Revival or Continuing Depression in the Rural Areas? —III

Part III of III

Pushed Over the Edge

With the massive depression of demand that has taken place due to the lockdowns and the Government’s refusal to spend, many rural households that were earlier struggling to keep from falling would have been pushed over the edge.

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Revival or Continuing Depression in the Rural Areas? —II

Part II of III

Rise in Agricultural ‘Employment’, Falling Incomes

On the one hand, the recent period was marked by an unusual development: more persons now found ‘employment’ in agriculture than in the previous year. For decades, every survey of employment has shown a decline in agriculture’s share in total employment, as people hitherto working in agriculture shifted to other sectors. Textbook economics considers this shift out of agriculture a positive development, as agriculture is not able to provide gainful employment to all those who are employed there at present. Many of those employed in agriculture are considered to be in ‘disguised unemployment’, i.e., they are hardly adding to production, but remain in agriculture for lack of any other option. 

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Revival or Continuing Depression in the Rural Areas? — I

Part I of III

India’s peasantry is under attack.  But this attack comes not only in the form of measures explicitly targeted at them, such as the three farm Acts; equally destructive are policies that systematically depress demand in the economy as a whole. These undermine the survival of the peasantry, and loosen their hold on their lands. 

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