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ICSSR Journal of Abstracts and Reviews

Political Economy, Liberalization,

Globalization
BANERJEE-GUHA, SWAPNA. Neo liberalising the Urban: New
Geographies of Power and Injustice in Indian Cities. Economic
and Political Weekly XLIV.22. 30 May. 2009: 95-107.
An adequate understanding of the contemporary neoliberal urban
process requires a grasp of its politico-economic ideological
framework, multi-scalar institutional forms, diverse socio-political
links and multiple contradictions. This paper examines the active
engagement of neoliberalism that is not only moulding the concept
of urban, but is simultaneously intensifying unevenness in interurban and intra-urban development. It focuses on the National
Urban Renewal Mission, the official carrier of neoliberal urbanism,
and its various implications. The paper illustrates the process of
restructuring in a few cities in different states, most importantly, in
Mumbai, the countrys budding international financial centre, with
a focus on specific development projects.
BASU, DEEPANKAR., DEBARSHI DAS. Political Economy of
Contemporary India: Some Comments. Economic and Political
Weekly XLIV.22. 30 May 2009: 157-159.
Two of the most important characteristics of contemporary Indian
reality are primary accumulation of capital and the continued
existence of a huge pool of surplus labour. Partha Chatterjees
attempt at explaining these important features, though insightful,
is fraught with numerous theoretical and empirical problems.
BHADURI, AMIT. Understanding the Financial Crisis.
Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.13. 28 March. 2009: 123-126.
This paper attempts to understand the nature of the current financial
crisis by identifying the main characteristics of the system that
became vulnerable to collapse due to falling asset prices. It highlights
the shadow banking system, which lacked the explicit backing of a
monetary authority on the one hand, and escaped largely its
regulation on the other. This system fostered a circular rather than a

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vertical network of credit interdependence, which had its advantages

but was also spectacularly vulnerable. The financial system may be
stable and flush with liquidity through injection, but in the absence
of sufficient demand for liquidity from the real economy, the
depressive economic conditions may continue. The politics of trying
to save capitalism by saving only the financial capitalists may well
turn out to be the last twist of the knife from free Market
fundamentalism to pave the way for a deeper and lasting recession.
BHUSHAN, PRASHANT. Misplaced Priorities and Class Bias
of the Judiciary. Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.14. 4 April
2009: 32-37.
The Author argues that it is clear from the recent record of the higher
judiciary that the imperative of upholding civil liberties, socioeconomic rights, and environmental protection has been
subordinated to agendas such as the war on terror, development
and satisfying corporate interests. Far from remaining faithful to
the motives that resulted in the institution of public interest litigation,
the Supreme Court has tended to act against the interests of the
socio-economically backward.
CHAUDHURI, SILADITYA and NIVEDITA GUPTA. Levels of
Living and Poverty Patterns: A District-Wise Analysis for India.
Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.9. 28 February 2009:94-110.
Most of the contemporary studies of level of living and poverty
concentrate only on state-level averages. In view of the growing
divergence both between and within the states, disaggregated
studies are necessary for accurate identification of the critical areas
calling for policy intervention. In the National Sample Survey
Organisations Consumer Expenditure Survey held in 2004-05, the
sample design had taken districts as strata in both the rural and
urban sectors, which makes it possible to get unbiased estimates of
parameters at the district level. This paper presents a profile of levels
of living, poverty and inequality for all the districts of the 20 major
states of India. An attempt has also been made to map poverty in
the districts to examine their spatial disparity within and across the
states.

