Organized by Department of Economics, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, in Collaboration with Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi.

07 and 08 March, 2014

It is the tradition of the department of economics to conduct national conferences every year which looks into contemporary issues and debates in Indian economy. This time the department thought there is a need to look at the sustainable development that balances the need of the present and the future generations. In this context, the National Conference invited papers from all over the country to examine and capture not just the social impact but also the social content of economic policies and of social plans. We are happy for the overwhelming response of the scholars from across the country. We have received more than 60 research papers, after thorough scrutiny we have selected 30 papers on various dimensions on the said theme.

The proposal of the national conference was also sent to Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR), New Delhi for sponsorship. We are proud to receive sponsorship from the ICSSR.  

Day–1:    07th March 2014

Inaugural Session:     9.15 am – 10.45 am
Venue: Main Auditorium, Auditorium Block

 

The Conference was inaugurated by Prof V K Natraj, Former Director of Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) who later delivered his inaugural address. The speaker stressed on the economic literatures which have shown that achieving sustainable development  requires social justice more than reforms and economic policies. When societies are torn by conflict, fragility, violence, or beset by inequality of opportunity based on gender, race and ethnicity on the one hand, corruption, lack of citizen voice undermining public participation in decision making on the other, the futures of these societies look desolate. Though the Indian economy has experienced significant changes in the post reform period, there are issues like social exclusion, low agriculture growth, uncertain employability, rapid decline in rupee value, development paths of vulnerable and marginalized segments of society, an increasing global consciousness of the challenge of climate action and its social dimensions, increasing urbanization and its impact on development, revolutionary changes in information and communication technologies needs to be addressed today.

The speaker ended his note by saying India as a welfare state becomes euphoric if the economic structure fails to revisit its path.

Dr Mahesh E, Conference Organising Secretary, welcomed and introduced the conference theme to the delegates and the audience. Next Dr John Joseph Kennedy, Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences delivered his presidential address. Prof Emmanuel P J, Head, Dept of Economics gave his vote of thanks.

Panel Discussion:     11 am – 01 pm   
Venue:                        Main Auditorium, Auditorium Block

Panel Discussion on the theme: ‘Sustainability, Reforms and Social Justice in Indian Economy – Lessons Learnt’

Following the inaugural session graced with the presence of Dr V K Nataraj, a panel discussion was held that was moderated by Dr Shrikantaswamy, Professor, School of Education, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), on the lines of the broad theme of the seminar. There were three speakers, all eminent faces in their respective fields to give their perspective on the theme at large.
It was our privilege to have Dr Raju Narayana Swamy IAS from Government of Kerala to offer the bureaucratic perspective. Dr Narayanaswamy enlightened the audience on the relevance and application of Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in the Indian economy. He was of the opinion that the MGNREGA scheme was an important step towards social justice but the critical issue to be addressed was corruption, especially by civil society at large.

Dr Etienne Rassendren Professor, St. Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, Bangalore, in his interesting perspective, called for the rethinking of issues at hand. According to him, the concept of sustainability has only been addressed from the anthropocentric view. He highlighted how the perceived superiority of humans over other living beings was also seen within human society using examples of the agrarian crisis, farmer suicides and gender stratification. He called for the need to view sustainability from the earthworm’s eyes and the need to reflect before acting. Preferential treatment of the marginalized has to be the order of the day.

Dr Vagishwari, Professor, Dept of History, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore offered a historical perspective on the theme by giving insights on the historical evolution on the concept of sustainability. In this process, the reforms suffered due to extremities. She was of the opinion that Indian and indigeneous requirements were foregone. Either political compulsions were not considered or due to the non-Indian nature of reforms, sustainability was not guaranteed. She called for native or region-centric paradigm of reforms.

Overall, it was an engaging session where all three panellists called for a bottom-up view of the phenomenon of sustainability to ensure its effectiveness.
Prof Divya Pradeep, Conference Coordinator welcomed the panellists. Prof Gerard Rassendren gave his vote of thanks.

