Arup Mitra – författare

Urbanisation in the literature of development economics is expected to bring in a spectrum of social and economic transformations. With this framework in mind, this book focuses on various aspects of urbanisation in India and its impact on socio-economic variables. The study has been conducted at various levels of disaggregation such as state, district and city and the data is sourced from population census, NSSO's surveys on employment-unemployment schemes and results and consumption expenditure, and primary surveys on slum households conducted by the author. Urbanisation is studied as a process particular to developing countries, contextualising it within the study of India. While this brings about gradual changes contributing to overall growth, the pace is remarkably slow. It brings to the forefront the resilience of the social system that can be mitigated through significant interventions into some of the economic variables. Various policy implications of the evidence based research are discussed at the end of each chapter.

What changes are occurring at the macro and the sectoral levels, how the labour market changes are taking place and what impact is felt on the low income households are some of the questions that the present volume focuses on.

What changes are occurring at the macro and the sectoral levels, how the labour market changes are taking place and what impact is felt on the low income households are some of the questions that the present volume focuses on. It begins by examining the sectoral composition of growth, revisiting the issues related to industry-services balance, and also brings out the spatial dimension of growth. On the one hand the industry does not seem to have played a major role in the context of employment generation as imported technology is by and large capital intensive in nature. On the other hand, the services-led growth is seen to have reduced the pace of poverty reduction.  Given the services-led growth the possible impact of trade in services on employment both in the formal and informal sectors have been worked out, indicating limited positive spill-over effects.  The labour market outcomes are brought out with great details suggesting that rapid economic growth in India could not result in productive employment generation on a large scale. The gender dimensions of employment are brought out to verify if reduction in labour market inequality can result in improving the position of women in other spheres encompassing the decision making process both within the household and outside the household. Issues relating to urbanisation and rural-urban migration are also covered to understand the dynamics of urban poverty and to bring out the challenges of population transfer given the spatial concentration of growth. The job search practices pursued by the low income households are often pursued in terms of informal networks. What problems are associated with such mechanisms in experiencing improvements in wellbeing levels are covered in the present volume. On the whole, the volume offers an explanation of limited poverty reduction in a situation of rapid economic growth on the basis of an inter-disciplinary framework though efforts are being made to keep the methodology quantitatively rigorous.

The book explores, for India and other developing countries, the potential role the organized manufacturing sector could play as an engine of growth. Alongside growth, can this sector generate adequate employment opportunities to facilitate the transfer of labour from the agriculture sector? The book identifies the major constraints that result in limited demand for labour in the organised manufacturing sector. Beyond technological aspects, skill shortage is an important factor, resulting in sluggish labour absorption. Further, the labour market laws are not necessarily the root cause of sluggish employment growth in the organised manufacturing sector. The development of technologies that are appropriate for labour surplus countries like India is instrumental to employment creation. Though innovation is generally assumed to be capital-intensive in nature, the book argues that innovation nevertheless has a positive effect on employment in absolute terms. Lastly, the main policy issues are highlighted in terms of the priority that should be assigned to industries which can contribute to employment growth and skill formation for improving the employability of the available labour force, and to which innovations should bepursued, with a specific focus on pro-poor growth objectives.

This book focuses on the gender-specific labour force participation rates across regions in India and identifies its most important determinants. Before concentrating on the Indian context, it examines the participation rates of various countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Not unexpectedly, the study shows that the rate is significantly lower for females than for males in this region. The rural–urban differentials are more pronounced and the inter-state variations are more sizable among females than males. Even in large cities, the female labour market participation is lower than that in the rural areas despite higher levels of education. However, in terms of inter-spatial (rural/urban/city) variations, the impact of infrastructure, education, health and urbanization on the labour force participation of both genders is quite distinct. On the whole, the study reinforces the stance that women’s participation in productive activities has a doubly positive impact; it not only raises the household income, but also contributes to the wellbeing of the household. These findings are important from a policy perspective, as different infrastructure variables are confirmed to improve both participation and labour productivity. As such, the book offers a valuable resource not only for researchers, but also for NGOs and policymakers.

This book assesses the capacity of the rural populace in terms of their ability to perceive a change in climatic variables and, if so, how they react to these changes in order to minimize the adverse effect of climate change.

This book addresses labour market participation issues of youth in India, and follows an inter-disciplinary approach. It carries out both quantitative and qualitative assessments for an in-depth understanding of these issues. It collates a wide range of concerns both from supply and demand side, and instead of reflecting on the empirical questions only, the book reflects on various analytical questions as well. Some other challenges being discussed here are inadequacy of skill and compulsion to participate in the labour market, concentration in activities with excess supplies of labour, unrecognised work experience, lack of upward mobility, and working with information asymmetry. Caste and gender disadvantages are an instrumental part of the book. Problems of educated and uneducated youth are quite different and the book analyses them separately. Besides, it refers to a wide range of issues relating to occupational flexibility. It also discusses skill imparting institutions and themajor lacuna associated with their functioning. Social unrest and threats to the prospects of future growth in the absence of adequate youth employment are some of the economic and political issues which the book covers. Unraveling the threads of the concerns mentioned above, the book finally comes up with policy suggestions. It is a great resource for researchers, industry watchers, and policy makers who are interested in inclusive and sustainable growth.

This book addresses labour market participation issues of youth in India, and follows an inter-disciplinary approach. Social unrest and threats to the prospects of future growth in the absence of adequate youth employment are some of the economic and political issues which the book covers.

are casual wage jobs in the informal sector different from those in the formal sector; It assesses the links of the unorganized sector units with their organised sector counterpart and identifies the factors which reduce the economic viability of the units.

The book examines how corruption is viewed in theoretical and empirical literature and how various macro- and micro-level approaches have been followed to study the issue. It offers an inter-country comparison of corruption, indicating the role of governance in the context of growth. The volume attempts to work out the extent of understatement of personal income, resulting in the loss of government revenue from personal income tax. It also examines the impact of corruption on performance, and studies determinants of bribery in an attempt to understand why some firms pay bribes while others do not, despite being subject to the same macroeconomic environment, policy and regulations.