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McGee in his recent writings on Asian urbanization highlights extended metropolitan regions and proximate non-urban settlement systems with an intense mixture of agricultural and non-agricultural activities. The latter McGee terms as desakota, a neologism coined in Bahasa Indonesian, to signify the fusion of desa (rural) and kota (urban). Some of the ecological preconditions for desakota are high rural population densities; labour intensive rice cultivation with agricultural labourers in need of non-farm work in the off seasons and/or labour shedding by green revolution effects. McGee however recognizes that desakota can also occur in other ecologically dense habitat of non-rice crops with high population densities. Kerala State in India is one such region with a mix of rice and non-rice crops. This study examines the urban-rural fusion that is observed in Kerala and provides an empirically informed assessment of the McGee desakota hypothesis. While basically affirming the desakota hypothesis, the study at the same time raises some caveats. First, desakota in Kerala is not dependent on any central urban system and intra-desakota dynamics are significant. While M c G e e has recognized that such desakota do occur, his writings tend to neglect this type of desakota. Second, McGee's writings on extended metropolitan regions and desakota are increasingly associated with the recent rapid e c o n o m i c growth occurring in some of the Asian countries. Desakota in Kerala blurs this characteristic as it appears to have occurred beginning in the late colonial p e r i o d of the British Raj. Third, a unique mix of factors in Kerala make the political economy central to making desakota in Kerala intelligible. Undoubtedly in the specificity of the Kerala context the political economy is important. Nonetheless this study raises a critique of the underemphasis of the political economy in McGee's work on extended metropolitan regions and desakota. The research on desakota in Kerala involved the examination of the regional geography of Kerala. Kerala with its radical politics and remarkable social development in a context of low economic growth, attracted the attention of social scientists. But in these studies the spatial dimensions were largely ignored. This study emphasizes that geography matters in understanding Kerala, and that there is an important nexus between the space and political economy of Kerala.

No description available.

The argument of this dissertation is that the Indian socialist system, intended to speed industrialization and to improve the underdeveloped colonial economy, has failed todevelop agriculture and to curb the growth of population has thus had a serious adverse effect on the poor Indian citizens whom it was designed to help. The dissertation consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives background on the development of Indian socialism and shows how it branched into Gandhian and Nehruite forms and how the Nehruite form came to dominate during the post-independence period. It also describes the government's industrial policy, that was developed to guide India's future industrial development in line with the socialist goals. Chapter Two discusses two interelated aspects of Indian economic planning: (1) the formation of a planning system with National Commission as its advisory body and the development of the system's long-term objectives and goals; (2) the construction of the five-year plans and their over-all performance. This chapter thus gives a comprehensive picture of official Indian economic policies, and culminating in the six five-year plans begun in 1951, and distinguishes their successes and failures. Chapter Three examines the development and expansion of agriculture under the British India, and then it reviews the government's efforts to improve agriculture, its land-reform policies, the allocation of funds in the five-year plans, the status of peasants, and the food production in the thirty years of planning. Linking agriculture to population, Chapter Four surveys population growth, its causes, and the government's efforts to restrain it. The last section of this chapter investigates the casual connection between population and economy, specifically agricultural economy. Finally, Chapter Five examines the intertwining effects of agriculture and population on the national economy and on the socialist objective itself, pinpoints the planners' mistakes in ignoring these two factors, and recommends some changes to improve agriculture production, to better the peasants' condition, rejuvenate the village economy and to expand employment opportunities for the masses--all to bring India closer to its long-cherished socialist goals.

No description available.

McGee in his recent writings on Asian urbanization highlights extended metropolitan regions and proximate non-urban settlement systems with an intense mixture of agricultural and non-agricultural activities. The latter McGee terms as desakota, a neologism coined in Bahasa Indonesian, to signify the fusion of desa (rural) and kota (urban). Some of the ecological preconditions for desakota are high rural population densities; labour intensive rice cultivation with agricultural labourers in need of non-farm work in the off seasons and/or labour shedding by green revolution effects. McGee however recognizes that desakota can also occur in other ecologically dense habitat of non-rice crops with high population densities. Kerala State in India is one such region with a mix of rice and non-rice crops. This study examines the urban-rural fusion that is observed in Kerala and provides an empirically informed assessment of the McGee desakota hypothesis. While basically affirming the desakota hypothesis, the study at the same time raises some caveats. First, desakota in Kerala is not dependent on any central urban system and intra-desakota dynamics are significant. While M c G e e has recognized that such desakota do occur, his writings tend to neglect this type of desakota. Second, McGee's writings on extended metropolitan regions and desakota are increasingly associated with the recent rapid e c o n o m i c growth occurring in some of the Asian countries. Desakota in Kerala blurs this characteristic as it appears to have occurred beginning in the late colonial p e r i o d of the British Raj. Third, a unique mix of factors in Kerala make the political economy central to making desakota in Kerala intelligible. Undoubtedly in the specificity of the Kerala context the political economy is important. Nonetheless this study raises a critique of the underemphasis of the political economy in McGee's work on extended metropolitan regions and desakota. The research on desakota in Kerala involved the examination of the regional geography of Kerala. Kerala with its radical politics and remarkable social development in a context of low economic growth, attracted the attention of social scientists. But in these studies the spatial dimensions were largely ignored. This study emphasizes that geography matters in understanding Kerala, and that there is an important nexus between the space and political economy of Kerala. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This paper discusses the attempt to achieve balanced economic growth in India. The process is viewed as a transition of society from a traditional stage to one characterized by industrialization and economic growth, and which involves major economic, social and political changes. It specifically deals with the Indian banking system and its structural development since independence as a means to hasten economic growth. These changes in the banking system, through social control, and eventually nationalization of the major commercial banks in India,, illustrate the increasing role of the State in gearing the banking sector towards meeting the goals of national economic planning. The above events are related to the struggle between the moderates and those who advocate a more socialist approach to solving the economic and social problems in India.

Microfinance programs, by providing financial services to economically disadvantaged individuals, generally women, are intended to help poor self-employ and become financially independent. Earlier research in India has documented both positive and negative consequences of microfinance programs on women, from financial independence to domestic abuse. However, most of the research has been geographically limited to the southern states of the country, with a matured microfinance industry, and has given little attention to how variations in cultural practices across different regions of the country may influence the impact of microfinance programs on its members. To fill the gap in the existing literature, three related studies of Indian women were conducted. The first study was a qualitative study of 35 women engaged in microfinance programs in the northern region of India. The study found that women engaged in microfinance programs reported having increased social networks, higher confidence and increased social awareness. The second and third studies used nationally representative data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-2006. Controlling for a variety of other individual-level and community-level characteristics, the second study examined if getting a microloan affected women’s access to public spaces, and the third examined if getting such a loan influenced married women’s participation in household decision-making. Both studies further investigated if the microloan effect on these dimensions of women’s empowerment varied by the normative context of woman’s respective communities. The results indicated that, all else equal, women who had ever taken a microloan were more likely to go alone to places outside their home such as market, health clinics and places outside the community compared to women who had never taken such a loan. Getting a microloan also had a positive effect on women’s participation in decisions about large household purchases and husband’s earnings. The hypothesized moderating effect of the normative context of women’s respective communities was found only for women’s participation in decisions about large household purchases. Getting a microloan had a stronger positive effect on women’s participation in these decisions if they lived in communities with restrictive gender norms.

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