Inequality, Poverty and Development in India

Even though 10 member countries of the Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), People’s Republic of China and India (ACI) have adopted polices for archiving more pro-poor or inclusive growth. However, income and non-income inequality in ACI have witnessed an increasing trend in recent years. In view of rising inequality in fast growing Asian developing countries, it is important to study the relationship between economic growth and income inequity which could assist policy makers to adopt appropriate policy action for more inclusive growth. This paper undertakes an empirical analysis to examine if economic growth increases income inequality for ACI. The objectives of the paper are: (i) to develop a simple model of policy-induced growth which shows a nonlinear and wave-like relationship between growth and inequality; (ii) to provide an empirical support to the above model to establish that the intention to use economic growth and inequality as policy instruments to shape economic development can backfire since the possibility of a wave-like function receives an empirical support from ACI data; and (iii) to exhibit that the nonlinear relationship between growth and inequality within ACI nations is mainly driven by the availability of foreign direct investment (FDI). In addition, the paper finds other interesting elements in the relationship between growth and inequality which has profound policy implications for the ACI Economies.

This study investigates the effects of the institutional quality along with socio-economic factors on foreign direct investment (FDI) of 156 countries using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Fixed Effect (FE) method. The findings of the study suggest that while corruption lowers FDI significantly, democracy, government stability, law and order, civil liberty and political rights have significant positive effects on FDI inflows. Results of the study also indicate that increased levels of educational attainment and openness in a trade regime lead to a higher level of FDI. Thus the policy prescription to attract higher FDI requires focussing on ensuring better institutional quality with a lower level of corruption along with raising the skill-base of the labour force in an outward looking external trade regime.

The trajectory of output growth, more precisely economic growth and its interaction with other phenomena of an economy follows a complex path. Among many phenomena the one that has caught the world attention at large scale especially since the work of Piketty and Saez is the “Rising Inequality in Incomes”. Though for some countries like India there was a reduction in the poverty level, there seems no positive bearing on economic growth in improving income distribution for past two decades. In this paper, we have used ARDL cointegration approach to analyze the relationship between income inequality (EHII, from UTIP-UNIDO) and its various determinants from 1964 to 2007. Besides using data on Estimated Household Income Inequality (EHII), we have used income share of top 1% as an alternative measure of inequality. Our results reveal no relevance of Kuznets Hypothesis, instead, the relationship is U-shaped in nature, implying that with the initial rise in GDP per capita inequality decreases, later on as GDP increases, inequality tends to increase. Among the control variables, CPI (price level) is found to be positively and Government expenditure negatively related to inequality, while trade openness showed no significant relationship.

This study analyses the economic inequality in India, with particular reference to Kerala in the post-reform period considering different caste groups namely, SC, ST, OBC and ‘Others’ as mentioned in NSS Household level Consumption Expenditure Survey Data. Two rounds of NSSO data viz. 61st and 66th were taken for the purpose of analysis. Gini coefficient and overlapping index were estimated for the whole as well as the subgroups using ANOGI methodology. From the analysis, it was found that the level of overall inequality as well as the intergroup inequality is on the rise in Kerala as well as India during the period of analysis. The study also identified the possibility of stratification among the group ‘Others’ for both India and Kerala. Further, it was found that SC’s and ST’s (in particular) bear the burden of the increasing inequality. This indicates that the various welfare measures initiated by the central as well as state governments might not have reached the majority of these downtrodden communities.

