variety factors, which includes its position as the most populous State in the country and the consequent influence wielded by its people and their leadership in the nation's polity. This unique status has been the subject of consistent debate among the political class as well as the academia. The studies and reflections in this volume, Uttar Pradesh: The Road Ahead, advances this debate addressing a number of specific issues from historical, contemporary and futuristic perspectives. The components of the volume were first presented in a two-day national seminar conducted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in 2008.

Central to this volume is the churning that manifold manifestations of identity politics brought to Uttar Pradesh since the mid-1980s, the seemingly never-ending political instability that it imposed as well as the possibilities and problems that the stability verdict of 2007 offers to the State. These issues are addressed by experts in the fields of politics, economics, sociology, governance and public administration.

The idea of trilateral cooperation between Russia-India-China, launched in the 1990s, has been growing from strength-to-strength. The track one and half dialogue, which began with the meeting of the Foreign Ministers, culminated at the gathering of the heads of states of the three countries. Since 2001, experts, scholars and diplomats have met to demarcate areas of collaboration in various sectors. Trade and economic sector and energy security are the vital area for cooperation as all the three countries have registered the fastest growth rates in the world. They are equally concerned with issues of disarmament and non-proliferation. Conscious of the damage being caused to natural resources, Russia, India and China have sought to address the issue of restoring the environment and tackling climate change.

While there are differences among these three countries, the areas where their interests converge are several. They hold similar views on multilateralism, giving primacy of place to a multi-polar world order, the need to democratise international relations and develop a just international system. They hold similar perspectives on the emerging threat of terrorism, the importance of promoting the regional cooperative mechanism to address the problems faced by the region, the challenges posed by globalisation, as well as new threats like the current financial crisis that have effected them to some degree or other.

The evolving relationship between India, the US and China is generally regarded by scholars of international relations as among the key features, perhaps even the most crucial one, that will shape the geopolitical contours of the emerging international political landscape in the twenty-first century.

Written by a scholar and academician who for long years served as a career diplomat and hence a practitioner of international relations, the book meticulously analyses each strand of the mutual bilateral relations of the three countries, including their troubled past and uncertain present, to unravel clues for the possible future course of their relationship

Ultimately, this book is aimed at an informing its readers – scholars and laypersons alike - about the forces at work in the evolving saga of the triangular relationship between the world’s most powerful nation, the world’s largest nation and the world’s largest democracy.

This volume offers an in-depth comparative analysis of FDI policies pursued by India and China since opening up. The nature, type, sources and direction of inflows to both the countries have been analysed exhaustively. It is an incisive and comprehensive work which brings to fore the key differences in their policy framework, approaches and the implementation strategies. The far reaching impact of FDI on trade, transfer of techno-logy and employment generation has been examined critically. It also explores the reasons for skewed regional distribution of FDI in both the countries.

The book articulates the role played by pragmatic policy, developed infrastructure and conducive operating environment in driving massive FDI flows into China. The author convincingly advocates reorientation of Indian policies relating to development of infrastructure for export-oriented labour-intensive manufacture, labour laws regime and vesting of authority for investment approval in favour of state governments to accelerate the pace of FDI inflows. The conclusions are based on rich empirical evidence supported by statistical backup. The book contains cogent and compelling arguments and interesting insights. It will prove useful to policy planners, researchers, academicians and students of international trade.

This book of late Manu Shroff contains his assorted articles and lectures on different aspects of the Indian economy in its transition from the highly interventionist regime to a liberalised open economic system and also some international issues which had a bearing on the Indian economy. The first part of the book focuses on the variegated dimensions of the Indian economic landscape in its current phase when his articles were published and in prospect. This imparts to his writings certain freshness, individuality and timeless relevance. The second part addresses the international repercussions of economic development with emphasis on capital flows, international monetary issues and globalisation which all radicalised the approach to economic policy as distinct from the autarky which characterised the period up to 1980s.

The IDSA Working Group on Security Implications of Climate Change for India felt that while it would be proper to oppose the securitisation of climate change, it would be prudent not to ignore its likely security dimensions. The Working Group Report identifies India's key vulnerabilities. Future projections of surface warming over India indicate that the annual mean area averaged surface warming is likely to be between 2 degrees and 3 degrees celcius and 3.5 and 5.5 degrees celcius by the middle and end of 21st century respectively. Trends in sea level rise indicate a possible rise between 1.06 to 2.75 mm per year. Every 1.0 degree rise in temperature would reduce wheat production by 4 to 5 million tonnes. Water scarcity will threaten food supplies in India. A quarter of our biodiversity could be lost.

The Working Group felt that climate change cannot be delinked from the overall energy security and economic growth. The National Action Plan on Climate Change is a good beginning but its time-bound implementation needs to be ensured. India needs to improve energy efficiency in the industrial, household and transport sectors. The Working Group also looked at the possible adverse impact on the strategy and tactics of Indian armed forces. India should use climate change as an opportunity to make socio-economic development more sustainable.

As the world witnesses a flux in the nuclear world order—in terms of civilian nuclear energy as well as non-proliferation regime and legitimacy of nuclear weapons, India has a cautious path to tread to achieve its energy security, nuclear security and make its disarmament calls more plausible and practical. The challenges before the global nuclear order have vindicated India’s position and bestowed it with an opportunity to play a more confident and active role in reshaping the world—towards a more reliable, democratic and universal non-proliferation regime, preventing nuclear terrorism, forming a better architecture for civilian nuclear trade, and finally to evolve practical and universal steps towards comprehensive disarmament. This insightful book, with contributions by leading experts on the nuclear issue in India, covers all such important aspects and provides robust analysis of the global nuclear order in terms of its implications for India and global disarmament.

The proposed book is an attempt towards an integrated approach for water security and management in the backdrop of irrigation reforms in Andhra Pradesh. In the absence of an integrated approach, ‘water security’ would remain a distant dream. Water security ensures equity and sustainability. In the context of scarcity, allocation of water should be governed by optimality rather than productivity. For, optimality combines economic as well as social benefits. Water security is indispensable for addressing inter and intra-regional as well as inter-household inequalities in growth and development and sustaining the ecological balance. In fragile resource regions, environmental degradation is seen as a cause of household food insecurity and as a consequence of water insecurity. That is food security is linked to water security through environmental degradation in these regions.

