The Routledge Handbook of Post-Reform Indian Economy

Rajesh Raj S. N., Komol Singha

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367428709
• eBook ISBN: 9781000459364
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Regional Studies
• Index: Economics

This handbook presents a comprehensive study of the post-reform Indian economy, three decades after the economic liberalization started in the early 1990s.

It studies the broad range of changes that were introduced in the reforms era, assessing their impact on sectors like manufacturing, agriculture, banking and finance, among others. It also assesses the performance of these sectors amid globalization and the socio-economic shifts in the country. The volume evaluates the contribution of the reforms to social transformation, social inclusion, sustainability and human development, and deliberates on the gains, blind spots and limitations. With contributions from scholars across the country, case studies and comparative analyses that draw on data analysis, econometric evidence and historical sensibility, this is an authoritative volume on the reforms of the 1990s and their impact on the Indian economy and people.

Topical and the first of its kind, the book will be a useful resource for scholars and researchers of economics, development studies, political economy, management studies, public policy and political studies.

PART I

Agrarian reforms and agriculture

1
AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LABOUR MARKETS IN INDIA

Jayan Jose Thomas and B. Satheesha

DOI: 10.4324/9780367855741-1

Introduction

In India, agriculture and allied sectors employ approximately 42.0 per cent of the country’s total workforce. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), National Statistical Office (2019), there were 197.3 million people engaged in agriculture and its allied sectors, out of a total estimated workforce of 471.3 million in 2017–18. However, the combined share of these sectors in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was only 14.8 per cent in 2017–18. The aim of this chapter is to understand, first, the broad trends in the growth of the agricultural sector in India and, second, the implications of this growth for the country’s rural labour markets. Agricultural production depends on a number of factors, importantly area under cultivation, changes in the cropping pattern, and growth of yield. In India, there is increasing demand for land for non-agricultural purposes, mainly due to growing urbanization, expansion of housing, and rise in the numbers of commercial and industrial enterprises. The area under cultivation in India has been registering a decline over time (Bhalla and Singh 2009). There have been important variations in the cropping pattern in the country, over time and across regions. In 2014–15, production of food crops, importantly rice and wheat, occupied approximately 70 per cent of the area under cultivation in the northern region, which includes Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and Punjab. Similarly, eastern and central-eastern regions also have relatively large shares of cultivable area under food grain production. On the other hand, in the western and southern parts of the country, there has been a marked shift in the cropping pattern towards non-food grain production.

As shown above, 41.9 per cent of the workforce in India is engaged in agriculture and allied activit...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Contributors
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART I Agrarian reforms and agriculture
• PART II Trade and manufacturing
• PART III Financial sector developments
• PART IV FDI, R&D and innovation
• PART V Social sector in India
• PART VI Sectoral and regional issues
• Index