Reducing poverty and hunger in India: the role of agriculture

"India's strategy for reducing poverty and hunger has always placed a great deal of importance on the agricultural sector, reflecting the fact that 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas and the overwhelming majority of them depend upon agriculture as their primary source of income. The focus of attention has of course changed over time." from Textindia, Asia, Poverty reduction, Hunger, agricultural sector, rural areas, Irrigation, Water Management, Seeds, Agricultural productivity, Fertilizers, Agricultural diversification Economic aspects, Public investment,

Distribution des revenus et développement : quelques faits stylisés

In recent years, the relationship between income distribution and the process of development has come under increasing scrutinity. Much of the debate has focused on the hypothesis, originally advanced by Simon Kuznets, that the secular behavior of inequality follows an inverted U shaped pattern which inequality first increasing and then decreasing with development. This hypothesis has become so much a part of the conventional wisdom on this subject that it has generated considerable skepticism about the welfare implications of the development process. Indeed, on some interpretations, developing countries face the grim prospect not just of increasing relative inequality, but also of declining absolute incomes for the lower income groups.The object of the article is to re-examine the empirical basis for this hypothesis using a recent compilation of cross-country data made at the World Bank. The author uses multiple regression to estimate cross country relationships between inequality, as reflected in the income shares of various percentile groups, and selected explanatory variables reflecting different aspects of the development process. The results suggest that while there may be a secular time path for inequality which developing countries must traverse and which contains a phase of increasing inequality, there is at least no evidence that faster growing countries show higher inequality at the same level of development than slower growing countries

Distribution des revenus et développement : quelques faits stylisés

In recent years, the relationship between income distribution and the process of development has come under increasing scrutinity. Much of the debate has focused on the hypothesis, originally advanced by Simon Kuznets, that the secular behavior of inequality follows an inverted U shaped pattern which inequality first increasing and then decreasing with development. This hypothesis has become so much a part of the conventional wisdom on this subject that it has generated considerable skepticism about the welfare implications of the development process. Indeed, on some interpretations, developing countries face the grim prospect not just of increasing relative inequality, but also of declining absolute incomes for the lower income groups.

Lessons learned from the dragon (China) and the elephant (India): Essays from IFPRI's 2004-2005 Annual Report

"The world made significant progress on reducing poverty between 1981 and 2001 — the number of people in developing countries living on less than US$1 a day fell from 1.5 billion to 1.1 billion, or from 40 to 21 percent of the world's population. In fact, however, nearly all this progress reflects gains made in reducing poverty in China and India, two of the world's fastest-growing economies. The rapid economic growth and enormous poverty reduction achieved by China, and to a lesser extent India, are remarkable accomplishments that bear closer investigation. What do the experiences of these two countries reveal about how to sequence reforms and about what kinds of reforms are most effective in stimulating growth and combating poverty? These three essays compare the experiences of China and India to learn what steps each country took and what lessons they each have to offer." from TextPoverty reduction, economic growth, Economic reform, Governance, Food policy, Food systems, Agriculture, Rural development Asia,

Lessons learned from the dragon (China) and the elephant (India): essays from IFPRI's 2004-2005 Annual Report [In Chinese]

"The world made significant progress on reducing poverty between 1981 and 2001 — the number of people in developing countries living on less than US$1 a day fell from 1.5 billion to 1.1 billion, or from 40 to 21 percent of the world's population. In fact, however, nearly all this progress reflects gains made in reducing poverty in China and India, two of the world's fastest-growing economies. The rapid economic growth and enormous poverty reduction achieved by China, and to a lesser extent India, are remarkable accomplishments that bear closer investigation. What do the experiences of these two countries reveal about how to sequence reforms and about what kinds of reforms are most effective in stimulating growth and combating poverty? These three essays compare the experiences of China and India to learn what steps each country took and what lessons they each have to offer." from TextPoverty reduction, economic growth, Economic reform, Governance, Food policy, Food systems, Agriculture, Rural development Asia,

Policies for Poverty Alleviation

The phenomenon of mass poverty in developing countries and its relationship to the development process has been the subject of intense study for the past two decades. As a result, a considerable consensus has emerged on a number of issues. The pessimistic view that the growth process in developing countries has the perverse effect of actually accentuating poverty commands far fewer followers today than it once did. It is now widely recognized that the process of growth in most countries, even if not as equitable as might be wished, has at least led to significant improvements in the conditions of living of the poor. However, it is also evident that in many countries the pace of improvement has been slow, and in general much below expectations

the role of agriculture

India's strategy for reducing poverty and hunger has always placed a great deal of importance on the agricultural sector, reflecting the fact that 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas and the overwhelming majority of them depend upon agriculture as their primary source of income. The focus of attention has of course changed over time.Non-PRIFPRI1; Poverty Reductio