The book is based on the author’s work on four important aspects of irrigation management, namely, canals, tanks, wells, and water pollution. The study emanates from intensive field research covering different agro-climatic locations in Andhra Pradesh. The study highlights the inter-linkages between different sources of irrigation as well as approaches to irrigation management and argues for an integrated approach for achieving water security.

The existing space regime is facing new challenges as a result of the recent advances in space techno-logy and the emergence of space security is a critical dimension in national security calculus. This necessitates a proactive approach and a comprehensive space policy.

This volume is an attempt in this direction to sensitise experts, policy makers and interested general audiences about the developments and debates in this area and their implications for India. The objective of this report, prepared by a Working Group comprising leading experts in the field is to provide a multi-disciplinary analysis including the technological, legal, political, diplomatic, and security dimensions.

India runs the world's oldest and one of the most comprehensive affirmative action policies in the form of reservations or quotas for its disadvantaged sections. Ever since its adaptation, this critical public policy remains the most controversial and polarising public policy that the Independent India has adopted as yet. While much of the national preoccupation over reservation have been devoted to debate its necessity and relevance in addressing exclusion and inequality, the country still seems to lack a data-based understanding of its enforcement across different domains. How earnestly state and its agencies have enforced the reservation policies? We know less about the trends of implementation in different domains and how or what percentage of population among these social groups have benefited from it. Fact is there are very few credible research studies on the issue of affirmative policies in India. This publication is an attempt to fill some of the void by compiling data on key domains of reservation policy apart from flagging crucial issues relating to linkages among the three key domains of reservations, namely, higher education, employment, and political representation. A comparison of all three domains in terms of implementation of reservation policies, across different time periods (e.g., pre- and post-Mandal phases) and among different regions, provides useful insights about these linkages. In doing so, the work throws some critical insights on the processes at work, and identifies areas for further research.

This book begins with an in-depth reappraisal of Keynes, the prime architect of modern economics and many-sided genius who towered as a preceptor, economic statesman, institutional architect and progenitor of the IMF and the World Bank. It addresses the core question: In what sense was there a Keynesian Revolution? It also reviews the least known aspects of Keynes as a civil servant, as a social philosopher, and pro bono activist in causes of conscience.

The second part comprises assorted essays that analyse significant themes of finance, development and central banking as well as the defining aspects of colonial Indian economic history. It evaluates the mainsprings of economic growth, taking account of the contribution of Arthur Lewis, the Nobel Laureate and evaluates the political economy of aid. It argues the case for a constitutionally independent Federal Reserve Bank of India. It has an archival essay on an American economist, Ralph Whitenack, who figures as modern India’s pioneer economic adviser. It surveys the interface between economics and philosophy, including the economic philoso-phy of Joan Robinson, the eminent British economist and presents an agenda for inter-disciplinary collaboration.

THE volume covers a wide spectrum of topics ranging from monetary policy and financial stability to globalisation and economic growth and social development. The essay on "Financial Stability" though written much before the current crisis, had anticipated many of the issues that are being debated today. The essay on "Monetary Policy" argues that maintaining price stability should be the dominant objective of monetary policy. The essay on "Globalisation" points out that India should seek to wrest maximum advantages from globalisation by identifying the comparative advantages that India possesses. In the essay “Economic Growth and Social Development”, the author pleads for an approach that weaves equity and efficiency into a coherent pattern of growth. Economic growth and social development are the two legs on which a nation should walk. Ignoring any one leg will only mean that the nation will limp along.

The book is divided into four sections: Monetary Policy and Fiscal Issues; Growth and Development; Sectoral Issues – Industry, Power, Banking and Agriculture; and External Sector and Globalisation. The book contains in all 25 essays and should interest a wide cross section of audience.

Why have the least developed countries, and other poorer countries, failed to grow as fast as other economies during recent period of globalisation?

Professor Srinivasan explores the broad links between growth in income, globalisation, and poverty reduction. He argues that past domestic and international policies have failed to serve the interests of the poorest countries, and suggests that the current array of international institution, in their unreformed state, are ill-suited to bring about the change required.

Finally he makes recommendations on needed reforms to the institutions that manage the global economic system.

This is the final report of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector, which was set up by the Government of India on 20th September 2004 under the chairmanship of Dr. Arjun K. Sengupta to "review the status of unorganized/informal sector in India including the nature of enterprises, their size, spread and scope, and magnitude of employment." This was the first step taken towards fulfilling the commitment of the new UPA government to ensure "the welfare and well-being of all workers, particularly those in the unorganised sector, who constitute more than 93% of our workforce" (likely to be around 502 million by 2012 as the Commission estimates).

During the four and a half year of its existence, the Commission examined in detail all the literature and statistical evidence that exists on this sector, held numerous consultations with different stakeholders, such as government officials and policy makers at the Centre and in the States, trade unions and associations of workers representatives, civil society organisations, academics and experts. This final report on 'The Challenge of Employment in India: An Informal Economy Perspective' is now presented as an overarching report based on all the earlier work of the Commission, to provide a perspective and strategy for expanding employment in India. The report takes an aggregative perspective of what the Commission calls the central problem of the challenge of employment namely, deficit in its quantity and quality. The comprehensive report also examines the issue of labour market reforms in India.

Indian agriculture has been facing one of the worst crises since Independence. The contribution of agriculture to national income is declining at a faster pace compared to the percentage of population depending on it. The trends in profitability are not consistent across the years, which is a typical character of agriculture. A number of studies have tried to examine and understand the reasons; important ones include technological, environmental, and policy related. The poor performance and the declining profitability of agriculture due to one or more reasons have resulted in widespread household indebtedness, which is often identified as the main reason for the farmer suicides.

This volume is a collection of papers in honour of Padma Bhushan Prof. Vijay Shankar Vyas who is amongst the first and leading policy economists in India. He has had significant policy contributions at the national and international levels. This collection is a reflection of his research interests and contribution to agricultural policy research. In total, 16 eminent scholars have contributed to the volume. These papers have been put together in a thematic format and deal mainly with five important aspects of Indian agriculture: i) Indian Agriculture: Policies and Performance, ii) Resource Policies and Agriculture, iii) Employment and Decent Work, iv) New Trends in Agriculture and Challenges, and v) Experiences from Other Countries. It also includes a paper on China which deals with poverty and inequality in the context of reforms. Most of the papers provide an all India perspective. Though some of the papers are specific to the themes and locations, they provide valuable insights in to the broader array of issues and problems afflicting the agricultural sector in India. The authors through their contributions have touched upon issues that are dear to Prof. Vyas and also provide futuristic scenario of Asian agriculture of which Indian agriculture is a vital cog.