Inequalities play a major role in political and ethnic conflicts in different regions of the world. However economic literature has largely focused on vertical inequalities, i.e. inequalities among individuals as opposed to groups of people. In the recent times the focus has shifted to the role of horizontal inequalities, which refer to inequalities between groups of people sharing common identity such as race, ethnicity, language, religion or region (Stewart 2000). Therefore, they are multifaceted and include various dimensions (for, e.g. socio-economic, political and cultural status). This chapter refers to the recent Bodo-Muslim conflict in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts of Assam (BTAD) in 2012. We measure economic horizontal inequalities (EHIs) classifying population of BTAD into STs, SCs, OBC, other/general and Muslims using population weighted group Gini index (GGini). NSSO unit level data of 61st and 66th Consumer-Expenditure rounds have been used for calculations. We find that there are significant spatial and horizontal economic inequalities in the BTAD districts compared to the other districts of Assam. Among the social groups, Muslims are found to be the poorest while SCs are better off followed by the STs (mostly Bodos). In Assam as a whole, the extent of land owned by the ST households is found to be the highest while it is lowest among the Muslims. In sharp contrast, land ownership among Muslims is comparatively higher than the other groups (including the dominant Bodo group) in BTAD.

Our country is experimenting with Self-Help Groups for over 20 years. After the NABARD, panchayats started experimentation with self-help groups in their own way since l999. Swarojgar Yojana, world’s greatest credit-based poverty alleviation scheme relying on self-help was first announced in 1997 to glorify 50 years of independence. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY), microcredit-based scheme, came into effect from April, 1999. This scheme was planned to promote group loans, encourage small-scale savings and group enterprises to develop agency in some predetermined stages. The District cells and the panchayats worked in cooperation with the local level banks to organize the groups and implement the programme at the local level. Many studies have tried to investigate the progress of the self-help groups and their impact on rural livelihood and female empowerment during the last decade. In our micro-level study, we shall try to probe into the factors which play key role in involving the rural households with the self-help groups. The chapter tried to find out the determinants of association with these groups in two different districts at the village panchayat level on the basis of primary survey. Our findings suggest that not only economic factors but social and political factors play an important role in determining association of rural households to the SGSY programme.

Arunachal Pradesh, though strategically very imperative, is one of the utmost backward states in India in the traditional wisdom of economic constraints. The extensive inaccessibility and separation from the main stream of the country postured daunting problems to the efforts of socioeconomic improvement of the state. This chapter studies the question of convergence in Arunachal Pradesh agriculture since the last decade. It focuses on the problems of (a) whether there has been a catching-up propensity (β-convergence) of slow-growing districts with fast-growing ones; and (b) whether there has been a propensity towards convergence (σ-convergence) in agricultural productivity during 2000–2010 over a representative cross section of Arunachal Pradesh districts. The chapter also examines the process of Galton’s fallacy through growth-terminal level regressions for robustness of the results. The propensity of low-KCC concentration districts to catch up with high-KCC concentration districts is examined through the unconditional β-convergence approach, and the operation of Galton’s fallacy through growth-terminal agricultural productivity-level regressions. The shrinking of variance in productivity levels is tested by using the σ-convergence approach and the robustness of the results is tested by using alternative test statistics. The results suggest that comparatively agriculturally poor districts, if not all, have been able to catch up with the agriculturally rich districts, demonstrating β-convergence. Although the growth of KCC loans varied across the districts, the average speed of convergence remained more or less equal during both the periods. However, inter-district differences in growths of KCC loans have significantly declined in the state indicating σ-convergence. Neither did the low (agriculture) productivity districts grow faster, nor did the high (agriculture) productivity districts grow slower to demonstrate the catching-up or β-convergence process. These tendencies are likely to continue in Arunachal Pradesh agriculture unless adequate investments or technological interventions are made to enhance agriculture productivity. This would furthermore help in credit deepening and credit widening (both horizontal and vertical financial inclusion) through KCC loans, leading to a further convergence. State governments and banks should create enabling environment that can improve credit absorption capacity of farmers and geographical areas, accelerate flow of credit and loan recovery simultaneously.