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ICSSR Journal of Abstracts and Reviews

ESWARAN, MUKESH, ASHOK KOTWAL, BHARAT

RAMASWAMI and WILIMA WADHWA. Sectoral Labour Flows
and Agricultural Wages in India, 1983-2004: Has Growth Trickled
Down?. Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.2. 10 January
2009:46-55.
This paper examines the evolution of poverty in India through the
prism of agricultural wages and employment. It links the movement
in wages (and hence poverty) to the fundamental process of sectoral
labour flow that underlies economic development. It finds that
despite the rapid growth of the non-farm sector, its success in
drawing labour from land has been limited. Yet agricultural earnings
have increased, demonstrating the pivotal role of agricultural
productivity. The stock of the labour force already locked into
agriculture is large and the best way to improve living standards
would be to boost farm productivity.
GLENN, JOHN. Welfare Spending in an Era of Globalization:
The North-South Divide. International Relations 23.1. (2009):
27-50.
This paper examines the assertion that economic globalization has
led to the decline of welfare spending in recent decades. Although
it is often argued that the increasing intensity of globalization has
led to such a decline in the industrialized states, the paper finds
that there has been little, if any, downturn in either levels of state
expenditure in general or in levels of welfare spending in particular.
However, the experience of the developing states has been rather
different. In their case, the last few decades indicate that stagnation
or a decline in welfare spending has occurred, particularly during
the period of structural adjustment implementation. It is argued that
the OECD countries still manage to provide a high level of social
welfare to their populations that closely resemble the compensatory
state model. In contradistinction, many of the states in the South
have struggled to maintain their levels of social expenditure and
therefore most resemble Cernys competitive state model. In order
to explain these two divergent outcomes, the paper examines the
way in which the behaviour of certain key international financial
actors (investors, multinational companies, and international
financial institutions) differs with regard to these two sets of
countries.

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GOOPTU, NANDINI. Neoliberal Subjectivity, Enterprise

Culture and New Workplaces: Organised Retail and Shopping
Malls in India. Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.22. 30 May.
2009: 45-54.
With a case study of young workers in organised retail in shopping
malls in Kolkata, this paper aims to illuminate how emerging labour
processes as well as the organisation and culture of new workplaces
in India today have far-reaching consequences beyond the economy
and is transforming Indian society and politics in profound ways.
With the adoption of Market-driven and business-friendly public
policy in India, new workplaces like shopping malls are playing a
decisive part in crafting suitable workers and citizens, and in
reshaping individual subjectivity, consonant with the needs of the
Market and of neoliberal governmentality for self-governing citizens
and self-driven, pliant workers. The paper shows how young
workers seek personal solutions to structurally or systemically
generated problems in the economy and at the workplace; emphasise
the responsibility, autonomy and agency of the self-driven,
enterprising individual; disavow formal party politics and political
engagement; negate the significance of the state in public policy;
and allow both the government and employers to abdicate any
responsibility for workers and citizens well-being.
GUDAVARTHY, AJAY. Globalisation and Regionalisation:
Mapping the New Continental Drift. Economic and Political
Weekly XLIV.24. 13 June. 2009:93-100.
How far have regional organisations in the south been successful in
struggling against neoliberal policies initiated in the northern
countries, and actively aided by the international financial
institutions? How far have they succeeded in establishing an
alternative global regime of development? An assessment of these
regional formations in Asia, Africa and Latin America is undertaken
to find whether they could fulfil the aspirations for an alternative
and just globalisation.

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JELLISSEN, SUSAN M. and FRED M GOTTHEIL. Marx and