How bad is the Global Crisis? Will the Indian economy be hit hard? What can we do to protect ourselves from global turmoil? Is a growth recession inevitable? How well did we cope with the massive foreign capital inflows in the last five years? Did we follow a good exchange rate policy? What explains the surge in national savings and investment? Can we revive the economic boom of 2003-08? Do we have good roadmaps for reform of banking and finance? Do oil bonds make sense? How long can we sustain massive subsidies? Are economic disparities in India rising? Where are the new jobs? How good (or bad) is the UPA Government’s economic legacy?

In these short essays Shankar Acharya provides crisp answers to these and many other questions about India’s economic policies and performance.

The Delhi Development Report reviews the experience of NCT Delhi and highlights issues critical for the State's development in the years ahead. The Report is expected to be an important value document and will impart value for development practitioners interested in the State and act as a roadmap for accelerated growth in the future.

The Planning Commission during the Eleventh Plan made a significant departure from the past practice. Instead of relying on a single in-house model it was decided to request some of the reputed institutes in the field of economic model building to carry out modelling exercises that could be used not only for the purpose of plan formulation but also could answer some of the questions that arise from time to time such as the impact of rising oil prices on the performance of Indian economy, the impact of global meltdown, etc.

This volume contains essays by the relevant model builders reporting on the various models used in the course of formulating the Eleventh Plan and an overview paper by Dr. Kirit S. Parikh.

In recent times, there has been debate over the entry of large corporate houses into the retail sector in India. This study finds that both traditional and organised retail can not only coexist but also achieve rapid and sustained growth in the coming years.

The findings of this study are based on the largest ever survey of various stakeholders and an extensive review of international experience, particularly emerging countries of relevance to India.

There has been competitive response from traditional retailers through improved business practices and technology upgradation. Consumers and farmers gain considerably from the entry of organised retail.

The organised retail sector is capable of taking care of itself, but public policy needs to help create a level playing field for traditional retailers.

Based on the results of the surveys, the authors have made a number of specific policy recommendations for regulating the interaction of large retailers with small suppliers and for strengthening the competitive response of the traditional retailers.

This book is about the future of Afghanistan which seems to be rapidly slipping into chaos. It contains perspectives on counter-insurgency and nation-building in Afghanistan. The expert contributors in this book focus on some key issues like, the character of the conflict in Afghanistan; the role of regional actors; the nature of engagement of the US and its allies; the assessment of the future course of action by major actors and the role played by INGOs and the international community at large. More significantly, the experts sought to answer the crucial question: what can be done to stabilise Afghanistan? This volume is a collection of their insightful papers.

In current debates on the geopolitics of energy security, the spotlight has fallen on Africa as a key source of oil and gas outside the volatile West Asia. The American, European and Asian oil companies are rushing to acquire a stake in Africa’s oil wealth. This book represents an effort to go beyond state-centred views of energy security, bridging local perspectives on energy resources and global framing of energy as a security concern. It brings together contributions from an international team of experts and eminent persons in African affairs to provide an analytically rich assessment of Africa’s role in the global search for oil, the multiple consequences of energy production across the African continent and India’s multifarious approach to Africa. The analysis is enriched by Indian and African perspectives and anchored in detailed country case studies.

The Haryana State Development Report reviews the State's development experience and highlights issues critical for its future growth. Haryana's potential in horticulture, livestock, tourism, pharmaceuticals, IT and its rapid structural change is well documented in the report. The report is expected to serve as a useful reference and stimulate informed debate on the policy issues facing the state.

Knowledge has been recognised as the key driving force in the 21st century and India’s ability to emerge as a globally competitive player will substantially depend on its knowledge resources. To foster generational change, a systemic transformation is required that seeks to address the concerns of the entire knowledge spectrum. The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) was constituted in June 2005 by the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Sam Pitroda, to prepare a blueprint of reform of India’s knowledge related institutions and infrastructure.

High-value crops and marketing…. studies the case of high-value agriculture in the state of Uttarakhand in the context of rapid changes in marketing at the national and international level. Uttarakhand is characterized by a significant number of opportunities in high-value agriculture. They include the presence of a high number of endemic crops, diversity in agro-climatic conditions, possibilities to produce for 'off-season' markets, organic production practices, the relative high education of producers, a strong agricultural research capacity, an active civil society, a competitive production environment and a location relatively close to terminal consumer markets, at least for part of the state. On the other hand, agriculture in Uttarakhand also faces significant challenges that limit the competitiveness of its farmers with farmers in other Indian states and outside India. These include the high number of small scattered farms creating problems of aggregation and transport costs, migration and land conversion, increasing water and climatic change problems, environmental vulnerability, wildlife attacks, and a problematic regulatory environment. This book looks at these problems in a holistic manner and suggest ways on how Uttarakhand can prepare itself better to take advantage of the changing agricultural marketing environment.

THE contemporary strategic context is increasingly defined by the rapid growth of major Asian economies and the rapidly increasing interest the major powers are evincing in the region. It has also resulted in a perceptible shift in power to the Asian continent. An assessment of how each of the major Asian powers and important external actors are responding to these developments is necessary for understanding the underlying concerns about peace and security in Asia in the 21st Century. What is the character of the emerging strategic context in Asia? How are the processes of globalisation, economic interdependence and diffusion of technologies shaping the Asian strategic context? What does the ‘Rise of Asia’ mean for global peace? How do regional perspectives inform the debate? What are the common threats and challenges? What are the prospects of fostering cooperative state behaviour in confronting the transnational threats? These are some of the issues that expert contributors discuss in this volume.

The 73rd and the 74th Constitutional Amendments became law more than a decade ago but their implementation in different states of India has been tardy and uneven. The course of implementation has also been marked by numerous disputes, both political and legal. It is estimated there are more than 500 cases which have been adjudicated during the period in the various High Courts and the Supreme Court.