Riverine (Char area) of the Brahmaputra flowing through Assam are most backward and neglected areas. There about 2251 Chars covering about 10% population of Assam. This chapter tries to examine the Insurance and Banking habits regulating economic stability of the people of char areas in Lower Assam. This study is based on the survey ‘Dynamics of socio-economic development of Char areas of Lower Assam’ was conducted during the year 2003–2005 under the financial support of University Grants Commission, New Delhi on randomly selected char areas. Insurance and banking habits have been considered in the survey to study the economic stability of the people. A log-linear model and contingency table have been considered in this study. It is observed that the proportion of insured households in the low income group is nil; it rises to a small in the lower middle group and then goes up in the upper middle group and after that steadily increases to the high income group. The economic status reveals that only the upper middle income and high income group households have been able to avail the facility of banking and insurance. The households in the low income group and lower middle income group went unrepresented.

Assessing Nagaland’s economy from the usual economic denominators like Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), Per Capita Income, Human Development Index (HDI), economic growth rate, etc., gives the misleading picture that the state is doing well. There are other indicators which show the weak side of the state’s economy: there is a preponderance of the service sector, the public administration contributes nearly a fifth of the state’s GSDP, the industrial sector is small, the infrastructure is poor and the state is dependent on the central government. The state’s economy has these ills because of the political problem that it is stuck in, resulting in the existence of many nationalist groups and a consequent weak government. Unless this is solved, Nagaland will continue to have the same economic problems it is having.

One of the foremost objectives of post-independence Indian planning has been to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, thus improving the lives of those battered by deprivation and suffering. With some of the initiatives by government, presently Indian economy is experiencing higher growth since last two decades of new economic policy regime. So it is an appropriate time to review and examine the precise impact of reform process on poverty, inequality and deprivation. The objective of this present study is to examine poverty, inequality and relative deprivation among northeastern states of India during 2004–05 (61st Round) and 2011–12 (68th Round) of NSSO’s Consumer Expenditure Survey Rounds data. This chapter used headcount ratio to measure poverty, relative deprivation index to understand the level of deprivation among the northeastern states of India. In addition, we have used Gini Coefficient for inequality prevalence. Our analysis depicts that the headcount poverty ratio of Tripura has highest in rural northeastern states, which has worse than national averages in 2004–05. Results also divulge that states like Sikkim, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya have less than 10% poverty level in 2011–12 in urban area. The highest reduction in poverty has shown in rural Tripura during 2004–05 to 2011–12. The urban poverty is lower for all the states than rural area. Further results of relative deprivation show that, only Tripura is relative deprived state in rural whereas Sikkim and Manipur in Urban during 2004–05. The number of relative disadvantages states has increased in 2011–12 for both rural and urban. The highest relative disadvantages are in Arunachal Pradesh for rural, and in Manipur for the urban area during 2011–12. The highest relatively advantages are Nagaland in 2004–05 and Sikkim 2011–12 for both place in rural and urban among all the northeastern states. Relative disadvantages have increased or relative advantages have decreased during 2011–12 from 2004–05 in all northeastern states except for Tripura and Sikkim in rural. Inequality is lower in rural area as compare to urban area both periods except Sikkim in 2004–05 and Arunachal Pradesh both periods. Within rural area, the inequality has increased in 2011–12 for Sikkim and Nagaland whereas urban area two more states joined in this category, i.e. Tripura and Meghalaya. Oaxaca Blinder results show that sector, state and education play key role in differences of mean expenditure of poor and non-poor for endowment as well as return to endowment impact.

Deprivation of women is an obstacle in effective human capital formation as well as in determination of future demographic dividend of an economy. Deprivation of women is a multidimensional and context specific issue. This study has attempted to investigate the extent and inequality of some indicators of deprivation of women across the states of northeast India. Female illiteracy rate, Incidence of child marriage, proportional gap of female headed households, workforce non-participation rate for female, rate of crime committed against women are the indicators considered in this study. This study is based on secondary data published by directorates of population census, 2011, and National Crime Records Bureau, 2012. In order to determine the positions of the states in northeast India and to compare them with West Bengal in respect of deprivation of women a weighted deprivation index for women (WDIW) of each state has been developed. We basically follow the Anand and Sen (Concept of human development and poverty: A multidimensional perspectives, UNDP: Background Paper for Human Development Report 1997) methodology for computing indices. Only the relevant principal components of the indicators have been replaced in place of the indicators and weights are generated from Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Atkinson measures of inequality have been applied to gauge the inequality of deprivation of women. This study explores that among the states in northeast India deprivation of women in Meghalaya is least, followed by Nagaland, Mizoram. Assam is the worst in position among the states of northeast India. In contrast to the state of West Bengal all the states of northeast India are better in position in terms of deprivation of Women. However, the states of northeast India are less diverse in terms of multifaceted deprivation of women.

