Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

CHENNAI: M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, on Wednesday warned against subsidising ecological suicide in the Indo-Gangetic plains. “We cannot afford that area to suffer. If you enter policymaking you should ensure that you do not give subsidies for what I call eco-cide, or ecological suicide,” he told students of the Madras School of Economics on the occasion of its Founding Day.

He added that this would apply to subsidies given “in normal years as a part of political favour-seeking.” However, in a drought year such as this year, support to affected people would be essential.

Highlighting recent and “increasingly alarming reports,” for example in Science magazine, Professor Swaminathan said the latest remote sensing technology has shown that the heartland of the Green Revolution, including the Indo-Gangetic plain, is in deep ecological distress. “But that is the region feeding the public distribution system,” he said, explaining that if natural resources are exploited beyond their rejuvenation capacity, that will lead to difficulties in agriculture.

Professor Swaminathan addressed the student body, faculty and guests on the occasion of MSE’s 16th Annual Day celebrations as chief guest. MSE also marked the passing of its Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Dr. Raja J. Chelliah, with Professor Swaminathan remarking that he personally knew how much effort Dr. Chelliah took to establish the School, including the academic programmes and infrastructure .

MSE Director D.K. Srivastava delivered the welcome address. Certificates were presented by Professor Swaminathan to students graduating with masters degrees and the course toppers.

Economists in Chennai

Pointing out that Chennai has been fortunate to have renowned economists such as Dr. Chelliah and Dr. Malcolm Adiseshiah, who established the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Professor Swaminathan said: “Such economists have not only made enormous personal contributions to the science and to policy formulation but also to institution-building.”

C. Rangarajan, Chairman of MSE and former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, described the MSE as Dr. Chelliah’s ’child.’ “It was due to his vision and dedication that this institution has become what it is today.” Dr. Chelliah’s ambition was to set up an institution which provided excellent avenues for teaching and research in economics in this part of the country, Dr. Rangarajan said, and this has been fulfilled.

Advising economists graduating from the MSE to “marry collegiate economics with public policies,” Professor Swaminathan said agricultural development policies, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and policies in the area of food and nutrition security deserved more attention from policymakers.

Professor Swaminathan underscored the ecological importance of the NREGA, saying: “If you look at the NREGA guidelines, labour is to be used for the purpose of watershed management, water harvesting, soil conservation and a whole series of steps which will lead to building up permanent assets.”

Dr. Rangarajan touched upon prospects for the Indian economy as it emerged from the global financial crisis even as it faced a drought. “My own estimate for the current year is that the economy will grow at between 6 per cent and 6.5 per cent,” he said. But the distress faced in rural areas caused by output shortfalls and deficient rain should not be underestimated.

He said: “The financial crisis and the meltdown shows that India is integrated with the rest of the world,” and the drop in the growth rates for the present year from earlier years when it was above 9 per cent reflected this integration.

“The de-coupling theory does not hold good and globalisation cuts both ways, spreading distress as well as prosperity.”

Labels: C. Rangarajan, de-coupling, ecology, Indian economy, M.S. Swaminathan, Madras School of Economics, NREGA, Rajah Chelliah

From The Hindu (with S. Vydhianathan)



Photo: PTI


The "real power" of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) "is in how it reshapes the labour market and puts a floor below poor people," according to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Addressing mediapersons here on Thursday, Mr. Gandhi said the NREGA gave the poor support in the labour market by not letting them fall below a certain level. "No matter who you are, you can get 100 days of work at a particular salary," he said.

"This has changed completely the dynamics in poor States like Uttar Pradesh, in areas where it has been used effectively, which frankly are limited." In States like Andhra Pradesh, it has "revolutionised the system," he said.

Arguing that the Congress had a different view from that of other parties in India, Mr. Gandhi said, "On the one side you have the BJP and its view is of an 'India Shining' concept. They say: let us focus all our efforts on that India with opportunity and let us not worry about the India with no opportunity."

On the other side are the Left parties, which focus on the India without opportunity and ignore the India with opportunity, according to Mr. Gandhi.

"That is the difference between the three formations. What we are saying is, we are going to bridge these two Indias. And we are going to make sure that this one India that is formed has opportunity for all."