This book is the outcome of a comprehensive study which seeks to bring out the genesis, the points of jurisprudence and what can be regarded as settled law common to both the panchayats and the municipalities pertaining to issues like elections, delimitation, reservation, planning and functional domain etc.

The book is of interest and use to policy makers, scholars and researchers interested in decentralisation as well as the legal fraternity.

The last two decades have been marked by a sea change in the world of regulation—regulatory laws which facilitate the creation of independent regulators have been passed in many countries, both developed and developing. However, it has been observed that mere adoption of regulatory laws is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for changes in regulatory/economic outcomes. Implementation often constitutes the crucial difference between success and failure and this is particularly true in developing countries.

The mentioned premise constitutes the starting point of this volume compiled by CUTS as a part of a project entitled the Competition Regulation and Development Research Forum (CDRF), which is a compendium of studies devoted to characterising the state of the world in regulation in developing countries and identifying the political economy and governance constraints that often frustrate the successful implementation of regulatory laws in the developing world. Such detailed identification of constraints is necessary if we are to solve the puzzle of how regulatory objectives/provisions that look so good on paper end up being so ineffective in practice.

The study will be of interest to almost the entire spectrum of professionals connected to regulation or its use: academicians, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, members of competition authorities or sector regulatory agencies etc. It is hoped that through this volume the study of regulation in developing countries emerges as a distinct field, as it should, given that these countries have regulatory needs and constraints that differ markedly from those developed countries.

For the last five decades artificial satellites are being used to perform diverse roles in astronomy, atmospheric studies and education. They have been found useful for reconnaissance, meteorology, navigation, communication and search & rescue.

Space technologies are offering benefits to space faring nations and space derived products are available at a price. Space is also been seen as the ultimate high ground and gives armies and space faring nations tremendous advantage on the battlefield. After the Chinese ASAT test in January 2007, the global community has now become more concerned about the likely weaponisation of space.

With these aspects as a backdrop, this book Space Security and Global Cooperation is a collection of papers that were presented at the Space Security Conference organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi and the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, London. The book covers a wide spectrum of issues related to the field of space security, emerging technologies, regional perspectives, space tourism, space law and global cooperation. It is an attempt to contextualise the debates in a more cogent form.

This compilation is the result of action research and field visits across India spread over last 10-years that have been punctuated with seminars and workshops providing multi-stakeholder consultations. These were conducted by Skoch Consultancy Services with recently added support from Skoch Development Foundation. The compilation focuses on various facets of financial inclusion ranging from opening up of no-frills accounts to micro-credit to financial literacy, while emphasising the role of process changes, technology enablement, capacity building and outreach mechanism. It looks at examples of local bodies, post offices and tele-centres having been used effectively. It also proposes a model of inclusive development, emphasising that inclusive economics leads to inclusive governance and vice-versa. The book provides a holistic view based on practitioners’ perspective and grassroots learning. A must read for all involved in inclusive development of India.

The United States' mercurial foreign policies toward the Muslim world—including actions taken against Islamic countries who have attempted to challenge the United States' regional dominance; and alliances with Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia—are expertly examined in this incisive treatise. Islamic revivalism, the emergence of a highly political Islamic population, the rise of terrorism, and other recent socio-political changes are also thoroughly discussed.

How the US has reconfigured its policy towards the radical and the conservative group of Muslim countries and how its new mission against terrorism has affected international relations, particularly US-Indian relations, is the central focus of the study.

Governance in current debates demands pluralism of actors in the societal spheres of state, civil society and business. There is an inherent assumption of harmony among these spheres, which appears to optimise complimentary outcomes in ‘good governance’. In the real world, however, conflict is the norm rather than the exception.

Conflicts over the access and control of natural resources have amplified over time with large-scale resource transformation, especially through technological innovation. Today, the key challenge before natural resource governance is the need to balance economic growth with the demands and aspirations of the differentiated social structure, the future generations and the environment. Studies in this volume examine the competing, and diverging, interests that generate certain forms of natural resource conflicts. The studies bring into focus the changing role of the State and the social and environmental impact of State interventions in triggering conflict and mobilising resistance.

Recent years have witnessed major paradigm shifts in many faces of economics; its philosophical foundations, empirical methodologies and policy issues. The papers put together in this volume give us in one place rigorous and refreshing insight into the unresolved problems in search for appropriate models of economic behaviour, methodologies for policy analysis and a number of issues which have become vital for sustainability of the current pace of economic development. While the Indian Economy provides the backdrop to the discussion of poverty alleviation for shared prosperity, costs of environmental degradation, regulation of public utilities, promotion of financial efficiency, articulation of monetary management under a new paradigm of economic policy and macroeconomic policies in the emerging market economy, they do indeed have a universal relevance today. That the various contributions deal with these issues of today even though many of these were put forth some years back is indeed remarkable. Given the scholastic credentials of the distinguished authors and their long experience of dealing with economic policy, teachers, researchers, and students of economics could not have asked for more.

Editors K.L. Krishna and Uma Kapila bring in their respective expertise on industry and agriculture to compile this unique reference text, with contributions from noted economists, in order to provide critical insights into the two vital sectors of the Indian economy.

Economic freedom provides a right of property ownership, realised freedoms of movement for labour, capital, and goods, and absence of coercion or constraint of economic liberty beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty. This book attempts to showcase the degree to which the policies and institutions are supportive of economic freedom in the States of India. Most states have shown a marked improvement in terms of legal structure and security of property rights, but continue to remain heavily regulated. It is the third successive edition, which tracks the performance of Indian states over a three year period. Some states have bettered their performance in certain areas, but few states have slipped down for slow pace of reforms. The point to be noted is that all states have scope for improvement in providing an economically free environment for their citizens; however, the individual areas requiring attention differ from one state to the other. In other words, the analysis points out specific areas which require government action for economic freedom. This book should be of interest to all, especially entrepreneurs, industry, and policy makers, alike.

The first in a new series of ILO reports focusing on wage developments, this volume reviews major trends in the level and distribution of wages around the world since 1995. It considers the effects of economic growth and globalization on wage trends, looking closely at the role of minimum wages and collective bargaining, and suggests ways to improve wage levels and to enable more equal distribution.

