Between statistics and reality

Being context specific, the word livelihoods evokes diverse responses under varied conditions. For a politician, it offers a clever assurance of electoral gains; for a planner, it is a challenge to ensure growth inclusive; for a practitioner, it measures effectiveness of development programs and for the poor, it is a mirage to be relentlessly pursued. In a globalised world where gainful vocations are fast shrinking, livelihoods has attained the status of a buzzword.

Published annually since 2008, the latest edition of the State of India’s Livelihoods attempts to monitor livelihoods trends in a sector that has witnessed a quarter of a million farmer suicides during the past decade. The consequent disappearance of farm hands, growing demand-supply gap and spiralling food prices reflect only the tip of the iceberg. Paradoxically, farmers are dying on account of low prices whereas the consumers are complaining of exorbitant rates.

Over 80 per cent of land holdings in the country are so small that it cannot produce enough to sustain a family of five. Since fragmentation of landholdings is a continuous process, many more join in the search of livelihoods each year. And those who are forced to migrate to the cities confront a situation where industrial growth does not encourage the use of labour. It is a vicious circle wherein the poor get trapped involuntarily.

While unfolding the livelihoods crises in agriculture, the report examines a predictable cause-effect framework. Far from projecting futuristic scenarios, the contributors to the volume prefer to stay in the comfort zone of critically reviewing available statistics. The report misses out on the growth-driven policy push that is in favour of a demographic transition wherein only 20 per cent of the population shall remain at the farm.

Given its restricted focus, the State of India’s Livelihoods report should be of limited use to researchers and practitioners.....Link

State of India’s Livelihoods Report 2010
by Shankar Datta and Vipin Sharma (Eds) 
Sage Publications, New Delhi, 127 pages, Rs 795

The enigma called China

It is a geographical reality that as the sun goes down in the United States, the day starts in China. Conversely, however, it is the financial sun that has started to rise in China and set instead on the United States. That China is growing at an envious rate is a geo-political inevitability of our times. No wonder it is sourcing large quantities of expensive raw materials like copper, iron, oil and wood from across the world.

In the process of its sustained growth, a substantial amount of the world’s wealth has moved to China. Estimated at US$ 2.3 trillion, it is holding a quarter of the foreign currency reserves of the entire world. In comparison, the US had US$ 83 billion in foreign exchange reserves at that time. The shifting of American wealth to China had many political analysts quipping that President Obama had travelled to China so that he could ‘visit our money’.

While for many, the conflict between China and the United States appear to be both imminent and unavoidable, for author Handel Jones these facts point to a very real opportunity for governments and businesses of two countries to work together rather than be separated by economic tensions. The essential lesson for the United States is to stop the decline in public wealth by strengthening its industrial employment base.

Jones acknowledges the fact that China is fast becoming the industrial hub for the entire world. While there is a human and entrepreneurial side to China, the industrial side of China is a big machine that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 50 weeks a year. That this machine runs on the space meant for its communities and consumes strategic natural resources is a source of tension worldwide.

Chinamerica provides in-depth visibility on the enigma called China.....Link

Chinamerica
by Handel Jones
Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi ; 280 pages, pp 232, Rs 575