Engels: In Praise of Globalization. Contributions to Political
Economy 28 June 2009: 35-46.
Marxs vision of history unfolding is one of societal transformation
from a set of diverse nation states in a capitalist world to a unified
economic society in a yet-to-be communist world. The catalyst that
sets this unfolding into action is the globalization process. Its trigger
mechanism is the innovating capitalist. Enticed into creating new
labour-saving technologies by the prospect of reaping higher rates
of profit, these capitalists confront unavoidable competition and
technology imitation which undermine their advantage and leads
ultimately to falling prices and falling rates of profit. Their only
recourse is to venture abroad, to globalize, to invest and produce in
the less technologically developed economies. This globalization of
resource and product Markets is a dual-edged sword: It creates and
destroys. It destroys the economic and social fabrics of the less
developed economies and creates in its wake a replica of the more
technologically advanced. In the end, we are all one global economy,
western in character. Marx sees this inevitable globalization process
as progressive and praiseworthy.
KANNAN, K P. and G RAVEENDRAN. Growth sans
Employment: A Quarter Century of Jobless Growth in Indias
organised Manufacturing. Economic and Political Weekly
XLIV.10. 7 March. 2009:80-91.
There has been considerable debate in India about the impact of
growth on employment especially in the organised manufacturing
sector for different periods since the early 1980s. However, changes
in the coverage of the Annual Survey of Industries demand a fresh
look at the issue over a longer period. This paper attempts such an
analysis for 1981-82 to 2004-05. For the period as a whole as well as
for two separate periods the pre- and post-reform phases the
picture that emerges is one of jobless growth, due to the combined
effect of two trends that have cancelled each other out. One set of
industries was characterised by employment-creating growth while
another set by employment-displacing growth. Over this period,
there has been acceleration in capital intensification at the expense
of creating employment. A good part of the resultant increase in

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labour productivity was retained by the employers as the product

wage did not increase in proportion to output growth. The workers
as a class thus lost in terms of both additional employment and real
wages in organised manufacturing sector.
KATE, GOODING., and ANNA MARCHRIOT. Including
Persons with Disabilities in Social Cash Transfer Programmes in
Developing Countries. Journal of International Development 21
March. 2009:685-698.
This paper discusses inclusion of persons with disabilities in social
cash transfer programmes in developing countries. Drawing on
material from literature reviews and interviews, it considers
potential challenges in the design of these programmes, particularly
barriers to access and the complexities of assessment, and the impact
of transfers for persons with disabilities. The paper identifies some
key principles for including persons with disabilities in social
transfer schemes, specifically: strong legal foundations; participation
of persons with disabilities in programme design, implementation
and evaluation; and embedding transfers within a wider framework
of action to tackle discrimination and empower persons with
disabilities.
MEHROTRA, SANTOSH and HARSH MANDER. How to
Identify the Poor? A Proposal. Economic and Political Weekly
XLIV.19. 9 May 2009: 37-44.
The Census of 2002 to identify the poor in rural areas of India was
the third in a quinquennial series. However, it has been appropriately
criticised. This paper elaborates on the criticisms, and proposes an
alternative set of criteria and methodology for conducting the next
(now overdue) census of the rural population to identify the poor.
MENON, NIVEDITA. Thinking through the Post nation.
Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.10. 7 March. 2009: 70-77.
A well-known opposition in globalisation debates is the national
versus the postnational in which the static nation, defined forever
by symbols of identity produced in the now-irrelevant era of nation
states, is counter posed to the dynamic postnational corporation,

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ICSSR Journal of Abstracts and Reviews

located everywhere and nowhere, resisting the parochialism of

national pride and national symbols. The term postnational is
developed here in a sense different from that promoted by
corporations and the self-defined global civil society, which
conceives of it simply as spaces above and beyond the nation state.
Moreover, in a world in which dominant discourses valorise flows,
fluidity and translatability, the term postnational may offer us
a vantage point that insists on location in the face of translatability,
while simultaneously insisting that location is autonomous of the
nation state.
MUKHERJI, RAHUL. The State, Economic Growth and
Development in India. India Review 8.1. January-March. 2009:
81106.
The Indian state has been more penetrated by social actors than many
East and Southeast Asian states. Unlike China, India could neither
abolish private enterprise nor could it embrace globalization with
the same speed and ferocity. Both complete state-driven
nationalization and state-driven globalization would demand a state,
which would have much greater command over interest groups like
industrialists, farmers and trade unions. Policies favouring economic
growth and development in India needed to evolve gradually after
building a social consensus on those policies. This is a model of
development driven by a relationship between the state and society,
where the power of the state, even in its commanding moments,
was moderated by the power of social actors. Developmental ideas
were debated within the state. Substantial economic policy change
would require building upon a historical path of gradual changes
in ideas and policies, punctuated by economic crises. This paper
demonstrates how this dynamic is critical for explaining the politics
of the green revolution and consequent self-sufficiency in food
grains, as well as for understanding the Indias globalization beyond
1991. It is a story of getting to higher rates of economic growth in a
gradual and circuitous way after building a policy consensus among
diverse stakeholders. Economic crises aided the arrival of a new
consensus.