Wages are a major component of decent work, yet there is a serious knowledge gap in this increasingly important area which this report begins to address. Part one summarizes the main trends in average wages and distribution of wages, providing a statistical analysis of the links between wages and economic growth, along with wage forecasts for 2008 and 2009. Part two examines the relationship between minimum wage policies and collective bargaining, highlighting the effects of institutions on wage outcomes and the importance of coherent policy articulation. Part three concludes with concrete policy recommendations and identifies key issues for further research. The report includes full technical and statistical annexes.

The South Asian Yearbook of Trade and Development is an annual series of publication launched by the Centre for Trade and Development (Centad) New Delhi, India in 2005, with the primary objective of articulating debates on development impacts of trade through rigorous policy research and analysis. The Yearbook is envisaged as a comprehensive collection of research papers, which attempt to reflect the South Asian perspectives at the multilateral and regional trade negotiations and provides policy suggestions for the trade negotiators and policy makers of the region

The South Asian region is becoming increasingly prominent as an economic power house on the world stage particularly as India's economic prowess expands at a breath-taking pace....The value of this yearbook is that it examines the challenges the region is facing in this process of growth, and provides policy makers, business and civil society groups an opportunity to pause and reflect on how the potential in the region can be shaped for the betterment of all... commendable that Centas's tackled these challenges from a development perspective in this yearbook.

The contents of this volume add useful dimensions to the ongoing debate on various issues relating to India's transition to the new economic policy regime. The papers in this volume were written specifically for the National Conference on Industrial Development and Economic Policy Issues, organised by the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development during June 27-28, 2008. The Conference was held in honour of Professor S.K. Goyal and was anchored on his research interests. While some of the contributions deal specifically with the Indian scenario, others provide an overall context for the debate. They are thus an interesting mixture of specifics and the general.

Section I deals with the issue of industrialisation and employment especially in the context of increasing importance of the services sector and deceleration of the agricultural sector. Section II examines the historical context of the development of corporate sector in India as well as the present ownership pattern of the sector which has direct implications for industrialisation and distributional aspects respectively. This section also deals with the developments in the banking sector. Section III focuses on the role of foreign direct investment in development and innovation, the performance of different constituents of the corporate sector in terms of exports and India's preparedness for a free trade agreement with China. Section IV is about globalisation issues in general and India's experience in this context in particular. Section V focuses on issues relating to poverty and inequality. Section VI covers a different set of issues namely, political and cultural dimensions of the new era.

A path-breaking book which examines India’s highly controversial yet most successful state: Gujarat.

It is difficult to argue with Gujarat’s success— a consistently growing state income, massive contribution to India’s coffers, and high marks in industry, agriculture, and higher education.

How did Gujarat come to be India’s second most industrialised state, a toast among experts on economic development? And what lies ahead? In 11 well-researched, well-thought-out essays, some of the country’s leading experts on Gujarat give you the answers.

Convincingly woven by editor, R. Swaminathan, Gujarat: Perspectives of the Future takes more than a cursory look at the industrial development that has swiftly taken place in the state. The volume goes deep into the phenomenon, providing analyses for various issues such as the macroeconomic framework for Gujarat’s industrialisation and the dynamics of its corollary urban development. More importantly, the book examines the way forward: what challenges await Gujarat?

This book makes a compelling argument for a blueprint that will address the state’s serious problems including environmental degradation, discrimination against women, poor health care and nutrition, and lack of quality basic education. A blueprint which will then, make Gujarat’s remarkable development truly sustainable.

The twenty-first century will be defined by the fight against the scourges of poverty, inequality, and the threat of environmental collapse—as the fight against slavery or for universal suffrage defined earlier eras.

From Poverty to Power argues that it requires a radical redistribution of power, opportunities, and assets to break the cycle to poverty and inequality and to give poor people power over their own destinies. The forces driving this transformation are active citizens and effective states.

Why active citizens? Because people living in poverty must have a voice in deciding their own destiny, fighting for rights and justice in their own society, and holding the state and the private sector to account.

Why effective states? Because history shows that no country has prospered without a state structure than can actively manage the development process.

There is now an added urgency beyond the moral case for tackling poverty and inequality: we need to build a secure, fair, and sustainable world before climate change makes it impossible. This book argues that leaders, organisations, and individuals need to act together, while th ere is still time.

IDSA Asian Strategic Review 2008, the second volume in the series of Annual Surveys revived by the Institute in the previous year, is divided into six sections. The first section, on international security, discusses some significant developments in the Asian security landscape, while taking stock of the persisting, unresolved concerns. The issues covered include space security in the aftermath of China’s anti-satellite test of 11 January 2007, energy security in the face of galloping oil prices, the growing concern regarding climate change, an evaluation of the current state of the global war on terror, and the evolving situation in Iraq, the safety of Pakistan’s strategic assets, and an assessment of the Sixth Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention.

The next section focuses on the theme related directly to India’s security concerns. Accordingly, India’s strengthened partnerships with the United States and Russia, its ocean security in the backdrop of capacity additions to its Navy, India’s Look East policy with imperatives for Northeast security and India’s acknowledged most pressing internal security challenge, the Maoist insurgency, are analysed in depth.

This volume on “Renewable Energy Technologies” has a special focus on distributed power generation (DPG) to highlight the easy applicability of the alternative energy technology, particularly for rural sector in India. In times of rising oil prices and focus on clean technologies, the renewable technologies have an important role to play in future and the book relates the technology to Indian conditions and for ready usability independent of power supply grids and their associated problems.

The significance of database for agriculture and allied activities lies in the value addition it makes to research and policy formulation. The "Agricultural Statistics at a Glance" is a much awaited publication since it provides authentic information in a comprehensive manner. It provides wide range of data on crop production and productivity across States/regions, markets and prices, terms of trade, price support and procurement, domestic and international trade, credit, insurance, etc. The book will be greatly useful for economists, policy makers, researchers, agricultural scientists, students, different government and non-governmental organisations working in the agricultural sector and the public at large.

This is an unusual book of memoirs of both a distinguished economist and a successful public servant. His contributions qua economist could surpass those of many others who devoted their life-time only to teaching and research in India. He has figured conspicuously in the top international journals in economics with articles on different aspects of the subject.