Touching on the gulf between rich and poor India and the Congress approach towards bridging it, Mr. Gandhi said, "The central thrust of what the Congress does and is going to do for the next couple of years is try and recreate that one India but ensure that it is an India of opportunity for all."

Underscoring the redistributive nature of welfare policies adopted by the UPA government, he said, "The idea is that you take the India of opportunity, you grow that India. Then you take some of the benefits and put them into the villages and thus engage and integrate that India into the first India."

Mr. Gandhi said that in the effort to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich Indias, "NREGA is one such weapon we are using. Massive expansion of the education system is another weapon. Massive expansion of the health system is the third. Universal ID is the fourth weapon."

Mr. Gandhi strongly opposed the integration of rivers in the country, stating that it would have serious implications on environment. He said interlinking of rivers within a State might be a workable proposal but the integration of the entire river system in the country would be "disastrous." He hastened to add that this was his personal view and not that of the Central government.

Asked about the idea that MPs should fly economy class because of the downturn, Mr. Gandhi said austerity measures should be the norm. "I don't think there should a phase where there should be austerity measures and then a phase where we should not have austerity measures. I think, as a politician, you have a duty to be austere."

Labels: AICC, BJP, Congress, integration of rivers, Left parties, NREGA, Rahul Gandhi, universal ID

From The Hindu

Assured livelihood: Recent audits have affirmed the contribution the NREGS has made to employment security. Photo: P. Goutham

CHENNAI: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has matured from its 2006 launch to the point where the concept of NREGS-II is now doing the rounds in policy circles. However, before this act of succession occurs, greater clarity is required on which features of the policy need to be refined to strengthen this lifeline for the rural poor.

M.S. Swaminathan, chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, outlines some of the policy attributes that the history of the NREGS would suggest are important. The Maharashtra government was the first to introduce an Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in the 1970s, which guaranteed work at slightly below the minimum wage, he points out.

In 1980, the national version of the EGS programme was named National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) without the guarantee element included.

“The NREGS has taken the initiative of the 6th Five Year Plan to its logical end, namely converting NREP into NREGA. The aim of all such programmes starting with the colonial era is the development of permanent assets. NREGA, for example, aims to promote water harvesting, watershed management, soil conservation, land reclamation, etc.,” says Professor Swaminathan.

With the monsoon failing this year, the scheme has attained even more importance as a source of off-farm work during months that would have otherwise seen workers employed in agriculture. Recent social audits, such as those led by Jean Dreze and his colleagues, have affirmed the contribution to employment security the scheme makes in districts such as Villupuram, while acknowledging that implementation problems exist, including “mass fudging of muster rolls,” and “institutionalised kickbacks to private contractors,” in some cases.

Labour market impact

Wider economic effects, including a labour market impact, are also being observed across States: the supply of farm labour has, in some cases, dwindled, and this has been attributed to the NREGS. However, such claims must be seen in the context of two issues. First, the NREGS is designed to improve the labour market prospects of those living on the subsistence margin, and if farm owners need to raise the daily wage rate to compete for more labour, that will be a positive outcome for farm workers. Second, labour supply in many areas, including the Cauvery Delta, is, in any case, falling due to rural-urban migration, especially of younger members of the workforce searching for better-paid and physically less strenuous opportunities.

Any deleterious effects of the NREGS on farm labour supply can be minimised if, as Mihir Shah of the Planning Commission has argued, the government tries to bring about a convergence between NREGS projects and farm-related asset-creation works. For example, the NREGS could achieve convergence and synergy among numerous ongoing programmes in the fields of watershed development, water harvesting and so on.

Emphasising the need to increase technical inputs for the next phase of the programme, Professor Swaminathan suggests creating a technical consortium of experts drawn from agricultural universities. Additionally, “small and marginal farmers should be allowed to work under this scheme to develop farm ponds in their own farms, in order to enrich the aquifer and give crop life saving irrigation when needed.”

“Gender sensitive”

The revised programme should also permit women labour to work as organisers of crèches, daycare centres etc. “The programme must be gender sensitive,” he says.
Although the Finance Minister recently announced that more than 100 days of employment will not be provided, the drought or drought-like conditions found in many districts this year may require extension of the scheme.

