This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the macro- and micro-level issues associated with agrarian distress. It analyses structural, institutional, and policy changes, highlighting the failure of public support system in agriculture. The crisis manifests itself in the form of deceleration in growth and distress of farmers. The case studies from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Punjab bring out the diversity of conditions prevalent in the states.
The book provides a comprehensive discussion on the different aspects of changes and challenges faced by Indian since the Green Revolution. It also looks at how Indian farmers and policymakers are responding to the challenges.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Report, published by the U.S. Government and the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in early 2011, is the official government report on the United States financial collapse and the review of major financial institutions that bankrupted and failed, or would have without help from the government. The commission and the report were implemented after Congress passed an act in 2009 to review and prevent fraudulent activity. The report details, among other things, the periods before, during, and after the crisis, what led up to it, and analyses of subprime mortgage lending, credit expansion and banking policies, the collapse of companies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the federal bailouts of Lehman and AIG. It also discusses the aftermath of the fallout and our current state. This report should be of interest to anyone concerned about the financial situation in the U.S. and around the world.THE FINANCIAL CRISIS INQUIRY COMMISSION is an independent, bi-partisan, government-appointed panel of 10 people that was created to "examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States." It was established as part of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009. The commission consisted of private citizens with expertise in economics and finance, banking, housing, market regulation, and consumer protection. They examined and reported on "the collapse of major financial institutions that failed or would have failed if not for exceptional assistance from the government."News Dissector DANNY SCHECHTER is a journalist, blogger and filmmaker. He has been reporting on economic crises since the 1980's when he was with ABC News. His film In Debt We Trust warned of the economic meltdown in 2006. He has since written three books on the subject including Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity (Cosimo Books, 2008), and The Crime Of Our Time: Why Wall Street Is Not Too Big to Jail (Disinfo Books, 2011), a companion to his latest film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time. He can be reached online at www.newsdissector.com.
Wheat and Barley Grain Biofortification addresses topics associated with the alleviation of malnutrition in globally diverse populations via wheat and barley biofortification. The book synthesizes the current trends of malnutrition across the globe, the need for wheat and barley nutritional enhancement and how agronomic, microbial and molecular understanding of biofortification can help in devising significant approaches and strategies. In addition, it includes discussions on potential genetic variability available and their efficient utilization in wheat and barley for molecular breeding for nutrients, challenges and opportunities for bioavailability, and technical advancement for analysis of bioavailability. - Addresses the need for wheat and barley biofortification to address global nutrition demands - Places emphasis on the current agronomic and molecular understanding of biofortification - Discusses the potential utilization of genetic variability - Highlights the economics of biofortification over fortification technology
Stefan Ouma seeks to debunk the misconceptions and assumptions about "finance-gone-farming" with a penetrating analysis of case studies taken from both the developed and developing world. The book provides fascinating insights into the inner workings of the agri-focused asset management industry.
The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. 'World Development Report 2008' seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the 'World Development Report'.
This book discusses the Indian economic crisis and brings out what went wrong and the correction necessary for getting the economy back to high growth trajectory, leading to economic transformation. To do so, the book covers trends in performance of Indian economy since the Global Financial Crisis to the COVID-19 effect, bringing out factors that have determined the same. The book questions the approach to macroeconomic policy of both the RBI and the government and brings out what it takes for macroeconomic policy to be supportive of high growth. It contains revealing contrasts with East Asia and China, although India has the same potential to grow with an expansion of manufacturing. Overall, it argues that macroeconomic policies (as much as structural, industrial, and trade policies) have been deficient and even good initiatives on the industrial policy and trade flounder for the lack of a strategic approach to macroeconomics. The book highlights the special opportunities present in an emerging economy with vast under and utilised labour and the macroeconomic policy initiatives that can take advantage of this key feature. It covers the macroeconomic data on growth using multiple indicators, then the external shocks and the internal policy measures/responses; besides, GVA/GDP, credit, exports, external transactions, interest and policy rates, yields, exchange rates, money, capital flows, indices of industrial sector, price indices and inflation, government expenditures, tax rates, fiscal deficits, market uncertainty measures to present a holistic picture of the economy and the shocks and policy actions that have followed. The book uses an innovative method of presentation and the consistency of the trends/stances of both monetary and fiscal policy using these large number of variables. It discusses the debate on overestimation of GDP/GVA growth estimates over the years from 2011-12 to about 2016-17 comprehensively. There is special coverage of GST with a comparison with China. Coverage also includes performance since the COVID-19 crisis again using a large number of indicators and an explanation for the same in terms of the limitations of the government’s initiatives to counteract. The book is a quick and ready reference of what has happened in macroeconomic terms to those interested in the relevant facts. It is of interest to international economists, policy analysts, and investors whose need to understand that the Indian economy in macroeconomic terms and in terms of the stances and penchant of the government and the RBI is of value.
