Special Centennial Issue

No.388

July 2017

Vol. XCVIII

ISSN:0019-5170

Contents
 
 

Economic Empowerment of Rural Women through Self - Help Groups in India


Prahlad Kumar1
Sweta Kumari2

 

India has a population of 1210.19 million with 833.08 million (68.84%) living in rural areas and 377.11 million (31.16%) in urban areas (Census 2011). About 40 million women are living in rural areas. In rural areas most of the women are illiterate, poor, and economically dependent. Although women are nearly half of the human capital in the country, they are still the most disadvantaged, deprived and neglected segment of die society. In our country, women's work is invisible and unpaid. Since 1990s, the new concept of group approach for development of poor people with focus on women in rural areas has come to stay as SHG approach. SHGs have reduced the dependence of women on men significantly. Consequently this has helped in the economic empowerment and economic independence of women. Many NGO's, government and non-government institutions are working for the empowerment of women. In India, Microfinance and Self Help Groups (SHGs) have brought tremendous change in the life of women at the grass root level. Self-Help Group is a small voluntary association of 10-20 people of almost same economic background, who come together for addressing their common problems through mutual help by regular savings. The paper is based on secondary data, and data have been obtained from the reports of status of micro finance by NABARD, RBI and other institutions. The paper attempts to examine the progress of women SHGs, the position of the loan distribution, loan outstanding and their savings in India. The paper also discusses the position of Commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks and Cooperative banks 'for providing loans to women SHGs in rural area.

Key Words: Economic Empowerment, Rural Women, Self- Help Groups, Empowerment of Women.

  1. Professor & Coordinator, UGC SAP III DRS- III Programme, Department of Economics, University of Allahabad Email: prahladkumar20_3@rediffmail.com
  2. Project Fellow, UGC SAP m DRS-III, Department of Economics, University of Allahabad Email: shwt0010@rediffmail.com
 
 

'Skill India' for Informal Workers: An Integration through National Skills Qualifications Framework


Meghna Sharma 1

 

The phenomenal size of the informal economy in India poses a challenge to the Skill India initiative. This paper is attempt to describe how the informal sector workers can integrated with the formal economy through recognition ' skills and how this can be facilitated by the National Qualifications Framework (NSQF), a competency framework that focuses on learning outcomes, irrespective of whether the outcomes were achieved through or informal methods of learning. As outcomes based framework, NSQF allows for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) through assessment and certification of the skills of the informal workforce that ultimately equips them to transition benefits of the formal sector. It draws on evidence of RPL practices from international experiences and tries to lay roadmap for an effective RPL strategy for die Indian that focuses on a strong regulatory framework, quality assurance and collaboration from industries to map and assess the competencies as per the needs of the labour market. It also entails linkage to placement as an end objective of RPL. Such recognition is also an enabler to am women's participation in the labour force, having a system of RPL based on a nationally recongnised qualification framework promotes a pathway of progression and lite long learning, thereby enabling skilling strategy to benefit the informal sector workers.

  1. Consultant, Education Global Practice, The World Bank, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi.Email: pabloo8690@gmail.com
 
 

Analysis of Karnataka Budget from Gender Perspective


Rajeshwari U R 1

 

The gender perspective in Human Development emphasizes the need to assess the relative levels of status of women on various development Indicators. The Indicators point towards the attainment levels of wars between men and women. Gender Budgeting has been wanted as a tool with potential to directly promote women's development and empowerment through allocation of resources for women oriented programmes and schemes Karnataka is the implementationof Gender Budgeting in 2000 OZ State Government of Karnataka was plenary in Gender Auditing of public expenditure The state undertook Carmarking resources for women in MINI MOTOR (Goval2006) The aim of this paper is to carry out assessment of Karnataka Budget from gender perspective. Though the Karnataka Government hay von making efforts in this direction, the dy shows that there is a need to generate gender disaggregated data o assess policy Impact and formulate need based policies.

Key Words: Gender budget, education Economic Indicators, Karnataka.

  1. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Christ University, Bangalore-560029
 
 

An Analysis of Specialisation of Indian Exports

Nidhi Bagaria1 and Saba Ismail2  

The paper analyzes export specialization of India and change in it over the period of 1992 to 2016. The entire manufacturing exports have been divided based on their technological characteristics into four categories using Lall (2000) classification. SITC-3 digit data has been used to classily exports among these four categories. The study first undertakes to look into the share of India's exports in the world exports and specialization of India's exports in terms of these categories. The study finds category among the four categories which has the highest number of goods with comparative advantage. Secondly, it tests the Krugman's findings which predicts that specialization follow a stable pattern. In our analysis, it is found that specialization has increased in the technological category in which India had the least comparative advantage.

