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AN IIPM THINK TANK & GREAT INDIAN

DREAM FOUNDATION JOURNAL

Dream

GreatIndian

R E T H I N K E D I F Y D E L I N E A T E

A B & E M O N T H L Y S U P P L E

M E N T , S E P - 2 0 1 1 ;

I S S N

2 2 4 9 - 5 2 1 5

Te

SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHALLENGES OF

ESCALATING GLOBAL DESERTIFICATION:

WATER AND FOOD CRISIS

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ExclusiveExclusiveColumnsColumns

LUC GNACADJA,LUC GNACADJA,Executive Secretary, UNCCDExecutive Secretary, UNCCD

BHIM ADHIKARI,BHIM ADHIKARI,United Nations UniversityUnited Nations University

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THE INDIA

ECONOMY REVIEW

‘THE GREAT INDIANDREAM’

A N I I P M T H I N K T A N K & G R E A T I N D I A N

D R E A M F O U N D A T I O N J O U R N A L

TO TAKE

FORWARD THEPHILOSOPHYOF COMMITMNETTO OUR GREATNATIONEPITOMISEDIN THE PATH

BREAKING BOOK‘THEGREATINDIANDREAM’

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R E T H I N K E D I F Y D E L I N E A T E

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Kanan Dhru Founder, Research Founda- tion for Governance in India

Rabin Majumder Advocate on Record,Supreme Court of India

Stephen Lea Professor of Psychology,

University of Exeter

Gaurav ShahCMD & CIO

IndiaSocial Fund

As India marches towardsconquering a center-stagein the global affairs and isbeing discussed in almostall global forums, itbecomes increasinglyimportant for the Indians- across the world - toundertake thoughtfulstudy of issues of concern within and without.Thorough research,engaging analysis andcareful debate, thus,become extremely crucial,especailly at this point of

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Dream

Grea t Indian

R E T H I N K E D I F Y D E L I N E A T E A B & E M O N T H L Y S U P P L E M E N T , A U G - 2 0 1 1

AN I IPM T H I N K T A N

K & G R E A T I N D I A N

D R E AM F O U N D A T IO

N JOURNAL

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M A J O R

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THA T DEPRI VEMINOR

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MALNOURISHED MINORS

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Why India needs to invest

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POLIC Y PERS PECT IV

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CREDITS(F)ACT SHEET

We have become a Garbage Nation with so much Wastage!

Prasoon S. Majumdar........................................................................................ 05

Cowboy or Spaceship Economy

Siddhartha Mitra................................................................................................ 06

Virtual Water Trade: Panacea for Water Scarcity

M. Dinesh Kumar & O. P. Singh ...................................................................... 10

Drylands and Desertification: Challenges & Opportunities

Bhim Adhikari ..................................................................................................... 14

Food Security and ‘Life’ in Soils

Gopikrishna SR............................................................................ ....................... 18

Desertification and Food Crisis in India: What Med ia can Do?

Mrinal Chatterjee .............................................................................................. 20

Stranded on Dryland : Future of South Asia

Sowmya Suryanarayanan................................................................................ 24

Is there Political will to End these Déjà Vu Drought Tragedies?

Luc Gnacadja...................................................................................................... 28

The G -20 Agriculture Talks Trap

Mercin Menkes................................................................................................... 30

Too Many Empty Bowls

R.B. Bhagat ......................................................................................................... 34

Axing the Forests

Prabha Panth ...................................................................................................... 38

Cover Design by : Satyajit Datta

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5T H E G R E A T I N D I A N D R E A M

The First Words and The Last WordEditorial

WE HAVE BECOME A

GARBAGE NATION WITHSO MUCH WASTAGE!

As a child, whenever I used to find excuses for noteating and waste thereby, my mom used to rep-rimand me by saying, ‘if you dishonour food by

wasting it then some day food would dishonour you’.She used to keep reminding us that there are hundredsof families out there for whom even to manage a mere

handful of rice is a daily struggle. This childhood learn-ing had created such an impact that none in my familyever wasted even a grain of food served. But on thesame aspect our nation presents a dichotomy when itcomes to wastage. Be it food, electricity, water, or foranything which is termed in the dictionary of econom-ics as a scarce resource is squandered to an extent that,if they are restored, it can by itself take care of all short-ages and scarcities India is currently facing. Let us start

with food, our most critical resource, for which almost300 million Indians struggle for, day in and day out.

According to a study undertaken at the behest of Min-istry of Food Processing Industries, India wastes agri-

cultural food items over a staggering $12 billion annu-ally. To get the figure in the right perspective, this wasted produce is enough to feed India’s over 200 mil-lion people, without even calling for marginal or anyproduction increase.

That’s food, and now power. The abuse of electricityis so rampant that it has resulted in astronomical wast-ages. Way back in 2002, it was projected that our econ-omy can conserve $12 billion by 2005 simply by impro-

vising efficiency in power generation and eliminatingtransmission and distribution bottlenecks. It goes with-out saying that nothing close to this benchmark hasbeen achieved so far. What’s more, if we were to con-sider the energy efficiency (in addition to electricity),

the situation is even more dispiriting. For, D. H. PaiPanandiker of RPG Foundation bemoans the ridicu-lous excesses: to manufacture Rs.1 crore of GDP, Indiadeploys four times as much energy resources as Japanor UK and 2.7 times as Brazil does. Moreover, massivepower loss during transmission and distribution ( whichis pegged at 45 per cent) due to rampant power thefts which amount to a staggering 1.5 per cent of GDP. Cur-

Prasoon S. Majumdar, Executive Editor

rently, around 500 million people live with the regularproblem of power-cuts. This boils down to a loss of $12.5 billion, all due to T&D inefficiency. The sameholds true for water too. Here too our scale of water

wastage is frightening, and even more frightening isour ruthless ignorance towards it. The World Bankreport of October 2005 stated that while developedcountries have provisions for storage of nearly 5,000cubic metres per capita and other developing countrieslike China, South Africa have made storage facility forat least 1,000 cubic metres per capita, India barelystores 30 days of rainfall. No doubt the public watersystem is the major cause of water shortages. Delhigovernment ( supplies 220 liters of water per capita per

day) is sti ll clueless about stealing of its 50 per cent of total water supply! Thus, after the loss, the governmentis left with merely 110 litres of water per capita per day!Consider this: A random survey of 27,000 householdconnections in Ahmedabad revealed that 25 per cent

of the water was wasted, owing to leakages in the sys-tem. Regardless of the results of this micro-study, onecan safely presume that the case in other cities andtowns would be no different.

All in all, this wastage phenomenon is ubiquitous asfar as India is concerned. But what is amazing is theirony this phenomenon depicts. How is it that the soci-ety known for its frugality can at the same time indulgein so much wastage and be silent about it? If my momreprimands us for wasting even a grain of rice then sois the case with all such moms across the country. It issad that we have miserably failed to translate our homegrown lessons for our universal good!! Hopefully we

would...someday..

Happy reading.Best,

Prasoon S. Majumdar

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6 T H E I I P M T H I N K T A N K

COWBOY OR SPACESHIP

ECONOMY Certain trajectories of human development are inevitable andultimately welfare enhancing and thus mankind will continue toprosper on this seemingly constrained planet

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ing might have underestimated themultidimensionality of human progress:as civilization progresses and the scarci-ties mentioned by Boulding crop up,societies might switch to exploiting pos-sible paths/dimensions of progress thathave hitherto been unexploited. Below,I build on these foundations by drawingon the lessons which we can derive fromhistory; recent trends in human behav-iour that have just begun to emerge asthe scarcities mentioned by Bouldingbecome more imminent; rudimentaryeconomic analysis; and of course, cheer-ful optimism!

Let us start with history and the casestudy of the industrial revolution in Brit-ain which began around the mid-eight-eenth century and later spread throughUnited States and the rest of Europe.Robert Lucas Jr. describes the transfor-mation brought about by the industrialrevolution in the following manner:

“For the first time in history, the liv-ing standards of the masses of ordinarypeople have ( had) begun to undergosustained growth ... Nothing remotelylike this economic behavior has ( had)happened before”

But as Charles Dickens remarks(though in a totally different vein) in hisnovel set in 19th century Europe, “It wasthe best of times, it was the worst of times”. This is because history tells us

that economic growth was obtainedthrough a shocking ‘rape’ of air and water resources.

Rivers became a burial ground for waste products from the growing manu-facturing sector producing outputthrough technologies that were muchdirtier than those in use today, andthose dumped by an ever growing

SIDDHARTHA MITRA

Professor of Economics, Jadavpur University, KolkataFormerly: Director (Research),CUTS International

We operate in a world of mostly scarce or exhaust-ible resources — miner-als, forests, fish, under-

ground water, air quality etc. Thisscarcity is often said to be the reason forthe expected trade-off between environ-mental conservation and income growth.Thus, according to the conventional ar-gument, as growth brings a country tofrontiers defined by resource availabili-ties or tolerable levels of pollution, itrealises it is time to slow down.

The current recognition of the men-tioned trade-off has however not beenassociated with an adequate recall of what transpired in the developed worldaround two and a half centuries back when the frontiers seemed very far off,the prospects for economic advance-ment rosy, and the average levels of material affluence unsatisfactory. Ex-actly the opposite choices were made— the resource base and the atmos-pheric and aquatic environment wereplundered to race ahead and fill emptystomachs and willing purses.

But this article is not be a critique of the developed world, nor a piece writtenin defence of the unprecedented paceof development in emerging India andChina and in defiance of Western at-tempts to curb that pace. Rather, it is anattempt to draw upon history to show

that certain trajectories of human devel-opment are inevitable and ultimately welfare enhancing; and to synergiserecent evidence and economic analysisto express optimism that mankind willcontinue to prosper on this seeminglyconstrained planet.

The essence of my argument is basedon the contention that while very many

resources on this planet are scarce andexhaustible and on the verge of dwin-dling to miniscule levels in the course of a few decades — there are other such assolar and wind energy that are not onlyinexhaustible, but capable of becomingbetter substitutes for their scarce andexhaustible counterparts through theuse of human capital which continues toappreciate through the processes of ‘learning and doing’ and ‘research anddevelopment’; and yet others which arerenewable but exhaustible if depletedrapidly ( fisheries, timber etc.) yet sustain-able through an appropriate balancebetween consumption and production.

In 1965 Adlai Stevenson, the USambassador to the United Nations(UN ) made a speech at the UN in whichhe said “We travel together, passengerson a little space ship, dependent on its

vulnerable reserves of air and soil”.In 1966 Kenneth E. Boulding elabo-rated on this phrase in the title of anessay, ‘The Economics of the ComingSpaceship Earth’. Boulding criticizedpast characterizations of the worldeconomy as a “cowboy economy” withunlimited resources and continued:“The closed economy of the futuremight similarly be called the ‘spaceman’economy, in which the earth has becomea single spaceship, without unlimitedreservoirs of anything, either for extrac-

tion or for pollution, and in which,therefore, man must find his place in acyclical ecological system”.

But while Boulding correctly drewattention to the scarcities and their con-straining impacts, was the symbolic useof the ‘space ship’ appropriate? Above,I have sketched out the foundations of my argument which stresses that Bould-

A M I D S T A L T E R N A T I V E S

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when no immediate and common disas-ters confront the population, individualactors — firms and households — be-have atomistically i.e. they fail to takeinto account the cumulative impact of their actions. The impressive economic

growth seen in Britain during the 18 th and the 19th century was a result of spec-tacular advances in industry originatingfrom the mechanization of productionand consequent increase in the produc-tivity of labour as well as opportunitiesfor its specialized application; and fromchanges in agriculture with the enclo-sure movement feeding industry’s ap-petite for cheap labour, and productiv-ity increasing due to inventions of sophisticated agricultural machines.

While this was the transformation which took place at the level of the

economy, one has to realize that eachindividual contributed his bit to theoverall story by either responding to theentrepreneurial or employment oppor-tunities provided by the industrial revo-lution or through individual innovations.Even the government contributed toeconomic growth through the contro- versial enclosure movement.

But, though individuals at a low levelof income strive for a betterment of their economic conditions, they are of-ten unable to fully anticipate the adversechanges brought about by the accumula-tion of the adverse side effects of their

number of households needed to servicethe industrial revolution. Quite obvi-ously, the generation of incomes was of paramount importance and everythingelse took a backseat.

The tale of worsening air quality was

equally gruesome. London and Edin-burgh became infamous for their smokeand fog, with the former nicknamed the“Big Smoke”. There was a massive in-crease in the emissions of hydrogenchloride and sulphur dioxide, one of themajor contributors of acid rain.

Human health and well being wereoften compromised during this indus-trial march. In the first half of the 18th century, London and Paris, with respec-tively 1 and 2.4 million inhabitants in1850, experienced recurring epidemicsof cholera and typhoid because of waterpollution. In 1832 over 20,000 Parisiansdied in a cholera outbreak; London ex-perienced similar outbreaks. Returningto air pollution, an obvious effect wasdisruption of traffic. But respiratorydifficulties and sometimes deaths werealso a consequence. For the uninitiated,a week of smog in 1873 accounted for700 deaths in London while the GreatLondon Smog of December 1952 ac-counted for 4,000 more.

While economic models often credittheir actors with perfect foresight, in thereal world this is seldom the case.Moreover, under normal conditions,

efforts. This is just as well because gianttechnological leaps, though ideal, aresimply not possible. For example, it istoo utopian to think of a change whichis associated with a switch from operat-ing with tools which are neither very

productive nor produce much pollutionto those that are very productive and atthe same time do not dent the aquaticand atmospheric environment. In other words, technologies inevitably passthrough a trajectory associated with lowproductivity and low pollution; then with high productivity and high pollu-tion; and finally with productivity main-tained at the mentioned high levels butmuch lower pollution.

However, once economic improve-ments are accompanied by the rise of other evils ( such as pollution or the rise of economic inequalities or exploitation)corrective measures gradually evolve,especially in democracies. Moreover,recent history suggests that countriesoperating under political systems that would not be classified as ‘democratic’( for example, single party rule) often en-courage their citizens to voice theiropinions about problems such as pollu-tion which are generally not associated with a great deal of controversy. Such voicing of opinions is often a safety valve which prevents the stirring of unrestresulting from discontent in regard toother issues.

Going back to the British experienceof a positive association of water and airpollution with economic growth, thisprompted reasonably swift remedialaction. In the mid 19th century, Londonbecame one of the first cities in the world to build a sewer system and im-prove drinking water supply through theMetropolis Water Act of 1852 whichforced water companies to move theirintakes upstream and regulate their fil-tration and storage. Similarly, following

the Great London Smog, the first Clean Air Act was passed which moved powerstations and heavy industry from thedensely populated large cities and madethe use of smokeless coal mandatory.Between 1970 and 1994, the emissionsof sulphur dioxide, one of the maincontributors to acid rain, fell by around60 percent.

