The economy of Bihar is dominated by agriculture, which contributes over a quarter of the state’s income and accounts for employment of about 70 per cent of the rural workforce. Hence, robust growth of the agriculture sector holds the key to the economic and social development of the state. Keeping this in view, the Government... Read More
Bihar has a geographical area of 9.4 million hectares and fertile agricultural land spread across the Indo-Gangetic plains. The net cultivated area in the state accounted for about 57 per cent of the total reported geographical area during 2012-14. Over 70 per cent of rural workers depend on agriculture for livelihood. Despite its importance for... Read More
Given fund shortages, government can at best address one/two most important constraints for agricultural growth. Applying Hausmann growth diagonostic framework, we have attempted to identify binding constraints to agricultural growth in Bihar. We find that the poor functioning of agricultural markets, reflected in the instability in the prices of agricultural produces and the low level... Read More
Fully 70 percent of its Bihar's rural work force is employed in agriculture, which contributes over a quarter of the state GDP. Hence, rapid agricultural development remains important for Bihar. Recognizing this, the State government started implementing what it called Agricultural Road Maps in 2008, and is currently on its third Road Map (2012-13 to... Read More
The five-year period 2012-13 to 2016-17 witnessed a decline in Indian merchandise exports at an average rate of 4.5 percent per annum. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry initiated a discussion in August 2018 on designing a strategy for doubling India’s exports by 2025. This growth from US$ 504 billion exports of goods and services... Read More
NCAER’s Mid-Year Review of the Indian Economy (MYR) presents the most comprehensive, independent assessment of the Indian economy. The 2019-20 Review has been published in a longstanding partnership with the India International Centre (IIC), New Delhi. NCAER is grateful to Rudrani Bhattacharya at NIPFP for collaborating with us on the crucial forecasting and nowcasting exercises:
We need a timebound mechanism to transition to a clearer land titling system The Indian macroeconomic slowdown is perceived as being structural in nature. One of the key suggestions being made is that India needs to carry out factor market reforms including those of land markets. In this article we make a specific policy recommendation... Read More
The national discourse can ill-afford the danger of being hijacked by the poor quality of data. Last week demographers from around the world gathered in Delhi to mark 25 years of National Family Health Surveys (NFHS). It was both a celebratory and sombre moment. Policymakers and researchers celebrated tremendous achievements of four rounds of the... Read More
Putting more money in the hands of the poor who have a high propensity to consume should be the aim of our fiscal policy. Abhijit Banerjee Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer have just been awarded the 2019 economics Nobel for their work on combating poverty. Banerjee Raghuram Rajan and others have also underlined the seriousness... Read More
Breaking away from the age-old tradition of immersing idols in rivers such as Yamuna this year set a new trend in Delhi. Following the directive of the National Green Tribunal-appointed committee idol immersion in the Yamuna this Dussehra was largely avoided albeit reluctantly by the ritual loving public. Instead the idols were immersed in artificially... Read More
While we do not question the basic premise that air pollution has adverse health impact we are sceptical about the figures quoted and the methodology adopted in estimating the cost. In the past three years several studies have linked air pollution with health effects. For instance the State of Global Air 2019 published by the... Read More