Bhatt as a memorialist has scrupulously avoided being on a self-adulatory ego-trip; he has focused mainly on contextualising his personality in the economic profession of his time in India. He imbibed his apparatus of thought from his great teachers at Harvard like professors, J. Schumpeter, W. Leontief, A. Hansan and A. Gerschenkron, which he harnessed with great success for his creativity in economics. His memoirs are a unique narrative of how economics as a rigorous social discipline evolved in India, superseding most of the arid descriptive economics of his predecessors in pre-war India. He meticulously but without being self-referential describes how the research department of the Reserve Bank of India created a niche for itself in economic research, even overtaking the leading and older central banks in the US and the European continent.

In conducting monetary policy, a Central Bank primarily tries to influence behaviour of the commercial banks. The response of commercial banks to monetary policy actions is, thus, a key element of monetary policy. In view of the resurgence of the credit channel of monetary policy and episodes of credit crunch, world-over the issue has gained currency.

Against the backdrop of financial sector reforms in India, this book looks into the theory, stylised facts and empirical evidence on the relationship between commercial banks’ behaviour and monetary policy. The book presents an analytical account of the credit channel of monetary transmission and looks into the modified IS-LM model with an independent banking sector. Econometric evidence of the book is pointer to the fact that not all the banks respond uniformly to monetary policy. Attributes like ownership, size, liquidity, or capitalisation play important roles in determining the nature of response. The book also examines futuristic issues like consolidation of the banking sector in light of the evidence.

Privatisation of State owned enterprises has raised a lot of passion, heat and dust around the world, especially after the huge successes this policy had in the United Kingdom and Germany, Latin American countries, Asia and Africa. But very soon, it came to be recognised that privatisation did create many problems, such as lack of transparency, pseudo capitalism and many other associated evils. The welfare aspects of privatisation also tended to be given inadequate attention in the privatisation process.

In the rush to privatise, many countries ignored the welfare role of the State. In particular, the negative aspects of privatisation relating to labour came to be recognised and initiatives began to be taken to lessen these negative social aspects. These were, however, not adequate and resulted in impoverishment and considerable hardship to labour and led to questions on the wisdom of pursuing privatisation policies.

In this book, the author examines the privatisation processes in Sri Lanka and India and the implications that it has for various sections of society. The book also examines the measures that need to be adopted to minimise the negative societal implications of labour restructuring on account of privatisation, in the light of international experience.

This book is the first detailed analysis of the subject of societal implications of labour restructuring in Asia and will serve as a useful reference book for researchers and scholars of privatisation, besides policy makers and practitioners.

3rd Edition: 2008-09
India’s Economic Developments Since 1947

The volume has been designed primarily to meet the requirements of the restructured course on Indian economy for B.A. (Hons.) students of economics of the University of Delhi.

The present volume has been designed primarily to meet the requirements of the restructured course on Indian economy for B.A. (Hons.) students of economics of the University of Delhi.

Although the content of the book follows essentially the B.A. (Hons.) course content of Indian economy (paper no. 07), the coverage is sufficiently broad as well as rigorous to meet the requirements of undergraduate/graduate students in various universities across India while also serving the students of competitive examinations.

The book is organised into four sections:

Section 1, covers the major features of Indian Economy since Independence.

Section 2, Growth, Development and Structural Change, discusses the growth and development experience with reference to changes in policy regimes and goals of development.

Section 3, deals with issues in Indian economic policy with regard to population and human resource development; growth, unemployment and poverty; macroeconomic stabilisation: trade, fiscal and monetary policy; agriculture, industry, services and trade.

Section 4, looks at India's development prospects.

The book is essentially, a collection of select articles by eminent economists and experts. These highly recommended original readings are well supported by comprehensive ‘editorial notes’ by Uma Kapila.

In addition to being a textbook, this volume also serves as an ideal gateway for any interested reader to explore, in a most authentic manner, various aspects relating to India’s economic development since 1947.

HERE’s the new, revised edition of the widely accepted textbook (Indian economy paper) for B.Com (Hons.) Delhi University and other universities. The book, under its present new title, is based on the ‘restructured syllabus’ incorporating the revised reading list.

In accordance with the new syllabus, the book provides a comprehensive coverage of Indian economy under 5 sections:

1. Basic Issues in Economic Development

2. Indian Economy at Independence

3. Policy Regimes

4. Growth, Development and Structural Change

5. Sectoral Trends and Issues

The author Dr. Uma Kapila has specially designed this book based on the original readings recommended for the new course (many of these being available in her edited book Indian Economy Since Independence, now into its 19th edition and also the latest volume: India's Economic Developments Since 1947, 3rd edition, 2008-09).

In the present volume, the author has made an effort to keep the language simple without compromising the effectiveness of the argument or diluting the analyses. Data has been updated and new references added at several places beside thorough revision of the basic text.

Additionally, inclusion of important questions at the end of various sections and a ‘Glossary’ make the book an ‘ideal’ text in its category.

Revised every year, and now into its 18th edition, this unique book is widely accepted as the core text for graduate/post-graduate courses in Indian economy, in various universities across India.

The book is essentially, a collection of select articles by some of India's topmost economists and experts. These highly recommended original readings are well supported by editorial notes and excerpts from plan documents, that together present a comprehensive and critical analysis of Indian economy since independence: 1947-2008.

Over the past several decades Asia’s maize economy has expanded significantly, and in recent years Asia’s share of maize production has risen more rapidly. It is poised to grow even further, owing to direct and indirect demand generated from the region’s burgeoning animal feed and industrial sectors. This study covers seven Asian countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Together, these countries generate over 90 per cent of Asia’s maize production, and a quarter of the world’s maize supply. The basic objectives of the study were to:

• review the production, consumption and trade in maize in Asia;

• highlight the policy environment in each country;

• analyse the incentives available for maize producers; and

• forecast the nature of the maize economy in Asia in 2025.

The publication provides a summary overview of population policies and dynamics for each of the United Nations Member and non-member States for which data are available at mid-decade for the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and for 2007. 

This publication shows, on a country-by-country basis, the evolution of Government views and policies from 1976 to 2007 with respect to population size and growth, population age structure, fertility and family planning, health and mortality, spatial distribution and international migration. Within the context of demographic, social and economic change. The material is presented in the form of two-page data sheets: the first page contains population policy data for each country for 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2007, and the second page provides population indicators for the corresponding years.