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While fast developing India andChina have seen rapidly rising pollutionlevels, one has to realize that thesecountries are decades behind the West-ern World in terms of development —for example, the per capita income inIndia is still at pre 20th century US lev-els. As development takes the popula-tion to higher levels of income, there isno reason why the natural demand fora cleaner environment will not lead topro-environment measures. Evidenceshows that China has responded fasterto the need for cleaning up the environ-ment than Western countries did aftertheir industrial revolutions. Emphasishas been placed in China on meetingthe country’s ever increasing powerdemand — a natural consequence of economic growth — through an in-crease in the share of hydroelectricpower in total power production as wellas massive increases in solar cell and wind turbine production.

In regard to the constraints posed bythe scarcity of exhaustible ( non renew-

able, and renewable but exhaustible)resources, two important trends needto be pointed out.

First, all over the world, experimentsand pilot projects are being launched toreplace scarce non renewable sourcessuch as coal and oil with renewable andinexhaustible sources of energy ( such as sunlight and wind).

Let us take one example — powerconsumption — in the rural areas,power can be captured through the use

of solar cells and then used later atnight; for the urban areas, pilot modelsof near net zero energy homes, some-times for entire communities, whichcreate almost as much as energy as theyconsume over the year but smoothenout daily surpluses and shortagesthrough interactions with the grid havebeen set up; and finally reputed engi-

neering firms have come up with trac-table models of thermal solar produc-tion which involve conversion of solarenergy into steam and the use of theresultant heat energy for productionand distribution of electricity througha centralized grid.

Another reaction to scarcity is anti-consumerism — recently, the “BuyNothing Day” celebrated on the first dayof Thanks Giving (the official start of the

shopping season in the Anglo Saxon world) attracted over one million sup-porters spread over 40 countries. Withthe internet generating an exponentialincrease in the spread of ideas thismovement and similar ones mightspread rapidly. Related innovationscould be government efforts to discour-age consumption of items that are inten-sive in scarce materials through taxa-tion, greater and more efficient use of recycling etc.

But what will happen to the growthof national incomes? The first thing tonote here is that the annual decadalgrowth rate of national income percapita for the United States ( annual average rate of growth of national income per capita taken over a decade) has hov-ered around the two percent mark overthe last 120 years, with fluctuations be-ing dictated by recessions and booms.In other words, there has been no per-manent dip in the growth rate of na-tional income.

In the future, if the anti-consumerismmovement gains momentum as a reac-

tion to the scarcity of raw materials andlifestyle diseases ( brought about by over- consumption of food and gadget based sedentary living) and brings about a de-crease in the purchases of new clothes,consumer durables and even food, whilebeing accompanied by greater recyclingof materials, the resulting decrease inconsumption demand should drive in-

come down. But such changes whichtend to depress income growth will beneutralised by others — investments innew technologies to promote efficientuse of renewable resources; and an ex-ponential increase in the marketing of

products that are extremely humancapital intensive but not resource inten-sive — for example, e-books and expen-sive software.

Truth be told, comparison of the esti-mate of current national income withthat generated a century from todaymight be rendered almost meaninglessbecause of radical changes in the entireconsumption basket — from one prima-rily based on natural and depletableresources to that which attaches muchgreater importance to inexhaustiblerenewable resources and the use of hu-man capital. But things dear to human-ity such as the pursuit of knowledge andart would go on and become much eas-ier; and life would probably becomemore comfortable as the combination of greater depth in information networksand meaningful governmental interven-tions would help people optimise theirconsumption patterns with greater fore-sight and lead longer, healthier andmore fulfilling lives. Needless to say, Ihave abstracted from the ebb and flowof fortunes which often mark humanprogress over a much longer term.

(SIDDHARTHA MITRA is currently Professor of Economics at Jadavpur Uni- versity, Kolkata. In his earlier appoint- ments he has been Director (Research),CUTS International and a Reader at theGokhale Institute of Politics and Eco- nomics, Pune. Prof. Mitra has also taught economics at the University of Melbourne; and Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi. He has served on consultative com- mittees to the Ministry of Environment,

Government of India and also as consultant to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi and Center for Development Re- search (ZEF), Bonn.

The views expressed in the article are personal and do not reflect the official policy or position of the organisation.)

WITH INDIA AND CHINA STILL BEINGA DEVELOPING NATION, CAN THEYAFFORD TO ADOPT EXPENSIVE

GREEN PRODUCTION METHODS?

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Are food import and water trade related to eachother and is virtual water trade a viable solution?

The argument that food import isa strong indicator of level of

water deficit that economiesface; and that all economies

around the world which face acute waterscarcity problems can and should meet

their water demand for food throughcereal imports from water-rich coun-tries has become dominant in the dis-cussions on ways of facing global waterchallenges ( Allan 1997: pp 4; Warner 2003: pp127 ). This has almost becomea truism because some of the largest virtual water importing countries, theMiddle East and North Africa, faceserious water deficits and some of the

virtual water exporting countries are water-rich.

It is true that when a crop which hashigh embedded water is grown in a hu-mid, water-rich country and traded witha arid or semi-arid country in return fora crop which has high economic effi-ciency (in Rs/m 3), there would be a “net water gain” for the water scarce countryas virtual water flows out of the water-rich country. With food imports, coun-tries/regions achieve a net gain in water, which otherwise would have to be usedfrom their own internally available re-sources (Chapagain and Hoekstra 2003: pp1). But the operational aspect of thisconcept needs to be looked into. Suchan analysis would go far beyond mereagro-climatic variations and compara-tive water advantages, which scholarshave already considered.

There are factors other than mereclimate and water surplus that woulddetermine the success of converting thisidea of virtual water trade into a practi-cal problem-solving tool for waterstressed countries, just as according toEarle and Turton ( 2003), there are fac-tors that cause reliance on virtual water.While the virtual water trade concept isclosely related to notion of comparative

economic advantage, farm level deci-sions regarding crop production andmarketing would be influenced by pub-lic policy regarding the economy, inter-national trade and the prices of inputsand outputs (Wichelns, 2003). Even in water scarce countries, there are majorpolitical economic considerations inallocating water resources across sec-

VIRTUALPANACEA FOR WATER SCARCITY

WATER TRADE

O. P. SINGH Assistant Professor,Institute of Agricultural Sciences,Banaras Hindu University

M. DINESH KUMARExecutive Director, Institutefor Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad

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B L U E G O L D


creases the ability to utilize the renew-able water resources available in

man-made and natural water resourcesystems. The increased agricultural wa-ter withdrawal thus made leads to more virtual water trade, these are the main

assumptions we started with. The linearregression performed for analyzing theeffect of agricultural land on the figuresof water withdrawal for agricultureshowed no effect. But as we have alreadydiscussed, these figures only show theblue water withdrawal. It does not takeinto account the green water usage bythese countries. For many water scarcecountries, which are rich in arable land,soil moisture use is a significant compo-nent of the total water use for agricul-ture. Therefore, we ran the regressionbetween gross cultivated land and effec-tive agricultural water use.

VIRTUAL WATER TRADE VS

REGIONAL WATER TRANSFERS

Now let us examine the implications of these two arguments for a water scarcecountry, characterized by regional vari-ations in water endowments, for makingpolicy choices between “regional vir-tual water trade” and “water transfer”.For this, we consider a food importingcountry. China, SADC countries andSpain are some of the countries/regionsin the world that are characterized bymajor variations in water endowments,and rely on food imports. In Haihe watershed of northern China, the percapita renewable water availability is358m3 /annum against 3327m3 /annum inZhujiang watershed of South China, whereas the country average is 2195m3 /capita/annum (Yang 2002: pp1).

We have to start with a reasonableassumption that water-rich regions havelesser amount of arable land as com-pared to water scarce regions in percapita terms, based on the evidences

provided in the earlier section, and thatarable land in such regions is alreadyput to maximum use. From food self-sufficiency point of view, it might makesense for the country to transfer waterfrom the “water-rich” region to the“water scarce region” even if it may beat the cost of bringing down the net re-newable water of the “water-rich” re-

extremely water-rich countries recordhigh virtual water imports.

On the contrary, there are severalcountries which are not really water-rich,but are on the verge of approaching the

water stress mark. Examples are Af-

ghanistan, Malawi, India, Thailand andDenmark. Their renewable water avail-ability is below 3000 m3 /capita mark, butexport food grains, livestock, poultry andlivestock products. The food grain ex-port from India during 2000-01 stood at2.39 million ton. It is a known fact thatcountries like India are already facingacute water stress in many pockets. Forthe depletion of groundwater resourcesand degradation of land through theirintensive use, the all time recordachieved in cereal production in India

would not have been possible.The very fact that “virtual water”

flows out of a relatively water scarcesemi-arid country to a cold and humidcountry itself indicates that the goals of improved “global water use efficiency”and distribution of scarcity does not getrealized through virtual water trade asit happens today in the global context.This does not mean that water availabil-ity does not act as a variable in the foodproduction function in a country con-text. It only means that “total watersufficiency” does not necessarily meanfood self-sufficiency in a practical sense.Following explanations would help abetter appreciation of the argument.

A country can be water-rich throughtwo ways. In the first case, the magni-tude of rainfall, runoff and groundwaterrecharge a unit land area receives be-comes very high ( examples are Finland, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia). In thesecond case, the rainfall, runoff andgroundwater recharge rates are verylow, but the amount of land which re-ceives it ( catchment area) is high owingto low population densities.

ARABLE LAND CONTROL AND

VIRTUAL WATER TRADE DYNAMIC

The reason for this strong correlationbetween cultivated land and virtual wa-ter trade is increased ability to tap the

water in the soil profile with increase inper capita agricultural land. Also in-creased per capita agricultural land in-

tors and within sectors ( Parveen and

Faisal undated; Warner, 2003). Virtual water trade would also depend on thegeopolitics of the region. But, the pur-pose of this contribution is to examine whether the much talked about water

management goals such as “global wateruse efficiency” and “distribution of scarcity”, as argued by many scholars,are really achievable through virtual water trade.

RENEWABLE WATER AVAILABILITY

AND VIRTUAL WATER TRADE

There are many water-rich countriesthat are still resorting to food importsin an extensive way. There are a total of 65 countries belong to water-rich cate-gory that have trade deficit in virtual

water. The amount of water imported inthe virtual form is more than exported.The trade deficit ranges from a lowestof 4.9m3 /capita/annum to 838m3 /capita/annum. For instance, Japan, which hasa renewable water availability of 3390m3 /capita, is heavi ly dependent on ce-real imports for its domestic consump-tion and the water equivalent of thisamount to 645m3 /capita annually. Many

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value realization” might demand real-location of more than the real “volu-metric surplus” available within the water surplus region to a water-scarceregion. But such additional transfershave to satisfy two conditions.First: the

incremental value realized exceeds thecost of such transfer. Second: mecha-nisms exist for compensating for theeconomic and livelihood losses sufferedby the water-rich region ( Kumar et al., 2008a).

This does not mean that water trans-fer is the only option for water deficitcountries/regions. Wherever possibili-ties exist virtual water trade should beencouraged. But for a region, which is well-endowed with good arable land, it would be the natural choice to bring in water from a water-rich region to im-prove the efficiency of use of land, andthereby also efficiency of use of waterfrom the natural environment whichremains under-utilized in surplus re-gions. But, physical efficiency of irriga-tion water use is extremely low in third world countries resulting from absenceof proper pricing leading to reduced water productivity. It has been foundthat when confronted with the scarcity value of water, farmers make efforts toimprove the efficiency with which wateris used ( Kumar 2005: pp39-51).

MAJOR FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

1. Cross country analyses of virtual water trade involving 131 countriesshow that renewable water availabil-ity does not have any bearing on virtual water trade volume. Furtheranalyses show that virtual water flowdynamic is controlled more by theaccess to arable land than access torenewable freshwater. Gross croppedarea explains virtual water trade toan extent of 40% with one per centlevel of significance.

2. Increase in access to arable landleads to increase in “effective water withdrawal” in agriculture, irrespec-tive of the strong mismatch between water richness and land richness.Many countries that are rich in ara-ble land are “water-poor”, which inturn increases the irrigation waterrequirement; and water drawn fromthe soil profile increases with cultivated land.

3. Since virtual water often flows out of “water-poor”, but “land-rich” coun-tries to “water-rich” and “land-poor”countries, “global water use effi-ciency” and “distribution of scarcity”are difficult goals to be achieved

through virtual water trade. When virtual water flows into a water-richcountry, what is being achieved isimproved land use efficiency.

4. Assessing the future food securitychallenges posed to nations purelyfrom a water resource perspectiveprovide a distorted view of the foodsecurity scenario. It may bring in

gion below the acceptable levels definedby “total water sufficiency”. This is be-cause of two reasons: water in the soilprofile, which is not considered in as-sessing renewable water availability, would still be available; and water suf-

ficiency for food production directlyrelates to availability of arable land.Water transfer would increase utiliza-tion of water resources for crop produc-tion at country level. With increased

water availability for irrigation, the areaunder cultivation might also go up sig-nificantly resulting from increased landuse intensity.

As regards India, southern peninsulahas vast amount of arable land thatcould be brought to intensive cultiva-tion, if water is provided (GOI 1999).Northern Chinese provinces that arenow facing severe water shortage, havebeen practicing intensive irrigated agri-culture (Yang 2002). By embarking onmajor water transfer projects, the watermanagement goal being achieved isimproving the productivity of land in water scarce regions apart from equal-izing “water richness”. It has been es-tablished that irrigation water use effi-ciencies in arid and semi-arid, waterscarce regions are much higher thanthat in humid, water-rich regions. Allthese arguments build a strong case forphysical water transfer.

While transfer of surplus water from water-rich regions to water scarce re-gions does not need a better economicrationale than increasing the productiveuse of the un-utilized water, the notablefact is that such transfers for agriculturelead to realization of greater economic value. The increase in land productivityachieved through bringing rain-fedcrops under irrigation will have to jus-tify the investments for transfer of sur-plus water from water-rich regions to water deficit regions. The “incremental

INTERNATIONAL WATER TRANSFER

WOULD INCREASE UTILIZATION

OF WATER RESOURCES FOR CROP

PRODUCTION AT COUNTRY LEVEL

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complacency for water-rich nations; while unwanted pessimism for waterscarce nations. Access to arable landequally or even more concerns coun-try’s food security and thereforeshould be integrated with other con-siderations in national food and wa-ter policy making.

5. Assessing the water managementchallenges posed by nations purelyfrom the point of view of renewable water availability and aggregate de-mands will be dangerous. Access to water in the soil profile would be animportant determinant of effective water availabil ity for food produc-tion, from which a major portion of

the aggregate demand comes.6. The dominant water managementparadigm suggested for water scarcecountries that are characterized bymajor regional variations in the re-source endowment and still relyingon food imports is virtual watertransfer. But, this could spell doomif arable land is limited in the “well

endowed” area. Under such circum-stances, inter-regional water transferoptions could be explored therebyenabling productive use of both landand water for crop production at thecountry level. Transfer of water in

addition to the “volumetric surplus”available in the water-rich region alsomight be desirable as it helps im-prove the economic outputs from theuse of water.

