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3721 items in total found

Working Papers | 1991

Coarse Cereals in Indian Agriculture A Review of Performance and Prospects

Gajanana T M

Emerging imbalances in Indian agriculture in Indian agriculture reflected in the differences in production performance of different crops are now well recognised. One of the causes of these uneven agricultural situations is the relatively poor performance or complete stagnation of the important coarse cereals. Coarse cereals are the staple diet of millions of peasants and labourers. Not only are these cereals cultivated under rainfed conditions but they are also grown in drought-prone areas. Consequently, their production is subject to violent fluctuations. Coarse cereals constitute about 22 per cent of production and 38 per cent of area under cereals. The proportion of these cereals has been declining over the years and the yields of these crops are quite low. Growth rate analysis indicates that the performance of coarse cereals has not at all been satisfactory particularly after the major technological breakthrough in Indian agriculture during the mid 60s. in this paper an attempt has been made to analyse the performance of coarse cereals and to identify the constraints hindering growth of these cereals. Policy options are suggested to overcome the constraints and to bridge the burgeoning supply-demand gap in the availability of these cereals.

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Working Papers | 1991

Adjustment to Risk in Farming-An Assessment of Drought-Prone Farmers Strategies in Karnataka, India *

Gajanana T M and Sharma B M

Weather-induced instability in farming in the predominant rainfed lands is fairly well recongised. Faced with the problems of frequent droughts and the resultant risk in farming, farmers strategies to cope with the situations during and after the drought. An attempt is made in this paper to examine the nature and extent of risk in farming and an assessment is made of the adjustment/management mechanism adopted by the farmers in one of the drought-prone districts of Karnataka.

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Working Papers | 1991

The Average Welfare Fair and Egaliterian Solutions for Bargaining Problems

Lahiri Somdeb

In this paper e present an alternative characterization of the Egalitarian Solution for bargaining problems and show that the Egalitarian solution has the property that for any agent the incremental utility from bargaining is atleast as much as the average incremental utility of all other agents. Conversely, we show that any solution which is both weakly Pareto optimal and satisfies this latter property must be egalitarian.

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Working Papers | 1991

In Praise of Caste: A Tribute to Manu - The Law Giver: An Equity into the Philosphy of Work and Stratification (Part I)

Gaikwad V R

This paper analyses the question: ' How is one work different from the other? and proposes the following seven basic propositions: 1. Greater the degree of mental component in a work, higher will be the rating of that work in the hierarchy of work. 2. Greater the unknown a human mind has to cope with or manipulate or deal with, higher will be the rating of mental work. 3. Greater the hurt caused to the senses by the manual component in the work, lower is the rating of that work in the hierarchy of work. 4. Greater the contribution of work, whether mental or manual, to the survival of members of the society and society at large, higher will be the rating of that work. 5. Higher the rating of work higher will be the status of person doing that work. 6. Greater the difference between the inherent, rating associated status (ascribed status) and the status actually enjoyed (achieved or imposed), higher will be the tension in an organization, group community, society. In addition, there are thirteen other propositions which are a corollary of these or are derived from the explanations of contradictions to the seven basic propositions. Al these propositions indicate that as long as the Rating-Status Equity Law operates, there is harmony.

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Working Papers | 1991

In Praise of Caste: A Tribute to Manu - The Law Giver: An Equity into the Philosphy of Work and Stratification (Part II)

Gaikwad V R

The Part I of this paper (W.P. 928) analyses the question: 'How is one work different from the other? and proposes seven basic and thirteen other supplementary/corollary propositions. According to these, each work has mental and manual components. Higher the mental component in a work, higher is the rating of the work, and accordingly the status of the worker. Secondly, greater the hurt caused to senses by the manual component in a work, lower is the rating of that work, and accordingly the status of worker. Thirdly, greater the difference between the inherent, rating associated status (ascribed status) and the status actually enjoyed (achieved or imposed), higher will be the tension in an organization/society. These and other propositions indicate that as long as the Rating-Status Equity Law operates there is harmony. This paper continues the analysis and brings out the following propositions: 1. The lower the rating or work, higher is the sacrifice of potential of human mind; 2. Greater, the intervention of technology greater will be the reduction in the inequality in sacrifice. 3. Higher the rating or work, greater will be the intrinsic reward one can expect from the self to the self. 4. Greater the expectation of external reward for mental work, higher will be the disharmony. 5. Greater the indirect reward evolved to compensate the sacrifice involved in manual work, greater will be the harmony in an organization/society.

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Working Papers | 1991

Technical Progress in Indian Agriculture: Temporal Analysis

Dholakia Bakul H and Ravindra H. Dholakia

An attempt has been made in this paper to estimate the extent of technical progress in Indian agriculture during the period 1950-51 to 1988-89. An analysis of the sources of growth of Indian agriculture is also presented in the paper. The concluding part of the paper examines briefly the role of government in promoting modernization of Indian agriculture and also presents some estimates of the contribution of technical progress in Indian agriculture to the overall acceleration in economic growth observed in Indian economy during the 80's.

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Working Papers | 1991

Drought, Deprivation and Sustainable Development: Why Are the Public Policies So Weak?