This compilation has emerged from a recent National Consultation on Infrastructure and Governance called India @ Work Summit, organised by Skoch Consultancy Services, providing critical insights into the subject of infrastructure and governance, all pointing to a common goal of inclusive growth.

The book opens with a chapter entitled: Participatory Democracy, Infrastructure and Empowerment. Offering the concerned reader the collective wisdom of eminent policy makers and distinguished experts, the content in this volume is organised under seven sections, namely:

The Kerala Development Report reviews the course of development of the State and the aspects in which the State holds a unique position among the States and Union Territories in India, such as universalisation of school education, reduction in fertility and mortality rates, development of health- care sector, growth of infrastructural facilities and expansion of financial institutions, It has also highlighted the pitfalls on its road to progress such as declining agriculture, stagnating industry, mounting unemployment and growing consumerism. The great strength of conviction that the State has acquired through incessant social reform struggles, progressive political movements, and land reform legislations is lending support to its pace of progress along egalitarian lines. The merging conflicts in the matters of private partnership in educational development, reservations to depressed communities in educational institutions and in government services, and participation of foreign investors in Kerala's development endeavours have added new dimensions to the path and pace of progress that the State may choose to tread. New problems that have arisen due to its spectacular success in bringing out a demographic transition such as the mounting proportions of the elderly and the aged in the State's population have also been highlighted in the report. The SDR of Kerala has also furnished a roadmap to development that the State may like to pursue in important economic sectors such as agriculture, traditional and small-scale industries and modern manufacturing industries.

The Sikkim Development Report attempts to assess the main strengths and weaknesses of the state in achieving a high level of development. Based on the analysis of the economy's fundamentals, it recommends a development strategy that takes into account the state's potential and builds on its strengths: a peaceful environment, diverse agro-climatic topography, supply of cheap labour and vast potential in tourism, hydro-power, and horticulture. The sustainable developmental strategy recommended will seek to (i) empower people by strengthening the social infrastructure, in the form of education and skill formation and easy access to good health systems, and physical infrastructure, such as a good connectivity and communications network, quality energy supply, and (ii) vastly changed role for the government as an enabler rather than a direct participant in the production-distribution processes.

This book reviews the history of labour relations in Nepal and considers criticisms of the existing industrial relations system. It reports on the re-emergence of the militant Maoist trade union and the recent upsurge in strikes and demonstrations in Nepal. A reduction in workplace tension is needed to cement in place the recent peace agreement, facilitate political stability and promote economic growth.

Focusing on broad economic developments since 1990, it sheds light on how labour legislation and labour institutions have influenced investment, growth and jobs over the long term. The views of those most directly affected by the labour legislation, institutions and attitudes that govern industrial relations in Nepal have been collected through surveys and interviews with managing directors and entrepreneurs, trade union leaders and hundreds of ordinary workers from a range of locations, industries and occupations. These views have heavily influenced the conclusions presented in this volume.

The relatively faster growth of tertiary sector vis-a-vis other broad sectors of the economics, as they experience a higher growth rate, has become almost a universal phenomenon. This has given rise to contemporary issues related to this form of economic development. The topicality of this issue is the broad theme of this book.

Numerous studies have been devoted to the growth of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of the developing countries, but the services sector has received far too inadequate attention of the researchers. An attempt has been made in this book to fill this gap.

A unique feature of the book is that it attempts to answer the following set of questions in a systematic manner.

The Indian Economic Journal is the main Journal of the Indian Economic Association. It is published quarterly and it is a fully refereed Journal. Its main objective is to provide a forum for dissemination of the research findings of scholars from all over the world, on Issues of analytical, methodological and practical value to the professional community. The IEJ is now in its 55th year of publication.

Mahatma Gandhi’s humane philosophy and inherent spirituality had a profound influence not only on the people of India but the freedom loving people worldwide. 11th of September 2006 marked the centenary of the Satyagraha movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa for peaceful resistance against discriminatory and unjust laws. “Satyagraha—the firmness of the force Truth” became a powerful mass movement of peaceful resistance and civil disobedience. Over the years, it evolved into a dynamic mass movement of effective action.

Commemorating 100 years of ‘Satyagraha’ in a befitting manner, the Indian National Congress convened a two day international conference: “Peace, Non-violence and Empowerment: Gandhian Philosophy in the 21st Century”. Over 300 international delegates from 91 countries comprising world leaders, Nobel laureates, leading peace and human rights activists and Gandhian scholars reflected on the essence and the enduring relevance of Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy. The Conference deliberated on subjects and issues which represent the core of Gandhian thought. The discussion touched upon a wide range of Gandhian principles and values including Mahatma Gandhi’s concern for the poor and his abiding commitment to non-violence and people’s empowerment. Emerging from the discussions amongst the luminaries was the collective affirmation to renew people’s commitment to Mahatma’s noble mission of building a world that is in peace and harmony with itself.

Based on the deliberations of this conference, together with precious archival material, this volume—a book for the future—endeavours to reach out and connect the people, especially the younger generation, to the ‘Gandhian way’ and to carry forward his legacy into the 21st century.

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A unique collection of thoughts, ideas, views and vision of some of the brightest brains and most respected individuals—from senior cabinet ministers to role model captains of industry; from internationally acclaimed economists to diplomats par excellence and think-tank honchos; from IT innovators to provocative journalists—all jostle together in this volume sharing glimpses of India of their dreams.

Sheer diversity of subjects, strength of arguments, force of articulation and the breadth of vision is sure to provoke the reader to think about India…

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Authentic and authoritative, this presentation in two volumes shares a comprehensive overview of the extensive research undertaken by the Agro Economic Research Centres (AERCs) and the concerns confronting Indian agriculture. Established across the states in India to provide policy feedback to the Ministry of Agriculture, the AERCs generated many important research initiatives and debates over five decades.

The volume on macro premise deals with the broader themes like macro policy changes, WTO, tariff policy, institutional issues, minimum support prices etc., whereas, the volume on micro issues addresses the problems confronted by each of the participating states at the regional level.

