By
Motilal Mahamallik
Sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi

The last part of 19th century noticed a series of suicides among farm households in different parts of India which added a new chapter to Indian agrarian history. It is unfortunate that farmers, the largest single occupational segment in India, are showing their helplessness under the present economic scenario through series of self‐inflicted deaths when the economy is growing at a rate of 9 percent. Suicides by farmers are continuously being reported from different states. The key question asked is why and how did a prosperous, well recognized and important sector turn into a deceased one in last six decades. The households associated with this sector as well as the sector as a whole is in distress. The study attempts to analyze and understand the types and extent of ‘distress‐ness’ the agrarian households face in India by exploring distress-ness among the agrarian households with the help of 200 sample peasant households in Odisha. The study tried to understand whether the agrarian crisis is structurally in‐built in India, and why do self‐employed persons opt for a self‐inflicted death?

By
Bhadauria, V S; Singh, Surjit
Sponsored by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mumbai

The special task force set up by the government of India under the chairmanship of Prof. Vaidyanathan recommended an action plan for the revival of the Short Term Cooperative Credit Structure (STCCS) that covered a one‐time financial assistance to ‘bring the system to an acceptable level of health’; legal and institutional reforms for democratic, efficient and self‐reliant working of the three tiered cooperative credit structure; and measures to improve the governance and quality of management of the credit cooperatives. These components collectively formed a package to revive the cooperative credit structure. The one time financial assistance, especially, was conditional on the state governments carrying out certain institutional and legal reforms. Major objectives of the 5 independent studies was to assess the efficacy and impact of the revival package (RP) on the short‐term cooperative credit structure (STCCS) in 5 states viz. Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in each of the states and to suggest measures to remove shortcomings observed in implementation as also to fulfill the requirement of the various covenants contained in memorandum of understanding signed by state Government with Government of India and NABARD.

In lieu of the above the studies addresses the following issues: Verify whether policy guidelines issued by government of India, state government, Reserve Bank of India and NABARD under revival package are implemented by the short term cooperative credit structure; Study the impact of revival package in all three tiers of short term cooperative credit structure with reference to growth in credit uptake, coverage of small farmers/ marginal farmers, improvement in recovery percentage, business diversification, improvement in financial productivity and operational profitability, return on assets and CRAR; Asses the correctness of transmission of funds as per NABARD norms and also assess how it is accounted in the books of Primary Agricultural Cooperative credit Societies as also how it has enabled the institutions to enhance its leverage and outreach to its clients; Assess the impact of the human resource development and capacity building initiatives taken under the package in improving the democratic character of cooperative credit structure (LLS) and in enhancing good governance, management and organisational effectiveness; Assess the acceptance to common accounting system and management information system (CAS/MIS) in Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies and its internalisation and its consequential impact on the efficiency of the entity and its management in meeting the aspirations of all stakeholders with particular reference to accounting standards, internal control systems, decision‐ making and audit systems; Assess the overall impact on short term cooperative credit structure under Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS), 2008 on the overall financial performance with particular reference to weak banks and assess whether weak banks comply with Section 11 of B.R. Act (AACS), 1949, after the receipt of financial assistance both under the package as well as ADWDRS; Evaluate the overall impact of the reform initiatives (including monetary and non‐ monetary initiatives) on the design and governance reforms especially in terms of autonomy and reduced state control, structure, process flows and financial performance including recovery aspects.

By
Surjit Singh, Motilal Mahamallik and Varinder Jain
Sponsored by State Finance Commission, Government of Rajasthan

The project, had a major objective to assess the overall revenue profile of the 184 urban local bodies in Rajasthan by understanding both the existing as well as the expected situation. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the revenue profile of the 184 urban local bodies with specific reference to the Section 101 to 106 of the Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009 over the period of three years, i.e. 2010‐11, 2011‐12 and 2012‐13; to provide projected estimates of revenue that the 184 urban local bodies would be generating during next two years of 2013‐14 and 2015‐16 under different scenarios; to explore various avenues that could be the potential source of revenue for the 184 urban local bodies in Rajasthan; to trace‐out various innovative practices of revenue generation that the urban local bodies in Rajasthan have either adopted or are thinking of adopting; to provide suggestions for the provision of services that may ultimately result in the levying of user charges.

By
S. Mohanakumar
Sponsored by Ministry of MSMEs, Government of India

The statistics and Data Bank Division of the Office of the Development Commissioner has two on‐going schemes: The first, Collection of Statistics (COS) & Computerisation of SDIs and DICs. This was started during the 8th plan period. Broadly, the objective of the scheme was to collect, compile and disseminate production data on Small Scale Industries / Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in India. The Scheme is implemented through State Directorate of Industries with support from Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises‐Development Institutes (MSME‐DIs). Second, Quinquennial Census (QC) and Sample Survey on Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSME). The broad objective of the scheme was the collection of data on MSME in respect of number of enterprises, employment, investment, gross output, extent of sickness and export. This evaluation study was related to the aforesaid on‐going schemes of the Office of Development Commissioner (MSME), New Delhi. The objectives of the study were: to assess how successful was the schemes in achieving the objective(s) as set out in the plan proposal, as per the TOR of the award of the study; and to suggest measures to make the data base more relevant to the needs of MSME sector and the government.

The study strongly recommended that both the schemes under the DC‐MSME should be continued for the following reasons: MSME sector is the fastest growing sector in terms of employment generation and value added especially since the 1990s; there is no alternative data base of MSME sector in India other than QC and COS; the MSME sector needs close monitoring and supervision as more than half of the enterprises are too fragile to outlive even mild shakes in their market.

By
Surjit Singh and Varinder Jain
Sponsored by National Rainfed Area Authority, Planning Commission, Government of India

The study delved into the question of input gaps and the yield gap in rainfed agriculture with specific reference to the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Primarily the study has been based on a sample survey of 3360 farm households selected through stratified random sampling from fourteen districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan– seven sample districts of Gujarat are Anand, Banaskantha, Mehsana, Panchmahal, Rajkot, Sabarkantha and Vadodara and the seven sample districts of Rajasthan are Ajmer, Barmer, Bharatpur, Kota, Sikar, Sri Ganganagar and Udaipur. In addition, the study has also interviewed 84 input suppliers in both the states. The study revealed the large gap in the usage of inputs – a large part of which is due to constraints in the supply of inputs. Farmers’ knowledge of latest agricultural techniques is also limited and the situation gets worsened further due to fragile institutional support. All this leads to the presence of wide gaps in the attainment of crop yields. Keeping these findings in view, the study urges for strong policy interventions for strengthening the rain fed agriculture in Gujarat and Rajasthan.