New Data Show Continuing Agrarian Distress For Small And Marginal Farmers

IT is official now. New data released by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) for 2013 show that the agrarian distress in rural India is continuing, and even intensifying for small and marginal farmers. In the last decade, there has been much talk on inclusive growth, revival of growth rates in agriculture, higher public investment in agriculture and the doubling of agricultural credit. Yet, the new data show that all these policies have largely bypassed the rural areas, and particularly the small and marginal farmers.

The Meaning of Neo-Liberal “Development”

NARENDRA Modi is “marketed” these days as the “development” man. The BJP’s electoral successes, such as they are, are attributed to the fact that everyone wants “development”, which the other political formations, caught up in appeasing this or that “sectional group”, are alleged to have been ignoring until now. And taking a leaf out of Modi’s book, others too have started talking about prioritising “development”.

The Phenomenal Increase in Wealth Inequality

CREDIT Suisse brings out a Global Wealth Report every year. The current year’s report takes up for specific discussion the issue of wealth inequality. The term “wealth” in the report covers only household wealth and refers to the value of assets at current prices; it includes in other words capital gains and hence the effects of speculative factors.

Cutting Social Sector Expenditure

THE NDA government is reportedly planning drastic cuts in social sector spending in 2014-15 to reduce the fiscal deficit. According to a report in The Hindu of November 27, the cuts relative to the budgetary provisions for this year could be as large as 25 percent in many sectors. While the government has not confirmed these reports, the coyness of its protestations, together with the pervasiveness of such reports, and the clear evidence at least with regard to one area where cuts are being effected, viz.

The Importance of the “Economic”

THE world today is witnessing a rather novel phenomenon, namely a pervasive tendency towards political uprisings by the urban middle class. Not just the leaders, but even the bulk of the participants in such uprisings are educated, are reasonably well-off, and make extensive use of social media channels for keeping in touch with one another.

The Gathering Clouds Of Recession

THE world capitalist economy has been mired in stagnation and high unemployment ever since the 2008 financial crisis. Many were predicting that a turnaround was about to occur, partly because of the fact that the US economy last month showed larger job creation than of late, and also because it had grown at 3.5 percent last quarter which is higher than for some time now.

The Anatomy of the State Under Neo-liberalism

THE change in the nature of the State under neo-liberalism has been much discussed. From standing apparently above society and mediating between different classes, as under dirigisme (even though it too was a big-bourgeois-led State), the State under neo-liberalism promotes primarily the interests of the corporate-financial oligarchy (which is integrated to international finance capital), on the plea that what is good for this oligarchy is ipso facto good for the nation.

Growing More Food, But Eating Less

India shows a substantial rise in per head food production in recent years but it is merely adding to exports and to stocks – food consumption by the people shows no rise FOR a quarter century from the early 1980s, production of grain per head of population at the global level kept on declining. Developing countries were urged under neo-liberal free trade policies promoted by advanced countries and global institutions, to export more and more agricultural products, and their pliant governments did exactly that.

Dilma Rousseff’s Victory

THE American “mainstream” media have tried to play down Dilma Rousseff’s victory in the presidential election in Brazil by emphasising the “narrowness” of her victory-margin, even though they would never be grudging in their acknowledgement of Bush Jr’s victory which was by a far narrower margin.

The Nehruvian Economic Strategy

THIS being Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary, much is being written about him and the economic strategy he pursued. The corporate-controlled media are full of articles criticising the “inward looking” dirigiste economic strategy that Nehru, along with PC Mahalanobis who was in charge of the planning process for much of the Nehru era, was supposed to have introduced.

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