In this backdrop raising the wage rate from its present level of Rs.80 per day to Rs.100 or more and increasing the number of guaranteed days under NREGS-II will signal the continued commitment of the government to a meaningful pro-poor agenda.

Labels: Cauvery, delta, EGS, Finance Minister, Jean Dreze, M.S. Swaminathan, NREGA, NREGS, NREGS-II, NREP

From The Hindu, with minor changes

CHENNAI: Labour migration from rural to urban centres and employment-focussed government policies such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are having a noticeable effect on the supply of agricultural workers in farms across Tamil Nadu.

Districts such as Theni exemplify some of the complexities of these labour market effects. In the relatively dry Andipatti taluk, sugarcane farms and the attendant agri-business of sugar production in mills have until recently thrived. At Rajshree Sugars and Chemicals, the only sugar mill in Theni district, the annual quantum of sugarcane crushed grew at an average rate of 27.49 per cent between 1990 and 2005. Since 2006, however, it has on average fallen by 27.51 per cent annually. Why is this happening?

O. Ramaswamy, secretary of the Sugarcane Production Farmers Association in Periyakulam taluk, argues that labour migration from farms to NREGS sites has gained significant momentum. “Before the NREGS was implemented I had 25 workers on my farm, now only three workers turn up daily,” he said.

An important aspect of this phenomenon is that the workforce is predominantly female. Women are employed because they are more effective than men at jobs such as detrashing (removal of dry stalks and leaves from the main stalk), and men are twice as costly, according to Mr. Ramaswamy.

The unfortunate coincidence for sugarcane farmers and other cultivators is that the uptake of the NREGS schemes is also predominantly by women: approximately 90 per cent of the workforce on two sites that this correspondent visited in Theni comprised of women.

Mechanisation could be an alternative, according to G. Sathiyamoorthi, General Manager at Rajshree Sugars. Yet, progress in this regard has been modest given the small size of farm holdings and inertia with respect to traditional cultivation techniques.

As a result, the farmers face the choice of switching to less labour-intensive crops such as coconuts (not always feasible given the low irrigation levels) or ceasing farming altogether. Farmers in the region have been petitioning the government to either run NREGS works during their off-season months or include farm work within the scope of NREGS (albeit paying the workers directly as is the current practice).

P. Rani, the head of a self-help group in Lakshmipuram village and a worker on an NREGS irrigation tank project, argued that detrashing is a difficult job. Mr. Sathiyamoorthi concurred, admitting that sugarcane detrashing could be a back-straining eight-hours-a-day effort.
Given that the daily wage on the farms is the same as that at the NREGS site (Rs. 80), workers prefer the latter. District Collector P. Muthuveeran says that within Theni there is likely to be an increase in the daily wage rate under the NREGS to Rs. 100 in the next few months.

However, wage differentials go well beyond the NREGS and encourage, for example, migration within the region. District officials explained that in the better-irrigated Cumbum Valley, for example, it would be common for workers to get up to Rs.130 a day and to have work opportunities throughout the year. There are fewer opportunities available through the year in dry tracts such as Andipatti, and daily wages here rarely rise above Rs. 80.

K. Prahbakaran, a sugarcane farmer in Theni taluk, said farms were also losing out to textile mills. Textile mills in Tirupur are taking large numbers of women in buses from Theni villages daily to mill-sites.

Though they are paid low daily wages, after around three years of such work they are paid a sum in the range of Rs. 25,000 to 50,000. In urban centres such as Madurai, hotel waiters can earn between Rs.2,000 and Rs.2,500 a month besides about Rs.200 a day as tips.

Taken together, these factors generate a powerful labour displacement effect from (and where feasible, a wage-rise effect in) agricultural lands.

Labour migration is a consequence of economic opportunities emerging in urban centres, and the NREGS is a much needed poverty alleviating initiative that has almost directly put money into poor rural households. However the externalities associated with these factors have increased the risk of a fall in agricultural production and consequent inflation.

An interim subsidy for farm production and support towards mechanisation in the affected areas may be the best option at this juncture.

Labels: agriculture, migration, mills, NREGA, NREGS, rural labour, sugar, Theni, wage differentials