7. Policy Inferences: The regional de-bates in South Asia, China and someof the SADC states on setting policypriorities to deal with water short-ages for food production are heavilyinfluenced by virtual water tradeargument. Our analyses show that while “global water use efficiency”and availability of blue water for foodproduction could be important con-cerns that influence country waterpolicies of water-poor nations, theycould not be the decisive factors. Availability of arable land that ef-fectively increases the potential fortapping water in the soil profiletherefore effective water availability,and “degree of dependence” of acountry on water for economicgrowth and its population for liveli-hood are important considerations.Regional food trade has limited rel-

evance from a global water use effi-ciency perspective. But, there could bea new window of opportunity, if wechange the rationale for virtual watertrade from “water use efficiency” and“distribution of scarcity” to “land useefficiency”; adopt “productivity poten-tial of water” as the water managementgoal; and we consider regional watertransport as a technically feasible op-tion. The idea is to physically transferthe water to naturally water scarce re-gions; put it to use; and then transferfood grains produced to the “water-

rich” and “land-poor” regions. The volume of virtual water embedded infood export can be treated as an ex-change for taking water out of surplusareas. This will help avert any inter-stateconflicts that could arise from decisionsto take water out of water-rich states.

Another important benefit of suchtransfer arrangements is that the water

scarce regions that intensively use theirendogenous water for livelihood willcontinue to have their irrigation-basedlivelihoods. Massive transfer of waterto these water starved regions and itssubsequent use for irrigation would

also result induced groundwater re-charge ( Kumar et al., 2010). The impact will be double: first, water transfer willreduce groundwater pumping, and thereturn flows from irrigation would in-crease recharge thereby reducing thestress on groundwater. The increase inland productivity achieved throughbringing rain-fed crops under irrigation will have to justify the investments fortransfer of surplus water from water-rich regions to water deficit regions.But, as Kumar et al. ( 2008a) notes, theamount of water to be transferred couldbe more than the real volumetric sur-plus available within the water-rich re-gion, if the incremental value realizedin the water-scarce region exceeds thecost of such additional water transfer,and mechanisms exist for compensat-ing for the economic and livelihoodlosses suffered by the water-rich regionthrough such transfers.

( M. DINESH KUMAR is currently the Executive Director of Institute for Re- source Analysis and Policy (IR AP). He had worked very closely with many reputed international and national agencies like UNICEF. He has nearly 120 publica-tions to his credit, including three books; many book chapters; and several papersin international peer-reviewed journals.

O. P. SINGH joined the InternationalWater Management Institute India Project Office as Consultant in February 2002. He has more than thirteen years of rich exper ience of working with academic, research institution and NGOs in

the area of natural resource economics and management. He has more than 60 publications to his credit including ar ti- cles in national and international journals, book chapters, monographs etc.


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Diversification of of livelihood strategies is a must in

DRYLANDS ANDCHALLENGESBHIM ADHIKARI

Programme Officer (Dryland Ecosystems), UNU-INWEH

Drylands cover 40% of globalland area and support almostone third of the world’s popu-lation ( Adeel et al., 2008).

Further, they feature some of the world’s fastest growing populations which have placed increasing pressureson these fragile ecosystems ( Boone et

al., 2007 ). Land degradation has be-come one of the pressing issues in dry-lands that has a greater drag on econo-mies that are heavily dependent on theagricultural sector ( Alfsen et al., 1997 ).Poor management of land is one of themajor causes of land degradation. Upto 71 percent of the world’s grasslandsare reported to be degraded to someextent as a result of overgrazing, salini-zation, alkalinization, acidification andother processes ( FAO/LEAD, 2006).Grasslands and rangelands in arid,semi-arid and sub-humid areas areparticularly affected (Safriel, et al.,

2005). The impact of land degradationhas direct implications on foregone in-come and decreased food security( Barbier and Bishop, 1995). For exam-ple, it has been noted that the annualcost of degradation in the Sub-Saharan African countries is more or less equiv-alent to their mean agricultural growth

thereby limiting the scope of rural development ( Requier-Desjardins, 2006).The Millennium Ecosystem Assess-

ment highlighted the fact that degrada-tion of dryland ecosystems will havenegative impacts on biodiversityhotspots as well as human well-beingthrough the loss of ecosystem services( MA, 2005). In many areas, farmers


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ands in order to reduce the risk of income failure from any single source

DESERTIFICATION& OPPORTUNITIES

have been forced to place an emphasison crops that are only economically vi-able which has reduced the resilience of these ecosystems to drought and otherexternal factors (Safriel and Adeel, 2005). The population dynamics of thedrylands combined with the limitedsupply of resources and unsuitable ag-ricultural techniques has lead to severepoverty, desertification and ultimatelyreduced the welfare in these regions.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC

CHALLENGES IN DRYLANDS

Dryland ecosystems are defined as “ter-restrial areas where climate is classifiedas dry sub-humid, semi-arid, arid andhyper arid”. They are characterized byhigh temperatures and solar radiationand low levels of precipitation whichleads to high rates of evapotranspira-tion. The arid zones are characterizedby low and unpredictable rainfall whichallows pastoralism to be the dominantsource of livelihood strategy ( Nassef et al., 2009). Traditional livelihood strate-gies in the drylands are largely relatedto livestock and agriculture related ac-tivities. Pastoralists have adapted to thearid zones by creating a mobile yet largeand diverse livestock herd that reduce

risk created by a scarce resource base.The mobility of the livestock allowspastoralists to optimize the use of rangelands according to the fluctuatingavailability of water, while the diversityand size of the herds provide insuranceagainst stock loss during extreme weather shocks ( Brooks, 2006). On theother hand, the semi-arid zone receives


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a higher level of rainfall which allowsthe inhabitants of these regions to de-pend on crop-production as a source of subsistence livelihood. However, theseasonal nature of agriculture forcesdryland populations to rely on a variety

of livelihood strategies including hunt-ing, gathering, fishing and non-farmactivities ( Ellis, 1998).

This diversification of livelihoodstrategies allows the dryland populationto reduce the risk of income failurefrom any single source and negate the volatility that is typically associated withthe agricultural sector ( Ellis, 1998). Also, synergies are found within a com-munity where different livelihood strat-egies such as crop and livestock produc-tion are practiced. For instance,cultivation of fodder can decrease thepressure of livestock on rangelands while the production of manure re-duces the dependence on fertilizer

while enhancing crop production (Saf- riel and Adeel, 2005).

However, the rapidly increasingpopulation of the drylands places in-creased demands on the traditionalforms of livelihoods, such as crop andlivestock production. In response to theincreased pressure, land users place thelong-term viability of their livelihoodsin jeopardy by adopting technologiesthat lead to further degradation of analready fragile resource base ( Darkoh,1998). Also, migration of inhabitants of less arid environments ( high population

density) to marginal arid lands ( low population density) leads to conflict andinstability in the drylands since the localindigenous populations and migrantsoften compete for the same land-basedresources ( Darkoh, 1998).

In many areas, there is a lack of clearly defined property rights that hasreduced the efficiency of existing live-lihood strategies. Land tenure policy

in the last few decades has been drivenby privatization and nationalizationagendas in an attempt to reduce thestock of livestock by limiting the mo-bility of pastoralists ( Leach and

Mearns, 1996). Also, the privatizationof lands was designed to provide aneconomic incentive for land users toinvest in maintaining or improving

land productivity. However, thesepolicies failed to yield the desired re-sults because the resources were nottruly open-access but were subject tocommunal obligations that ensuredthe sustainability of these resources(Scoones et al., 1993). The failure toacknowledge the true nature of thesecommunal resources lead to furtherdegradation as the drylands becameavailable to non-traditional users wholacked awareness of the establishedrules ( Fratkins and Mearns, 2003).

Agricultural activities in the drylandsis severely constrained due to the lack

of technology and financial marketavailability that allow the transfer of credit from savers to borrowers, result-ing in an efficient allocation of resourc-es while maximizing the investmentpotential for all farmers ( Esguerra,1996). Poverty alleviation in drylandcommunities is often contingent on thesuccess of small-scale farming which

has been shown to be the primary forcebehind economic growth in these re-gions ( Kydd and Dorward, 2001). This isprimarily due to the nature of small-scale farming that tends to be labour-intensive and the money generated bythese operations tend to be spent onlocally produced goods ( Mayrand and Paquin, 2006). On the other hand,large-scale operations tend to be capi-tal-intensive and rely on external inputs.Inadequate systems for assessing ruralentities, high transaction costs and alack of an appropriate mechanism forcredit enforcement have constrained

the effectiveness of financial markets inthe drylands ( Llanto, 2004).Despite an increase in international

agricultural trade in the last decade,rural dryland communities have notexperienced the benefits that are typi-cally associated with market liberaliza-tion ( Mayrand and Paquin, 2006). Thiscan be primarily attributed to a shift

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from the traditional domestic market tothe new global market. Increased trans-action costs, higher levels of risk andcapital investments are typical charac-teristics of the global markets ( Kydd and Dorward, 2001). Large-scale farmers

are capable of absorbing high levels of risk and invest in expensive capital in-puts and therefore capture the majorityof the new market share created viatrade liberalization ( Mayrand and Paquin, 2006). This results in a furtherincrease in inequity and reduces theimpact of trade liberalization on pov-erty alleviation since small-scale farm-ers are further marginalized. In orderto achieve an equitable distribution of benefits from trade liberalization it isimperative to implement domesticpolicies that aid small-scale farmers tofully participate in global markets.

Agricultural subsidies in developedcountries can also be considered to bebarriers in the sustainable developmentof the drylands. Domestic subsidies cre-ate distortions by providing incentivesfor overproduction of certain crops which lead to prices that are lower thanthose found in an undistorted market( Diao et al., 2003). This downward trendin prices has a pronounced impact onthe environmental and economic condi-tions of the drylands. For instance,cotton subsidies in the developed coun-tries have supposedly resulted in a yearly loss of US$250 million in Westand Central African countries ( Pfeifer et al., 2004). This loss of income hassevere environmental consequences asfarmers tend to increase agriculturalproduction by expanding into marginallands or forests to compensate for thelower prices which further decrease theprimary productivity of the drylands. InMexico for example, farmers increasedcorn production by expanding into for-est reserves due to the adverse new

market conditions created by NAFTA( Nadal, 2000). It should be noted thatthe removal of these subsidies does notguarantee economic and environmentalsustainability for the drylands. Finally,many African drylands are consideredto be vulnerable to extreme weatherevents such as flooding and droughtbrought on by climate change which

poses a significant constraint for dry-land farmers (Cooper et al., 2008). In-creasing temperatures will lead tohigher rates of evotranspiration exag-gerating the problems caused due to water scarcity. Since the majority of the

dryland populations depend on land-based resources, climate change threat-ens the food security of the region byadding another layer of risk to the tra-ditional livelihood strategies. Althoughdesertification is thought to occur byoverexploitation of resources, it hasalso been argued that the inherent na-ture of a traditional livelihood such aspastoralism can contribute to the proc-ess (Safriel, 2004). All these socio-eco-nomic, institutional and environmentalconstraints strongly justify the need forpromoting alternative livelihoods inmarginal drylands.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Drylands offer a number of oppertuni-ties to conserve local environmentthrough creation of alternative liveli-hood systems ( Reynolds et al, 2007 ).Some crucial interventions in drylands

would be sustainable land managementand integration of range management, wildlife management, and soil and wa-ter conservation. Further, rehabilitationof drylands such as forest managementand desertification control will makegreat impact on the livelihoods of mar-ginalized pastoral communities in manydryland countries. Dryland ecosystemsin these areas produce many importantEcosystem Services ( ES), includingregulation of water quantity and quality,biodiversity, erosion control and carbonsequestration (Thomas, 2008). How-ever, the failure of markets to internal-ize ecological externalities associated with dryland ecosystem services is themain obstacle for appreciating their

values. Payment for Ecosystem Services

( PES) programs have been highlightedas one way of sustaining these valuableservices as well as promoting alternativelivelihood strategies in these areas(Thomas, 2008). For instance, PESschemes that focus on reducing landdegradation and desertification throughforest management and conservation,ecotourism, and sustainable land use in

agriculture hold great promise for off-setting the growing environmentalproblems in drylands and improving the well-being of the local people. Further-more, sandstorm control and wind ero-sion reduction, conservation of biodi-

versity, improved water productivityand flood erosion control are a fewnotable ES provided by rangelands inmarginal drylands.

Ecotourism continues to be a majorsource of household income in keyrangeland regions, however, there is anurgent need for government policy torecognize the important role of com-munities in wildlife conservation andnatural resource management withinprotected and community owned lands( Mortimore, 2009). Dryland conserva-tion agriculture has been highlighted asone specific practice that could be ac-tively supported by a PES scheme forcarbon sequestration ( Lal, 2001). Itinvolves growing crops that are resilientto drought and promotes the biologicalfunctioning of the soils ( moisture reten-tion, fertility, erosion prevention, etc.).The biggest challenge in setting upconservation agriculture-related PESschemes is the time lag and resourcesrequired for farmers to convert to adifferent form of cultivation. More re-search is needed to understand whatkinds of reward mechanisms wouldensure that the capital goods requiredare provided to farmers. Finally, thedevelopment of PES schemes in dry-lands requires tenure reforms, enablingpolicy, institutional and legal environ-ment as well as involvement of a diversearray of actors.

( BHIM ADHIKARI is an environmental social scientist with expertise on environmental economics, institutional analysis, climate change adaptation and commu-

nity-based natural resource management. He is working with United Nations Uni- versity- the Institute for Water, Environ- ment and Health (UNU-INWEH), theUnited Nations think tank on water.


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Government policies to combat soildegradation has failed miserably as they neveradopted a holistic approach

GOPIKRISHNA SRSpecialist in Agricultural Communications and Policy,Greenpeace India

E ven with increasing awarenessabout natural resources degra-dation and its impact on l iveli-hoods, we often take our soils

for granted. We refer to it as a non-living entity and a medium for plantgrowth, and tend to forget that it’s aliving ecosystem that supports mil-lions of li fe forms. Moreover, our foodsecurity is highly dependent on “life”in soils.

Soil is a major reserve of planet’sgenetic biodiversity. However, only afraction of life forms in soils can beseen through naked eyes and most of itcan only be seen through microscopes.Studies show that a gram of soil cancontain as many as 10,000 differentspecies. These life forms play a criticalrole in helping soils to function prop-

FOOD SECURITYAND ‘LIFE’ IN SOILS

erly. Functions of soil include sustain-ing biological productivity, regulating water flow, storing and cycling nutri-ents, filtering, buffering, and trans-forming organic and inorganic materi-als. Health of soil is dependent on itschemical, physical, and biological com-ponents and their interactions.

Most of the living organisms in thesoil are agriculturally beneficial. Allhave important roles in maintaining

soil health and sustaining agriculturalproduction. But interestingly, whilemuch attention and investments in ag-ricultural research has been made onharmful ones and controlling them withagro-chemicals there is hardly any fo-cus on conserving the beneficial livingorganisms in the soil.

Moreover, indiscriminate use of

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lenges are scattered and are miniscule.The policies never adopted a holisticapproach and hence they failed in ad-dressing the crisis effectively. On theother hand, the mindless support for

chemical fertilizers continued jeopard-ising the soil ecosystem.

