November 14, 2008 (Friday)

INAUGURAL SESSION:

The Inaugural Session commenced with a welcome address by Professor Lakhwinder Singh, Department of Economics, Punjabi University, Patiala. Dr. Reena Marwah, Secretary General, AAS, New Delhi discussed the various activities under taken by the Association of Asia Scholars. She also highlighted the main issues that would be discussed during the three days.

Professor Sucha Singh Gill, Programme Coordinator, Centre for South West Asia Study (Pakistan-Afghanistan) introduced the theme of the Conference and introduced the Centre to the audience. He said that the issue of Environment is very important and the Universities have introduced the teaching of Environment as compulsory subject on the direction of the Hon'ble Court.  The issue of environment has started attracting attention at the global level.  The Rio Summit at Brazil introduced the 27 principles for sustainable development.  The Global Environment Outlook held that about one-fourth of world population has no access to safe drinking water.  There has been serious threat to agricultural land, air, water, forests and marine resources.  Three million people die from the pollution every year in the world.  Global warming will disturb the existence of many countries.  The monsoon pattern will be disturbed. The energy-intensive growth will put much pressure on the resources.  In Punjab, 20,000 hectares of agricultural land is going away from agricultural use every year.  The major challenge before Asia is the maintenance of balance between environment and development.

Professor G.K. Chadha, Member, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, Government of India, in his key-note address said that the issue of sustainable development has numerous dimensions and therefore, has many interpretations.  The environmental crisis has strong connections with the market oriented development pattern.  The un-sustainability at one place disturbs the sustainability at other places.  The economic frontiers disappeared, and things are happening at faster and larger scale across the globe.  The issue of resource-depletion is very serious.  The resource-intensity has increased very much and many resources are fixed in supply.  The energy has been wasted on notorious type of consumption by the few rich.  The land-man ratio has to be maintained under all circumstances.  The degraded land in India might be the result of neglect of that land over long period.  The green-growth has to be founded.  The growth has become the obsession with the policy makers at all levels from the local to the global.  The oil-syndrome, based on the geo-politics and economics, has disturbed the economic equilibrium particularly among the developing countries.  The bio-fuels over-production will also disturb the food security and ultimately the cost of bio-fuels would also go up.  It is very difficult to change the consumption habits of the people.  The under-nourishment problem is very serious.  The global food security problem is the result of the long drawn neglect of the agriculture in the economic policy.  The public sector agriculture R&D will suffer in the country under new economic dispensation.  R&D in the private laboratories would make the technology transfer very costly.  India has changed from the food surplus of 2001 and 2002 to that of food-deficit at present.  The rising of per capita income will enhance the demand for food considerably.  The presence of good structural elements in the country led to the high growth of 7-8 per cent in the present decade.  The dependence of the population on agriculture has not declined in terms of employment.  The number of workers in agriculture for livelihood has not declined.  But, the share of agriculture in the national income declined substantially. The sustainability of service sector need highly skilled workforce.  Only about 8 per cent of the workforce in the country could be classified as educated up to matric level.  The human capital formation has to be taken very seriously.  Today, 50 per cent of the economy of the country is involved in the foreign trade.  And, Indian economy is bound to be effected by the world meltdown.  The world is going to move from Uni-polar world, to Bi-polar world, and then to Tri-polar world with the growth of China and India.

Dr. Lourdes G. Salvador, Executive Director, Asian Scholarship Foundation, Bangkok, said that Asianization of Asia is the motto of the organization.  The purpose is to enhance the scholarship on Asia by the Asians.  The human beings must converse and dialogue across the globe. 

Dr. Jaspal Singh, Vice Chancellor, Punjabi University, in his presidential remarks said that the recent meltdown is the ample proof of the inability of the present market oriented development process.  The crisis far the time-being may under mine the environment crisis.  But, it has to be addressed. The mankind has awakened to the problem of sustainability after much damage.  Moreover, when the existence of mankind got threatened then this issue is taken seriously.  Food and human security has to be the prime concern of the Asian nations.  He said by transforming man to a human-being every problem would be solved.

In the end, Professor S.S. Khehra thanked the speakers and said that the law based governance could go in a long way to protect the environment. There is already a law to live in a pollution free environment in the country.  The need is far legal examination of the various policies pursued in the country in the context of the sustainability issues.

FIRST TECHNICAL SESSION:

Three papers presented in the first technical session were: (i) Globalization and Sustainability Issues in Agriculture in Asia: A Case of India by Sukhpal Singh; (ii) Agricultural Risk, Weather Insurance, Derivatives and Agricultural Insurance by Surjit Singh; and, (iii) Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development of Agriculture: An Examination of Major Indian States by Rajiv Sharma and Inderjit Singh. Prof. H.S. Shergill chaired the session and Prof. R.S. Sidhu was the discussant.

The first paper highlighted the channels of globalization, viz., cross-country flows of outputs, inputs and R & D/ technology. The sustainability of agriculture was defined in terms of ecological, economic and distributive justice. The paper attempted to put forth the bidirectional relationship between trade and environment in the context of environmental highlighted opportunities and threats to agricultural sector, in particular the Indian agriculture. The paper highlighted globalization can have both positive and negative impacts on agricultural trade flows of a developing country like India. Demand for greener agricultural products from developed countries can lead to environmentally more sustainable agricultural practices in developing countries and yet at the same time, there is a threat of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures being misused in place of Non-tariff Barriers not allowed under the WTO regime. The key sustainability issues for Indian agriculture, highlighted by the paper, were availability of ground water, water logging, air-pollution, deforestation, soil-degradation, and pesticide residues in agricultural produce and in human body. Commercialization of agriculture, such as, contract farming is leading to depletion of soil quality and high water intensity, which may erode sustainability of agriculture in the long term.

