IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/agspub/v9y2020i2p228-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Growth and Rural Crisis in India: Imagining Cooperatives as a Viable Solution

Author

Listed:
  • Manas Ranjan Bhowmik
  • Saswata Guha Thakurata
  • Debolina Biswas

Abstract

Despite sustained high growth in India over the past three decades or so, barring the recent turn of events, structural transformation has been characterized by deepening agrarian crisis, high unemployment, and a lack of remunerative and good quality jobs. These are the major contributors to the problem of burgeoning inequality in India. In this article, using various macro-level data sets, secondary case study reports, and one primary survey, it is argued that the neoliberal model of development cannot solve the ongoing rural crisis in India. This, in turn, calls for looking beyond this paradigm. Considering that agrarian (or broadly speaking, rural) distress has its own class dynamics, which lead to disproportionate suffering among the class of marginal farmers/tenants, agricultural workers, and others, it is argued that cooperativism presents itself as an alternative model for remedying India’s ongoing rural crisis. In this context, strong management and external support are key factors to ensure the success of cooperatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Manas Ranjan Bhowmik & Saswata Guha Thakurata & Debolina Biswas, 2020. "Economic Growth and Rural Crisis in India: Imagining Cooperatives as a Viable Solution," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 9(2), pages 228-254, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:agspub:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:228-254
    DOI: 10.1177/2277976020935408
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2277976020935408
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2277976020935408?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Panagariya, Arvind, 2011. "India: The Emerging Giant," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199751563.
    2. Dani Rodrik & Arvind Subramanian, 2005. "From "Hindu Growth" to Productivity Surge: The Mystery of the Indian Growth Transition," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 52(2), pages 193-228, September.
    3. Yitzhaki, Shlomo, 1994. "Economic distance and overlapping of distributions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 147-159, March.
    4. Dow,Gregory K., 2003. "Governing the Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521818537, January.
    5. Abhijit Banerjee & Dilip Mookherjee & Kaivan Munshi & Debraj Ray, 2001. "Inequality, Control Rights, and Rent Seeking: Sugar Cooperatives in Maharashtra," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(1), pages 138-190, February.
    6. Cortuk, Orcan & Singh, Nirvikar, 2011. "Structural change and growth in India," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(3), pages 178-181, March.
    7. Amit Basole & Deepankar Basu, 2015. "Non-Food Expenditures and Consumption Inequality in India," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2015-06, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    8. T. N. Srinivasan, 2005. "Comments on "From 'Hindu Growth' to Productivity Surge: The Mystery of the Indian Growth Transition"," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 52(2), pages 229-233, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chakraborty, Shankha & Thompson, Jon C. & Yehoue, Etienne B., 2016. "The culture of entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 288-317.
    2. Shruti Rajagopalan, 2015. "Incompatible institutions: socialism versus constitutionalism in India," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 328-355, September.
    3. Surajit Mazumdar, 2010. "Industry and Services in Growth and Structural Change in India: Some Unexplored Features," Working Papers 1002, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID).
    4. Beretta, Silvio & Targetti Lenti, Renata, 2011. "“India in the Outsourcing/Offshoring Process: A Western Perspective” - L’India nel processo di outsourcing/offshoring: un punto di vista occidentale," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 64(3), pages 269-296.
    5. Manmohan Agarwal & John Whalley, 2013. "The 1991 Reforms, Indian Economic Growth, and Social Progress," NBER Working Papers 19024, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Mazumdar, Surajit, 2017. "The Indian Economy in the Second Decade of the 21st Century: Signs of a Crisis?," MPRA Paper 93164, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Ashoka Mody & Anusha Nath & Michael Walton, 2010. "Sources of Corporate Profits in India - Business Dynamism or Advantages of Entrenchment?," CID Working Papers 212, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    8. Gabriel Burdín, 2016. "Equality Under Threat by the Talented: Evidence from Worker‐Managed Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1372-1403, August.
    9. Sen Gupta, Abhijit & Hasan, Rana & Lamba, Sneha, 2014. "Growth, Structural Change, and Poverty Reduction: Evidence from India," MPRA Paper 55247, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Kaushik Basu & Annemie Maertens, 2007. "The pattern and causes of economic growth in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 143-167, Summer.
    11. Takatoshi ITO & Akira KOJIMA & Colin McKENZIE & Shujiro URATA, 2009. "Editors’ Overview," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 4(1), pages 1-18, June.
    12. Biru Paksha Paul, 2013. "Output Relationships in South Asia: Are Bangladesh and India Different from Neighbours?," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 14(1), pages 35-57, March.
    13. Laura Alfaro & Anusha Chari, 2009. "India Transformed? Insights from the Firm Level 1988-2005," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-030, Harvard Business School.
    14. Alper Duman, 2009. "Comparative Analysis of Organizational Forms in the Software Industry and Legal Services," Working Papers 0903, Izmir University of Economics.
    15. Albert Bollard & Peter Klenow & Gunjam Sharma, 2013. "India's Mysterious Manufacturing Miracle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 16(1), pages 59-85, January.
    16. Erumban, Abdul Azeez & Das, Deb Kusum & Aggarwal, Suresh & Das, Pilu Chandra, 2019. "Structural change and economic growth in India," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 186-202.
    17. Avigyan Sengupta & Saikat Sinha Roy, 2018. "India’s trade policy: Which way now?," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 45(2), pages 129-145, June.
    18. Singh, Nirvikar & SRINIVASAN, T N, 2006. "Federalism and Economic Development in India: An Assessment," Santa Cruz Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt2qs4h3t9, Department of Economics, UC Santa Cruz.
    19. Aradhna Aggarwal & Takahiro Sato, 2015. "Identifying High Growth Firms in India: An Alternative Approach," Discussion Paper Series DP2015-14, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    20. Ajit K. Ghose, 2016. "Globalization, Growth and Employment in India," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 10(2), pages 127-156, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:agspub:v:9:y:2020:i:2:p:228-254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.