Meenakshi Rajeev – författare

The dominant discourse views the Indian economy's transformation over several decades as a progression towards a grand, unified, and dynamic market economy. Critiquing this discourse, The Nonfarm Economy illustrates the prevalence and intensification of 'structural dualism'. Using both theoretical and empirical perspectives, Bhattacharjee, Chakrabarti, and Rajeev analyse the origins of this persistence and the deepening of a dualistic developmental pattern. By studying the Indian rural economy and parts of the rural Global South, they demonstrate how the contemporary capital-centric growth process itself has induced the intensification of dualism, alongside factors such as population growth and land fragmentation. Only a limited segment of the impoverished population can integrate with the expanding circuits of capital using their skills, resources, and networks; a large mass of people is thus pushed towards dispossession and exclusion. The book further examines the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on this development pattern, demonstrating how it has intensified the phenomenon of structural dualism. Contrary to the current prescriptions fixated on formal sector growth and policies extending government support, the authors posit a labour-focused (cluster-based) development model and offer constructive policy recommendations for achieving inclusive growth.

This book focuses on the issue of financial exclusion with particular reference to the urban informal sector in India. Continuing the work of its predecessor, the current Government of India is also placing considerable importance on driving policy initiatives for financial inclusion. However, financial exclusion in urban areas, especially of the lower strata of the society has not received the attention it deserves from researchers and policymakers, even though urban poverty and deprivations are of considerable importance in the present Indian context. The challenges of financial inclusion and accessibility in the urban areas differ substantially from those found in the rural regions given the fact that the possibility of physical access to financial services is much higher in urban areas. In order to provide a macro perspective, the book begins with an analysis of the unit record data on nature and extent of financial inclusion and access to credit in urban India, based on Debt and Investment survey data (59th and 70th rounds) provided by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). In subsequent steps, the book discusses findings from a primary survey carried out in the state of Karnataka of self-employed persons engaged in informal services sector. This exercise has helped to comprehend the ways in which they currently meet their financial needs for different income generating purposes, the terms and conditions under which they do so, and the challenges that remained for possible interventions. Experiences of other developing nations in their attempts to ensure financial inclusion and the lesson learnt thereby are the other highlights of the book.

This book on the fisheries sector in India, through primary surveys as well as secondary literature, brings out various nuances of the sector and its trade opportunities, the complexities surrounding the supply chain of fish, as well as the evolution of its marketing channels.