Prof. Sidhu highlighted that both macro and micro perspectives need to be combined for examining the issues highlighted by this paper. The sustainability concept could be elaborated also with respect to livelihoods and distributive justice, rather than only from the point of view of environment. The core issue related to contract farming discussed was in terms of short term profit goals of corporations and the long term income generating capacity of land which can impinge on the livelihood sustainability of farmers.

The second paper outlined the various sources of risks, viz., production or yield risk, price or market risk, institutional risk, human or personal risks, financial risk, associated with agricultural sector. It also highlighted the use of financial products as insurance against these risks and discussed the concept of weather derivatives as a risk management tool. He also highlighted the distinction between the weather insurance vis-à-vis derivative products at length and suggested the use of weather insurance as one of the measures of coping with weather disasters. He highlighted the need to strengthen the data compilation and dissemination relating to weather by the official agencies.

The discussant highlighted the inadequacy of weather index data in the Indian context and also raised questions regarding the awareness and preparedness of farmers to use derivative products. He also highlighted the need for extension of information support system to farmers to cope up with the growing uncertainties characterizing agricultural sector.

The third paper highlighted the inter-sectoral and inter-state growth of agricultural sector and highlighted the wide disparities. The time-period chosen for empirical investigation was 1993-94 to 2003-04.The paper put forth the two hypotheses: (i) an increase in average operational land holding size and decrease in dependency of workforce in agriculture have a positive impact on agricultural growth; and, (ii) the share of agricultural workers in total workers depends on the literacy rate and poverty levels. The paper concluded that the agenda of inclusiveness is far from being achieved in the recent years.

The discussant highlighted the need for revision of work with respect to the choice of variables and the econometric method to be used for this study. Further, in the context of globalization, the issues of self-reliance versus self-sufficiency at the state/country level may be more pertinent, as all types of growth cannot be expected from every region.

SECOND TECHNICAL SESSION:

The second technical session of the conference had three papers. The focus of the papers was on the themes of transport and environment; strategies to deal with climate change; and ecological implications of agricultural development. Prof. A.S. Joshi was in the chair and Prof. Birinder Pal Singh was the discussant at the session.

The first paper was presented by Simon Bishop on ‘Transport, Energy and Climate Change’. The paper was focused to highlight the patterns of increasing demand of transportation, energy consumption and its implications on climate. The transport is the largest consumer of energy with its share of 26 per cent at present and it is expected to grow rapidly at the rate of 2 per cent per annum. The increasing demand of energy will also lead to increase CO₂ emissions worldwide. The mounting demand of transportation (especially road transportation) in India and China will cause the rise of the CO₂ emissions by 5.8 times and 3.4 times respectively over the 30 years period (2005-2035).

The relationship between the urbanization and road transport was also discussed in details. The urbanization especially in India is growing at a very alarming rate and that is putting lot of pressure on transportation especially road based. This increasing demand of road transportation in comparison to railways and other modes of transportation would enhance the demand and consumption of energy(patrol and diesel) resulting more and more air pollution further deteriorating climate at alarming rate. This is further added with risks of road accidents causing the death of one million people in India every year.

The increasing preference of private transport over public transport will result infrastructure expansion in terms of flyovers, parking lots, expressways, etc. This will add more financial burden and cause more air pollution. There is a need to adopt the fuel-efficient technology with lower carbon emission density. It was also emphasized to take integrated policy measures to strengthen the existing public transport system as well as increasing its viability and expansion.

The second paper was presented by Xu Xiangyang on ‘Research on India and China National Strategy for Climate Change and their Practice in CDM’. The paper discussed the dependency of both India and China on coal for their energy requirement, which results high emission of CO₂. As both the countries are developing at a high growth rate, their demand of energy is rising at the same time. It causes more CO₂ emission affecting climate adversely. But both the countries are taking corrective measures by adopting Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for mitigation Greenhouse Gas emission, though at limited level.

As far India is concerned, the government has taken a positive role in promoting by setting up institutions and process necessary for facilitating its CDM implementations. India signed the Kyoto protocol in 1997 and ratified the same in 2002. The Chinese government is focused on three priorities- energy efficiency improvement; development and utilization of new and renewable energy; and recovery and utilization of methane and coal bed methane. Both China and India are leading in the CDM projects so far. In the light of the decision taken by the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework for Climate Change Committee) to designate the National Authority for the CDM, India has set-up National CDM Authority (NCA) and China’s National Development and Reform Committee(NDRC) is Designated National Authority ( DNA) for China CDM projects.

The third paper was presented by Inderjeet Singh on ‘Ecological Implications of Punjab Model of Agriculture Development’. The focus of the paper was to give an account of the dark side of the Green Revolution experienced in Punjab. Besides its socio-economic implications, the agriculture development in Punjab resulted plethora of problems. A few of them have started surfacing at an alarming rate in terms of water and soil degradation as a result of indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This has resulted environment degradation on the one hand and causing serious health problem to the people particularly in rural Punjab.

The over exploitation of ground water is posing a serious challenge of water crisis for the coming future. Punjab, with only 1.57 per cent of geographical land is using 15 percent of the pesticides and 8 per cent of the fertilizers used in the country. Illiteracy and lack of proper training to use the chemicals and fertilizers among farmers has resulted the soil and ground water contamination. This has resulted a rapid rise of chronic health problems in the rural Punjab at the alarming rate.

