Tapping Economies of Scale and Scope in Consumer Cooperation - A Case Analysis of Possible Cooperation among selected Cooperatives

Because of its narrow and negative perspective of safeguarding the interests of only poor consumers against unethical practices of the private traders, consumer cooperation in India seems to have failed, except probably in some isolated pockets. A number of social welfare functions like poverty alleviation and public distribution of essential items of consumption have been imposed on them at the cost of their basic economics. With the basic micro and macro-economic rationale for consumer cooperatives as a positive form of economic organization being lost sight of, they seem to be facing enormous problems both historically as well as currently in a era of economic liberalization. Their worries seem to have been compounded with the threat of impending competition from large private enterpriss - both domestic and foreign, which highlights the need for evolving strategies to rectivy their systemic weaknesses and tackling the competition head on. This case has attempted to document just such an initiative through a round table conference with several doyens of the consumer cooperative movement in India such as Warana Bazar and Amalsad Mandali as well as some fledging consumer cooperatives from West Bengal which are already in existence for some time or contemplating entry into this field. The roundtable conference organized in the spirit of Cooperation among Cooperatives attempted to evolve strategies to capture economies of scale and scope in order to take on the competition, as well as to facilitate dissemination of ideas and information across the country.

An Institutional Economics Approach to the Problems of Small Farmer Credit in India.

This paper applies the tools of institutional economics – especially those pertaining to informational asymmetry and transaction costs - for studying the credit problems of small farmers in India, who, in spite of a vast network of credit institutions developed over a long period of time under government ownership and/or control, are alleged as not getting a share of formal sector credit commensurate with their statistical dominance. It uses data collected by the Agro-economic Research Centers and Units under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India from a carefully selected sample of 700 borrower households across the country over a period of three years (1997-1998 to 1999-2000) to provide a preliminary explanation of the various dimensions of a credit package in terms of variation in borrower’s village, household and other loan attributes.

Short-Term and Medium-Term Prospects of Agricultural Sector in Gujarat – Some Policy Recommendations

By mid-September, 2003 it is becoming clear that Gujarat is likely to experience a bumper crop in the year 2003-04. The State Ministry of Agriculture is looking for some concrete suggestions, advice and policy recommendations to better manage the situation likely to be created by the bumper crop this year. Falling prices in the face of bumper crop can considerably wipe out positive effect on agricultural incomes in the hands of farmers in the State. Short-term measures to avoid such a situation need to be integrated into medium term and long term development strategy for the State agricultural sector. The present paper provides some implementable policy recommendations in this context.

A Perspective on Fisheries Sector Interventions for Livelihood Promotion

The distinctive features of fisheries resources, fishers and their geographic contexts, on the one hand, and broad stylized features of the existing lacklustre performance of this sector, on the other, call for specialized and sustained efforts to promote livelihood of usually poor, backward and unorganized fisher communities, which are nevertheless and often the most intimate stakeholder of this sector and its underlying resources. To develop a perspective on intervention strategies for livelihood promotion of most intimate stakeholders – that is, the fisher folk, in a sustainable manner, this paper uses clues from recent economic theories and management tools on property rights, Coase Theorem, stakeholder cooperation and public-private-community partnership in an effort towards resolving the multi-dimensional problems of this sector. It stratifies and brings out the pros and cons of the existing fishing efforts into four categories of models – the traditional marketing model, state-led models of livelihood promotion and fisheries development (including cases of para-statal cooperatives), entrepreneur or leader-driven models, and technology-driven models, through selected illustrations from different parts of the country and covering both marine and inland (including brackish water) segments of fisheries. The paper, after identifying the major ingredients for sustainable livelihood development around fisheries, finally articulates Dr. APJ Kalam’s concept of PURA to recommend a rural entrepreneur-led hybrid model of fisheries development to solicit sustainable and growth oriented cooperation among the suppliers of land (i.e., stakeholders to fishery resources, which are available through Nature), labor (including fishers) and capital (including professionals). The ultimate goal of this paper is to derive inspiration from Coase Theorem and the Japanese model of Keiretsu to empower the producers and suppliers of fish – namely, the fisher folk and to place them at the centre stage of control of rural entrepreneur-led private organizations, wherein the fisher community will not be deemed as mere consumers or vendors of fish, but will enter as dignified co-producer partners with significant shares in residual claim and residual control in those organizations.

Study on the effect of toxicity under highly arsenic prone zone in Nadia district of West Bengal in India

The present study was carried out on the basis of status of arsenic in soil, drinking water and plants, blood, urine and faeces of animals at arsenic prone zone. Within the ambit with the environment, the examination of animals was taken into consideration. They were screened and categorised on the degree of As toxicity. For field works animals were randomly selected from arsenic prone zone. The external manifestation indicated a complex syndrome and characteristic signs such as increased heart rate and respiratory rate, red urine, congested mucous membrane, anorexia, absence of ruminal motility, diarrhoea with blood, polyuria and unusual weight loss. The haematobiochemical changes such as low Hb level, decreased level of TEC, TLC and increased level ALT, AST, BUN and creatinine. Increased level of arsenic in urine, blood and faeces than the value of control animals could be the confirmatory indication of arsenic toxicity

"The fruits of independence": Satyajit Ray, Indian nationhood and the spectre of empire

Challenging the longstanding consensus that Satyajit Ray's work is largely free of ideological concerns and notable only for its humanistic richness, this article shows with reference to representations of British colonialism and Indian nationhood that Ray's films and stories are marked deeply and consistently by a distinctively Bengali variety of liberalism. Drawn from an ongoing biographical project, it commences with an overview of the nationalist milieu in which Ray grew up and emphasizes the preoccupation with colonialism and nationalism that marked his earliest unfilmed scripts. It then shows with case studies of Kanchanjangha (1962), Charulata (1964), First Class Kamra (First-Class Compartment, 1981), Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970), Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977), Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991) and Robertsoner Ruby (Robertson's Ruby, 1992) how Ray's mature work continued to combine a strongly anti-colonial viewpoint with a shifting perspective on Indian nationhood and an unequivocal commitment to cultural cosmopolitanism. Analysing how Ray articulated his ideological positions through the quintessentially liberal device of complexly staged debates that were apparently free, but in fact closed by the scenarist/director on ideologically specific notes, this article concludes that Ray's reputation as an all-forgiving, ‘everybody-has-his-reasons’ humanist is based on simplistic or even tendentious readings of his work