This chapter attempts to examine the levels of living and assess the disparities across the states in the North Eastern Region (NER) of India. It also discusses the changes in the levels of living over the years. Data from varied sources like the National Sample Surveys on consumer expenditure and employment and unemployment, the Census of India and the National Family Health Surveys have been used. The level of living has been measured by a wide range of indicators like employment, per capita consumption expenditure, nutritional intake, educational attainment, demographic structure, literacy rates, household amenities, consumer durables and summary health indicators. In this chapter, each of these indicators have been presented, discussed and have also been combined into a composite index called the standard-of-living index. For comparative purposes, the analysis in the chapter is carried out for each of the eight states in NER and also for the all India average. The study covers a period of about 20 years from 1991 to 2012. Results for rural and urban areas have been presented separately. The chapter highlights the disparities in the NER and underscores the fact that development has mostly bypassed the rural areas.

Urban poverty and increasing urban (municipal) population are the major concern in the development arena in Nepal. In 1954, the urban population in Nepal was 3% of the total population. However in 2011, the urban population residing in the country constitutes 17% of its total population. As such scenario, the formulation of policy strategy for the better life of such rapidly increasing urban population is to be done as early as possible. Fiscal decentralization has been taken as the policy strategy for reducing poverty in most of the countries. In this backdrop, this article intends to examine the association between fiscal decentralization and poverty reduction in the municipalities of Nepal. This study is based on the poverty head count ratio and fiscal decentralization variables adopted from the data of all (58) municipalities in Nepal for the period 1983–2010. The poverty measures and fiscal decentralization variables are used for the study from 1983 through 2010. The comparison in the state of poverty and fiscal decentralization before and after the enactment of Local Self Governance Act, 1999 (LSGA) in Nepal is to be analyzed. Descriptive as well as analytical method is adopted.

Public works programme or workfare programme has emerged as the strategic intervention in addressing unemployment, poverty as well as infrastructure building. The central plank of the programme is that income transfer particularly during distress times enables consumption soothing for the poor households and the resultant sustainable assets generate another bout of livelihood avenues. MGNREGA in India is the largest employment guarantee programme in the world in terms of statutory ordination as well as coverage. It has evoked positive expectations as it is poised to reduce poverty, reverse inequality and out-migration and to resuscitate rural economy by improving infrastructure and agricultural productivity. Notwithstanding the prodigious potentialities and few survey evidences on the affirmative impacts on rural poverty, it is equally emphatic that the success of MGNREGA would hinge on many pre-requisites like rolling out of at least the stipulated days of work to the poor especially during the time of joblessness (as in lean agricultural session) and the undertaken works having clear focus on agricultural productivity and rural livelihood. With the general objective of peeking at whether and how MGNREGA is reaching out to areas/ regions with larger concentration of rural poor, this chapter singles out the poorest district of West Bengal (i.e. Cooch Behar) and its poorest administrative Block (i.e. Dinhata-I) and explores the association between the progress of MGNREGA and participation of the poor in the sample district and Block. The analysis of the aggregate official data evinces that MGNREGA has fallen short of offering the envisaged number of person-days, thus it has not catered to the subsistence demands of the poor. In other words, a clear relationship between the outreach of MGNREGA and the proportion of the poor households seems to be missing and this is likely to have little impact on the poverty eradication efforts and outcome. Together with such disconnect, the chapter also highlights few other procedural dimensions which hold up the general fruition of MGNREGA.