November 15, 2008 (Saturday)

THIRD TECHNICAL SESSION:

In the third technical session on second day of the conference, two papers were presented and the third one was discussed, as the delegates from Pakistan could not arrive.        

            Central focus of the papers was agricultural growth and sustainability. The first paper presented by Dr. R.K. Sharma focused on coarse   cereals. It discussed its growth pattern over the last 35 years. A central argument of the study is that the production of coarse cereal remained neglected irrespective of its significance not only in nutritional but also for strengthening the aspect of crop diversification.  The author empirical further argued that the provision of 'Minimum Support Price' will encourage the adoption of coarse cereals by the farmers.  But, at the same time, this policy statement received reactionary treatment by Prof. R.S. Bawa who opined that such policy may have implications for poor households' access to food, as a significant part of their food basket is constituted by coarse cereals.

The second paper by Prof. R.S. Ghuman and Dr. G.S. Romana examined systematically the sustainability of existing and alternative cropping systems in South-West Punjab.  The study makes a comparison between organic and inorganic crops in terms of their cost of production.  Further, it examines the issues of soil health, fertilizers, irrigation, and pesticides vis-à-vis the type of crop adopted.  It makes an estimate of resources that can be saved by the adoption of alternate cropping systems.  The resources saved, as per their estimates, are as high as Rs. 1530 cr. for South-West Punjab and Rs. 3800 crore for the entire Punjab.  Such attractive figures have raised skepticism among the audience as it was suggested that one should also take into account the costs involved in shifting from current system of agriculture and thereby, it would be better if intellectuals think for making the current system more viable and sustainable.

Third paper by Usman Mustafa and his colleagues was presented briefly by the discussant.  This paper discusses the impact of globalization on agriculture, food security and social welfare in Pakistan.  The paper pointes out that in Pakistan, there took place a decline in the share of public expenditure on agriculture.  Moreover, the crops like paddy, cotton and sugarcane are no more backed by MSP that is, at present, limited to wheat only.

It was also pointed out that the profitability of crops has declined significantly during the current era of globalization.  Similarly, there took place a decline in the per capita availability of wheat and rice.  But, as pointed out by discussant that the analytical exercise in this paper need to be strengthened as it has certain implicit inconsistencies, otherwise the paper is quite good in revealing the plight of agriculture in Pakistan economy.

FOURTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

In the fourth technical session, three papers were presented.  The session was chaired by Professor R.S. Bawa, GNDU, Amritsar. Professor Sukhpal Singh, IIM Ahemdabad was the discussant.  In the first paper entitled "Markets, Institutions and Efficiency: Groundwater Irrigation in North India", Dr. A. Banerji, et al. examined the role of institutions, market forces and efficiency of the irrigation requirements of the sugarcane crop in the UP.  The authors, on the basis of plot-level primary data, found that, owing to inadequate supply surface water and electric power, pumping-out of groundwater may lead to rational use of scarce water among the sampled farmers. But, the water shortage led to crop losses upto 18 per cent of the plots that used the purchased water for irrigation. In different simulations, the authors found that reliability of electric power can improve yields by upto 10 per cent and the farmers were found ready to pay for the electricity prices, which in turn gave incentives to the power suppliers to provide adequate power.  Progressive pricing of electricity may also be led to efficient use of electric tubewells for irrigation.  Nevertheless, the study highlights that the basic fundamentals of the sugarcane crop on the questions related to the yield variations, yield response to water allocation, and profitability of the sugarcane crop and, overall, it favours the regime of charging electric prices.

In the absence of Dr. Nursadh Ali, his paper titled "A Comparative Study of Forest Management Institutions and Policy in Thailand and North-East India, was presented by Professor Sukhpal Singh. The study debated all the basic features of the institutions' role in forest management in both the countries.  The author favoured the decentralization and devolution of power to local people. Such a decentralization and devolution of powers are the crucial parameters in managing the forest in both countries.  He stated that the successful decentralization of forest management policy depends upon the legal property rights, incentives, etc.  The local resource management institutes developed without taking into account the question of property rights as well as community ownership may not be the best form of the management.  Obviously, due to lack of ownership (property) rights, tribles living in North-East Thailand had no option to join with the forest department for conservation of forests, whereas the local tribes in the North-East India could not be able to participate in the crucial management programmes such as IFM.  Thus, these findings show that property rights plays – it may be customary right – an important role in continuing the locally crafted forest management institutes, although they may be under pressure, largely owing to other reasons (market pressure and political change).

Dr. Velusamy Jegatheesan in his paper “Water Issues Confronting Humanity: The Case of Selected River Basics in Tamil Nadu” revealed that the water plays central role in sustaining the human beings, animals and plants’ survival.  In the forest, many large issues were confronting the humanity regarding the water are pollution, desertification, water scarcity related conflicts, water logging, etc.  The paper identified a number of reasons why man has not been able to solve water related problems at lower hierarchical levels.  The author estimated the water requirements of agriculture, industries and households separately. He pointed out that, in the near future, the demand for water will be more from the side of industries compared to the estimated demands of the agriculture and households.  The increased use of water by the industries will certainty lead to the dumping of industrial wastages into these river basins and will damage the ecology and environment upto a great extent.  The diversion of water towards pollution-oriented units may be more dangerous to humanity.  The study favours the creation of people's lobby to pinpoint the dangers of water scarcity and its pollution to find appropriate solutions like alternative livelihood practices, consumptions of water and recharging of groundwater.