Key Words:Export specialization, Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Galtonian Regression Model. Dynamics of export specialization.

  1. Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India; Email: nidhi365@gmail.com

  2. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India; Email: sismail@jmi.ac.in

 
 

Education Expenditure and Economic Growth in India:
An Econometric Analysis


Ranjan Aneja1
 

The present per is an attempt to measure the causal long un relationship between education expenditure and economic growth in India during the period of 1997 to 2012 For this purpose, Johansen Cointegration test and Granger causality test has been applied The result of the study based on Johansen Cointegration and Granger causality advocates the unidirectional long run relationship between education expenditure and economic growth in India. In the other words, the education expenditure causes the growth of GDP in India while the growth of GDP has insignificant statistical impact on education expenditure on India during the study period.

Key Words:Education Expenditure, Economic Growth Cointegration, Unit root, Granger Causality.

  1. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh, India, 123031. Email: dr.ranjan.aneja@gmail.com.
 
 

Does Foreign Direct Investment Effect over Export
Growth in Long Run in India: A Co-Integration Analysis
 

Amit Saini1, Pankaj Madan2, S. K. Batral3
 

Export growth in domestic country is associated with several factors including foreign direct investment that significantly contributes in Taster export promotion. Since, 1991, the new economic policies (NEPs) ferched the uninterrupted foreign investment to India than before. Within this framework this paper is prepared to measure the effect of FDI inflow over export promotion Using annual time series data from 1991 2012, we investigate the effect of FDI over export growth in India with employing Cointegration Statistics. Results support the export increases in many folds in long run when FDI comes. However the causality test reports, there is bi directional relation which suggest both export and foreign direct investment are motivator factor to each other variable.

Key Words:Export growth, foreign investment, co-integration statistics, causality test, bi-directional relation.

JEL Code: F15, F21, F35,

  1. Research Scholar, Uttrakhand Technical University, Dehradun, India; Email: saini.amit95@gmail.com

  2. Dean and Professor, Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. Email: dr.pankajmadan@gmail.com

  3. Associate Professor, SMJN (PG) College, Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. Email: batrasunil.dr@gmail.com
 
 

Efficiency in India's Informal Sector: A State level Study  


Atanu Sengupta1
Ujjwal Seth2

 

In this paper we have considered the structure and functioning of the informal production units in India. For this, we have taken NSSO 67" Round (July 2010- June 2011) sample data Unincorporated Non-agricultural Enterprises (Excluding Construction) in India. We found that the firms in the informal sector are of small size. Most of them use small amount of labour. Each firm use less than 10 labours. We have seen that rural firms are less capital intensive than the urban firms. They have a lower productivity of labour and lower capital output ratio. We have also calculated efficiency of firms on the basis of DEA technique. A surprising result is that though the firms are of small size they suffer from Diminishing Returns to Scale. In most of the small states, the firms are operating under Increasing Returns to Scale. There is an urgent requirement of skill up gradation and knowledge percolation in this sector. Govt policy initiatives should be directed to cover this serious lacuna.

  1. Professor of Economics, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal
  2. Assistant Professor in Economics, Government College of Engineering & Textile Technology Berhampore, West Bengal
 
 

Output and Productivity Growth Decomposition
A Panel Study of the Total Organized
Manufacturing of Fifteen Major
Industrialized States in India
 


Prasanta Kumar Roy1
Purnendu Sekhar Das2
Mihir Kumar Pal3

The paper examines and applies the theoretical foundation of the decomposition of output and productivity growth of the total organized manufacturing industries in fifteen major industrialized states in India as well as all-India during the period from 1981-82 to 2010-11, during the entire period during the pre-reform period (1981-82 to 1990-91) and post reform period (1991-92 to 2010-11), and also during two decades of the post-reform period, Les, during 1991-92 to 2000-01 and 2001-02 to 2010-11 The four attributes of the growth of output of the organized manufacturing industries are input growth. adjusted scale effect. technological progress and technical efficiency effect. A stochastic frontiermodel with a translog production function is used to estimate the growth attributes of the total manufacturing output of the fifteen major industrialized states in India as well as that in all-India The empirical results show that technological progress is the major contributor to the growth of TFPG as well as to the growth of output, while the effect of economic scale has become negligible or even negative during the whole study period However. statistical test suggests that technical inefficiency effect is absent in this study. The relevant policy implication for a sustainable post reform Indian economy is the need to improve TFPG components of the total organized manufacturing industries in Indian states in order to maintain a desirable growth performance of the economy.

