The impact of Public Distribution System on poverty in India

Assessing the poverty reduction in terms of food subsidies through Public Distribution System (PDS) is an important means by which the income transfer between poor and rich expenditure classes can be analyzed. The study intends to analyze the impact of PDS on poverty on rural and urban regions. It also makes a comparative assessment between the subsidy transfers among the poor and rich expenditure classes of households. The data for this objective are adopted from 68th round of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report on PDS and other sources of household consumption (2011–2012). The impact of PDS on poverty is measured monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) decile wise by using income transfer method for major 17 states in the NSSO report. The impact of PDS on poverty is estimated through subsidy or implicit income transfer. The results of the study for all India across the rural and urban areas showed that the impact in terms of percentage increase in real MPCE is more for the poorest expenditure class in topmost MPCE deciles for all the states.     

Do pro-market economic reforms drive human rights violations? An empirical assessment, 1981–2006

Liberals argue that economic policy reforms will benefit most in terms of better access to goods, less inflation and better economic opportunities. Critics of market reforms, among them Marxists, critical theorists, skeptics of globalization as well as a large portion of the NGO community, see the majority as losers from such reform, expecting resistance that would lead to political repression. They suggest that free-market policy reforms are analogous to “swallowing the bitter pill.” We make use of the change in the Index of Economic Freedom as a measure of market liberalizing reforms, employing data from a panel of 117 countries for the period from 1981–2006. Our results show a strong positive association between reforms towards more free markets with regard to governments’ respect for human rights, controlling for a host of relevant factors, including the possibility of endogeneity. The results are robust in relation to sample size, alternative data and methods, and a sample of only developing countries; and they are substantively quite large. Our results support those who argue that freer markets generate better economic conditions and higher levels of social harmony and peace, and it seems as if getting there is less problematic than people generally think—in fact, halfhearted measures and backsliding that prolong crises could be more dangerous to human rights.     

Labour Contractors and Global Production Networks: The Case of India’s Auto Supply Chain

Research on labour in global production networks has raised serious questions about the role played by labour contractors. This article uses a case study of automotive components production in north India to show how labour contractors assist firms to adapt to the rigours of competition in supply chains. We demonstrate that a regional contract labour system has enabled employers to keep wages low, increase firm flexibility, offload the burden of monitoring and controlling workers and undermine collective bargaining and trade union rights. These problems further expose serious weaknesses in the implementation and enforcement of labour laws in India.     

Why growth is not enough: Household poverty dynamics in Northeast Gujarat,India

Despite high growth rates in Gujarat, exceeding 9 per cent per year over the decade of the 1990s, poverty in 36 villages located in the northeastern part of this state has changed hardly at all. In these villages, 9.5 per cent of households escaped from poverty over the past 25 years, but 6.3 per cent of households became poor at the same time. Escape and descent are not symmetric: different reasons account for escaping poverty than those for declining into poverty. Growth alone is hardly sufficient to achieve poverty reduction on any significant scale. Public policies will be needed to address directly the separate causes for descent into poverty.     

International assistance to promote independent media in transition and post-conflict societies

This article focuses on an important but neglected area of democracy assistance: international aid to build and strengthen independent media in transition and post-conflict societies. The purpose of such assistance is to promote democratization by facilitating the free flow of information, transparency, accountability in the government, and economic growth. The article describes the origin of media assistance, examines the focus of media programmes, and presents some of the most important policy and programmatic lessons derived from fieldwork in seven locations: Afghanistan, Bosnia, Central America, Indonesia, Russia, Sierra Leone, and Serbia. The article ends with a plea for further research by the academic community on the subject.     

Affirmative action: A status report

Affirmative Action, largely dependent as it is upon Executive Orders and judge-made law, has been rather tenuous from time to time. It came under severe stress during the Reagan Administration. Yet, the 1986-89 Supreme Court decisions show that while no revolutionary strides were made, the “core principle” itself was reaffirmed. Consequently, there appear to be some salutary effects insofar as one sees some reversals of other agency postures. Thus, one can say that Affirmative Action survived after having withstood the most relentless assault so far. However, during the 1989 term, the Court opened up issues long settled thus casting a shadow on the prospects of AA. The imponderable is the future composition of the Supreme Court along with the opportunity accorded to President George Bush.     

The 2004 general election in India and its aftermath

In early 2004 India confirmed that coalition governments are the staple for sometime to come. This article examines the events leading to the general election and thereafter. It contends that there are several forces that will tax the new United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress Party which itself is ridden with many internal squabbles. Among the coalition partners, the Communist Party of India, which tends to be ideological in making its presence felt without accepting any responsibility by being a part of the government, can possibly be the worst threat to stability. The Bharatiya Janata Party, which does not seem to have come to terms with its defeat, seems to be obstructionist rather than being a “loyal opposition”. There are also several major issues of governance such as corruption and “tainted” Ministers which the new government has to deal with. Thus, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wears the mantle of government rather precariously, and with an uncertain future.