Professor Sukhpal Singh, in his remarks as discussant, praised the village based study undertaken by Dr. A. Banerji, et al.  He stated that in the absence of regular electricity supply, pumping of underground water by the electricity operated tubewells will certainly be in short supply, and with regular electric supply, what will be its impact on the productivity? What will be its impact on other crops?  What will happen to the demands for irrigation water of non-owners of tubewells?  He suggested that the authors should extend their analysis to Punjab, where electricity is provided free of cost to all farmers.  Regarding Velusamy's paper, he suggested to use standard conceptual framework because the water issues in our country are more complex in nature.  He found some shortcomings in the paper’s layout also.  Prof. Surjit Singh, Mr. Varinder Jain and many others highlighted certain significant issues related to water pollution, water scarcity, optimum use of water, sustainability of crops, etc. The discussion also pointed out the role of water in the sustainability of agriculture, human and animal life on this planet.  In the end, Professor R.S. Bawa thanked the paper presenters, discussant, rapporteur and participants in the technical session IV of the seminar.

SPECIAL TECHNICAL SESSION:

On the second day of the seminar on 'Sustainable Development: Challenges before Asian Societies', there was a special lecture by Prof. K.P. Kannan, Member, National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector, Govt. of India.  The Chairperson for this session was Prof. D.B. Gupta of NCEAR.  The theme of the lecture was 'India's Quest for Sustainable Development: Informal Sector's Perspective.  While introducing the chair and the speaker as well as the theme of the special lecture Prof. Lakhwinder Singh informed that the fundamental concern of sustainable development has been intra and intergenerational equity. He also highlighted the role of inter and intra generational equity in the context of future sustainability of Asian economic development.

Prof. Kannan opined that despite the remarkable progress made by India in economic terms – higher per capita income, higher literacy rates and growth rates – the country has yet to overcome issues of human dignity – water, health, education, and many more.  This makes 'India shines' only for a chosen few – one fourth of the population – because the achievements have not really percolated, and it is only the sectors with a narrow base and urban bias that have grown.  However, the real success of our programmes for promoting economic growth has to be reckoned in terms of how such programmes have fulfilled the basic objective of improving the lot of the common man – in other words, how inclusive has been our growth.

In this context, Prof. Kannan attempted to identify the common people through deflection of the current poverty debate i.e. by measuring income and poverty using NSSO data.  The levels of consumption and the socio-economic profile of the common people i.e. the poor and the vulnerable, were presented by him by making use of elaborate statistics.  The findings projected a gloomy picture, conveying that the economic growth process and its benefits have not trickled down to the common people.  It was revealed by Prof. Kannan that more than three-fourths of Indians are still poor and vulnerable with a level of consumption not more than twice the official poverty line.  Amongst these, the scheduled castes and tribes are the most poor.

The educational dimension of poverty and vulnerability was also taken up by Prof. Kannan.  He was of the view that higher education led to lower levels of poverty, but only when the graduation level has been crossed.  The gender dimension pointed towards higher vulnerability of women as compared to men.

Prof. Kannan also dwelt on the regional divide, citing figures to establish that states doing well in terms of human development are not always the economically well off states.  Hence, it is not states like Punjab and Maharashtra, but the likes of Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh etc., which rank higher in terms of human development.

Prof. Kannan stressed on the need to introspect on the content of 'development' or the course of the development process.  He considered welfare programmes undertaken as nothing short of investments for the development process.  And since inclusion of the unorganized section of the population has escaped the development process, Prof. Kannan urged upon the researchers to take up this issue.

Prof. D.B. Gupta echoed Prof. Kannan's views, and at the same time appealed to the scholars and policy makers alike that people should not be allowed to suffer only on the basis of gender, literacy, caste etc.  His remarks were followed by a lively discussion on the issue, with Professors S.S. Gill, R.S. Bawa, B.P. Singh, Aradhna Aggarwal, Reena Marwah, Munim K. Barai, and Pradip Chaudhary actively participating and reaching a consensus that poverty has no caste, religion or gender, and that both economists and policy makers should play an active role in tackling the issue.

FIFTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

The fifth technical session was devoted to Indian industries. This session was chaired by Prof. K.P. Kannan and three papers were presented by Aradhna Aggarwal, Atish Kumar Dash and a joint paper by Sumati Verma and Anand Saxena.

Firstly the paper entitled “SEZs and Industrial Diversification: Analysis of Indian Experience”, discussed the issue of setting up of export processing zones (EPZs) and SEZs in India. Author was of the view that SEZs were set up primarily with the objective of promoting broad based industrialisation and economic transformation. At the same time, SEZs are expected to provide a critical impetus to economic growth because they attract technology, know-how and organisational techniques in addition to financial investment. The study also analyses the impact of SEZs on industrial development and product diversification in the Indian context. SEZs facilitated inflows of new technologies, new ideas and promotion of informal R&D. It was observed that due to the limited size of SEZs in India the overall impact can be termed as moderate. The paper compared the investment climate during pre and post reform periods and found that the approach adopted by the government did not have any significant impact on the performance of SEZs. Benefits of operating in the SEZs vis-à-vis outside the zones did not significantly improved and reforms could not created any dynamism in the SEZs. Researcher also pointed out that in the absence of any legal framework there had been uncertainty over new policy provisions and found that most of the existing SEZs are encountering serious export infrastructure and governance related problems at the state level. Finally it has been suggested and stressed that the problems and bottlenecks faced by SEZs should be addressed immediately for the improvement of investment climate and their success.

