Political economy of labour and development in Kerala : some reflections on the dilemmas of a socially transforming labour force in a slow growing economy

Kerala is well-known for its achievements in the sphere of social development that includes a rapid and high level mobilisation and organisation of workers regardless of location and sectoral occupation. However such a process of social development without a commensurate transformation of the productive sectors has presented Kerala with some major dilemmas. This paper therefore takes a critical look at the political economy of labour and development by examining the roles of labour unions, state, and capital. The three dilemmmas relate to (i) technological choice in the face of high and rising labour costs in labour-intensive activities for maximising long-term growth and employment, (ii) mismatch between labour-supply and labour demand as a result of changing job expectations of the younger generation in a technologically stagnant economy, and (iii) lack of new investment despite growing loanable funds and declining resistance to technological change. The failure of labour unions to agree to productivity improvements through technological changes and increasingly resorting to 'closed shop' strategies has been particularly emphasised. JEL Classification : J38, J51, J58 Key words: unionisation, labour unions, technological change, labour productivity, cooperatives, unemployment, labour-intensive activities, dilemma, economic liberalisation, poor-relief, wage cost, political and social development, economic growth

Food security in a regional perspective : a view from 'food deficit' Kerala

The paper examines the question of food security viz-a-viz food availability and self sufficiency in production. Given the cropping pattern in Kerala it is unrealistic to expect food self-sufficiency. However, through a pro-poor public policy regime, Kerala has been able to enhance food security considerably. This situation is currently being challenged as a result of a shift in policy of the Central Government with regard to the Public Distribution System in the country. This could lead Kerala to accelerating its fiscal crisis should it decide to continue with the current system of food security. JEL Classification: I131; I138; Q18 Key Words: Food Security, Kerala State, Public Distribution System, poverty, public polic

Kerala's gulf connection : emigration, remittances and their macroeconomic impact, 1972-2000

This paper attempts to construct a time series estimation of remittances from abroad to the Kerala economy for the period 1972 to 2000. It is now widely acknowledged that foreign remittances in the economy of the State of Kerala in India in the form of money sent by its workers in the Gulf countries play a crucial role. The study finds that by the early nineties remittances to the Kerala economy assumed a significant share of state income. This ranged from 17 percent during 1991-92 and 24 percent during 1997-98 with an average of 22 percent for the second half of the nineties. The liberalisation of the Indian economic policies, particularly the foreign exchange rate, benefited Kerala directly. Adding the remittance income to the Net State Domestic Product, a Modified State Income series has been constructed. As a result Kerala’s per capita income not only caught up with the average per capita income for India but started exceeding it reaching 49 percent above the national average by the end of the nineties. This tallies with per capita consumer expenditure in Kerala, which was in excess of 41 percent above the national average by the end of the nineties. Remittances have also made significant impact on savings. By the nineties savings rates in the Kerala economy seem to have reached such high levels comparable to the East and South East Asian countries. The significance of remittances can also be gauged by its relative magnitudes. By the end of the nineties remittances reached such levels that they were well above the total government expenditure, value added in manufacturing and even the value added in industrial sector as a whole. JEL Classification: F22, J61 Key Words: emigration, Gulf countries, Kerala economy, remittances, and consumption

Mapping of coconut growing areas in Tamil Nadu, India using remote sensing and GIS

Importance of remotely sensed data for inventorying, mapping, monitoring and for the management and development planning for the optimum utilization of natural resources has been well established. Though, a lot of applications have been attempted using remote sensing tool, mapping of coconut growing areas has not been attempted at a regional level. Hence, this study was envisaged to map the coconut growing areas in Tamil Nadu, India using Survey of India Toposheet grid (1:50,000 scale) and Digital Globe data. The temporal window of these datasets ranged from March 2012 to June 2014. The data sets have a spatial resolution of 41 cm. It has been observed that Coimbatore has largest area under coconut among all districts of Tamil Nadu, followed by Tiruppur, Thanjavur and Dindigul. In terms of percentage of coconut area to the total geographical area of the district, Tiruppur, leads the list, followed by Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Thanjavur. On comparing the area obtained by this study with the area as per Coconut Development Board using a paired t-test, a p-value of 0.005 was obtained and hence, there is no significant difference between the two. Hence, it can be said that geospatial technologies like remote sensing and geographical information system are the best tools for accurate assessment and spatial data creation for crop mapping and area assessment

Agricultural drought monitoring in Tamil Nadu in India using Satellite-based multi vegetation indices

Drought being an insidious hazard, is considered to have one of the most complex phenomenons. The proposed study identifies remote sensing-based indices that could act as a proxy indicator in monitoring agricultural drought over Tamil Nadu's region India. The satellite data products were downloaded from 2000 to 2013 from MODIS, GLDAS – NOAH, and TRMM. The intensity of agricultural drought was studied using indices viz., NDVI, NDWI, NMDI, and NDDI. The satellite-derived spectral indices include raw, scaled, and combined indices. Comparing satellite-derived indices with in-situ rainfall data and 1-month SPI data was performed to identify exceptional drought to no drought conditions for September month. The additive combination of NDDI showed a positive correlation of 0.25 with rainfall and 0.23 with SPI, while the scaled NDDI and raw NDDI were negatively correlated with rainfall and SPI. Similar cases were noticed with raw LST and raw NMDI. Indices viz., LST, NDVI, and NDWI performed well; however, it was clear that NDWI performed better than NDVI while LST was crucial in deciding NDVI coverage over the study area. These results showed that no single index could be put forward to detect agricultural drought accurately; however, an additive combination of indices could be a successful proxy to vegetation stress identification.

Monitoring and mapping of seasonal vegetation trend in Tamil Nadu using NDVI and NDWI imagery

In order to monitor vegetation growth and development over the districts and land covers of Tamil Nadu, India during the crop growing season viz., Khairf and Rabi of 2017, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived surface reflectance product (MOD09A1) which is available at 500 m resolution and 8-day temporal period was used to derive a time series based Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) for monitoring and mapping terrestrial vegetation trend analysis which showed areas in Tamil Nadu having vegetation greening and vegetation browning. The regression slope values derived from the trend analysis was utilized and the NDVI and NDWI seasonal trend showed majority of area in Tamil Nadu falling under positive trend during the Kharif season (86.52 per cent for NDVI and 90.29 per cent for NDWI). While irrespective of land cover classes, NDVI and NDWI during Kharif season showed a greater positive trend (greening) with least negative trend (browning) for vegetation growth over the land covers whereas during Rabi season it was observed to have a mix of positive trend and negative trend over the land covers. This study was carried out to show that a systematic study can be done for understanding changes over the landscape through the use of high spatial resolution satellite dataset such as MODIS, which provides detailed spatial and temporal description at regional scale. While a trend analysis using regression slope values can be considered for demonstrating the spatial and temporal consistency on land and vegetation dynamics