Indian Economy

HSL515

Ishan Anand

2023-07-24

Email: [email protected] Office hours: Wed 14:00 - 15:00

Office: MS 602A, Main Building Lecture Time Slot: TFri 15:30-17:00

Course Overview

This course discusses the various phases and issues with respect to India’s economic devel-
opment. The topics discussed include India’s economic development challenges during the
colonial and the planning periods, and economic growth under liberalization. The course will
deal with the varied inequalities in the country, along the lines of caste, class, and gender, as
well as across regions. It will feature issues related to Indian agriculture, industry, services, as
well as trade and investment. The course will aim to provide various points of view on each
of these topics.

Evaluation Plan

Mid-Term: 30 per cent

Presentation and a short write-up: 20 per cent
End-Sem Exam: 50 per cent
Criteria for Audit Pass: 30 per cent and 75 per cent attendance

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Attendance

If a student’s attendance is less than 75%, the student will be awarded one grade less than the
actual grade that he/she has earned. For example, a student who has got an A grade but has
attendance less than 75% will be awarded an A (-) grade.
A student cannot get NP for an audit course if his/her attendance is less than 75%.

Tentitative Reading list

This is a tentative reading list. More readings will be provided in class and some parts may be
modified.

Unit 1: India’s development experience: An overview

Drèze, J., & Sen, A. (2013). An uncertain glory. In An Uncertain Glory. Princeton University
Press. Chapters 1-3
Bhagwati, Jagdish, and Arvind Panagariya. Why growth matters: How economic growth in
India reduced poverty and the lessons for other developing countries. Hachette UK, 2013. Part
1 (Chapters 1 to 6)

Unit 2: The World of Work

The Unemployment Challenge

Making Sense of India’s Measures of Unemployment
Growing Distress and a Falling Unemployment Rate
State of Working India 2018, chapters 1,2
Mehrotra, S., & Parida, J. K. (2021). Stalled structural change brings an employment crisis
in India. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 64(2), 281-308.
[Optional] Thomas, J. J. (2023). Employment Growth and Industrial Policy: The Challenge
for Indian States. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 1-17.

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Sectoral distribution of work and structural transformation
State of Working India 2018, chapter 3
Basole, A. (2022). Structural transformation and employment generation in India: Past per-
formance and the way forward. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 65(2), 295-320.
Ghose, A. K. (2020). Structural transformation of India’s economy. Institute for Human
Development.
Abraham, V. (2023). The Slow Emergence of Rural Non-farm Sector Employment in India:
Shift or Diversification?. The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 1-25.

Unit 3: Agriculture

Reddy, D. Narasimha, and Srijit Mishra (eds), ‘Agriculture in the Reforms Regime*’, in D.
Narasimha Reddy, and Srijit Mishra (eds), Agrarian Crisis in India (Delhi, 2010; online edn,
Oxford Academic, 18 Oct. 2012), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198069096.003.0001,
accessed 27 Feb. 2023. [Scanned copy uploaded]
Rajakumar, J. D., Mani, G., Shetty, S. L., & Karmarkar, V. M. (2019). Trends and patterns
of household indebtedness. Economic & Political Weekly, 54(9), 41.
Ramakumar, R., & Chavan, P. (2014). Bank credit to agriculture in India in the 2000s:
Dissecting the Revival. Review of Agrarian Studies, 4(2369-2021-076).
Clips from the documentary Nero’s Guest

Unit 4: Industry

Thomas, J. J. (2021). Has Labour Rigidity Slowed Down Employment Growth in Indian
Manufacturing?. India’s economy and society: Lateral explorations, 327-352.
Make in India: Why didn’t the Lion Roar?
India Derailed: A Falling Investment Rate and Deindustrialisation

Unit 5: Inequality

Weisskopf, T. E. (2011). Why worry about inequality in the booming Indian economy?. Eco-
nomic and Political Weekly, 41-51.
Trends in Economic Inequality in India

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Unit 6: Poverty

Narayan, Ambar, and Rinku Murgai. “Looking back on two decades of poverty and well-being
in India.” World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7626 (2016).
Subramanian, S. (2019). The Logic of the Poverty Line. In: Inequality and Poverty. Springer-
Briefs in Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8185-0_15
Subramanian, S. (2019). India’s Official Poverty Lines. In: Inequality and Poverty. Springer-
Briefs in Economics. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8185-0_16
Himanshu. “Do We Know What has Happened to Poverty since 2011-12?”

Unit 7: Axes of deprivation

State of Working India 2018, chapter 3

Neha Bailwal & Sourabh Paul (2021) Caste Discrimination in Provision of Public
Schools in Rural India, The Journal of Development Studies, 57:11, 1830-1851, DOI:
10.1080/00220388.2020.1862796
Anand, I., Thampi, A. The Crisis of Extreme Inequality in India. Ind. J. Labour Econ. 64,
663–683 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41027-021-00335-9
Anand, I. “Dalit Emancipation and the Land Question.” Economic and Political Weekly,
vol. 51, no. 47, 2016, pp. 12–14. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44165870. Accessed 10
Aug. 2023.

Unit 8: Non-income indicators of welbeing

Coffey, D., Deaton, A., Drèze, J., Spears, D., & Tarozzi, A. (2013). Stunting among children:
Facts and implications. Economic and Political Weekly, 48(34), 68-70.
Khera, Reetika. “Revival of the public distribution system: Evidence and explanations.”
(2011).
Persistence of Food Insecurity and Malnutrition
Thampi, A. (2019). Has the Economy Left the Children Behind?. Immiserizing Growth: When
Growth Fails the Poor, 176

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Unit 9: Social security initiatives

Drèze, J., & Khera, R. (2017). Recent social security initiatives in India. World Development,
98, 555-572.
Basic income in a poor country
Decoding universal basic income for India
The Continuing Relevance of MGNREGA
The Time Is Right for an Urban Employment Guarantee Programme

Unit 10: India’s statistical system

Bhattacharya, Pramit. “India’s Statistical System: Past, Present, Future.” (2023)

Shrinivasan, Rukmini. Whole numbers and half truths: What data can and cannot tell us
about modern India. Context, 2021.

Unit 11: A review of select debates

TBD