In this book the author explores the relevance of communitarian institutional approach for sustainable management of renewable natural resources in Rajasthan. The book is interdisciplinary and closely verifies institutional development within the power theoretic framework. Moving from case to case, it searches for a conceivable strategy for equitable management of renewable natural resources in the public domain. While having followed proven methodologies, it has examined several aspects of institutional interventions and ecological changes that have serious implications for livelihood generation.

Despite the fact that the rural society is socially and economically heterogeneous, the book reveals that institutional sustainability against the backdrop of unequal power relations may succeed in restoring degraded eco-system by means of expanding bio-diversity. And, by doing so, it could ensure livelihood of the poor and the disadvantaged in a drought that prevailed for more than three years. All these bring missing links between poverty reduction and ecological restoration to the centre of the development discourse. Prof. Ray has systematically drawn some insightful lessons from the scenario analysis of the institutions and explores complementarity between market and community institutions. While conflicts on command over renewable resources in the state are inescapable, their resolution must be sought in the public domain, suggests Prof. Ray. It may call for vertical integration between the state, civil society organisations and community institutions.

This book is a collection of unusual writings of the well-acclaimed economist, Deena Khatkhate.

The volume represents different facets of the author’s intellectual personality. He is a keen observer of societies and societal changes in India and abroad. His reflections as a social scientist with “out of the box“ thinking on politics, economics, institutions, social mores, race, family, law, classes, ideology, etc. have a wide sweep. He sees in the world around him—good and bad, profound and profane, conviviality and conflict, hypocrisy and honesty, and approbation and opprobrium. The essays are written with rare sensitivity and insight; they acquire universality because the author looks at the world outside India from the eyes of an Indian national, looks at India from the eyes of an Indian emigrant to the developed land and reprises his own value system. He thus takes the readers into a world of new thoughts, emotion and experience.

According to WESP 2008, the world economy is facing serious challenges in sustaining the strong pace of economic growth seen over the past few years. While the baseline forecast is for world economic growth to moderate somewhat in 2008, the risks associated with the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States, the related unfolding credit crisis, the decline of the dollar, large global imbalances and high oil prices are all pointing to the downside. The report draws some lessons from the global financial turmoil of 2007, which was triggered by the meltdown of sub-prime mortgages in the United States, and points out that the various measures adopted by central banks of the major economies did not address the root causes of the turmoil: the huge global imbalances. In an alternative scenario, which takes into account the possibility of a sharper-than-expected decline in house prices in the United States and a hard landing of the US dollar, the United States economy would fall into a recession, while global growth would be significantly lower than the baseline. In addition to trends in international trade and capital flows, WESP 2008 also covers the latest progress and policy issues related to international trade negotiations and reform of the international financial system.

This authoritative compendium brings together the latest thinking of leading academics, actuaries, and development professionals in the microinsurance field. The result is a practical, wide-ranging resource which provides the most thorough overview of the subject to date.

The book allows readers to benefit from the valuable lessons learned from a project launched by the CGAP Working Group on Microinsurance analysing operations around the world. Essential reading for insurance professionals, practitioners and anyone involved with offering insurance to low-income persons, this volume covers the many aspects of microinsurance in detail, including product design, marketing, premium collection and governance.

It also discusses the various institutional arrangements available for delivery such as the community- based approach, insurance companies owned by networks of savings and credit cooperatives and microfinance institutions.

The roles of key stakeholders are also explored and the book offers insightful strategies for achieving the right balance between coverage, costs and price.

Founded in 1958 by the great academic visionary and institution-builder Professor V.K.R.V. Rao, the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi today ranks amongst the premier research institutes of the country. It is always the people belonging to an institution who are responsible for its greatness. Commemorating the fiftieth year of the Institute, several illustrious members of the ‘IEG family’, including present faculty, the former faculty, visiting fellows and Ph.D. students, have come forward to share their thoughts, memories and feelings for their institute—the IEG.

With 36 chapters in six parts, 17 boxes and 26 photographs, this festschrift volume also reflects the evolution of research in social sciences at the IEG during the period 1958-2007. These recollections and reflections together provide an interesting insight into how the institution was set up and how it has evolved and contributed to research, training, teaching and policymaking. The small anecdotes throughout the book—in the form of boxes, reflecting informal profiles of some distinguished academics as also aspects of campus life—provide an interesting read.

World Investment Report 2007 (WIR07) is the seventeenth in a series published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The Report analyses the latest trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) and puts a special focus in 2007 on the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in the extraction of oil, gas, and metal minerals.

Higher prices for many minerals have led to renewed investor interest in the extractive industries. TNCs—including some of the world´s largest corporations—play a key role in the mining of metals and in the extraction of oil and gas. Privately owned TNCs dominate the harvesting of metal minerals, while State-owned companies from developing and transition economies are key players in oil and gas. Many such State-owned firms are emerging as TNCs in their own right.

The Trade and Development Report 2007, subtitled "Regional cooperation for development", recommends that developing countries should strengthen regional cooperation with other developing countries, but proceed carefully with regard to North-South bilateral or regional preferential trade agreements. Such agreements may offer gains in terms of market access and higher foreign direct investment, but they can also limit national policy space, which can play an important role in the medium- and long-term growth of competitive industries. By contrast, strengthened regional cooperation among developing countries can help accelerate industrialization and structural change and ease integration into the global economy. However, to achieve this, trade liberalization is not enough; active regional cooperation should also extend to areas of policy that strengthen the potential for growth and structural change, including monetary and financial arrangements, large infrastructure and knowledge-generation projects, and industrial policies.

Economic Developments in India (EDI) was launched in 1998. Ever since, one volume is published every month. Each volume of EDI comprises a hard-bound book plus a CD-ROM. Salient features include: latest articles by top economists and experts; complete (full-length) reports & policy documents; current at-a-glance statistics and policy updates. EDI is an authentic and 'truly unique' ready-reference resource—a full-fledged 'Economic Information System'. The dual format (hardcopy + digital) further enhance the utility of this publication.

Yes ! Indeed, the combination of 'Book and a CD-ROM' proves extremely powerful and versatile, especially when the two forms of media are selectively made to carry different forms of information. Hence, the hard-copy (i.e. the book) presents crisp articles and short summaries while the digital format (CD-ROM) takes care of voluminous reports and documents with sophisticated search facility and printout options. This way, easy readability and comprehensiveness go hand in hand to make this publication compact and preservable.