Poverty is generally conceptulised as the inability of an individual to attain some basic needs of life or to secure a normative minimum level of living. The basic needs consist of food and non-food requirements and those who are unable to attain so are considered to be poor. In reality, the concept of poverty is viewed from a wider angle. The basic requirements primarily include the levels of income and consumption. Apart from these, it not only covers the health and education but also takes into account the vulnerability and risks; marginalisation and exclusion of the poor from the mainstream of society. So the concept of poverty is multidimensional. In 1962 an Official Working Group defined the normative minimum for the first time and subsequently reviewed by several Expert Groups in 1979 (Alagh), 1993 (Lakdawala), 2009 (Tendulkar) and in 2014 (Rangarajan) and they tried to find out the percentage of people living below the so called poverty line both in rural and urban India. The estimates reveal that in West Bengal rural poverty showed a declining trend in the last four decades since the 1970s. This chapter deals with the nature and extent of poverty in rural West Bengal during the last four decades, taking into account the poverty estimates of the different Expert Groups. It ends up with some kind of an analytical decomposition of the changes in rural poverty into growth and inequality effects on the basis of poverty and inequality estimates done by Jha in (Economic and Political Weekly, 35(11):921–928, 2000).

The interrelationship between ‘population and economic development’ and ‘poverty and human development’ is direct but negative. Both are two faces of a coin and they are mutually exclusive. Rising population affects the economic growth of a region and hence this exacerbates starvation and brings poverty in the population. Poverty magnifies the problem of hunger, poor health forms, malnutrition. Educating women, children and adults in the population would help to control the growth rate of population, work for spouse, better health care and livelihood. Several concepts are available in the literature to measure poverty. The goal of this chapter is to analyse the spatial distribution of poverty levels from the viewpoint of several poverty indicators and looks into mitigation of poverty and sustainable development in North-Eastern states of India through three important pillars of development, namely economic, social and education.

Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is foremost among the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were adopted in the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000. Eradication of hunger figures among the MDGs because freedom from hunger is a human right. It is also treated as a MDG because hunger related malnutrition results in ill health leading to loss of productivity of the working age population and the productive potential of a country by affecting the health of its children. Loss of lives due to hunger and malnutrition can also lower the productive capacity of countries both in the short and the long run. Eradication of hunger is also important because persistent hunger leads to political and social crisis. Using Census data and secondary data sources, it will be shown in the chapter that famine and hunger caused by rodents and the Assam government’s failure of governance in providing relief to the starving Mizos were proximate causes of the 20-year long insurgency and social unrest in the Mizo Hills from 1966 to 1986. The chapter will focus on a historical analysis of the failure of the Assam government in dealing with hunger and famine in the Mizo Hills District, the political economy operating behind its failure of governance and the outcome of this failure.

It is immensely important to read and review the processes and conditions those govern the courses of human development in the environment human being live (Bronfenbrenner in The ecology of human development: experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1979). Along with the family, society and school environment, instability and unpredictability caused to the family by catastrophes in livelihood avenues are the most destructive force to children’s development. This chapter tries to capture the environment of children in three relatively backward and conflict prone districts of Assam—Darrang, Udalguri and Baska. Children in a country like India are affected by certain indirect factors such as poor governance, corruption and poor implementation of rule of law (prime determinants of conflicts!). On the other hand, there are direct impacts from—ethnic conflicts, violent crimes and sexual assault on women and children—all cause unpredictability and uncertainties at home and in the local economy even leading to loss of livelihood. The final outcomes are dehumanisation of people trapped in unemployment and poverty, lack of schools (reasons for dropouts are mostly economic) and lack of access to health care services (poor public provisioning). All are significant determinants, which affect well-being in the families. Assessments reveal that in the study areas more than 50% of the children are chronically malnourished (height for age SD score), much higher than state (21%) and country average (24%, NFHS-3 data). In this context, in addition to assessment of the social and economic environment, need is also to construct indicators of insecurities. Considering that conflicts induce setback to the day to day life and development initiatives, it is important to read, assess, rectify and replace the inherent or existing regulatory factors by the society and polity (Aglietta in Economy and Society 19(2): 153–216, 1975). The issue is that to what extent these are possible to break the vicious cycle.

