19 research outputs found
Risk of Financing Agriculture in the North-Eastern Hill Region of India with Special Reference to Meghalaya
The study pertains to the economic issues of risk and uncertainties associated with financing hill agriculture from the twin angles of risk of farmers to utilize the credit and of bankers to disburse the agricultural loan. The issues discussed are: first, why the financial institutions are reluctant to lend agricultural advances? Second, whether the farm income or rate of return on equity and non-equity capital is sufficient to repay the loan? Third, what are the major sources and the magnitude of risks and uncertainties associated with hill farming? Fourth, nature of agricultural marketing situation and how it affects the farm income in this region and finally, the possibilities have been explored, where and how the agricultural lending can be stepped up with positive economic return? The study has revealed that agricultural farming in north-east region of India is severely constrained by high risk and uncertainty arising out from various factors. Under the prevailing condition the expectation of a steady and assured income from agriculture is quite limited; hence, the hill farming fails to attract considerable private investment. The prevailing risk and uncertainty situation compels them to operate at low-input and low-output subsistence farming with low volume of marketable surplus. It has been found that the financial institutions face difficulty in financing the hill agriculture in view of low repayment performance and increasing non-performing assets for agricultural loan. Also, the absence/poor performance of crop insurance scheme (presently only Meghalaya and Sikkim are implementing the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme) increases the risk of hill farming considerably. Non-availability of reliable agricultural database (time series as well as cross section) on area, production and yield, cost of cultivation has been found the major impediments for implementing the crop insurance scheme efficiently. The agricultural situation in this region is highly heterogeneous; variability is extremely high even within a few kilometres of area. It has been suggested that suitable methodologies followed by a wide database be developed to estimate the yield and cost of production of horticultural crops which will help policymakers to formulate right policy to protect the interest of farmers as well as smooth functioning of all stakeholders ââŹâ entrepreneurs, private investors, bankers and crop insurance implementing agencies.Agricultural and Food Policy,
"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, âeverybody-has-his-reasonsâ humanist is based on simplistic or even tendentious readings of his work
Risk of Financing Agriculture in the North-Eastern Hill Region of India with Special Reference to Meghalaya
The study pertains to the economic issues of risk and uncertainties
associated with financing hill agriculture from the twin angles of risk of
farmers to utilize the credit and of bankers to disburse the agricultural
loan. The issues discussed are: first, why the financial institutions are
reluctant to lend agricultural advances? Second, whether the farm income
or rate of return on equity and non-equity capital is sufficient to repay the
loan? Third, what are the major sources and the magnitude of risks and
uncertainties associated with hill farming? Fourth, nature of agricultural
marketing situation and how it affects the farm income in this region and
finally, the possibilities have been explored, where and how the agricultural
lending can be stepped up with positive economic return? The study has
revealed that agricultural farming in north-east region of India is severely
constrained by high risk and uncertainty arising out from various factors.
Under the prevailing condition the expectation of a steady and assured
income from agriculture is quite limited; hence, the hill farming fails to
attract considerable private investment. The prevailing risk and uncertainty
situation compels them to operate at low-input and low-output subsistence
farming with low volume of marketable surplus. It has been found that the
financial institutions face difficulty in financing the hill agriculture in view
of low repayment performance and increasing non-performing assets for
agricultural loan. Also, the absence/poor performance of crop insurance
scheme (presently only Meghalaya and Sikkim are implementing the
National Agricultural Insurance Scheme) increases the risk of hill farming
considerably. Non-availability of reliable agricultural database (time series as well as cross section) on area, production and yield, cost of cultivation
has been found the major impediments for implementing the crop insurance
scheme efficiently. The agricultural situation in this region is highly
heterogeneous; variability is extremely high even within a few kilometres
of area. It has been suggested that suitable methodologies followed by a
wide database be developed to estimate the yield and cost of production
of horticultural crops which will help policymakers to formulate right policy
to protect the interest of farmers as well as smooth functioning of all
stakeholders â entrepreneurs, private investors, bankers and crop
insurance implementing agencies
Co-Application of Silicate and Low-Arsenic-Accumulating Rice Cultivars Efficiently Reduces Human Exposure to ArsenicâA Case Study from West Bengal, India
We investigated the effect of practically realizable doses of silicate on arsenic (As) uptake by differential-As-accumulating rice cultivars grown on geogenically As-polluted soil. The possible health risk from the dietary ingestion of As through rice was also assessed. In addition, a solution culture experiment was conducted to examine the role of root-secreted weak acids in differential As acquisition by rice cultivars. When grown without silicate, Badshabhog accumulated a much smaller amount of As in grain (0.11 mg kgâ1) when compared to the other three varieties. Satabdi, IR-36, and Khitish accumulated As in grain beyond the permissible limit (0.2 mg kgâ1) for human consumption. The application of silicate effectively reduced the As content in the grain, husk, and straw of all of the cultivars. The grain As content fell to 17.2 and 27.6% with the addition of sodium metasilicate at the rates of 250 and 500 mg kgâ1, respectively. In the case of Khitish, the grain As content was brought down within permissible limits by the applied silicate (500 mg kgâ1). The integrated use of low-As-accumulating cultivars and silicate has great potential to reduce the public health risks associated with As. A positive correlation between root-secreted total weak acid and grain As content could explain the different rice cultivarsâ differential As acquisition capacity