In this context, it is to be understoodthat the quality of soil is rather dy-namic and is controlled by chemical,physical, and biological components of soil and their interactions. Physicaland chemical properties are shaped bybiological activity which in turn is en-hanced or limited by chemical andphysical condition. Hence, manage-ment strategies that optimize multiplesoil functions have a greater potential

for improving soil-health than man-agement strategies that focus on asingle function.

Soil organic matter, the lifeline of soil, can be built up in soil through eco-logical fertilization practices only. Eco-logical fertilization practices that bringin holistic improvement in soil healthinclude reduced tillage, crop residuerecycling, green manuring, farm yardmanure application, compost applica-tion, biofertiliser and liquid manureapplication, soil surface mulching, polycropping with inclusion of legumes incropping sequence and integration of trees ( modified alley cropping) oncropped lands etc. All these agro-eco-logical practices and several others on

their own or in combinations have beenreported to improve soil quality, restorelife in soils and increase crop yield.

Ecological fertilization is neglectedciting reasons such as non-availabilityof biomass and high labour costs associ-ated with such practices. A limitingfactor is that few resources have beeninvested thus far in evaluating species,

in improving cultural practices, and indevising appropriate implements forgrowing and harnessing plant bio-mass.Even though there were no coordinatedstrategies developed to generate bio-

mass, there were studies by scientists which showed that sufficient biomasscan be generated through a combina-tion of practices at the farm level itself.Livestock being a critical source of manure needs to be promoted as anintegral component of the farm. It istrue that many practices associated with ecological fertilization are cur-rently labour-intensive. But littlethought has gone into developing thislabour intensive nature of ecologicalfertilization as an opportunity to gener-

ate rural employment opportunities.Conflicting use of whatever little bio-

mass available in farms is anotherconcern. Biomass such as dried cow-dung cakes, pressed leaf litter etc areused as cooking fuels. It is also used inenergy production. Hence the Govern-ment needs to consider all these vari-ous factors and come up with a compre-hensive biomass strategy if it has torestore life in soils and sustain agricul-tural production. This is vital for ensur-ing food security of the country. Thereis also need for policies that will restrictindiscriminate use of chemicals in Ag-riculture. The time to act is now.

(GOPIKRISHNA SR is a specialist in Agricultural Communications and policy. He campaigns for a sustainable future in Agriculture. He is currently associated withGreenpeace India

The views expressed in the article are personal and do not reflect the official policy or position of the organisation.)

chemical fertilizers ( catalyzed by theCentral Government’s liberal subsidy policy over several decades) and pesti-cides along with intensive monocrop-ping has led to degradation of the soil.

Indicators of good soil quality like mi-crobial biomass, enzymatic activity and water holding capacity are all drasti-cally reduced under chemical intensiveagricultural practices.

ORGANIC MATTER —

LIFELINE OF SOILS

The organic matter in soil comes frombiological sources. In a natural ecosys-tem, leaf litter, woody materials, deadbodies of living organisms etc accumu-lates in the soil, which in turn gets actedupon by microbes in the soils and getsdecayed to a point at which it is nolonger recognizable. Then it is calledsoil organic matter. Organic materialsact as food and shelter for microbes inthe soil. Soil organic matter plays a keyrole in soil-function, determining soil-quality, water-holding capacity andsusceptibility of soil to degradation. Inaddition, soil organic matter also serveas a source or sink to atmospheric CO2 and also acts as a source of nutrients forplant growth. Hence, organic matter isconsidered as lifeline of soils.

In traditional agriculture, farmersused to adopt lot of agro-ecologicalpractices which helped in supplying themuch needed organic matter. However

with the advent of chemical intensiveagriculture, policy makers, extensionsystems and farmers neglected eco-logical/organic fertilization. This hasled to drastic reduction on soil organicmatter content, which in turn added tothe decline of life forms and degrada-tion of soil ecosystem.

PRESENT CHALLENGES

AND THE WAY FORWARD

After recognizing the threat posed bythe degradation of soils, the Govern-ment has come out with several policiesin the past with an intention to tacklethe crisis. However the crisis still per-sists and is getting even worse. This ismainly because the Government sup-port systems for addressing these chal-

GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO COME UP

WITH A COMPREHENSIVE BIOMASS

STRATEGY IN ORDER TO RESTORE LIFE

IN SOILS AND PREVENT DEGRADATION

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How media can mitigate the threat of desertification as an enabler,public sphere, informer or as a platform for debate and discussionsand above all as a watchdog

It is no longer news in Nigeria thatthe Sahara Desert is movingsouthwards at a rate of 0.6 km per

year. What is news is that about 35million people in northern Nigeriaare suffering from the effects of de-sertification. And the menace is pos-ing a serious threat to the nation’seconomy, food security and employ-ment. Desertification is a global prob-

lem which is one of the prime factorsof food crisis in many developing andpoor countries.

DESERTIFICATION

It is important to keep in the mind thedistinction between deserts as a spe-cific ecosystem and desertification as aspecific process. Deserts are beguiling

DESERTIFICATION AND FOOD CRISIS IN INDIA

MRINAL CHATTERJEETeacher, Author and Media

Trainer in India

and nature made: Atacama in Chile,the Sonora in Mexico, the Sahara in

Africa, the Thar in India. Desertifica-tion on the other hand, is the rapid,human-induced creation of deserts —the sudden, accelerated conversion of arid or semi-arid land, usually by over-grazing, deforestation, over-extractionof groundwater, drought, over-planting,or some nasty combination of the five.

The world’s great deserts wereformed by natural processes interact-ing over long intervals of time. Duringmost of these times, deserts havegrown and shrunk independent of hu-man activities. Desertification hasplayed a significant role in human his-tory, contributing to the collapse of several large empires, such as Carthage,Greece, and the Roman Empire, as

well as causing displacement of localpopulations. However, with time deser-tification has assumed more impor-tance because of two factors: a. withincrease in population demand forfood has increased, and b. human ac-tivities impacting land degradation

have increased.

HOW DOES IT AFFECT?

Willem Van Cotthem, Honorary Pro-fessor of Botany, University of Ghent( Belgium) writes in his blog, “The worldis seeing a food, energy, climate andcredit crisis, each having repercussionson every sphere of human activity.

Land degradation will add to the adverse impact of each of these prob-lems.” Land degradation, in fact, inseveral parts of the world is triggeringthe crisis, especially in countries with

vast drylands.Drylands occupy approximately 40-

41% of Earth’s land area and are hometo more than two billion people. It hasbeen estimated that some 10-20% of drylands are already degraded, thetotal area affected by desertificationbeing between 6-12 million squarekilometers. It is also estimated thatabout 1-6% of the inhabitants of dry-lands live in desertified areas, and abillion people are under threat fromfurther desertification — that is rough-ly 20 per cent more than the totalpopulation of European continent.

DESERTIFICATION IN INDIA

India occupies only 2.4% of the world’sgeographical area, yet supports about16.7% of the world’s human popula-tion; it has only 0.5% of the world’sgrazing land but supports 18% of the

world’s cattle population. Thus there istremendous pressure on our land-based natural resources.

India is endowed with a variety of soils, climate, biodiversity and eco-logical regions. About 50.8 mha landarea (15.8% of the country’s geographical area) is arid, 123.4 mha ( 37.6%) issemi-arid and 54.1 mha (16.5%) area

WHATMEDIA CAN

P H O T O : M U K U N D A D E

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M E D I A M A T T E R S


falls in the dry subhumid region. Allput together, about 228 mha area, i.e.69% of the geographic area of thecountry is dry land ( arid, semiarid and

dry subhumid).In India, the total area under deser-

tification is 81.45 mha. Water erosion( 26.21 mha), wind erosion (17.77 mha),

vegetal degradation (17.63 mha) andfrost shattering (9.47 mha) are the ma-

jor processes of desertification.Nearly one third of the country’s

land area ( 32.07%) is undergoingprocesses of land degradation. Thereare about eight major processes of land degradation active in the coun-try. Water erosion is the most pro-nounced process, followed by vegetaldegradation and eolian processes.Total area under land degradation is105.48 mha.

Area-wise Rajasthan, J&K, Gujaratand Maharashtra have high propor-tions of land undergoing degradation.

81.45 mha land area of thecountry is undergoing the processof desertification.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE CAUSES?

The causes of desertification couldbe both natural and/or man made.Major causes for desertification are:change in frequency and amountof rainfall, reduction in vegetal cover,

wrong agricultural management prac-tices, cultivation on marginal lands,over-exploitation of the naturalresources, excessive grazing, etc. Oftenit falls into the trap of the vicious circle:reduction of vegetal cover triggersdesertification, it forces peopleinhabiting the area to exploit

vegetal cover of a larger area thus ag-gravating desertification.

IT’S IMPACT ON FOOD PRODUC-

TION AND FOOD INSECURITY

Desertification reduces the natural po-tential of the ecosystems and has a di-rect impact on people in terms of vul-nerability to food shortages and naturaldisasters, depletion of natural resourcesand deterioration of the environment.Continuing desertification could have afar-reaching environmental, social andeconomic impact, which could trigger

DO?

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and/or add food insecurity.

WHAT COULD BE DONE?

Combating desertification is keyto tackling global food crisis. Thereare several ways to combat andcontain desertification.

Vegetation plays an essential role inprotecting the soil, especially trees andshrubs, because their long life and ca-pacity to develop powerful root systemsassure protection against soil erosion.Their disappearance can considerablyincrease the vulnerability of the landto turn into a wasteland.

However, the silver lining is: anumber of diversified farming systems

have been evolved for low-rainfallareas, which include agro-forestry,agri-horticulture and agri-silvi-pas-ture, to sustain livelihood during cropfailure and to maintain livestock dur-ing drought.

Desertification gives rise to socio-economic problems. Therefore policyinterventions and socio-economic

measures also need to be taken. A strategy to combat desertification

could be like:Develop the Natural Resource

Conservation of land, water and•perennial biomassTreatment of problem lands•Expand horticulture, forestry and•agroforestryDevelop need-based NRM related•infrastructure

Management of Developed NRFormal allocation of user rights•System of management of assets•created ( e.g. user charges)Sustainable use of developed NR•( e.g. social regulation)

Non-farm LivelihoodsDiversification and link to markets•Upscaling of successes•Focus on productivity enhancement•Support to Self-Help Groups•

WHAT IS BEING DONE?

Government of India has framedseveral policies and started a number

of programmes to counterdesertification and its fall outs. Someof them include:

National Environmental Policy•2006, which said “…. while conservation of environmental resourcesis necessary to secure livelihoodsand well-being of all, the most se-cure basis for conservation is to en-sure that people dependent on par-ticular resources obtain betterlivelihoods from the fact of conservation, than from degradation of theresource.” It also emphasized onundertaking measures that were-consistent with the local sociocul-tural practices and combines

traditional and modern sciencebased knowledge.National Policy for Farmers 2007,•

which attempted to address declin-ing agricultural growth and profit-ability and increase off-farm em-ployment opportunities to createdemand for farm products and toincrease farmers’ resilience

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M E D I A M A T T E R S


National Rainfed Area Authority•( 2007 ) attempted convergence of programmes and institutionsNational Policy on Voluntary Sector•2007 envisaged Joint Consultation,Collaboration and Capacity Build-ing of voluntary organizations.National Rural Employment Guar-•antee Act 2005, which aimed to en-hance livelihood security by provid-ing 100 days of unskilled wageemployment per year for one mem-ber of willing household. It cameinto effect, on a pilot basis, in Febru-ary 2006 in 200 economically disad- vantaged districts of the country. Inthe second phase of implementation,it was extended to 130 additionaldistricts and the remaining districts were covered in the third phase on April 1, 2008. About one third of thepersons days of work created wasearmarked for work related to com-bating desertificationNational Rehabilitation and Reset-•tlement Policy 2007 attempted to

minimize displacement, promotealternatives and undertake timebound and adequate rehabilitationBharat Nirman Yojana (• 2005-2009),a time bound plan for rural infra-structure ( electricity, all weather roads, telephone and additional ir rigation capacity)National Food Security Mission•

2007 aimed to Increase productivityof rice, wheat and pulse througharea expansion ( except r ice) andproductivity enhancement in sus-tainable manner. It also aimed torestore soil fertility and productivityat individual farmlevel and Enhancefarm profits to restore confidence of farmers of targeted districts.National Agriculture Development•Scheme 2007 provided incentives toStates for increasing investments inagriculture sector. It provided localflexibility and autonomy in planningfor development of agriculture andallied sectors As can be seen there has been no•death of plans and schemes. Thechallenge; however is to take thosesystems to fields and actuallyoperationalising them. Media canhelp here.

HOW CAN MEDIA HELP?

Media can play five roles in mitigatingthe situation. There can be considera-

ble overlapping in the roles.Media as an Enabler: Media increasespeople’s access to information. Infor-mation makes them appreciate theproblem. It gives people power to facethe challenges.Media as a Public Sphere: People canair and share their ideas through massmedia. Issues can be discussed. Sug-

gestions for solutions of problems canbe aired and discussed. For example,media can help discuss the suggestionsM S Swaminathan offered to mitigatehunger and ensuring food security inthe ‘Food Security Atlas’. Socially

responsible journalism is a struggleto gain public space within theprivate sphere.Media as an Informer: Media can in-form people about various problems of society, and what causes them, and what is being done or not done aboutthem. This helps fix accountability. Itcan also inform people about opportu-nities and how to avail them.Media as a Platform: Media can provide a platform, where people can airtheir grievances, put forth their views,and participate in schemes to mitigatetheir problems.Media as a Watchdog: It is said thatsunshine is the best disinfectant. Thatsomebody is watching me — is the bestdeterrent to lot of social maladies likecorruption. Media can play the watchdog role to ensure that the governmentschemes function properly and corrup-tion is contained.

Desertification is too big and urgenta problem to be taken lightly. As theexecutive secretary of United NationsConference on Environment and De- velopment (UNCED), better known asthe Rio Conference. Luc Gnacadja,had said “If we cannot find a solutionto this problem ... in 2025, close to 70percent [ of the planet’s soil] could beaffected,” Gnacadja said. “There willnot be global security without foodsecurity.” Now with a billion peopleunder threat from further desertifica-tion- the threat is staring at our face.We better act fast.

( DR. MRINAL CHATTERJEE is a distin-

guished teacher, author and media trainer in India. He has worked in almost all media with élan. He is a very popular column-ist in Orissa. His columns appear in several newspapers and periodicals in Orissa.


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T

he growing threat of desertifica-tion and land degradation inSouth Asia will have long-termimpacts on the enormous popula-

tion that calls the region home. Desertifi-cation received global attention after se-

vere droughts in the Sahel region in Africabetween 1968 and 1973 that caused famineand dislocation on a massive scale. Sincethen, several international efforts havetackled desertification, leading to theadoption of the United Nations Conven-tion to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)in 1994. Under the Convention, desertifi-cation is defined as, “land degradation inarid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areasresulting from multiple factors, includingclimatic variations and human activities”.Changing weather patterns, in addition tounsustainable development practices, areaccelerating and intensifying the deserti-fication process and could result in forcedmigration and conflicts.