Wetland has got a formidable role for maintaining the terrestrial and aquatic eco-dynamics, which in turn sustains critical ecological deliverables for sustainable development and environmental freshness. The northeast of India is endowed with 30% of total wetlands which has well been orchestrated with the life and culture, economy and ecology as well. All these wetlands are profusely fed during peak rainy season and as a result bounty of water gifted by nature has made the main river system, its tributaries, mostly in Indo-Bangladesh regions, a rich source of sweet water for this entire region. These are immensely resourceful for production of valuable aquatic food crops [deepwater rice (Oryza sativa L.), water chestnut (Trapa bispinosa Roxb.), makhana (Euryale ferox Salisb.), water-lily (Nymphaea sp.), Colocasia, or Cyrtosperma sp.] as well as vegetables crops in the contiguous lands, which remain so far overlooked or underutilized. These crops have got huge yield potentials and are highly remunerative, mostly preferred by rural and urban people in this region. This paper deals with a number of case studies commencing over last 15–16 years on proper utilization of waste wetlands in different agro-zones (new alluvial, old alluvial, and coastal and saline) involving wide sector of downtrodden, resource-poor to marginal farming communities. These research activities are carried out under the aegis of Government of India aided transfer of technology-based research projects, formulated with low-cost updating agro-techniques. The following improvised integrated nutrient management systems (organic, inorganic including micronutrients applied with proper dose and time) were executed for enhancing productivity and economic viability (exhibited even > 3.0-folds than that of farmers’ practice) at sustainable level. The study reveals that this improvised farm practice is imperative to utilize these vast unused wetlands, particularly in north-eastern part with a focus on food, livelihood, engagement of household labors and ultimately, economic sustainability of rural people.

The present study aims at strategies for competitive farming with sustainability. The research is based on “Theory U.” The study is of a qualitative nature, prepared through the Content Analysis Method, supported by bibliographical sources, to face empirically the strategy required to the sustainability with focus on competitive advantage. It is based upon three specific objectives. (1) To raise/craft the basic competitive strategies in the familiar farming activities (2) To analyze the operability of the strategies found in face of the perspective sustainability (3) To structure subsides to required innovation in socio-environmental sustainability with focus on family farming. It is observed that the adaptation of generators model of competitive advantage according to the theoretical concepts of Triple Bottom Line can direct the consecution of sustainable competitive advantages in the familiar farming activity.

Experience of growth in BRICS countries shows that one percentage growth in agriculture is two to three times more effective in poverty reduction when compared to one percentage growth emanating from non-agricultural sectors. State average of sectoral GSDP growth over 2008–09 to 2013–14 shows a recovery of 4.1% per annum as compared to 1.7% per annum during 2000–01 to 2004–05. Six out of the eight Northeastern states of India show higher than all India average performance during this period, viz. Sikkim (9.8%), Tripura (6.1%), Arunachal Pradesh (5.5%), Meghalaya (4.9%), Nagaland (4.9%) and Mizoram (4.3%). State wise analysis of various agricultural parameters and multi-dimensional poverty indicators revealed that each state has a unique relationship in terms of growth in agriculture and poverty. The hypothesis of high farm growth reduced poverty was true for Sikkim, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam and true in the reverse direction for Manipur. High growth of agriculture was non-inclusive and hence could not have impact on poverty in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. Mizoram with too many population in rural areas depending on agriculture had high farm growth and but increase in rural poverty. However, the state had only 0.094 MPI value in 2011–12. Overall, states with high GSDPA growth observed reduced poverty taking other parameters into account. States with high share of Non-Farm Sector (NFS) and Animal Husbandry (AH) in monthly income of agricultural household had improving rural poverty. Improving performance of agriculture needs to be focused upon reducing poverty, both incidence and intensity of poverty. Among agricultural inputs, irrigation needs to be prioritised, as in ground water resources in northeast India are under-utilized while blessed with sufficient rainfall, which offers scope to install a battery of shallow and deep tube wells to draw ground water during the Rabi season. Further, efforts are to be made to increase production and productivity of high-value crops. Northeastern states have skill and raw materials to engage in self-employment activities, viz. weaving, pottery, cane and bamboo products, etc., and therefore, with the development of agriculture sector, NFS also to be stressed upon.