Secondly, “Impact of Financial Liberalisation on Efficiency in Capital Allocation: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Sector”, a study by Atish Kumar Dash presented the impact of financial liberalisation on efficiency in capital allocation and concluded that financial liberalisation leads to a reduction in variation in marginal return to capital which is an indication of improvement in efficiency in capital allocation. As a measure of allocative efficiency of the financial system the study uses dispersion in the marginal return to capital across a sample of firms in Indian manufacturing sector. Tobin’s q i.e. ratio of market value of a firm to its replacement cost of capital is taken as a proxy for marginal return. The comparison of the mean of the dispersion in q between two periods such as 1988-89 to 1995-96 and 1996-97 to 2005-06 shows that there has been an improvement in efficiency in allocation in the later period. Further, computing financial liberalisation index for India for the period 1985-2006, the impact of financial liberalisation on the dispersion measure is tested in a time-series OLS model controlling for other macroeconomic variables such as, banking sector development, stock market development, stock market liquidity and trade openness. The results provide supporting evidence that financial liberalisation improves the allocative efficiency.

Third paper of the session was presented by Anand Saxena on, “Investment Theory, Corporate Strategy and Management Motives, Indian Mergers and Acquisitions Abroad- With Special Reference to the IT Industry”. The objectives of this study were to analyse the motives and strategies of corporate India’s recent surge of outbound mergers and acquisitions by both large and small businesses in the light of prevalent paradigms of investment theory. The study points out three motives i.e. market seeking, efficiency seeking and product seeking for the outbound mergers and acquisitions by the Indian IT industry. The study posits that motives are not only diverse but also multiple and dynamic. It is observed that firms may simultaneously pursue both asset seeking and asset augmenting strategies although not necessarily with the same degree of intensity. The preponderance of the market seeking, product seeking and efficiency seeking motives for outbound mergers and acquisitions validates the hypothesis of the existence of diverse and multiple motives of acquisition activity. The study also pointed out that merger and acquisition activity from India has been spearheaded by the IT and pharmaceutical industries and concentrates in the developed parts of the world with Europe and USA being preferred locations. Authors were also of the opinion that the phenomenon of acquisition from the IT industry must be viewed in the context of the relative stages of its evolution as the emerging architecture of the global IT industry.

Dr. Abhijit Banerji of Delhi School of Economics, discussant of the session set the tone and issues, for the debate and discussion, highlighted by the three papers. While commenting on the first paper he questioned the policy of starting SEZs and raised the issue of contributions of units of SEZs and out side SEZs. Regarding the impact of financial liberalisation discussant doubted the benefits of financial liberalisation. It was also pointed out Indian capital market is not perfect but is imperfect so this should be taken in account. Dr. Banerji also suggested a model to analyse the performance of the market. As far as the issue of mergers and acquisitions by Indian IT industry the field of research is clearly wide open. Discussant was of the view and also supported the authors that the phenomenon of mergers and acquisitions from the IT industry must be viewed in the context of the relative stages of its evolution as the emerging architecture of the global IT industry.

After this chairman of the session invited question and observations regarding these issues for debate and discussion in the house. Commenting on the policy of SEZs Prof. S. S. Gill was critical regarding the concessions provided to SEZs in the country. Prof. Gill raised the issue of two sets of laws one for SEZs and other for non-SEZs units in country which is fundamentally wrong. It was also pointed out that SEZs units failed to perform better than non-SEZs units. Prof. Surjit Singh criticised the policy of SEZs as according to him under the guise of SEZs policy the land has been transferred and transferring to builders in the country. Prof. Kanwaljit Kaur Gill questioned the justification and motives of mergers and acquisitions by the big firms. She warned the house about the fate of the small producers if the mergers and acquisitions allowed freely.

The paper presenters handled the questions and queries beautifully and accepted to incorporate the suggestions made in their studies. Prof. Aradhana Aggarwal reminded the house that SEZs are not new but started in the year 1975 in the form of export processing zones (EPZs). Prof. Aggarwal advocated tax incentives and cut in custom duties so that investment climate can be promoted in SEZs in the country.

In the end of the session Prof. K. P. Kannan, chairman of the session thanked the paper presenters, discussant, rapporteur and delegates. Prof. Kannan suggested that rather than following wrong policies blindly it is good to roll back these policies. As far as the concessions to SEZs are concerned these are more or less capital favoured and there is no level playing field. Prof. Kannan reminded the house of natural formation of industrial clusters in the country and alternative possibilities. He also touched upon the issue of financial liberalisation of the economy and its affects on Indian economy. And finally chairman opined that mergers and acquisitions reduce competition and worried about the large number of mergers and acquisitions taking place. Chairman once again thanked all and wind up the session.

SIXTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

Sixth Technical Session, on second day, 15 November 2008 of the Conference, was chaired by Dr. Aradhna Aggarwal.  Three papers were presented in the session.  The main thrust of all these papers was on gender issues.

The first paper, presented by Dr. Pushpa Trivedi was on the theme of 'Climate Change and its Impact on Gender'.  In the first part she spoke on climate changes and unfolded the facts how global warming is causing these changes.  She warned that the threshold level has set in and has started causing harmful affects on all spheres of life, on all species, animals, plants, forests including human beings.  But, the major impact of this is going to be felt by the poor and vulnerable section of the population; and more so by the poor women of rural areas.