Key Words: Organized Manufacturing Industries, Stochastic Frontier Production Function. Total Factor Productivity Growth, Technological Progress, Technical Efficiency Effect and Adjusted Scale Effect.

  1. Assistant Professor, Dept of Economics, Midnapore College (Autonomous). Midnapore Paschim Medinipur (W.B.) Pin: 721101;Email: prasanta.agnik@gmail.com
  2. Retired Professor. Vinod Gupta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Paschim Medinipur (W.B.). Email:psds1942@gmail.com
  3. Professor Dept of Economics with Rural Development. Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, Paschim Medinipur (W.B.)
 
 

Evaluation of MGNREGA Activities in Mandi District of
Himachal Pradesh  


K.C. Sharma1 and Tek Singh2  

Rural development is meant for as structural changes in socio-economic situation to achieve improved living standard of low income population residing in rural areas The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS) is a flagship poverty alleviation programme under the beneficiary s oriented programme of rural development of the Government of India, which seeks to guarantee at least 100 days of employment every year to the rural poor. The present study is confined to Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh with a view to evaluate the programme. This study concludes that under MGNREGA public assets have been created MGNREGA is one of the schemes, which has attained considerable recognition on employment, Income and value of physical assets etc.

  1. Professor, Department of Economics, H.P U. Centre for Evening Studies, Shimla, (HP)
  2. Assistant Professor in Economics, Govt P.G College Mandi. (H.P )
 
 

Economic Analysis of Public Health Expenditure in
Post-Reform India  


Sachita Nanda Sa1


Despite India's impressive economic performance after the Introduction of economic reforms in the 1990s, progress in advancing the health status of Indians has been slow and uneven While India's economic growth has gained momentum in the last decade, Indian health system is facing multiple challenges in terms of universal coverage of health care services along with providing quality care to large sections of people. Making services available is a necessarycondition for health service utilization. Evidence suggests that supply-side barriers are as important as the demand side factors in deterring patients from obtaining treatment This paper examines the interstate and intra-state variations in public health expenditure in 15 major states during the period 1991-92 to 2009-10 The analysis depicts a deceleration and low level of health expenditure in the major poor states with low level of human development since the introduction of economic reform. Therefore, economic reforms largely have a major negative impact on health expenditures.

Key Words: India, Health expenditure, Health Status.

JEL Classification : 110,118,119

  1. Assistant Professor in Economics, PG Dept of Social Science, Fakir Mohan University Balasore, Odisha-756020; Email: sachitanandasa@gmail.com.
 
 

Review on Evolution of Mutual Funds Market in
India: Current Status and Problems  


Pradeep Kumar Panda1


The economic development of a country largely influenced either by Credit-based financing through financial institutions or by financial securities through capital market. Mutual funds in recent past as a channel of resource mobilization has gained immense importance in general, and in India in particular India has much less exposure in the mutual funds returns predictability literature until recently Given India's fast-growing economic Influence, research on this dimension as compared Indian stock market still seems to be inadequateand needs further investigation. The present study extends the existing literature. The mutual fund industry in India started in 1963 with the formation of Unit Trust of India, at the initiative of the Government of India and Reserve Bank of India. The history of mutual funds in India can be broadly divided into four distinct phases The results from analysis suggests that resources mobilisation of UTI seems to be very high In 2009-10, while period of 2007-08 evidences that private sector mutual funds ranks top in the list of mutual fund mobilisation A sharp decline in mobilization of funds was seen in 2008-09 due to Global Financial Crisis. All the problems of mutual fund Industry can be classified in the following categories: Problems related to structure problems related to the investors. problems related to working problems related to performance. The mutual funds are bound to invest the funds as per their investment objectives of each scheme published in the offer document After the issue is over, it becomes the mandate and the mutual funds have no choice to invest the funds in other securities, which can provide higher returns. The greater transparency Increased Innovations, better services to the investors, liquidity and higher returns will make mutual fund schemes more popular and investors friendly.

Key Words: Mutual Funds, History, Performance, Problems, Return, Investment.

  1. Research Scholar School of Economics University of Hyderabad; Email: pradeep25687@yahoo.co.in