STATUS OF DESERTIFICATION

The spread of land degradation and deser-tification is no longer limited to the aridregions of a country. Increasingly, morecultivable land is being affected or is at riskof land degradation and desertification,

causing severe distress to the agrarianpopulation. Between 25 percent and 32percent of India’s total geographical areais affected by some form of desertificationand land degradation respectively. Addi-tionally, degradation of drylands, whichaccounts for roughly 69 percent of thecountry’s land area, could have severeimplications on the livelihood and food

SOWMYA SURYANARAYANANResearch Analyst,Strategic Foresight Group

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A S I A N A R M A G E D D O N

Changing weather patterns are accelerating andintensifying the desertification process whichcould result in forced migration and conflicts

hanging weather patterns are accelerating and

STRANDED ONSTRANDED ON

DRYLANDDRYLAND FUTURE OF SOUTH ASIA

security of millions, especially the poor.States such as Rajasthan, Kashmir, Gu-

jarat and Maharashtra are prone to deser-tification at present.

Similarly, Bangladesh and Nepal are

threatened by desertification, thoughboth countries have abundant water re-sources. Around 43 percent of Bangla-desh’s total geographical area is subjectedto various forms of land degradation.Land degradation is more pronounced inthe North Western region of the country,

which includes densely populated areassuch as Rajshahi, Pabna, Bogra and otheradjoining areas. In Nepal, around a thirdof the total area in the Himalayan regionhas little to no vegetation, making it athreatened ecosystem, which demon-strates the characteristics of cold desert.It has been estimated that approximately10,000 hectares of highland areas in theWestern part of Nepal are slowly showingsigns of desertification.

SHIFTS IN CLIMATE

The South Asian region is extremely sus-ceptible to drought, variability in mon-soons, floods and other extreme weatherevents. Thus, cultivation of land and wateravailability, are extremely vulnerable toclimatic shifts, especially in the denselypopulated areas of the region. Soil erosiondue to water and wind erosion has resultedin large tracts of land being classified assemi-arid to arid in the region. In India,soil erosion contributes to over 71 percentof the land degradation. Wind erosion, which is more dominant in the Westernregion of India, has led to loss of topsoil,resulting in degradation of over 5 percentof total geographical area of the country.

The most prevalent form of degrada-tion in South Asia is caused by water andoccurs widely in all agro climatic zones of the region. According to Nepal’s National

Action Programme on Land Degradation

and Desertification, erosion due to water was responsible for 50 percent of deserti-fication across the country in 2004. Duringthe monsoon season, large areas alongriver banks erode, creating acute socio-economic problems. Between 1973 and1996, approximately 70,000 hectares of land along the banks of the Brahmaputra-Jamuna were lost to erosion in Bangla-

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desh. The process of soil erosion due to water is likely to intensify over the next fewdecades, as the impacts of climate changebecome increasingly intense and visible.

Conversely, scarce water resources trig-gered by scanty rainfall and high evapora-

tion in dryland areas of the region increasestress on land due to the rising demand foragriculture and fodder production forlivestock. In addition, the problem of sa-linity has also resulted in degradation of fertile land. Roughly 6.73 million hectaresof land area is affected by salinity in India.

Around 30–80 percent of groundwater inNorth Western states of the country is ei-ther saline or brackish and is unfit for ir-rigation. Large scale cultivation of prawnsusing sea water in the coastal belts of Indiaand Bangladesh has also degraded waterand land resources. In Bangladesh, thegroundwater table fluctuates between8.95m to 18.56m during the dry season dueto over-extraction of water, resulting inacute water shortages.

ANTHROPOGENIC FACTORS

Anthropogenic causes include expansionof agricultural activities and unsustainableagricultural practices such as intensivecultivation, use of pesticides, poor irriga-tion practices, and overgrazing. Given thatthe region’s primary occupations includeagriculture and animal husbandry, intensepressure on the land has caused land deg-radation and desertification. India haslivestock population of about 485 million,burdening the limited land resources forfodder. More importantly, the growingpopulation pressure on land, expandingurban areas and poor resource manage-ment have resulted in land degradation.In Bangladesh, mining of sand from sev-eral agricultural lands for constructionpurposes, such as from the Northern Pied-mont areas and greater Dinajpur andRangpur districts, has increased the areaof fallow lands.

Land degradation in India, Bangladeshand Nepal has been exacerbated by theexpansion of rain-fed cultivation ontomarginal lands, deforestation, overgraz-ing, groundwater extraction and uncon-trolled harvesting of biomass. Moreover,deforestation in the Terai region in Nepal,in an effort to bring more land under cul-tivation, has increased the rate of erosion.

Between 1990 and 2000, Nepal has lost anaverage of 917 sq. km of forest per year.This constitutes a vicious cycle linkingdeteriorating natural resources to deterio-rating livelihoods as people need to en-croach further on fragile soils, sparse

vegetation and limited water resources tomeet their basic needs.

FOOD SECURITY

As harmful climatic processes such as er-ratic monsoons and droughts occur moreoften in the future, the South Asian regionis likely to face considerable food securitychallenges. Recurring droughts and con-tinued desertification will hamper agricul-tural production in the region as fertiletracts of land become unproductive. Lossof cultivable land will result in reductionof the vegetation cover and could eventu-ally alter the livestock population of theregion. The 1999 drought in India dis-tressed the lives of nearly 100 millionpeople and 60 million livestock mostly inthe states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, AndhraPradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The overallloss in food grain production in the coun-try was 15 percent, while states such as

Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh incurreda loss of 10-30 percent in food grain pro-duction. Continuous desertification andland degradation in the region could resultin loss of livelihood and exacerbate pov-erty levels in the future.

Approximately, 75 percent of Nepal’stotal workforce and over 50 percent of India and Bangladesh’s workforce areengaged in the farm sector. Estimates sug-gest that the ratio of cultivable land to thepopulation i.e. amount of acre held by aperson, is decreasing at a rapid pace in theregion. The land-man ratio in the NorthWestern parts of Bangladesh has de-creased significantly to 23.2 percent ascompared to the ratio of 17.2 percent inthe whole country, primarily due to deser-tification. Moreover, it has been calculatedthat the loss of crops due to reduced pro-duction in drought prone lands and thecost incurred as a result of additional ag-ricultural input to maintain soil nutrientsexceeds two billion USD every year inBangladesh. The process of land degrada-tion and desertification further adds to thesocial costs through displacement of hu-man settlements and causing famine-like

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A S I A N A R M A G E D D O N

conditions. Meanwhile, droughts acrossNepal, arising from the long dry spellsduring winter, are likely to aggravate de-sertification in the next two decades. Theland degradation, especially in the flatlands of the country, is worsening due to

sand deposition as large rivers in Nepalchange their course. The Koshi River hasdestroyed approximately 1300 square kilo-metres of land through sand deposition.In addition, many watersheds in the coun-try are threatened by desertification as aresult of physical and biological factors,

with reports suggesting that 0.4 percent,1.5 percent and 11.7 percent of the water-sheds are in very poor, poor and fair con-dition respectively. All these factors willthreaten the food security of the countryin the coming years.

MIGRATION

Desertification coupled with water andfood scarcity will lead to forced displace-ment and migration of millions of peoplein the region. Nepal, India and Bangla-desh are not only geographically con-nected but also share important riverssuch as the Ganges and Brahmaputra;

therefore, the impacts of desertification inone country are likely to spill over to othercountries in the future. As a result, therecould be a rise in conflicts in the region,especially over resources.

While it is difficult to quantify the pre-

cise impact of desertification in thesecountries, it is apparent that desertifica-tion will lead to loss of food grain produc-tion and livelihood opportunities. Degra-dation of the land, as in the Terai regionin Nepal, will reduce economic opportu-nities for people — a trend which couldbecome increasingly prevalent in the fu-ture, forcing people to migrate. Researchstudies reveal that seasonal migration isan important livelihood strategy, espe-cially among the poor in the region. In theNorth Western region of Bangladesh,

while around 19 percent of householdsacross all wealth groups migrate duringthe lean agricultural season, about 25percent of chronically poor householdsmigrate during the same period. Thisregion of Bangladesh will further witnessan increasing propensity for droughts andas rainfall becomes more unpredictableand groundwater levels decline, people

will be forced to migrate in order to se-cure their livelihoods.

Given that more than half of India’scropped area is still dependent on themonsoon rains and agriculture supportshalf of India’s working population, theresultant impact of variable precipitationand droughts could see rural farmers fromthe Northern agricultural areas movingaway to other parts of the country. West-ern Rajasthan, which is highly prone todroughts and land degradation, has wit-nessed large scale migration of peopletowards other states such as Gujarat,Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh insearch of food, livelihood and water.Regular occurrences of such scenarios arelikely to lead to the rise in permanentdisplacement of environmental migrants,

as they seek greater economic and socialsecurity. In the next decade or two, deser-tification-induced migration not only willlead to large influx of rural population tourban areas but will also lead to an in-creased and sustained movement of people across borders. This will prompt a

wide range of security issues for the South Asia region.

THE WAY FORWARD

Thus far the approach to deal with prob-lems resulting from droughts and deserti-fication has been to provide relief meas-ures to the affected people and finance forlivestock. The governments in the South

Asian region have largely invested in im-proving the situation through the devel-opment of irrigation facilities, which hasfurther depleted the water resources inthe region. As climate change increasesthe frequency of droughts and erraticrainfall, the impact on the land will con-tinue to be felt, thus offsetting the govern-ment’s intervention.

In order to combat desertification in theSouth Asian region, the focus should be toimplement long-term measures for soilconservation, afforestation and reforesta-tion, protection and sustainable use of ecological areas. In addition, preservationof grasslands and development of sustain-able agricultural practices will definitelyhelp in combating desertification in theregion. Implementation of long-termmeasures in an integrated manner, aimedat preventing degradation of land andimproving productivity of land throughrehabilitation, conservation and sustain-able management of land and water re-sources should seek participation at thecommunity level. This, in concert withinter-regional cooperation between thecountries in the South Asian region, willhelp tackle the problem resulting fromrecurrent droughts and continued deser-tification in the region.

(SOWMYA SURYANARAYANAN is the Research Analyst and Project Coordinator of the Horizons Scanning Unit (Asia) atStrategic Foresight Group. She works on development issues and analyses the long-term impacts of emerging trends on poor communities in the South Asian region.Sowmya was also a key researcher of

SFG’s publications on water security -‘The Himalayan Challenge: Water Secu- rity in Emerging Asia’ and ‘HimalayanSolutions: Co-operation and Security in River Basins’.


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DÉJÀ VUDROUGHT TRAGEDIES?

LUC GNACADJAExecutive Secretary,UNCCD

UNCCD is trying to bring concensus betweenthe developed and developing nations onconflicting drought prevention strategies

IS THERE POLITICAL WILL TO END THESE

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G L O B A L C O N S E N S U S

The crisis that hit eastern Africahas affected at least 12 millionpeople. This is about the entirepopulation of Senegal of Cam-

bodia or Cuba. It is the worst droughtin this region since 1950-51, according

to the Famine Early Warning SystemNetwork, an initiative funded by theUS Agency for International Develop-ment. Last year, Niger suffered a simi-lar fate. Now, as then, the upshot ismalnutrition, food insecurity andforced mass migration. So the UnitedNations and other aid agencies findthemselves going cup in hand in search

of food and any other humanitarianassistance to put a feeble band-aid ona structural problem. The situationharks back to earlier droughts in theSahel in the 1970s and in Ethiopia inthe 1980s. But these most recent

droughts are even more disturbing forat least three reasons.

Firstly, as in the past, the victims arenot the primary cause of the situation.They just happen to be both poor andon the frontline of climate change.Traditional coping mechanisms simplycannot respond. Secondly, droughts donot happen overnight. They are pre-dictable, and for a decade, scientistshave warned we need to act now toavert further disaster in drought pronecommunities. Thirdly, it was in re-sponse to the past drought tragediesthat the international community, in1994, established the United NationsConvention to Combat Desertificationand Mitigate the Effects of Drought inthose Countries Experiencing SeriousDrought and/or Desertification, Par-ticularly in Africa (UNCCD). ThisTreaty was a guarantee to the govern-ments and communities living in thedrought-prone areas of the world thatnever again would they have to sufferthe horrific effects of such droughts ona tragic scale.

BUT HERE WE ARE AGAIN; WHY?The impacts of drought are known andinclude food insecurity and hunger, lossof livelihoods, conflict, mass migrationand wild fires. If large-scale loss of lifeis to be avoided, adaptation strategiesmust be implemented. For this, effec-tive early warning systems and mecha-nisms to support the vulnerable com-munities with practical help andappropriate technology are indispensa-ble. A stable government is a prerequi-site for successful implementation of

policies and strategies, especially inseeking long-term solutions.To aid planning, the Convention’s

negotiators through the regional imple-mentation annexes mandated theUNCCD, 16 years ago, to support theestablishment of early warning systemstied to food security. Countries havemade slow progress citing a lack of re-

sources. For instance, only one countryin East Africa has a monitoring systemin place. Three others are planned. Notsurprisingly then, the debate on early warning systems and enhancing accessto practical technology to strengthen

the adaptation and resilience of thecountries and populations most vulner-able to droughts, exacerbated by cli-mate-change, has resurfaced.

Fortunately, the General Assemblyof the United Nations has agreed toconvene a one-day meeting at thelevel of heads of state and governmenton September 20, 2011 in New York toaddress desertification, land degrada-tion and drought in the context of poverty eradication and sustainabledevelopment. East Africa needs criti-cal and urgent humanitarian assist-ance now, but we would all benefitfrom ensuring the cycle of drought andfamine disaster are mitigated once andfor all. Recent droughts in Australia,Russia, the United States, SouthernEurope and Mexico show this is not anissue confined to the so-called devel-oping world and there are global ben-efits to be accrued from common, de-cisive and concerted action. Willpoliticians meeting in New York rec-ognize that and show the necessarysolidarity and political will to takedecisive action?

( MR. LUC GNACADJA is the ExecutiveSecretary of the United Nations Conven-tion to Combat Desertification, the UN’stop advisor on drought and desertifica-tion. Before taking up his position asUNCCD Executive Secretary, Mr. Gnac- adja served as Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development of Benin from 1999 to 2005. He gained first- hand knowledge of the UNCCD process over a number of years in his capacity as

Head of Delegation to the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD. In March 2003 Mr. Gnacadja was honoured withthe “2002 Green Award” in Washington by the World Bank.


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THE G-20 AGRICULTURE

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Whenever any radicalmodification in the internationalfoods trading system contradictsthe interest of the“EU Five”— they derail negotiations bymoving the focus of the talks

C H A N G I N G T R A C K S


TALKS TRAP

The G-7 founding states currently struggle topreserve their influence in international eco-nomic affairs as well as the very legitimacy of the “G-system”. Accordingly, the G-20 needs

to address issues important to the rising economicpowers. Recently, they even admitted this to the fo-rum, yet was neglected elsewhere. Notably, agricultureought to be tackled more fairly than what has been thecase thus far at the WTO. Otherwise, the Euro-Amer-ican voice will be marginalised, at best only in agricul-ture. The inclusion of agriculture in the G-20 agendaseemed logical and desirable, but the joy may well havebeen premature.

