MARCH 24, 2012 Vol XLVII No 12

Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
A SAMEEKSHA TRUST PUBLICATION WWW.epW.ifl

EDITORIALS The Koodankulam Struggle

■ Once Again w ithout Credibility The government is bent on maligning the struggle against
■ Growth Conundrums the Koodankulam nuclear power plant because it cannot
■ How to Kill a River comprehend that ordinary citizens can understand
HT PAREKH FINANCE COLUMN
difficult issues and wage a spirited struggle, page 11
■ India Dimmed

COMMENTARY Pharma Industry after TRIPS

■ The Koodankulam Struggle How are the multinational pharmaceutical companies
and the 'Foreign Hand' in India responding to the product patent environment?
■ Relevance of Congress Victory in Manipur Will the positive features of the post-1972 process
■ India and Nuclear Security Norms patent era in India be diluted by the new power of
■ Anglicisation of Hindi theMNCs? page 46
■ Study of Custody Deaths
■ Turning the Page in Wildlife Science
Victory in Manipur
BOOK REVIEWS The results of the Manipur elections point to an interesting
■ Lineages o f Political Society
paradox - the Congress was voted back to power
■ The Green Movement and
despite its all-round failure in governance, page 14
the Struggle for Iran's Future

PERSPECTIVES
■ Tertiary Healthcare within a Universal System
Turning the Page in Wildlife Science
Indian wildlife scientists are unable to contribute a
SPECIAL ARTICLES conservation focus to policymaking. They do need to
■ Pharmaceutical Industry in India after TRIPS actively engage w ith situations where the w ildlife and
■ Memoirs of Haimabati Sen conservation angles have to be highlighted, page 27
■ Rural Housing Quality
■ Indian Banking Sector during Liberalisation
Tertiary Healthcare
DISCUSSION
We need to break away from western-oriented tertiary
■ Transgressive Secularism
care medical knowledge and rethink a number of issues
CURRENT STATISTICS to define care in a universal healthcare system in the
■ Performance of Commercial Banks Indian setting, page 39

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N o v 2018 11:00:01 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Asia
R esearch C en tre

The Asia Research Centre (ARC), London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),
invites applications for the following 2012-13 Fellowships:

Sir Ratan Tata Fellowship 2012-13

The Fellowship will be for a period of up to eight months in the academic year 2012-13. Applicants should
have experience of social science research on South Asia. The Fellow will be expected to engage in social
science research on a topic under the following themes: Growth and Inclusion; Climate Change and
Environmental Sustainability: Social and Human Security; Population and Development; Governance and
Democracy. Preference will be given to topics that focus on contemporary social, political and economic
concerns of South Asia. This Fellowship is open to candidates from South Asia, that is, the SAARC region
which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Fellowship is supported
by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.

C. R. Parekh Fellowship 2012-13

The Fellowship will be for a period of three months in the academic year 2012-13. Applicants should have
experience of social science research on India. The Fellow will be expected to engage in social science
research on a topic under the following themes: Growth and Inclusion; Climate Change and Environmental
Sustainability; Social and Human Security; Population and Development; Governance and Democracy. Preference
will be given to topics that focus on social, economic, political and constitutional concern to India. This
Fellowship is open to candidates from India only. The Fellowship is supported by the Nirman Foundation.

Subir Chowdhury Fellowship 2012-13

The Fellowship will be for a period of three months in the 2012-13 academic year. Applicants should have
experience of social science research on Bangladesh and/or India. The Fellow will be expected to engage in
research examining the impact of people quality and behaviour on the economies of Asian nations prioritising,
but not restricted to, India and Bangladesh. This Fellowship allows for any scholar to participate in the
programme regardless of ethnicity or national origin. The Fellowship is supported by the Subir and Malini
Chowdhury Foundation.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND APPLICATION PR O C E SS

All Fellowships are based at the Asia Research Centre, LSE. Fellows receive a monthly subsistence allowance,
the exact amount depending on qualifications. Shared work space is provided together with access to research
facilities at the School. Applicants for the Fellowships should have completed a PhD - the Fellowships are
not intended for students registered for a degree or diploma, nor are they intended for senior academics. All
Fellows will be expected to finish a piece of research of publishable quality during their stay and make a
presentation at a seminar or lecture arranged by the Asia Research Centre.

Further information can be found at: www.lse.ac.uk/AsiaResearchCentre. Applications should be addressed

to The Fellowships Selection Committee, Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics & Political
Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK, and may be mailed through the post or emailed to
arc@lse.ac.uk. Applications will not be accepted via fax under any circumstances. Applications should include
a covering letter of no more than one page, a curriculum vitae of no more than three pages and an outline
of proposed research of no more than three pages. Please use A4-sized plain paper only. Applicants should
also give the names and addresses of two referees, familiar with their work, to be contacted by the Committee.
The final date for receipt of applications is Monday, 14 May 2012. Late applications will not be accepted.
The successful candidate will be informed of the decision by the end of July 2012.