With the help of various estimates she tried to measure gender inequality in this respect.  According to the GDI ranking of 2005, India has a much lower rank of 113^th.  Similarly, in respect of life expectancy at birth, combined enrolment rate in schools, availability of health facilities, etc. females are placed at a relatively less advantageous place when compared with their counter part, the males.  She also mentioned that the earnings by the females are 30 per cent less than those of the males.

Again with the help of Human Poverty Index she emphasized that women are poorer and here also we see gender disparity.  There is quite a significant and positive correlation between poverty and gender development.  In the end, she suggested that if we want some change then along with the capacity building, women friendly tools should be more prevalent.

The second presentation was by Dr. Inderjit Singh.  He spoke on the very important burning issue under the title "who kill their daughters more: In sites from Census Data from Punjab."  He started his paper by announcing that female feticides are there and we are killing our daughters but the question is who are they, who kill them the most? To get the insight of this social problem, he presented number of tabular evidences.  He is of the opinion that due to the edge of having at least one male child in the family, parents goes for that.  Son preference is due to many social compulsions and it is a universal phenomenon.  He also narrated only one reason why parents (mostly the Hindus) went to have a daughter that some one should be there to cry at the time of their death. Otherwise, areas of female discrimination are there in all walks of life, which start, from the very stage of her existence in the womb, when she ever has not taken birth and goes up to her death.  May be her diet, education, health at all levels she is discriminated.  Statistical evidence is there to prove that due to this discrimination in sex ratio, and more specifically the child sex ratio is lowest among the rich, non-SCs, Sikhs in Punjab in the urban areas.  In the end, he suggested that to overcome this, we will have to create an environment where the parents would feel safe to have a girl child.  And secondly, the mind set will also have to be changed.

The third presentation was made by Mrs. Naina Sharma on the emerging issue of HIV/AIDS.  She is of the opinion that the patients who are found HIV/AIDS positive have to face various types of stigma viz. psychological, physical, mental and social.  Social stigma is more serious amongst the females since they have to face the problem at all the levels throughout their life.  She suggested that if there is proper adherence to the medical facilities, it can have all the positive implications in improving the quality of life, longer survival rate to lead a respectable life.  With the help of a sample study she concluded that women suffer more social stigma because of gender discrimination and disclosed that wherever government grants are there, these are not sufficient to deal with the problem and secondly these are not reaching to the right claimants.

Discussion of these papers was initiated by Prof. Surjit Singh.  He cautioned us to learn the lesson from Africa from where the problem of HIV/AIDS has originated.  He fears that if the present scenario goes on then the time will come when India will top the list of HIV/AIDS patients.  Commenting on Dr. Inderjit's paper he said that it is historical fact of having adverse sex ratio; and now the role of private doctors, technology has been made easily available to go for sex selective abortions.

Reacting to the paper by Dr. Trivedi, he said that the real issues are to be identified and need to be probed into since the debate on these issues has already set in. The questions and queries from the floor were duly responded to.

November 16, 2008 (Sunday)

SEVENTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

The seventh technical session was chaired by Professor Pushpa Trivedi. Dr. Aradhana Aggarwal acted as the discussant. The paper by Dr. Munim K Barai, “AoA, food price and poverty in Bangladesh” was also presented in this session.

The first paper presented by Dr. Seema Joshi was titled “Service Sector Growth in India: Issues and Challenges”. The presentation composed of five sections and made a detailed analysis as regards: a) growing importance of services sector in India’s economy especially in the post-liberalisation period; b) the issues related to growth of the services sector; and c) the challenges ahead of the services sector. The paper delineated some of the important issues affecting the growth of the services sector and these related to: a) excessiveness vs adequacy of the growth of the services sector; b) economic issues emerging from the growing inequalities and disparities due to wage differentials, unequal growth of regions; c) gender and social issues emerging from the phenomenal growth of BPOs/call centres/MNCs needing a special women workforce to work at odds; d) health issues; e) ethical, environmental concerns, etc. The paper highlighted the need for developing adequate infrastructure for the sustainable growth of the services sector. Such infrastructure is composed of the major sectors like: transport, power, ICT diffusion, social infrastructure and business environment.

However, the discussant pointed out that the paper does not give some useful thoughts on the ideal growth path that would help sustain the growth of the tertiary sector in India, the growth of which otherwise is highly determined by certain sectors like ICT, BPOs, etc. Discussions on the paper have mostly confined to questions on: a) the ideal circumstances (also the per capita income) that would sustain the growth of the services sector; and b) distinguishing between the potential employment contributions by the services sector in contrast to the manufacturing sector in India.

The second paper, “Market-cum-commodity contribution in export sustainability for post-reform India: Empirical verification and issues”, was presented by Dr. Jaswnider Singh Brar. The paper deals in detail about the influence of markets and commodities in sustaining the exports of India in the post-reform period. Based on the published data on India’s exports and critical review of empirical studies, the paper provides an optimistic scenario of India’s export performance in the post-reform context. At a later stage, the paper argues for a shift in exports using high- technology and human capital-intensive products. It further suggests that the exports have to be modeled on lines of the opportunities offered by the demographic dividend India has been enjoying compared to other countries.

The discussant suggested that the paper by Dr. Brar needs to be fine tuned in terms of more rigorous analysis, proper integration of issues, etc. It was pointed out that the paper while arguing for promotion of high technology and human capital intensive exportable products, does not appreciate the fact that why export sustainability becomes a critical factor in the growth process. There were no further queries or clarifications on this paper worth the mention.