The fact that the G-20 agriculture ministers discussthe necessity of striking down food-export restrictions,rather than import agriculture subsidies and biofuelsis a diplomatic success of states interested in preserv-ing the current system. At the same time, agriculturethus became part of a broader debate. Even thoughthe G-20’s agenda does not constitute a single package,to some extent similarly to the WTO formula of “noth-ing is agreed until all is agreed”, states obtain conces-

sions in areas important to them for the price of simi-lar contributions in other matters. What seems

particular to those talks, however, is that the financialagenda, which is discussed the most, is very technicalin nature and so expert negotiations prevail over po-litical considerations. As there is general consent atthe expert level as to the goals and means of fightingfinancial instability — a consensus is relatively easy toforge. That is not the case as regards to agriculture

MERCIN MENKES Analyst, Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM),Poland

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however. The risks of putting agricultureon the table are two-fold: the fate of agriculture talks themselves, but also theprospects of greater financial stability.

G-20 NET FORCE

As the G-20 statements are not legallybinding, any declaration, for it to beimplemented, requires the consent of all. A failure would undermine the exist-ence of the forum. The process mayappear as a trade-off between a “leader”in each particular case and others, whoremain supportively-neutral.

Also the “EU five” (the EuropeanUnion and its four G-20 member states)may be a driving power behind the ne-gotiations. In that case, the political situ-ation becomes even more complicated,given that a considerable part of theG-20 negotiation agenda falls under theEU’s powers. Where G-20 talks precedethe EU law-making procedure, actorsmay be tempted to thus indirectly influ-ence its outcomes. In that case, thenumber of parties potentially interestedin the subject-matter rises dramatically.It may occur that with numerous con-flicting interests — a relatively smallinterest group may have a decisive influ-ence on the final position. If four re-maining EU actors go along, a smalllobby may obtain leverage at the inter-national level, which may entail consid-erable risks to others.

The functioning of such a mechanismmay be observed regarding financial su-pervisory and regulatory harmonisationreform. Starting from the very bottom, inmany EU states financial supervisioninstitutions, although not directly, con-tested the establishment of the EU-mi-crofinancial supervision, as it would re-strain their powers. This was especiallythe case, in smaller states (the so-called host states to financial institutions regis-tered abroad), which were afraid of losing

grounds to “home state” supervisors andregulators. On the contrary, centralbanks supported another leg of the finan-cial reform — the establishment of anEuropean institution for systematic riskmonitoring. Not only the body per se wasdeemed necessary, but also the majorityof states had not established an institu-tional framework to carry out such tasks

domestically. Given that the Europeaninstitution would build upon countryreports, the creation of respective na-tional bodies seemed a matter of time,

whereas their placement within centralbanks appeared most natural. Thereforecentral banks potentially faced an exten-sion of powers and adequate raising of funds. With the financial supervisorsceptical about the reform programme,central banks supportive and ministriesof finance rather indifferent ( as in a ma-

jority of states they do not directly supervise

financial institutions), the net force at thedomestic level was neutral. Whereasfrom the perspective of the parties con-cerned the reform is of utter importance,heads of governments, without clearsignal from the administration, were in-clined to adopt a supportive-neutralposition, this way strengthening theirown EU statesman image. The EU only

benefited from the establishment of newagencies, while France and Germany (the

major financial supervision “home states”) were generally supportive of the idea. Accordingly, at the G-20 plane five votesopted for enhancement of financial su-pervision; back at the EU level thistranslated into creation of an extensiveEuropean financial supervision frame-

work, despite opposition by the majorityof domestic supervisors.

THE AGRICULTURE BARGAIN

Socially equitable results may bereached through negotiations, as theyrequire concessions of all the majorinterest groups. The most imminentrisk of such system is it’s degenerationinto a tyranny of the majority, whereclaims of minor groups remain unan-swered. The case of agriculture reflectsthe opposite risk however.

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In deconstructing political discourseagain down to the electorate level, agrar-ian lobbies can be easily spotted. Para-doxically, even though Europe witnessesa continuous urbanization, the politicalmuscle of these groups, heavily subsi-dised and increasingly consolidated, re-mains strong. Yet, since their politicalagenda focuses on technical issues,agrarian parties are capable of makingalliances with both left and right group-ings ( for instance in Poland agrarian par-ties have belonged to 11 out of the 15

cabinets since 1989, both with post-com- munists and the former democratic opposition alike, and they even held the Prime Minister post twice).

In turn there is no obvious oppositeinterest that would unite anti-agrarian voters. Accordingly, although some dis-approve certain agrarian claims, no po-litical party is willing to fight against a

possible ally, whose political goals arenot competitive. Even though the EUagricultural import barriers increasefood prices considerably, while the valueof subsidies is questionable both on hu-manitarian and fiscal-consolidationgrounds, there is no sufficient groundsto challenge this policy. The outcomesof an EU agriculture debate, for instanceon the resignation from canola oil —currently an obligatory component of liquid fuels in Poland — appear fore-gone. Agrarian interests in France are

even stronger than the EU average. To-gether it is more than sufficient to set thetone for the “EU five”.

THE IMPACT ZONE

The existing international foods tradesystem is unjust, inefficient and possiblyunsustainable in the long run. It’s radicalmodification contradicts, however, ma-

jor interests in the “EU five” ( and theUS). As the developing states’ claimscannot be simply ignored any longer, themost natural solution would be to derailnegotiations by moving the focus of thetalks, which appears to have just hap-

pened at the first G-20 agriculture min-isters summit.

Such prospects of the G-20 agricul-tural agenda bother victims of the cur-rent food crisis primarily.

For the consumers from states subsi-dising agriculture,the G-20 conclusionsentail the risk of cementing the policy, which preserves the benefits of a rela-tively small, privileged group.

All that may well be an optimistic sce-nario. As the non-binding character of the G-20’s conclusions requires a whole-hearted support of all participants —regulations are adopted by consensus.This is relatively easy in the financialfield, where all the parties share a convic-tion that financial innovations must becurtailed, supervision should be en-hanced and greater international coop-eration is necessary. In agriculture,however, divisions relate to the veryfoundations of the international system,so similar negotiation results are unlikely.The failure to reach an agreement mayimperil the continuation of the G-20.

A self-contained change in Westernpolitics is unlikely. However, victims of yet another food crisis cannot wait. De- veloping economies, who already suc-ceeded in the formal recognition of theirinternational status, should prove their vision of and capacity to shape interna-tional economy, by reachingout directlyto dispersed European consumers, pos-sibly acquiring this way a powerful lever-age on the final G-20 talks.

( DR. MERCIN MENKES is an Analyst at the Polish Institute of International Af-

fairs (PISM). He is also a Lecturer of Economic Analysis of Environmental Law at the Warsaw School of Economics. He has written several articles on variousinternational magazines and journals.


G-20 CONCLUSIONS ENTAIL THERISK OF CEMENTING THE POLICY,WHICH PRESERVES THE BENEFITS OF ARELATIVELY SMALL, PRIVILEGED GROUP

C H A N G I N G T R A C K S

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TOO MANY

EMPTY BOWLSThe curses of hunger is prevalent in India not only because of its vastpopulation but also due to rampant wastage of food coupled with feeblegovernment policies such as inefficient PDS system

R. B. BHAGATProfessor and Head, Department of Migration and Urban Studies, Interna-tional Institute for Population Sciences

The historical World Food Sum-mit held in Rome in 1996 reaf-firmed the right of everyone tohave access to safe and nutri-

tious food. As a result, the right to foodand freedom from hunger emerged asan important concern during the1990s. Again, the Millennium Devel-opment Goals agreed by the worldleaders in 2000 reiterated this commit-ment by pledging to halve the propor-tion of the population who suffer fromhunger from 1990 to 2015 (United Na-

tions 2008).Food security is the important means

to realize the right to food. It means theaccess to the adequate food to all mem-

bers of the household throughout the year. Access to food is determined byfood entitlement. The Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen has provided a frameworkof food entitlement in order to under-stand the access to food and genesis of hunger. According to him, own produc-tion, stored wealth, employment, kin-ship and government transfers are all

possible sources of food entitlement(Sen 1981).

Population and food are two closelyrelated issues prominently found in thestudy of demography since its incep-tion. The First Essay on Population written by Robert Thomas Malthus in1798 emphasized the inevitable imbal-ance between population growth andfood supply which shaped much of thedebate in the area of population anddevelopment relationship. The historyof India’s demographic and agricul-tural growth shows that the thesis of Malthus is not true. The availability of food matched quite well with the re-quirement of growing population.

However, in spite of sufficient availabil-ity of food, India is a country of thelargest number of food insecure popu-lation. The paper shows that popula-tion growth of the country cannot beheld accountable for the food insecu-rity in the country. In fact a paradox of food stock with the government co-exists with hunger and price rise.

LEVEL OF HUNGER

AND FOOD INSECURITY

About one-fifth of India’s population ishungry ( Radhakrishna 2005). Howeverthe level of hunger estimated by Na-tional Sample Survey Organization( NSSO) by a direct question whether the‘household getting enough food every-day throughout the year’ was only 2.4 percent in rural area and 0.5 per cent inurban areas as per 61st round conductedin 2004-05 ( NSSO 2007 ). At combinedlevel of rural and urban areas only twoper cent of the household reported theincidence of hunger which works out tobe 22 million suffering from hunger in2004-05. This is highly an underestimate

compared to the level of poverty andmalnutrition in the country.20 per cent of India’s population is

undernourished with a per capita ac-cess to 1632 kcal only ( Menon, Deola-

likar and Bhaskar 2008). When seenagainst the norm of 2400 kcal in ruraland 2100 kcal in urban areas, the pro-portion of population below the norm

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goes as high as 79.8 per cent in ruraland 63.9 per cent in urban areas (total75.8 per cent) in 2004-05 ( Deaton and

Dreze 2009).Poverty is the greatest barrier in the

access to food. The population below

poverty line indirectly is a true measureof the level of hunger. However, thepoverty estimates are widely debatednow. For example, the official estimateprovided by the Planning Commissionmentions that the population belowpoverty line is 27.5 per cent in 2004-05,

whereas Tendulkar Committee esti-mates India’s poverty level 37 per centand the N.C. Saxena committee ap-pointed by Ministry of Rural Develop-ment estimated 50 per cent of India’spopulation living below poverty line( Planning Commission 2008 and 2009;Saxena 2009). Although official povertyhas declined from 54.9 per cent in 1973-74 to 27.5 per cent in 2004-05, thenumber of poor has barely declined.The number of poor was 321 million in1973-04 against 301 million in 2004-05( Planning Commission 2008). Accord-ing to some leading researchers, thereare about 800 million hungry people inthe world out of which 225 million arein India (Swaminathan 2003; Rad- hakrishna 2005). This estimate is veryclose to the number of poor of 300 mil-lion estimated by the Planning Com-mission which has huge implication forIndia’s food security programmes at thehousehold level. Hunger is the mostacute form of food insecurity alsomanifested in the malnourishment of population that affects the growth of children severely. The period from birthto two years of age is important for op-timal growth, health and development. At this stage, children are not only vul-nerable to growth retardation but alsoprone to child illness such as diarrheaand acute respiratory infections. As a

result malnutrition emerged as a sig-nificant cause of child mortality in India(74 deaths of children under age 5 per 1000 in 2005-06). The level of malnutri-tion was 45.9 per cent among childrenbelow three years of age and 56 per centof women aged 15-49 were found anae-mic according to NFHS-3 in 2005-06( International Institute for Population

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Sciences and Macro International 2007 ). At state level malnutrition continues tobe high even in the most food securestates like Punjab and Haryana whereone-fourth and two-fifth children aremalnourished respectively and 52 chil-

dren die before age 5. The level of anaemia among women aged 15-49 was38 and 56 percent in the state of Punjaband Haryana respectively ( Interna-tional Institute for Population Sciences and Macro International 2007 ).

India has not only a very high level of hunger and malnutrition, but the recentstudies also show declining calorie con-sumption among the poor both fromcereal and non-cereal sources ( Deaton and Dreze 2009). The cereal consump-tion among the poor is also decliningconstantly during the last two decades. Ithas been made clear by the Saxena Com-mittee that the declining cereal con-sumption and consequently the decliningcalorie intake among the poor is not theresult of poor switching over to non-ce-real food but due to cut in their foodbudget in the event of rising essentialexpenditure on fuel, transport, and edu-cation of children, medicine and trans-port. It is clearly a distress phenomenon

which shows the increasing food insecu-rity among India’s poor (Saxena 2009).

PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

AND FOOD SECURITY

India’s food security programme isheavily dependent on PDS whichstarted way back in 1939 during colo-nial rule first introduced in Bombay.The drought and food shortage afterindependence led to the strengtheningof the PDS and was expanded as auniversal scheme in the 1970s. Themain objective of the PDS was to main-tain price stability and to eradicatehunger (Swaminathan 2003).

The universal PDS was abolished in

1997 and a Targeted PDS was intro-duced in its place. The targeted PDSdiffered from earlier PDS requiring theentire population to be divided intoBPL 2 ( below poverty line) and APL( above poverty line) categories. A thirdgroup of the poorest of the poor underBPL category was also identified andcovered under Antyodya Anna Yojana

( AAY ) since 2001. All three groups were treated differently in terms of thequantities of food provided and theprices at which food was supplied.There are many problems with TargetedPDS like inclusions and exclusions, but

most importantly targeting has affectedthe functioning and economic viabilityof the PDS (Swaminathan 2004).

India’s food security programme isbasically a producer cum consumersubsidy programme. At producer levelthe Govt. of India ensures that produc-ers get the Minimum Support Price( MSP) which protects them from the vagaries of the market. Farmers havenow opportunity to sell their surplusfood grains to the government ownedFood Corporation of India ( FCI ) incase of lack of opportunity to sell in theopen market and protects them sellingin the open market at lower price thanthe MSP. The minimum support pricehas seen a big jump from 2007-08.While during 2000-01 to 2006-07, therise in MSP ( excluding bonus) had beengradual, in 2008-09, the MSP in almostevery crop had witnessed increases of about 30 per cent or more. Studies alsoshow a close relationship between theMSP and the market prices of the food

grain ( Deshpande and Naika 2002).This has clearly fueled the price rise of the food grains in recent years ( Minis-try of Finance 2009).

