Study on Uttar Pradesh

Probable questions:
One issue may be do the economic profiling of the state to the govt. of UP. What is the contribution of
primary, secondary and tertiary sector in employment in the state?
How are these sectors performing in different regions in the state: Awadh, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh,
Poorvanchal etc.?
What are the sub-sectors in manufacturing sector which have potential for higher employment generation,
what are the problems faced by entrepreneurs in the state and reasons for low investment in the state? A
point worth mentioning here is that UP has already experimented with labour law reforms in the early
years of the 1980s and that strategy has not brought any significant gains in terms of employment
generation. In fact, even today the state is one of the least industrialized states/ industrially backward
states in the country. One question of the study can be to examine the reasons behind this phenomenon.
Under the theme of livelihood, one question can be to track the movement of out migration from the state,
reasons for migration (push or pull factors), socio-economic profile of migrants (in terms of their caste
and social background, farm or non-farm households), condition of women who are left behind etc.
Another study can be solely on agriculture, and a variety of questions can be addressed through it:
Composition of farming households in terms of small, marginal, medium and large farmers (the data for
this can be obtained from agricultural census), What are the important crops grown in the state?, How is
agricultural sector different in different regions of the state? For instance, western UP that once reaped the
benefits of green revolution because of a good network of canals, sturdy agricultural caste-Jats, etc. is
now facing challenges like declining fertility of soil, degrading soil health, decreasing water table and
thus reduced income from agriculture. Continuous fragmentation of land holdings has further dented
viability of agriculture. As a result, those who cant afford agriculture are coming out of it and swelling
the reserve army of workers in cities. Those who can afford investment in agriculture are using diverse
and new techniques to maintain agricultural production. Also, farmers are resorting to organic farming to
replenish the lost fertility of soil. Quite contrary to western UP, agriculture in eastern UP has been in
backward state from the 1960s due to inadequate irrigation sources, lethargic agricultural castes, rigid
social structures (caste identities) etc.
Some other questions can be: status of extension services in agriculture, availability of credit facilities to
small and marginal farmers for meeting agricultural expenses, changes in land-lease arrangements,
concealed tenancy and tenancy reforms, employment diversification in non-farm sector, etc.
Post Script: Since elections will take place in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the present govt. will try to frame
some new policies before the next elections to woo voters, so whatever study we propose should end by
the end of 2016 which will give state government enough time to frame these initiatives.