The third paper “Maintaining High Growth Rate and Future Energy Demand and Supply Scenario in India” was presented by A.S. Bhullar. The paper, as the author admitted, is a review of the recent expert committee report on Integrated Energy policy as brought out by the Planning Commission, Government of India during 2006. It gives a comprehensive account of the growth in energy consumption in India, the growth linkages with per-capita GDP and HDI, temporal dimensions of energy demand pattern, projections on the future energy scenario, requirements of conventional and non-conventional energies, India’s trade in oil, cost of production of energy development, etc.

The paper highlights that the recent high growth in India has been contingent upon the rise in energy demand and future growth would require further explorations on various sources of commercial energy. The paper suggests that the energy consumption in the past has been indiscriminate and highly luxurious and needs to be controlled through fiscal, monetary, regulatory and other measures. Areas of immediate consideration are: a) achieving energy efficiency through R&D measures, b) encouraging further explorations through participation by the private sector and international agencies, c) declaration of energy sector as a sensitive sector, d) measures for harvesting solar energy through international collaboration for sharing on costs and R&D, e) rationalization of energy subsidies, etc.

The discussant highlighted the comprehensiveness of the paper in its contents. However, it was observed that the paper could have been much more appealing if it had also portrayed the future energy scenario of India especially in the context of the global warming.

The discussions on the paper were mostly related to India’s energy security in the coming decades, its relations with other countries in terms of energy development and conservation policies, the volatility of the international energy markets and India’s status, etc.

An important recommendation made by the author with respect to achieving energy security in India is that India should evolve strategies so as to create a pool of financial resources as a buffer for cushioning the oil price shocks. The buffer so created would help the country to cross subsidize sectors and activities at times of huge rise in oil prices in the domestic markets.

EIGHTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

In eighth technical session, three papers were presented. First paper presented by Pradeep K. Choudhury entitled "Relationship between Education and Poverty: An Empirical Study on Indian Economy". While explaining the multi-dimensional characteristics of poverty, the presentation briefly dwells with income poverty, education poverty and capability poverty.

The presentation also deals with empirical relationship between education poverty (Ep) and Income poverty (Ip).  Here citing human capital theory, the presenter elucidates that education will work as a push factor for skill attainment and high wages which can increase economic growth and reduce poverty.

To reflect the empirical substance, the presenter has shown familiarity of wide range of literature that includes Tilak, Verghese and Zoe Studies which have analyzed the relationship between education and poverty.

The presentation was stressful on the indicators which cause the educational poverty.  Dropout rate, Gross enrolment ratio and computation, transition rate are exclusively examined.  However, the author in his presentation mentioned below poverty line (BPL) as the best indicator to measure education poverty.

Government spending on education as author suggested was the main reasons why India remained what it is today.  Appreciating the existing provisions of Govt. for enrolling and ensuring education to all e.g. free elementary education, community mobilization, it emphasis that development of education was the crucial factor to reduce poverty.

Professor R.K. Sharma presented in his paper on "Extent of poverty and Inequality in North-Western Himalayas: A Temporal Analysis".  This presentation dwelled with poverty and inequality in the North-Western Himalayan State of Himachal Pradesh.  The author in his presentation focused on the nature of the demographic composition of the state where about 92% per cent populations are living in villages.  Bringing the fluctuation in income inequality across four periods, the presenter states that during 1977-78 to 1999-2000 this scenario was evident from poverty ratio and also from per capita income.

While highlighting the major findings, the presenter has shown that the percentage increase in income in urban households was estimated as higher than that of rural households.  Income of urban households in 1977-78 was 58.89% whereas there was increase to 157.93% by 1999-2000.  Finally, the presentation emphasized that poverty is being demonized over the period and this has been attributed to the developmental activities under taken by the state.

In conclusion, the paper presenter calls for more incentives to agricultural and non-farm sectors. If granted, there will be a fast reduction in the gap of income levels between rural and urban which may also result in poverty reduction.

Ms. Pooja Sikka presented her paper titled "Income Inequality in the Context of Sustainable Development: Interrelations and Empirical Evidence".  The presentation states the genealogy of the concept of sustainable development and explains how it has, over the years, transformed into many areas from ecology.

Presentation was focused on income inequality in the context of sustainable development with comparison to some developing Asian countries and some developed Western countries.  Initially, presenter touched upon the interrelationship between sustainable development and income inequality.  Mention has been made on how the richest 1% people in the world receive as much as of bottom 57%.

In view of the Brundt land approach to sustainable development regarding inequality, the presentation brings in the Kuznets hypothesis to explain it.  Presentation underlines the fact that fruits of globalization and modernization process is yielding benefits to very few, those who are involving in modern sectors and activities.

In the second part of presentation – extent of income inequality among developing Asia and major advanced economies are discussed with the help of graphs and equations.  The presenter emphasised the need to bridge the gap between rich and poor, and for that the author desires the urgent need to enforce rules as soon as possible.

NINTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

In the 2^nd last technical session on the 3^rd day of the conference, three paper were presented. The session was chaired by Professor B.S. Ghuman of Punjab University and the discussant of the seeion was Professor Arup Mitra of IEG. The first paper was presented by Anoma, from Sri Lanka. It focused on foreign aid receipts by sources and foreign aid inflows in terms of loans and grants from 1965 to 2005. The paper also discussed utilization rate of foreign aid and argued that there is a negative relationship between foreign aid flow and economic growth of the country during the period 1977-2005. Again concluded that still Sri Lanka had to rely on foreign assistance for its economic and social development because of its resources was not sufficient.   