Anil K. Gupta

National capacity to deal with the deleterious consequences of the drought has certainly increased in the recent years. But the absence of death as an indicator of success of public policies for drought mitigation is not very dignified or creditable. This precisely was the claim of a national document on drought brought out by the Government of India in 1987. Why do we consider sustained social deprivation, ecological degradation, learned helplessness, lack of basic necessities, etc. as inevitable features of a drought prone region. National Commission and Development of Backward Areas (NCDBA), Planning Commission, (1981), went to the extent of suggesting that development efforts in drought prone regions should not check the out migration too much lest the supply of cheap labour for large infrastructural projects elsewhere is checked. It is not surprising that the social discontent is increasing in some of the backward regions particularly hill and forest regions) on account of such a definition of the developmental goals by the dominant elite. It may not be too long when people in drought prone regions also realise that the only available alter- native to attract the attention of the planners is to use agitational methods. Science and technology help in transforming the relationship between the resources and the people. Planners have not drawn much upon the indigenous scientific wisdom while developing the long range plan ( if any at all) to reduce misery of the affected people on account of the natural disasters. Links between people's knowledge system about conservation and utilization of natural resources and formal R & D have continued to be weak. Only a few professional associations have so far come forward to organize full fledged sessions in their annual conferences on indigenous technological innovations developed by the people. Dialogue on sustainability has not yet included adequately the discussion on ethical and value dilemma on tapping local knowledge without maintaining peoples rights over the rent extracted from utilizing it. The linkage between post graduate education and emergent research needs for coping with stress in different disciplines continues to be of an ad hoc nature. Community of scientists may like to reflect upon such a situation in science management. The paper is divided into four parts. In part I, the conceptual framework linking micro and macro aspects of drought and consequent social deprivation are discussed. The socio- ecological paradigm for analysing development options in dry regions is described. In part II, the key issues for science policy for mitigating and preventing the effects of natural stresses like drought are identified. The inadequacies in the public policies for drought mitigation are discussed in part III. In part IV, the need for further research and action is identified.

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Working Papers | 1991

Impact of Computerisation in Indian Railways

K. V. Ramani

Indian Railway was one of the first few government departments to introduce computers in the country. Computerisation on Indian Railways started in the late 60s with the induction of IBM 1401s in the nine zonal railways, three production units, and the Railway Board. Many applications were computerised such as Passenger Revenue and Goods Accounting, Financial Management, Inventory. Operating Statistics etc. While these systems proved to be beneficial to the Railways, they were soon found to be inadequate to cater to the increasing requirements. But it was only in the VII th plan period from 1985-0 when these IBM 1401s were replaced with third and fourth generation computer systems. Computerisation in the production units and the zonal railways were strengthened, and computers were introduced in the divisions, workshops and stores. Also, many new areas for computerisation such as Passenger Reservation System (PRS), Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) etc. were initiated. these developments are now beginning to show impacts on both the Railway system and its users. About Rs.240 crores were spent on computerisation in the VII th plan; requirement of funds for computerisation in the VIII th plan from 1990-1995 is projected at Rs. 880 crores.

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Working Papers | 1991

Portfolio Management: The Process and its Dynamics

Gupta Ramesh

Like many areas of business, portfolio management is both an art and a science. It is much more than the selection of securities from a catalog by a financial consultant or the application of a formula to a set of financial data input supplied by a security analyst. It is a dynamic decision-making process, one that is continuous any systematic but also one that requires large amounts of astute managerial judgment about the securities markets and the individual for whom portfolio is managed. The author in this article documents the processes involved in portfolio management and the considerations which are of paramount importance in constructing an individual's portfolio.

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Working Papers | 1991

Technology Development and Diffusion in Tree Growers Cooperatives in A Coastal Saline Region of Gujarat: A Learning Environmental Approach

Pastkaia A R

This paper examines the nexus between new technology for an open access land resource and an institutional set-up for establishing and managing tree plantations as a common pool resource. The Vankars, a scheduled caste of a coastal saline region of Gujarat, combined their knowledge of local resources with the techno-managerial inputs of an external non-government organization to evolve a new technology for making these lands productive. Some land was acquired from on long lease from the Government on an individual basis and also on a group basis. In either case the Vankars soon realised that reclamation and management of such degraded lands called for pooling of the land as well as other resources. This in turn demanded simultaneous investment in human resource development and institution-building at the grass root level. The setting up of a chain of cooperatives in different villages in this region from 1979 onwards and their subsequent federation into a cooperative union in 1989 is the realisation of a dream shared by the leaders of an oppressed community and their counterparts in the external agency. This paper highlights the informal networking system between cooperatives which provided multiple points for experimentation, trial and validation of new techniques and ideas. It describes the methodology used by the BSC in promoting technological innovation of both types (a) local knowledge & initiative based (b) supply induced. The paper examines the evolution of rules for using usufruct, providing labour and protection, processing wood into charcoal and marketing, in three cooperatives selected on the basis of land productivity as a criterion. The mechanisms for sharing set-up costs and maintenance of plantations, the problems of fostering unity and the perceived stream of benefits realised by the members via-a-vis the NGO are summarised. Implications are drawn for building institutions around common pool resources.

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