The Northeastern region of India consists of eight states—Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Their performance has similarities as well as dissimilarities under different socio-economic and environmental parameters. They have wide divergence in per capita income but by and large have low inequality in income distribution. The incidence of poverty in five of the eight states is lower than the national average. Six out of eight states have a lower infant mortality rate than the national average. Six out of eight states have a higher literacy rate than the national average. The Environmental Performance Index based on air pollution, water quality, forests, waste management and climate change varies from 0.43 to 0.75 across these states against a national average of 0.58. This chapter analyses the socio-economic and environmental performance of Northeastern states.

This chapter tries to examine the adaptability of farmers with changing climatic and role of various factors in adaptation and crop diversificaty in Assam. Diversity of crops here is measured by Herfindahl Index (HI) at the farm as well as village level. Also the adaptation index (AI) is constructed using formula AI = (∑P _i  * X _i )/n, where P _i is the weight of ith adaptation; X _i . P _i is computed as the proportion of ith strategy in the gross number of adaptations followed by all the farmers in the area. Effects of different factors on the level of diversification of crops by the individual farmers and on the adaptability with the changing agro-climatic conditions are examined by the multiple regression of the type Y = βX + D + U _i . Here, Y represents either farm level Herfindahl Index (Diversity Index) or Adaptation Index. The results reveal that respondent farmers’ education, their farm size, area of possessions and contribution of agriculture in family income have positive impacts on a diversity of crops as well as adaptation by moderating the adverse climate impact or avoid climate related disaster. Education is highly dominant for obtaining better knowledge and expediting technology adoption capacity of farmers in a better way to the changing climate.

Unlike exhaustible resources, forest is one of the renewable resources having regeneration capacity. However the environmental effects of the deforestation as a consequence of rising consumption and economic growth is not ignorable. Therefore, it is essential to understand the dynamic behaviour of forest cover for their conservation and sustainable forest management. This chapter uses Pontryagin’s maximum principle to formulate the optimal control path of forests. Mathematical softwares like MATLAB and Mathematica have been used to depict the behavioural trend of forests. Some empirical testing and calculations have been made by using the data of Assam’s forest cover for illustrative purpose. However the outcomes are constrained by data availability. The chapter finds that any slight change in the stock leads to a change in the whole behaviour of the forest cover over time and there is a specific rate of regeneration and specific consumption/harvest rate for every quantity of stock, which may keep the stock of forests constant. A small decline in regeneration and a small increase in consumption may lead to notable deforestation. Impatience (discounting the future utility with higher rates) in planning may result lesser consumption and lower stock in future. Extraction of the rents from the renewable resources should be equal to the natural rate of growth of the resources and these rents should be invested in their regeneration wherever possible.

Women are a key to development of rural areas through their contributions to sustainable agriculture and rural development, including food security. Present chapter is an attempt to realize women’s status, including their unequal access to resources and their invisibility in statistics, in every aspect of agriculture all over India. Work Participation Rate (WPR) in agriculture is determined to study the gender biasness, if it exists, for all the states including the states of northeast. Access to land is also judged comparing the population as cultivator and agriculture Labour.