2^nd paper by H.S. Gill examined framework for planning and management of sustainable inclusive cities in India including the view that urbanization is considered as engine of economic growth and pointed out urban infrastructural gaps. The paper analyzed forecasting urban population growth and links with real estate issue. The author discussed self-formed definitions of urbanization and peri urban areas and paid attention regarding service provider and financing infrastructure in these areas and various initiatives, rural-urban linkages, city core areas and unauthorized colonies/areas and also discussed some empirical experiences in the country. The paper also discussed at length some important questions regarding modern city planning, norms and standards for urban planning and suggested concrete steps and challenges before for urban authorities and private colonizers for practicability of the planning modern cities. The author suggested policy regarding redevelopment of core-areas, model of Malaysian and Singapore cities, cross subsidy, linkage within and other city areas and green belts, water waste and energy conservation.

Third paper by Varinder Jain paid attention on two issues of discrimination and work related security for examining SC/ST wage workers verses non SC/ST wage workers in Punjab’s urban unorganized manufacturing sector through collecting information from 300 workers. The paper examined above twin issues by some important variables e.g. age when a person enter in the market, education status, vocational training and skill status, employment status, monthly earning and daily working time by social class. The author developed insecurity indices by social class and migration status and also explained determinants of wageworker’s exposure to vulnerability through ordered probit regression approach and Oaxaca’s Decomposition Effect. The finding of the paper were considerable gap between SC/ST and non SC/ST wageworker in the manufacturing units, high-degree of discrimination in return to endowment and SC/ST workers more exposed to various work-related policy suggested by the author related to marketing a provision of skill to the wage workers.      

            Prof. Arup Mitra of IEG, New Delhi, discussant of the session has argued on the first paper that we can easily identified which sector is receiving support from foreign aid in the economy with the help of Input-Output tables. Prof. R.S. Ghuman commented on the Aroma's paper that there is generally no link between foreign aid and sustainable development. Prof. Lakhwinder Singh who argued on the very much debatable question among economists that in the new world economic order, foreign aid is coming through NGO's to the developing economies from international agencies by bypassing the central and state governments which is wrong way to aid a county and again he argued that in democracy, government is accountable to the people but NGO’s are not responsible and accountable to the people on the other hand. A delegate from China argued that foreign aid is supposed to create imbalance in the country.

            Prof. Arup Mitra appreciated and congratulated paper presenter Dr. H.S. Gill and called it an intense study on the theme, and believed it is difficult to understand and examine these issues on account of paucity of quantitative data as Gill did but suggested that the author should also analyze cost benefit analysis through spillover effect e.g. link between agriculture producer vs. urban economic growth. He again emphasized, there should be a link between urban planners and economists to work out different policy.

Prof. Arup Mitra suggested to paper presenter Varinder Jain to use Principal Component Analysis to construct indices and emphasized on the need to examine the pre conditions of the wageworkers before they entered in this occupation, otherwise paper is equipped with rich methodology.

TENTH TECHNICAL SESSION:

            In the last session there were four presentations. The session was chaired by Prof. Sukhpal Singh of IIMA and the discussant of the session was Prof. A.S. Bhullar of PAU. The first two presentations dealt broadly with the impact of Bt Cotton technology as revealed from Primary Surveys in Maharashtra and Gujarat. In the first Presentation Viswanathan highlighted that though there are beneficial impact of Bt-cotton technology terms of increase in yield and lower requirement of insecticide use, it has been a failure.  It argued that new regulatory institutional mechanisms are needed for the proper grounding and spread of Bt-technology. While, dealing with the case of Punjab in the second presentation Sukhwinder Singh delineated the salient features of numerous aspects of cotton production system. It emerged from the presentation that the general state of affairs pertaining to cotton production is not very encouraging in the state of Punjab. The state of affairs related to education, water supply, health care in rural areas is in very bad shape. In dealing with the impact of Bt-cotton technology the presentation urged the concern for the health problems.  A need for Public policy in handling the problem arising out of the use of Bt-cotton technology in Punjab was emphasized. The discussant of the session, Prof. Bhullar, after the two presentations, argued for improvements in the papers related to data collection and sample section, comparison of recommended and non-recommended Bt-Cotton, area under Bt-cotton cultivation in Maharashtra, alternative to Bt-Cotton and the role of state.

The other two presentations made a departure from Bt-Cotton issue. The third presentation dealt with the analysis of different brand attributes like importance, image, value and equity that influence consumer while selecting a particular brand. As presented, from a survey of 200 customers in Rawalpindi and Islamabad cities of Pakistan it is found that brand importance, perceived and brand manage are the significant factors that influence customers to buy and utilize brands. The discussion from the floor dealt with the issue of the choices of different type of consumers. The fourth presentation was on the role of effective communication in retention and motivation of the employees. From a survey of 150 employees in various public and private sectors in Pakistan, the authors found that employees consider effective communication very important for their motivation and a vital source for their affiliation with the organization and retention. There is significant difference between male and female employees opinion about the role of effective communication.

CONCLUDING SESSION:

The brief report of the three day International Conference was presented by Prof. Lakhwinder Singh.  Dr. Reena Marwah highlighted the key recommendations of the Conference and delineated the follow-up action.

Dr. Sukhpal Singh provided a summary of the issues in policy implementation. The Conference concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Lakhwinder Singh.

*****