Seminar on "Rethinking Policy Innovations & Research Questions for Revitalizing Rainfed India"
Venue: Committee Hall, Convention Centre, JNU
Date: 5th May 2012
Organized by: Centre for Studies in Science Policy- Economics Research Unit, JNU
Venue: Committee Hall, Convention Centre, JNU
Date: 5th May 2012
Organized by: Centre for Studies in Science Policy- Economics Research Unit, JNU
Context
Rainfed India has been languishing in the rain shadow of the Green Revolution for close to four decades. The skewed public investment paradigm towards perennially irrigated areas has led to the exclusion of close to 68% of Indian farmlands. Similar has been the status of low input animal husbandry and inland fisheries. The livelihood and incomes of more than half of India's workforce depend crucially on this triad of agriculture-livestock and fisheries. Yet, there is no relevant paradigm for revitalising these sectors. Rainfed India straddles a wide range of agro-ecological and agro-climatic zones thereby making a universal policy prescription unviable. The need of the hour is to make policy a function of typologies so as to be able to deliver the required results. Research questions suited to this end also need to be evolved so as to provide a foundation for effective revitalisation.
Irrigated areas as opposed to rainfed areas, have been has been the bedrock of the Green Revolution paradigm of high yielding modern agriculture. The agrarian backwardness of rainfed areas contributes to the continuing underdevelopment of such areas. The "area development" approach has been the core principle of Indian planning as a route out of underdevelopment for areas lagging behind. This approach necessarily includes agricultural as well as non-agricultural issues in it's ambit. Rainfed area development, hence, is a multi-dimensional (or multi-disciplinary) approach primarily aimed at developing an area starting from a position of agrarian backwardness. A big-push public investment is therefore going to be a function of typologies. A differentiated and larger magnitude of public investment has become a necessity to revitalize the diversity of Rainfed India.
The Centre for Studies in Science Policy - Economics Research Unit (ERU), has been set up with the mandate to evolve policy instruments for directing public investments to rainfed agricultural strategies and low-input animal husbandry. In effect, the CSSP ERU has attempted to frontally address the skewed nature of existing public investment patterns in which rainfed areas (as opposed to perennial irrigated zones) and low input husbandry (as opposed to high-input) receive inadequate policy attention and in part causing the continued aggravation of regional economic imbalances. The deliberations of this seminar would lead to raising critical policy issues and research questions by arguing for decisive restructuring public investment regimes in India, which can yield positive economic outcomes in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery. We are planning to organise a Seminar "Rethinking Policy Innovations & Research Questions for Revitalizing Rainfed India" so as to bring together academics and planners for a deliberation on the path ahead for rainfed India in the 12th Five Year Plan.
Programme Schedule
Inaugural: 10:00 am to 10:30 am
Speakers:
Prof. V.V.Krishna, Chairperson CSSP, JNU
Prof. S.K.Sopory, Vice Chancellor, JNU
Dr. Rohan D'Souza, Project Director, CSSP-ERU, JNU
Dr. Kaustav Banerjee, Co-ordinator, CSSP-ERU, JNU
Round Table: Policy Dimensions for Revitalizing Rainfed India
11:00 am to 01:00 pm
Chair: Prof. S.K.Sopory, Vice Chancellor, JNU
Speakers:
Prof. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission, GOI
Dr. Peter Kenmore, Country Representative, FAO
Prof. Amit Bhaduri, Emeritus Professor, CESP, JNU
Dr. N.K Sanghi, RRA Network
Session 1: Research Questions for Revitalizing Rainfed India
02:00 pm to 03:30 pm
Chair: Prof. Amit Bhaduri, Emeritus Professor, CESP, JNU
Speakers:
Dr. Himanshu – Comparative Poverty Analysis of Rainfed India
Dr. Milap Punia – Spatio-temporal analysis of Rainfed India: some Issues
Dr. Kaustav Banerjee – Interlocked nature of Agriculture-Nutrition pathways in rainfed areas
Session 2: Research Questions for Revitalizing Rainfed India
03:45 pm to 05:15 pm
Chair: Prof. Kanchan Chopra, Emeritus Professor, IEG, Delhi
Speakers:
Dr. Vijayshankar – Watershed Programs in India's drylands
Dr. Nandan Nawn – Energy Costs of agricultural practices in rainfed areas
Ms. Aditi Poddar – Decadal Analysis of Green Revolution & Policy issues for rainfed India
Concluding Remarks: Dr. Rohan D'Souza, Project Director, CSSP-ERU, JNU
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