Technical Session 1:         2 pm – 3.15 pm

The afternoon of the first day of the seminar saw a number of informative papers presented over the course of two technical sessions. The first session was Chaired by Dr Malini Tantri, Assistant Professor, ISEC, Bangalore.
Speaker 1- Cledwyn Fernandez: Paper Title- Futures Trading in Agriculture Commodities: Effects of the ban on Selected Commodities in India. The first paper, presented by Cledwyn Fernandez, was an interesting effort to check the impact of futures trading on food inflation in India, to examine the ban on certain commodities and to propose policy measures. The paper studied seven agricultural commodities and their prices over the period of 2006-2012, with special focus on the impact of bans on the prices of the commodities. The study, thus, analysed if the ban was effective in terms of quantity traded for these commodities. The presentation concluded with some very valuable policy suggestions of increasing agricultural production, management of the supply chain and reduces demand- supply gaps in the agricultural commodities market.

Speaker 2- Ratna Srinivasan: Paper title- Intricacies of Agriculture and Rural Development- As in Agriculture as a Pedestal for Rural Development. The paper was primarily focused on five major issues in the agricultural sector today, namely, irrigation, seed quality, quality of fertilizers, rural credit and wastage challenges faced by the Indian agriculture in each of the dimensions and how these could be addressed to provide a possible solution. It also analysed the role of reforms in the sector and the relationship between agrarian development and rural development. The analysis concluded with the idea that agriculture could be extremely helpful in reducing poverty and boosting rural development if effective transformations are provided.

Speaker 3- Bishikh Mohanty and Jayant Garg: Paper title- Economic Development and Rise of Social Discontent. The presentation broadly explained the current scenario of Indian development and the issues that threaten the process of progress in the country. An analysis of the reforms and efforts through an understanding of the plan periods in the country was provided. The presentation focused on the social unrest caused by problems such as corruption, unemployment, illiteracy, etc. A sincere need of studying reform measures provided, following up on government schemes and efforts to control gender and rural- urban disparities was emphasized up on by the speaker.

Technical Session 2:         3.30 pm – 4.30 pm  

The second session of the day saw two speakers present their papers. This session was also chaired by Dr Malini Tantri, Assistant Professor, ISEC, Bangalore.

Presenter 4- Raadha Garg, Title: Does Money Cause Inflation?. The speaker introduced the area of her study with an analysis of the inflation trend from 1960-2007. Significant events such as the bumper agricultural production in the 1960, the hike in oil prices in the 1970s and their impact was also explained. The speaker aimed at understanding the impact of money flow on inflation in the broader context of monetary policy using the money multiplier framework. Variables used included Consumer Price index, GDP as well as M3. The presenter used ADF, Co-integration, DOLS and causality tests as the primary methods of analysis in the study. The speaker concluded that inflow values of money were significant on the inflation rate. Moreover, the trend of the level of Unemployment in the country showed a stationary trend.

Speaker 2- Ratna Srinivasan: Paper title- Intricacies of Agriculture and Rural Development- As in Agriculture as a Pedestal for Rural Development. The paper was primarily focused on five major issues in the agricultural sector today, namely, irrigation, seed quality, quality of fertilizers, rural credit and wastage challenges faced by the Indian agriculture in each of the dimensions and how these could be addressed to provide a possible solution. It also analysed the role of reforms in the sector and the relationship between agrarian development and rural development. The analysis concluded with the idea that agriculture could be extremely helpful in reducing poverty and boosting rural development if effective transformations are provided.

Speaker 3- Bishikh Mohanty and Jayant Garg: Paper title- Economic Development and Rise of Social Discontent. The presentation broadly explained the current scenario of Indian development and the issues that threaten the process of progress in the country. An analysis of the reforms and efforts through an understanding of the plan periods in the country was provided. The presentation focused on the social unrest caused by problems such as corruption, unemployment, illiteracy, etc. A sincere need of studying reform measures provided, following up on government schemes and efforts to control gender and rural- urban disparities was emphasized up on by the speaker.

