AGRICULTURAL GROWTH AND RURAL POVERTY REDUCTION IN INDIA: Targeting Investments and Input Subsidies

Book Details

• Author: Seema Bathla, Pramod Kumar Joshi, and Anjani Kumar

• Publisher: Springer

• Language: English

• Edition: 2022

• ISBN: 9789811695971

• Pages: 152

• Cover: Hardcover

About the Book

This insightful book offers a strategic framework for allocating public expenditures in and for agriculture, focusing on the regional disparities across Indian states. It advocates a more targeted investment approach toward disadvantaged regions where returns on investment are likely to be higher, aiming to maximize agricultural productivity and alleviate rural poverty.

Drawing upon advanced econometric tools, the authors explore the complex inter-linkages between public spending, private investments, subsidies (including fertilizer, irrigation, power, and credit), and their cumulative impacts at a disaggregated state level. The book delves deeply into how these factors influence rural welfare and agricultural growth, providing a nuanced understanding of regional variations in policy outcomes.

Through comprehensive chapters, it discusses the evolving patterns of private and public investments, the effectiveness of subsidies, and proposes a shift toward an income-based direct support system for farmers—an innovative alternative to conventional input price subsidies. This work is especially valuable for researchers, economists, and policymakers interested in rural development, public finance, and agricultural policy formulation.

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Contextualising Public Intervention in Agriculture and Welfare Effects

3. Spatial Patterns in Public Expenditure, Subsidies, and Outcomes

4. Changing Composition of Private Investment and Its Relation to Public Investment and Input Subsidy in Agriculture

5. Welfare Effects of Investments and Input Subsidies

6. Major Findings, Implications, and Reflections on Input Subsidy

About the Authors

Seema Bathla is a Professor at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development (CSRD), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. With over 27 years of research experience, she has worked with premier institutions like the Institute of Economic Growth, The Energy Research Institute, and Delhi University. A recipient of prestigious awards including the Jawaharlal Nehru Award by ICAR and the Dr. A. K. Sen Award for best book, her expertise lies in agricultural economics, with contributions to global agencies such as the World Bank, IFPRI, and UNCTAD.

Pramod K. Joshi is a renowned agricultural economist, formerly Director for South Asia at IFPRI. He has led major institutions including NAARM and NCAP, and contributed extensively to policy research on technology, markets, and institutions across South Asia.

Anjani Kumar is a Research Fellow at IFPRI, New Delhi, with past affiliations to ICRISAT, ILRI, and NCAP. With more than 70 research papers and 50 book chapters to his credit, he is a Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and has worked closely with organizations like the FAO, World Bank, and DST.