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Growth of a
Wasteland
Amith Bhaduri,
Visiting
Professor,
Council for
Social
Development,
Delhi
Abstract
The paper begins
by drawing some
analogies
between China
and India to
emphasise the
link between
growing
inequality and
acceleration in
the rate of
economic growth
in both
countries
despite the
differences in
their political
systems. It then
argues how
inequality feeds
on growth and
growth feeds on
inequality
through a
mechanism of
mutual positive
feedback of
cumulative
causation in
which land
acquisition by
the government
for ‘public
purpose’ to
help corporate-led
industrialisation
plays an
increasingly
prominent role.
The paper ends
by pointing
out the problems
it raises for
Indian
democracy.
Negotiating
Policy Research,
Academic
Knowledge and
Political
Movements: One
Researcher's
Experience
Carol Upadhya,
National
Institute of
Advanced
Studies,
Bangalore
Abstract
This paper
reflects upon my
recent
experience in
carrying out a
policy-oriented
research project
on laws,
policies, and
practices
related to land
rights in
Jharkhand. The
research threw
up issues that
are empirically
very complex and
theoretically as
well as
politically
sensitive, and
raised questions
about the
production and
uses of academic
knowledge in the
context of
state-sponsored
development-oriented
research. This
paper highlights
concerns about
the relationship
between academic
research and
knowledge,
politics, and
policy-making,
and points to
broader
questions about
history, memory,
and power in the
context of
adivasi autonomy
movements.
Public
Investment in
Orissa in
Post-Reform
Period: An
Empirical Study
of Budget Data
Bimal K. Mohanty,
Reader in
Economics,
Ravenshaw
College, Cuttack
- 753 003,
Orissa
Abstract
This paper makes
an empirical
study of the
behaviour of
investment
expenditure
(capital
expenditure) of
the Government
of Orissa in the
post-reform
period from
1990–91 to
2004–05. The
dataset for the
study has been
procured from
several budget
publications of
the Government
of Orissa. In
spite of the
desire of the
government to
accelerate such
expenditure for
increasing the
economic and
human
development
status of the
state, the
mounting debt
burden and its
repayment has
been the major
constraint on
realizing
welfare goals.
Where Do Our
Financial
Institutions
Stand in
Extending
Agricultural
Credit? Evidence
from Kalahandi
District, Orissa
Gagan Bihari
Sahu,
Assistant
Professor,
Centre for
Social Studies,
Veer Narmad
South Gujarat
University
Campus,
Udhana-Magdalla
Road, Surat
395007, Gujarat
Abstract
As the
supply-led
approach started
to threaten the
viability of
financial
institutions,
the policy
thrust since the
1990s shifted to
making
agricultural
credit a viable
activity. In
this phase of
agricultural
credit policy,
importance was
given to
achieving
quantitative
targets without
neglecting the
viability of the
financial
institutions. In
this context,
this paper
examines the
impact of the
changing face of
bank lending on
the credit flow
to agricultural
borrowers in
Kalahandi
district of
Orissa. It is
observed in the
study that
credit rationing
is widely
practised by the
bankers, and
small and
marginal farmers
have been worse
hit. They turn
to informal
sources, and are
in the process
subjected to
exploitation in
the interlocked
credit markets.
Access to
institutional
credit for small
and marginal
farmers,
therefore,
continues to be
an outstanding
issue in rural
credit markets,
calling for
appropriate
programme and
planning
intervention.tc
"Assistant
Professor,
Centre for
Social Studies,
Veer Narmad
South Gujarat
University
Campus,
Udhana-Magdalla
Road, Surat
395007, Gujarat"
The Calling of a
New Critical
Theory: The
Socio-Cognitive
Critique of Piet
Strydom and
Beyond
Anantha Kumar
Giri,
Associate
Professor,
Madras Institute
of Development
Studiestc
"Madras
Institute of
Development
Studies",
Chennai
Abstract
Piet Strydom
originally from
South Africa but
teaching in
Ireland for the
last three
decades has made
valuable
contributions to
continental
traditions of
critical social
theory. His
concept of
‘triple
contingency’ and
his subsequent
contributions on
‘triple
contingency
learning,’
resonance,
socio-cognitive
critique, and
emergent frames
of
co-responsibility
are valuable
contributions to
critical
theory. In
recent years
Strydom has
developed a path
of critical
theoretical
engagement
called
socio-cognitive
critique which
creatively
brings together
constructivist,
cognitive and
realist
approaches to
understanding
society as well
as critiquing
it. The essay
discusses
Strydom’s work
in critical
theory and then
suggests that
his critical
theory could
include more
processes of
self-development
and planetary
realizations.
Book
Reviews
Vineetha Menon,
P.R. Gopinathan,
K.N. Nair
Alleviating
Poverty
by Amita Shah
Mridula
Mukherjee
Colonializing
Agriculture: The
Myth of Punjab
Exceptionalism
by J.B.
Lourdusamy
Samir Amin
Beyond US
Hegemony?:
Assessing the
prospects for a
multipolar world
by
M. V. Ramana
David Cox and
Manohar Pawar
International
Social Work:
Issues,
Strategies, and
Programs
by G. Gladston
Xavier
Ganesh P.
Shivakoti
et al
Asian Irrigation
in Transition:
Responding to
Challenges
by K.J. Joy
Ravi Kumar
The Crisis of
Elementary
Education in
India
by Sailabala
Debi
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