Technical Session 2:         3.30 pm – 4.30 pm  
The second session of the day saw two speakers present their papers. This session was also chaired by Dr Malini Tantri, Assistant Professor, ISEC, Bangalore.
Presenter 4- Raadha Garg, Title: Does Money Cause Inflation?. The speaker introduced the area of her study with an analysis of the inflation trend from 1960-2007. Significant events such as the bumper agricultural production in the 1960, the hike in oil prices in the 1970s and their impact was also explained. The speaker aimed at understanding the impact of money flow on inflation in the broader context of monetary policy using the money multiplier framework. Variables used included Consumer Price index, GDP as well as M3. The presenter used ADF, Co-integration, DOLS and causality tests as the primary methods of analysis in the study. The speaker concluded that inflow values of money were significant on the inflation rate. Moreover, the trend of the level of Unemployment in the country showed a stationary trend.

Speaker 5- Dr. Mohan Rao, Professor, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University). Title: SEZs and Sustainable Development. Dr Mohan Rao conducted his study on a highly debated and relevant issue of the impact of Special Economic Zones on efforts to undertake Sustainable development.  The speaker introduced the study by tracing out the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) following enactment of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005. Dr Rao brought out the overwhelming response to this Act as well as the impact of the development of SEZs on the right to livelihood of affected parties, especially poor families. The presenter conducted an extensive research across various regions in Andhra Pradesh, especially in Kakinada. The presenter conducted an elaborate Social Impact Assessment of the SEZs on resources such as land, soil and water. The study showed how affected families were not provided adequate compensation by means of rehabilitation and resettlement policies. In terms of recent legislation, the new Land Acquisition Act that has been in effect from January 2014, requires the consent of at least eighty percent of families that would be affected by the establishment of the Special Economic Zones.
The presenter concluded that with this new legislative framework, there is a greater need to ensure development policies initiated by the State also take into account the impact on affected parties, especially the poor and marginalized people.

Day–2:     08th March 2014    

The second day of the National Seminar as witnessed was dedicated to paper presentations by various participants under the broad theme of ‘Sustainability, Reforms and Social Justice’ in the Indian context. The session was chaired by Dr. Krishna Raj, Assiciate  from ISEC and the themes explored by the participants from across the country formed a spectrum of issues India currently faces.

Technical Session – 3:     9 am – 11 am

Professor Joshy K J commenced this technical session with his study on price discovery in the spot and futures market of gold in India, it was co-authored by Dr. Ganesh L. This was followed by Tenzin Namgha’s interesting study on the impact of remittances on Tibetan youth’s higher education, which was also co-authored by Dr. Ganesh L. It definitely gave us an insight into the contemporary issues faced by the community. The next study by Professor Rohini Fadte gave a new dimension to the seminar as it focussed on a very relevant but easily ignored issue. It dealt with the tribal communities in Goa and their plight in the given context of eco-tourism. Next one was by Prof Gereeshma Manoj which threw light on the export performance of the Indian textile industry, focussing on the trajectory of the same in the pre and post MFA period.

Technical Session – 4:     11.15 am – 01 pm

This was followed by Dr. G.L Pavathamma’s study on the trends in employment in the pre and post reform period. The next paper was presented by Professor V.K Xavier on the topic ‘Recurrence of Systemic Crisis in the Indian Commercial Banks’. Then we had Mr. Akash Krishnan undertaking a rigorous empirical analysis of cartelization in the Indian cement industry.  The next presentation was of a co-authored paper on Indian Labour Laws by Ms. Amrita Joshi and Ms. Krata Joshy. The next three studies also contributed to the diversity of the papers presented- one being regarding the factors affecting industrial growth in India by Mr. Manjunath, then a study on student satisfaction regarding academic performance using TQM model. The last study by Mr. Furquan which investigated the effect of urbanization on the real estate stock and property prices was indeed a sound analysis of the relationship between the concerned variables.

This National Seminar indeed encapsulated the true essence of the theme adopted this year. From criticizing the anthropocentric definition of ‘sustainability’, delving into the issues of tribal communities to empirically analysing trends in the various macroeconomic indicators. The fact that economic issues have both the qualitative and quantitative dimensions was aptly reflected in the proceedings of this seminar.

Valedictory Session:         2 pm – 3 pm

The Chief Guest for the Valedictory function was Prof V M Rao and it was presided over by Dr (Fr) Jose C C. Prof V M Rao delivered the valedictory address and stressed on importance of policy implications during research work. Prof Joshy K J, welcomed the gathering and the vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Mahesh E.