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OOMMEN, T.K. Development Policy and the Nature of Society:

Understanding the Kerala Model. Economic and Political Weekly
XLIV.13. 28 March. 2009: 25-31.
The quality of life is usually measured by three interrelated
dimensions such as the human development index, the human
freedom index, and the human distress profile. In Kerala, in spite of
high HDI, the rates of suicide, crime, drug addiction, unemployment,
etc, are high compared to other states. This essay argues that a high
quality of life should register a high HDI, the maximum HFI and
minimum HDP. It is necessary to work towards this complex
objective if Kerala wants to sustain its claim to a high quality of life.
PATNAIK, PRABHAT. The Economic Crisis and Contemporary
Capitalism. Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.13. 28 March
2009:47-54.
A democratic agenda for coming out of the recession must have at
least five elements: first, the nationalisation of financial institutions
in the leading capitalist countries where they have basically become
insolvent; second, controls on cross border financial flows; third,
protection introduced to defend peasants and other petty producers
of primary commodities (ideally through agreements among
producing countries) in the case of all commodities whose world
prices are demand-determined (as opposed to cost-determined);
fourth, a coordinated fiscal stimulus to the world economy provided
by a group of leading countries; and fifth, a system of grants whereby
the increased surpluses generated by such a stimulus are given as
grants to the less (or least) developed countries on the condition
that they do not merely add these to their reserves.
SAMANTARAYA, AMARESH. An Index to Assess the Stance
of Monetary Policy in India in the Post-Reform Period. Economic
and Political Weekly XLIV.20. 16 May. 2009:46-50.
The Reserve Bank of India has formally adopted the multiple
indicator approach in the conduct of monetary policy since April
1998. During this period, sole reliance on traditional indicators of
monetary aggregates or policy rates is not adequate to reflect the
stance of monetary policy. This paper develops a monetary policy

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ICSSR Journal of Abstracts and Reviews

index by synthesising the extracted signals from the policy

documents and quantitative information embedded in key
indicators. The MPI so constructed was used to assess the impact of
monetary policy on macroeconomic variables such as interest rates,
bank credit, inflation, and output growth during the post-reform
period. It was observed that while monetary policy has an instant
influence on interest rates, the impact on inflation and output was
realised with a lag of around 6 to 18 months.
SANYAL, KALYAN and RAJESH BHATTACHARYA. Beyond
the Factory: Globalisation, Informalisation of Production and the
New Locations of Labour. Economic and Political Weekly
XLIV.22. 30 May 2009:35-44.
This essay foregrounds the phenomenon of informalised selfemployment and explores its implications for potentially new forms
of labour activism. The relation which defines the new location of
labour is one in which the labourer is no longer a source of surplus,
rather he/she is an unwanted possessor or occupier of economic
resources from which he/she must be divorced to free those
resources for use in the circuit of capital. This process of
dispossession without proletarianisation or exploitation is referred
to as exclusion. The traditional contradiction between wage-labour
and capital is overshadowed by the contradiction between capital
and a surplus labour force. Class politics traditionally focused on
exploitation of wage-labour must reinvent itself to address the
other great political movement shaping up around the exclusion of
labour.
SHARMA, NARESH KUMAR. Special Economic Zones: Socioeconomic Implications. Economic and Political Weekly XLIV.20.
16 May 2009:18-21.
This report of a conference held at the Indian Institute of Advanced
Study on special economic zones raises doubts about their
desirability on different counts. It is centred around three themes:
(1) SEZs and economic development; (2) SEZs and distributive
implications; and (3) SEZs and the legal issues.