The Central Government has

emerged as the biggest buyer of food

grains under the obligation of PDS. Asa result there is enough piling of stock with FCI. In 2008-09, there was arecord procurement of 54.2 milliontones i.e. about one-fourth of the totalproduction ( 233.8 million tonnes). Onthe other hand, total disbursement of food grain under PDS was 34.7 milliontonnes i.e. 60 per cent the procurementin 2008-9 ( Ministry of Finance 2010).Even during the year 2009-10 which was severely affected by drought reduc-ing the kharif production drastically,there was a record procurement of paddy ( Ministry of Finance 2010:69). It

would not be untrue to say that theFCI’s godowns were bursting withfood grains, getting rotten while thepoor were dying of hunger (Swami- nathan 2004; The Asian Age, National Daily, 14th August, p. 10). The net ef-fect was artificial shortage of foodgrain in the market, price rise and en-couragement of hoardings by the private traders.As such, even the Supreme

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Court directed the Central Govern-ment not to let the food grains rot butdistribute the food freely to the mil-lions of hungry.

Further, under PDS, the states andunion territories are allocated food

grains by the Central Government, butfor many states like Bihar andJharkhand the offtake is as low as 50per cent. As a result, there is a largeinter-regional variation in the access of food grain from PDS. In rural areasthe per capita monthly purchases of cereals from PDS was lower than 0.5kg in poor states of Bihar, MP, UP andRajasthan compared to 5 kg in Kerala,3.3 kg in Tamil Nadu and 2.3 Kg in AP( Radhakrishna 2005).

Thus, the basic purpose of PDS toprovide access to food to the poor andprice control is defeated by the foodprocurement and disbursement policyof the Central Government. Whileprocurement and disbursement of foodgrain is undertaken by the central gov-ernment, the public distribution of food is under the control of the stategovernments. There is a need to decen-tralize the procurement, storage anddisbursement of food grain in country

with a greater involvement of stategovernments. This will help removingthe regional imbalances in food grainsupply and provide opportunity tomany farmers who are left out to takethe benefits of procurement policy which is mainly confined to the statesof Punjab, Haryana and Western UttarPradesh. Decentralization of foodgrain procurement and disbursement would also contain wastage in storageand reduce transportation costs. Thisrequires partnership between the cen-tral and state government at each stageof food security right from availabilityof food grain through increased pro-ductivity, encouraging procurement at

the state level so that farmers of eachstate has the chance of getting benefitfrom MSP, promoting state specificstorage, disbursement and manage-ment of food. A decentralized ap-proach should also promote the involvement of Panchayati Rajinstitutions in the food security pro-grammes. However, the framework of

the proposed National Food Security Act drafted by the National AdvisoryCouncil did mention in passing aboutthe decentralized approach to foodsecurity policy, but not as a fundamen-tal strategy of achieving food security.

CONCLUSIONS

Although food availability at the na-tional level is a necessary condition toeradicate hunger, it does not guarantee

the food security at the householdlevel. This is the paradox that India isfacing. At the moment India’s foodsecurity policy is too centralized, heav-ily dependent on subsidies given to thefarmers as well as consumers. It is alsobased on target oriented public distri-bution system for BPL and destitutehouseholds. The food security pro-grammes need to be decentralizedboth in procurement, disbursementand storage levels. At the moment,food grain is procured by the CentralGovernment from few states mostlyfrom Punjab, Haryana and UttarPradesh ( from Western Uttar Pradesh mainly) which are allocated to the various state governments. There is aneed that the farmers of other statesare given equal opportunity of gettingbefitted through the procurementpolicy. This will also promote statespecific storage of food grain and re-duce wastage, save huge transporta-tion cost and deliver food grains ontime during the time of food crisis. The

autonomy to the state governments andinvolvement of Panchayati Raj institu-tions in the procurement, disbursementand management of food with centralassistance is crucial for the future foodsecurity of the country. This is justifiedon the ground that the states show verydiverse patterns in population, foodgrain production and in levels of hun-

ger. However, states alone cannot dothis, but the Central Governmentshould enable the state governments bydecentralizing the food security pro-grammes through budgetary provisionsand financial packages. The proposed

framework of National Security Act ishighly deficient on this count whichproposes nothing new but a differentialcoverage and targeting, a differentialprovision of food grains and a differ-

ential pricing for the vulnerablegroups. It continues to assume thatfood security is the sole responsibilityof the Central Government which canbe achieved through a centralized waytargeting the needy. This has been thenotion of the central government overthe years ignoring the fundamentalcharacter of centre and state relationsof the Indian Union. In fact govern-ance is the serious issue which failedthe PDS and other centrally sponsoredprogrammes in many states. This ishigh time that we must address thecentre–state relation in food securityprogrammes and promote decentrali-zation over centralization in view of theoverriding importance of states in im-plementing the most of the develop-ment programmes including employ-ment generation, poverty eradicationand food security .

( DR R. B. BHAGAT is working as Pro- fessor and Head, Department of Migra-

tion and Urban Studies, International Institute for Population Sciences. His research areas include — migration, urbanization and environment; Demogra- phy, ethnicity and politics.


FOOD SECURITY PROGRAMMESMUST BE DECENTRALIZED BOTH INPROCUREMENT, DISBURSEMENT ANDSTORAGE LEVELS TO MAKE IT WORK

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More vigilance and greater conservation effortson the part of government are needed tocounter the growing threat of deforestation

PRABHA PANTHProfessor of Economics,O.U. P.G. College, Secunderabad

Increasing commercial use of forestshas affected their ecological role, anddeterioration of the ecological system

will affect both the economy and theenvironment in the long run. It is there-fore necessary to achieve long-termconservation of forests to ensure theirsustained availability for both ecologicaland economic requirements. Sustainabledevelopment of forests formed part of the discussions in the Forum for ForestPrinciples, UNCED at Rio de Janeiro in1992. Sustainable forest managementand ecosystem approach aim at promot-ing conservation and management prac-tices which are environmentally, sociallyand economically sustainable, and whichgenerate and maintain benefits for both

present and future generations.Forest conservation, preservation,sustainability and management are termsthat are generally used interchangeablyas they are very closely connected to eachother. Preservation is regarded as an ac-tivity of protecting something from lossor danger, while Conservation is definedas “the preservation and careful manage-

ment of the environment and of naturalresources ”. Hence conservation refers toprotection plus improvement in theresource base. Sustainability is the capac-ity of the system to endure or continue.It is the ability of a unit or a system tocontinue in existence under opposingor critical conditions. In ResourceEconomics it is achieved by equatinggrowth of the renewable resource with itsrate of exploitation, so as to keep totalstock constant.

CONSERVATION OF FORESTS

Forest conservation can be interpretedas either increase, or at least maintainingthe total area under forests, and underforest cover. The term “sustainability”

has a different connotation in NaturalResource Economics. Here sustainabil-ity entails that the rate of exploitation of forests should equal the rate of its regen-eration (Tietenberg, 2004). However, it isdifficult, if not impossible to measureboth these variables. For sustainabledevelopment, the rate of exploitation of forests or rate of tree felling should be

THE FORESTS

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equated with tree growth. Data on treefelling is not accurate as there is a largeamount of illegal felling of trees, whichis not recorded (State of Forest Report, 2005). Forest area and cover may shrinkdue to developmental activities such as

construction of roads, railways, dams,mining, etc., or forest land may be con-

verted legally or illegally into agricultureland, settlements, and for other non for-est purposes. Studies have shown thatthese diversions are rarely recorded bythe Forest Dept in its reports (Gulati and Sharma).

As for forest regeneration, estimationof the success of reforestation pro-grammes is difficult and complex. It isnot a simple case of equating the areareforested with the area degraded. Thisis because reforestation programmesmay end up as plantations or monocul-ture or with invasive species, as hap-pened in the 80’s with the ill fated euca-lyptus plantations. Again, althoughreforestation efforts replace trees, thereplenishment of biodiversity loss fromforests is rarely taken into account. Itmay not be possible to replenish the richbiodiversity of flora and fauna that hadcharacterised the deforested area. Also,the area degraded may not be the areareforested, so that ecological degrada-tion may be going on in one area, whileforest cover increases in another. Eco-logically speaking, they cannot cancelout each other.

Another problem is with regard to thegrowth of seedlings — not all will growup to be fully developed trees, as theymay wither away, or be looped and cutfor firewood, or eaten by cattle. Even if they survived, it will take them a decadeor more to achieve adult status. Yetanother aspect to be kept in mind is thatharvesting timber is a continuous proc-ess, and so should be matched with anequal number of seedlings planted

every year. Plantations on ‘degradedforest land’ do not increase the net for-est area, but only increase the treedensity. Other problems include fakereporting of plantation to meet targets,and inability of satellite pictures to dis-cern young plantations.

Therefore we use the more non con-troversial term “conservation”, which

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refers to both maintenance and growthof forests.

REASONS FOR LOSS OF

FOREST COVER

In spite of the various motivations for

forest conservation, the AP forest depthas not been able to achieve its goals. Thefollowing reasons have been put forth forthe fall in forest cover in AP.Population: Forests are under tremen-dous pressure due to about 20 millionpeople being directly or indirectly de-pendent upon it for livelihood.Development Projects: Besides demandsof development like irrigation projects,laying or improvement of the existingroads and power supply lines, mining of coal and minerals etc. puts additionalpressure on the forests.Encroachments: It was reported thatfresh attempts on encroachments hadcontributed to nearly 65% of the nega-tive changes.Plantations: Rest of the negative changesare attributed to preparation of forestlands for raising semi mechanical planta-tions and rotational felling of eucalyptusand other plantations.Diversion to other uses: Diversion of forests to other legal and illegal activi-ties is yet another reason for decreasein forest cover, though data for this isnot available.Rotational Felling of timber: The mainreasons for decrease in forest cover aredue to rotational/clear felling of maturedplantations and diversion of forest landsunder FCA ( AP SOFR 2010). In spite of ban on tree felling, timber, bamboo, andindustrial wood are being regularly harvested in AP forests. The total timberharvest grew by about 66% from 2002-03to 2005-06. The maximum timber har-

vested was in Adilabad — in 2002 it wasmore than 50%, followed by Rajamun-dry. In the next five years, the share of

Adilabad has fallen, though it still consti-tutes the largest share of timber cuttingby the Dept. It should be noted, that Adilabad has more than 52% of theState’s Dense Forests, and more than20% of Moderately Dense forests. Overthe years, the dept has spread its net toinclude other forest circles, such asKhammam, Ananthapur, etc. However

Hyderabad, Tirupathi and Srisailam havenot been exploited for timber by theDept, though obviously tree cutting hasbeen carried on due to other reasons,mainly in Hyderabad, such as road widen-ing, construction, and extension of other

utilities such as water pipelines, powercables, drains, etc.Industrial Wood: Industrial cutting of

wood reached a high level during 2004-05, but has fallen subsequently. Kham-mam provided the bulk of industrial

wood (86%) initially, but this has fallenover the years. However even in 2008-09,it provided the maximum of 35%. Raja-mundry got a burst in 2003-04, providingmore than 50%, but this has subsequent-ly fallen. Other forests in Vishakapatnam,and Srisailam are now being exploited forindustrial wood.Fuel Wood: Surprisingly, the demand forfuel wood which was zero for three yearsseems to have increased tremendously in2008-09, while that of timber seems to befalling. One of the objectives of forestconservation was to reduce fuel wooduse, by promoting alternative energy suchas natural gas, biogas, and solar energy in

village and forest communities ( AP forest Dept). However the increase in fuel woodfelling seems to show that this scheme hasnot succeeded, as can be seen by its mas-

sive growth of over 400% from 2008-09.

REFORESTATION According to the Vision 2020, AP is sup-posed to have taken up a massive refor-

estation drive to restore the degradedforests, and to bring more land underforests. However, the findings depictedabove do not seem to support this claim.

Total Growing Stock in the 63,814 sqkm of recorded forest area was estimatedto be 232 million cubic meters and theaverage growing stock of the state was36.37 cubic meters per Ha. But the State

forest growing stock has decreased from291.394 million cubic meters to 232 mil-lion cubic meters in 2009 ( AP Forestry Inventory Report 2009). This does notaugur well for forest conservation andsustainable development.

The JFM programme is supposed tohave raised 3535.62sq kms of plantationsin AP till 2009, comprising of teak, non-teak, tamarind, red sanders, etc ( AP Forests at a glance 2010). However thesame website shows that by 2009, the for-est cover under JFM programmes hadfallen by-3315.91 sq kms.

If we look into forest land under differ-ent legal classifications, we find that theGovernment of AP seems to have beenconverting more of its forest lands fromProtected and Unclassified, into Re-served Forests. The share of ReservedForests increased from 67.5% in 1956-57,to 79% in 1991-92, while that of other twohave fallen ( 26% to 19%, and 8% to 1.5%

respectively, and have remained constant for the past 18 years). Reserved forests arenot supposed to permit any type of eco-nomic activity, and so by notifying themaximum area under this category, thegovernment of AP may have hoped toshow conservation.

Forest area may remain constant, be-cause it is based on Government’s clas-

sification. However, forest cover has notremained so. Forest Cover has fallenfrom about 44.6 thousand sq km in 2001to 42.2 thousand sq km in 2008, a fall of 5.35%. Official data shows that eco-

nomic activity is permitted on only Un-classed Forests, which constitute only1.5%. But the fact that so much of forestcover is decreasing shows that the Re-served and Protected Forests are notbeing conserved, and that economic ac-tivity and tree felling are going on inthese areas.

Not only is forest cover falling, but

CONSTANTLY DIMINISHING FORESTCOVER IS A TESTIMONY TO THE FACT

THAT THE RESERVED AND PROTECTED

FORESTS ARE NOT BEING CONSERVED

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dense forests are increasingly gettingconverted to open forests and scrub land,showing that tree cover is thinning out. If

we look at forest density, then DenseForests registered a negative growth of 24% over the eight years from 2000 —2008, while Open Forests and Scrub landgrew by 20.4% and 36.3% respectively. Also the share of Dense Forests hasfallen from 47.4% in 2000, to 35% in2008, while that of Open Forests haveincreased from 34.5% to 40.6%. Simi-larly Scrub land has increased from 18%of forest area to 24% in 2008.

Joint Forest Management was set upto encourage local communities to takeup forest conservation. However the last

two years’ data shows that the forestcover under VSS has fallen by around23%, while that under notified or govern-ment forest has fallen by 76%. This seemsto indicate that VSS has also not beensuccessful in conserving forest cover.

Data on district wise distribution of forests and conservation shows that thenet change in forest cover in 2008 as

compared to 2007 was negative for all the12 forest divisions of AP. The maximumloss of forest cover has been in Kham-mam — 58.52 sq km, more than half of the total deforestation in AP. This is fol-lowed by Rajamundry with nearly 23 sqkm loss.

In spite of the Forest department’sclaims, tree felling is continuing. Thustotal timber harvest grew by about 66%from 2002-03 to 2005-06. The maximumtimber harvested is in Adilabad, followedby Rajamundry. Wood for industrial useshas also been growing by 14.27%. Al-though the Forest Department claimsthat the JFM programme was supposedto have raised 3535.62sq kms of planta-

tions in AP till 2009, the forest coverunder JFM programmes had actuallyfallen by 3315.91 sq kms.

Therefore forest conservation in APdoes not seem to have yielded results, asforest cover has been falling. Rising treeharvesting for fuel, timber, and industrialcuts, plus diversion of forest land to non-forest uses are nibbling away forest cover

in the state, though forest land is nomi-nally constant. Some highly forested cir-cles in AP have shown deterioration of their forest cover, or conversion of denseforests to open and scrub land. Hencemore vigilance and greater conservationefforts are needed to ensure that the re-maining forests of AP are sustained forthe future.

( DR. PANTH is a professor at OsmaniaUniversity, Hyderabad. Her area of spea- cialisation is Environmental Economics and have published about 22 articles in various academic journals and presentedthem at different seminars. She have also

completed a UGC major research project entitled: “The Economic Significance of Wastewater Management: A case study of

Bolaram Industrial Estate.” This article is based on one of the chapters .


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Since its incorporation (1973), IIPM has been an institution with privileged traditions, in the diversity of its fraternity,its global outlook, its world class research and its commitment to alternative national economic planning process.

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Economists often have limited access to the practical problems facing senior managers, while senior managers oftenlack the time and motivation to look beyond their own industry to the larger issues of the global economy. It has setbefore it the twin tasks: to reorient education and research towards the needs of both the private and public sectors andto establish the link between the National Economic Planning and the development of private enterprises in Indianeconomy. IIPM dares to look beyond, and understands that what we teach today, other adopt tomorrow. IIPM’s service

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The Great Indian Dream is another humble initiative towards the realisation of the same and more distinctly,engaging the broader publics and pertinent stakeholders.

IIPM: THE FUTURE IS HERE

SEARCH, SIEVE, SCHEME... After 8 years of bringing out The India Economy Review as a quarterly journal, we’ve decided to rechristen it as

The Great Indian Dream and make it monthly with an idea to have a more regular impact on the Indian economyand realise the Great Indian Dream of an educated, healthy and employed India.

In economics, like in everyday existence, it is imperative to hear, perceive and consider what others have to say.Each issue of The Great Indian Dream brings together a selection of important contributions on a particulartheme, authored by some of the brightest minds in different areas of Indian economics. The provocation forpublishing these issues arises from the fact that over the years economic journals have become copious, exclusiveand expensive. Most of the journals and a good many of the books have gone beyond the cerebral and financialreach of general students and other scholars. It is for them that these issues are primarily being raised anddebated here.

Much about India is transparent enough. One does not require detailed criteria, cunning calibration or probinganalysis to pinpoint India’s problems and recognise its antecedents. There is in fact much that is perceptible aboutIndia. But not everything about India is even if simplistic is so simple. The learned reader would appreciate the factthat India is like an elephant that looms too large to be grasped within a distinct structure and paradigm theconstituent parts of which would fail to reveal the entirety. Obviously and observably, no suggested solution to anyprotracted and complex socio-economic problem will satisfy al l sides and stake-holders evenly. Consequently, thereexists an enormous diversity in economic thinking and perspectives, as is also reflected in the viewpoints of different expert contributors in this issue. The intended outcome of this exercise is to facilitate the invention,improvement, deliberation and dissemination of innovation in economic thinking and national economic planning,insisting merely on well-grounded, open and unbiased debates, without predetermined outcomes. It is impossible todo justice to the entire field of Indian economics in a single issue. The topics selected for this issue are those whichare of critical and immediate importance to India. Majority of them were freshly and exclusively written.Encapsulated, it is a constructive attempt aimed at helping India actualise its promises and potential. The editorshope that this issue of the GID proffer the reader a flavour of dynamism and excitement and persuade her/him toparticipate in the journey towards realising ‘The Great Indian Dream’. At the same time, it illuminates the terrible,

practical problems of India and Bharat.

8/2/2019 4_GID-Sept-11


A C Neilson • ABB • ABN Amro • Accenture • Acer India • ADAG • Adani Group • Adlabs Radio • Aegon Religare • Al Reyami Group • Al Shirawi Group • American Express • AMRUTANJAN

• Anand Rathi • Angel Broking • Angel Capital & Debt Market Ltd • Apollo Munich • Arcadia Broking • Audi Delhi • Avaya Global • Avery Dennison • Aviva Lie Insurance • Axis Bank •

Bajaj Allianz • Bajaj Capital • Bank o NewYork Mellon • Barclays Bank • Barclays Finance- Rank Investments and Credits • Barnies Cofee • Bharti Airtel • Bharti Axa • Big FM • Birla

Global Finance • Birla Insurance Advisory Services Ltd. • Birla Power Solutions • Birla Sun Lie Insurance • Bisleri • Blue Dart

• BMW India • BNP PARIBAS • Bombay Paints Ltd. • BP Ergo • Business Octane • Business standard • Caé Cofee Day • Capital

IQ - Standard & Poors • Career Launcher • CB Richard Ellis • • Centurian Bank o Punjab • Chambal

Fertilizers • Chase Manhattan Bank • Cholamandalam DBS • Citi Bank •

CITI Financial • CITIBANK Shelters • Claude Neon • Clea Public Relations • Coats India Pvt. Ltd. • Cogent

Telecom & Inrastructure Ltd. • Colgate Palmolive • Colliers International • Colwell & Salmon Communications • Copal Partners • Cosmo Films • Country Club • Creons Advertising • Cushman

& Wakeeld • D.E.Shaw • Da Milano Italia • Daimler Chrysler • DALMIA CEMENTS • Dawnay Day AV • DCM Sriram • DELL • Deloitte Consulting • Deloitte KM • Deutsche AMC • Deutsche Bank

• Dexter • Diageo • DLF • DLF Marketing • DLF Pramerica Lie Insurance • DLF Universal • Dun & Bradstreet • E & Y • Ebrahim Abdul Aal • Edleweiss • Eicher • Elite Stock Management • Emaar

MGF • Emirates Neon • Encompass Events • E-Serve International • Euro RSCG • Evalueserve • Eveready Industries • Everest Industries • Executive Access • Exhibitions India • Expeditors • FCB-

ULKA • Featherlite • Ferco Singapore PTE • Fever 104 • Financial Technolgogies India-MCX • First Gul Bank • FORD • Fortis Securities Ltd. • Fortune India • Frost & Sulliven • Fuji Bond • Future

Generali • Ge Money • Genesis Burson – Marsteller • Genesis Luxury • GENPACT Analytics • GM Overseas • Godrej & Boyce • Godrej Hi Care • Gold Souk (AGS Group) • Goldman Sachs •

Goldstar International • Google • Grail Research • Grand Ashok • GRANT THRONTON • Grasim Industries Ltd. . • Group M • Haier Appliances • Havells India • Hawk Media LL • HCL • HCL

Comnet • HCL Innet • HCL Inosystem • HCL Inosystems • HCL Technologies BPO Service Ltd. • HDFC • HDFC Asset Management Company Ltd. • HDFC LIFE INSURANCE

• HDFC Mutual Fund • HDFC Standard Lie • Hero Mindmine • Hewlett Packard • Hill & Associates • Hindustan Times • Hindustan

Unilever Limited • Hindware • Hitachi • Honda Seil India • Honeywell • HP Invent • HSBC • HSBC Invest

Direct • Hughes Net Fusion • Hutch • I.D.E.A • IBM Daksh • IBN • ICICI Bank • ICICI Direct • ICICI Lombad

General Insurance • ICICI Prudential • I CICI Securities • IC PAR • IDBI Fortis • IFF CO TOKYO • I-gate • IL & FS • India

Bulls• India Inoline • India King • IndiaMart • Ino Edge (Shiksha) •

Inosys• ING Investment •

ING VysyaBank • ING Vysya Lie Insurance• ISRDO • ITC Wills Liestyle • ITW signode • J Walter Thompson • J. P. Inrastructure • J.K.

Industries • Jindal Steel • JK Risk Managers and Insurance Co. • JK Tyre & Industries • Johnson & Nicholson • Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj • Jumbo Electronics • Karvy Stockbroking •

Kelly Services • Keslec Schreder • Khemka Group • Khimji Ramdas LLC • Kingfsher • Kirloskar Oils Ltd. • Knight Frank • Kohler India • Kotak Bank • Kotak Commodities • Kotak Lie Insurance •

Kotak Securities • Kotak wealth • Koutons Retail India Ltd. • KPMG • Krome • Kuehne + Nagel • Laarge Group • LG Electronics • Liberty Retail Revolutions Ltd. • Lintas Media Group • Ma Foi •

Madison Media Group • Maersk • Magma Shrachi Finance • Mahindra and Mahindra • Mahindra Finance • Mahindra Group - Club Mahindra • Majid Aluttaim • Man Group PLC. •Manpower

Consulting • Max Bupa Health Insurance • Max Health

Care • Max New York Lie • Mearsk Line • Metlie

Insurance • MGF Group • Moolchand Healthcare •

Mother Dairy • Motilal Oswal • Motilal Oswal Financial Services • Motivate Group • MURUGAPPA •

Naukri.com • NDTV Imagine • NIIT • O&M • O ce Tiger • Ok Play • Omam Consultants • Omaxe • Onicra • OOH Media • Oracle • Oralce Direct • OSIM • OSRAM • Pantaloon Retail • Parryware

• Patni Computers • Pepsi (Tropicana) • PepsiCo International • Perot SystemsTSI (India) Ltd. • Phoenix • Piaggio Vehicles • Pipal Research • Planman

Consulting • Planman Media • Planman Motion Pictures • POLARIS • Punj Loyld • Q2AMedia • QAI • R K Swamy BBDO • R. R. Oomerbhoy Pvt. Ltd. • RadicoKhaitan • Radio City • Radio Mirchi • Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd. • RAK BANK • Rcube International • Realistic

Realtors • Recerche • Red Bull • RED FM • Rediusion DYR • Redington India • Reebok • Reliance

Capital Ltd. - Consumer Finance • R eliance Communication • Reliance Consumer Finance • Reliance Digital •

Reliance Entertainment-Big Flicks • Reliance General Insurance Company • Reliance Inocomm • Reliance Lie Insurance • Reliance

Liestyle • Reliance Money • R eliance Mutual Fund • Reliance Retail • Reliance S ecurities • RELIGARE • Religare Finvest • Religare Macquarie • Religare S ecurities Limited • Relio Quick • Royal Sundaram

Alliance Insurance. • RPG Cellucom • RR DONNELLEY • RUBECON. • Sab Miller • Sahara • Saint Gobin • Sakshi Advertising & Publicity • Sampark Business Strategy Pvt. Ltd. • SAMSUNG • Satyam

Computer • Saud Bahwan Group • S audi Archirodon Ltd. • Searce • Shara Group • Share Khan • Sharp Business Solutions • Shoppers Stop • Siemens Power Engineering Group • SIFY

• Standard Chartered Bank • Standard Chartered Finance Ltd. • Star Cruise • Sun Networks • Sundaram Finance • Suzuki Motorcycles India Ltd. • Swedish Trade Council • Synovate • Sys

Mind LLC • Taj Group • Taj Mahal Hotel • Taj Tristar • Targus Technologies • Tata AIG • Tata Motors • TATA Technologies • Tata Teleservices Ltd. • TCS • Tech Mahindra • TERI • The Grand

• The Oberoi • The Park • Thomas Reuters • Thomson Digital • Times Job.Com • Times O India • Titan Industries • TNS • Tommy Hilger • Trident • UB

Group • UBS Cognizant • UTI BANK • UTI Securities • Vishal Megamart • Vodaone • Wacorp Hyundai India Ltd. • Walldro Weich

Technologien • Walsons Securitas • Way2Wealth • Welspun • West End Club • Whirlpool •WIPRO • Wipro KPO • WNS Global Services • XEROX • Yamaha Motors • Yes

Bank • Yes Bank Retail Banking • ZEE Network • Zydus Cadila

* This is just a shortlist o the companies where

our students got PLACED in the last fve years!!

We are thankul to them and to all others too!!

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15 0 0 +

C O MP ANIE S IN 5 YE

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NSURANCE

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PL A CE MEN T RE C

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35 0 +I N T E R N AT I O N AL P L AC E M E N T S I N L A S T 4 Y E AR S

RE AL EDUC ATION

RE AL PL ACEMENT S

www.iipm.edu

8/2/2019 4_GID-Sept-11


100% o students who undergo IIPM’s fagship Programme in

Planning and Entrepreneurship go or a Global Orientation

Programme to USA/EUROPE etc. They urther spend a week in oneo the Top B-Schools o the world like DARDEN, NYU STERN etc.

R ED N .1IN IN IA I GLOBAL E P SURE

INDIA’S GLOBAL

B-SCHOOL

•20000+STUDENTS SENT ABROAD FOR GLOBAL EXPOSURE •20 TOP MOST B-SCHOOL/ UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS HAVE

COME TO TEACH!! •1800+ Students, as part o IIPM programme, did GLOBAL CERTIFICATION PROGRAMMES rom Darden School o

Business, Haas School o Business - UC Berkeley, Judge Business School- Cambridge, Mc Combs School O Business- UT Austin, ILR- Cornell University and NTU Singapore •350+ Students did CERTIFICATION PROGRAMMES in India with HAAS School o Business and NUS !! •250+ INTERNATIONAL PLACEMENTS

IN LAST 3 YEARS & Winner o Dewang Mehta Best B-School Award 2008 & 2009 or HIGHEST INTERNATIONAL PLACEMENTS IN INDIA or ‘08(165) & ‘09(55)!! •200+ EDPs

WITH INTERNATIONAL PROFESSORS organised or INDIA INC. jointly with IIPM aculty! •150+ ORGANISATIONS visited globally!

•100+ INTERNATIONAL STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMME participants on campus rom 10 diferent Universities! •15+ COUNTRIES VISITED by IIPM students including Australia, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Turkey,

Italy, Japan, UK, Norway, Finland, Spain, South Arica, Sweden, Switzerland and United States! •12+

GLOBAL MANAGEMENT GURUS like Philip Kotler, Stephen R. Covey etc. came to teach!

•6+ GLOBAL MANAGEMENT events with International student

participation!!

•100+ INTERN

COUNTRIES VIS

Italy, Japan, UK, Norway

LOBAL MA•

• IIPM has been Ranked the No.1 B-School in India, ahead o all the IIMs in

‘Global Exposure’ as well as ‘Intellectual Impact’ by Zee Business

Best B-Schools Survey 2011 and ranked the 5th Best B-School

‘Overall’ as well as 5th Best in ‘Placements’.

• IIPM has been Ranked No.1 in International Exposure (ahead o all the

IIMs) and the 9th Best B-School in India by DNA Best B-Schools Survey 2010

• IIPM has been ranked the No.1 Private B-School of North India by the

Hindustan Times Best B-Schools o India Survey 2010. IIPM was also ranked

the 8th Best B School in the country that students aspire for and the

Constantly Ranked at the Top

DARE

IIMs!BEYOND THE

TO THINK

leading to CERTIFICATION IN GLOBAL MANAGEMENT rom WORLD’S TOP RANKED B-SCHOOLS

Participating B-School: A liate B-School: International Residency Participating School or GOTA: Strategic Marketing Programme Wealth Management Programme:

Participating B-Schools in IndiaIIPM GOTA* programmes are held in the ollowing institutions abroad, leading to Certication in Global Management rom them

4_gid-sept-11

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