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:01 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 MARCH 24, 2012 | VOL xlvii NO 12
Econom ic& Politicalw EEK LY
India Dimmed E D IT O R IA L S

10 What we witnessed in Indian financial markets late last year was the outcome Once Again without Credibility...................7
partly of developments in India but equally the result of a loss of investor risk Growth Conundrums.............................. 8
appetite the world over. How to Kill a River.................................9

The Koodankulam Struggle and the 'Foreign Hand' FROM 50 Y E A R S A G O ................................9

11 A leader of the protests against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in H T P A R E K H F IN A N C E C O L U M N

Tamil Nadu describes the movement and points out how the government is India Dimmed
maligning the struggle. —Avinash Persaud ................................10

Relevance o f Congress' Victory in Manipur COM M EN TARY

14 The clear mandate to the Congress for the third time in Manipur is a sign of The Koodankulam Struggle and the
cynicism of the voters who are desperate not to have things slide any further. ‘
Foreign Hand’—S P Udayakumar............... 11
Relevance of Congress’
Victory in Manipur
Nuclear Security Norms: Where Does India Stand? —Pradip Phanjoubam............................ 14
17 Official India is upset at the low ranking given to it by a us-based organisation Nuclear Security Norms:
on nuclear materials security, but it is disturbing that there is no independent Where Does India Stand?—? R Chari........... 17
regulatory authority to oversee nuclear infrastructure in the country. Anglicisation of Hindi: The Official Perspective
—Mukul Priyadarshini........................... 19
Anglicisation o f Hindi Custody Deaths in Kerala: A Study from
19 A critical review of the administrative and academic terminology of Hindi. Post-mortem Data in Thrissur Medical College
A willingness to accommodate other languages will help Hindi break free —Hithesh Sanker T S, PraveenlalKuttichira...23
from the shackles of rigidity and meaningless complexity. Turning the Page in Wildlife Science:
Conservation Biology and Bureaucracy
Custody Deaths in Kerala —Nandini Velho, Meghna Krishnadas,
23 A preliminary study of 23 autopsies of custodial deaths conducted in Sachin Sridhara, Umesh Srinivasan .............. 27
Thrissur, Kerala, tries to identify the causes.
B O O K R E V IE W S

Conservation Biology and Bureaucracy Lineages of Political Society — A Text

27 India’s conservation legacy will be judged by the degree of unity that Self-Consciously Realist and Never Utopian
conservationists and scientists show in fighting agendas that are bigger than —Rajan Gurukkal................................ 31
the fractured philosophies of personal viewpoints and academic debates. The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and
the Struggle for Iran's Future — Iran’s Revolution
Tertiary Healthcare within a Universal System and the Global Politics of Resistance
—VinayLal...................... 35
39 Tertiary care in India needs to be redefined in relation to common diseases
alongside an identification of cost-effective and feasible treatments that can P E R S P E C T IV E S
be provided to all citizens of the country at an affordable cost. Tertiary Healthcare within a Universal System:
Some Reflections—Anand Zachariah ...........39
Pharmaceutical Industry in India after TRIPS
46 A study on the beh aviou r o f the m n cs in the post-TRIPs situation con clu des S P E C IA L A R T IC L E S

that the days o f p rod u ct m o n o p olies and h igh prices are back in India with Multinationals and Monopolies:
the m arketing o f n ew patented d ru gs at exorbitant prices.
Pharmaceutical Industry in India after TRIPS
—Sudip Chaudhuri.............................. 46
Complexities and Conflicts in the Memoir o f Haimabati Sen Resisting Patriarchy: Complexities and Conflicts
55 Women’ s personal testimonies are an important historical source for studying in the Memoir of Haimabati Sen
gender history and the autobiography of Haimabati Sen (1866-1932) shows —Indrani Sen ..................................... 55
the oppression that women suffered and their resistance to it. Rural Housing Quality as an Indicator
of Consumption Sustainability
Rural Housing Quality —Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay,
Indira Rajaraman.................................63
63 An analysis of the two most recent National Sample Survey housing surveys
shows that in the rural Indian context, transitions in housing quality Total Factor Productivity Growth
and Its Decomposition: The Indian Banking
in cross-sectional data sets can provide revealed evidence of household
Sector during Liberalisation
perceptions of downside risk to their current consumption levels.
—Anup Kumar Bhandari.........................68
The Indian Banking Sector during Liberalisation D IS C U S S IO N
68 A study of the total factor productivity improvement achieved by 68 Indian Transgressive Secularism
commercial banks from 1998-99 to 2006-07 suggests that public sector banks —Arun Kumar Patnaik........................77
adjusted to change and showed an improved performance better than those
under private and foreign ownership. C U R R E N T S T A T I S T I C S ....................................... 8 0

L E T T E R S ..................................... 4
Transgressive Secularism
77 Arun Kumar Patnaik responds to Akeel Bilgrami’
s article “
Secularism: Its S U B S C R I P T IO N R A T E S A N D
Content and Context”(epw, 28 January). N O T E S F O R C O N T R I B U T O R S ................................ 6

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:01 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Econom ic&PoliticalwEEKLY
is s n 001 2-9 976
Ever since the first issue in 1966,
epw has been India’ s premier journal for Closing Schools building. This will be merging in
comment on current affairs
and research in the social sciences.
in Karnataka terms of space but not in terms of learn­
It succeeded Economic Weekly (1949-1965), ing. Another alternative would be to
which was launched and shepherded
t looks as though Venkatesha Murthy outsource these schools to private edu­
by Sachin C haudhuri,
who was also the founder-editor o f epw .
As editor for thirty-five years (1969-2004)
I (“ Closure of Primary Schools” ep w , cational institutions which would be
25 February 2012) is indirectly def­ happy to run them instead of closing
Krishna Raj
gave epw the reputation it now enjoys. ending the Karnataka government’ s them down. It is hoped that better
senseless decision to close as many as sense prevails with the Bharatiya Jana­
EDITOR
C RAM M AN OH AR REDDY 1,500 primary schools on the ground ta Party leaders in Karnataka on such
DEPUTY EDITOR
that there are few children attending critical issues affecting the children in
BERNARD D ’
M ELLO them. He seems to suggest that there the state.
WEB EDITOR is no need for the government to pro­ Manu N Kulkarni
SU BH A SH R A I vide “ learning space”(primary schools) BANGALORE

SENIOR ASSISTANT EDITORS in such villages and that this is

L IN A M A T H IA S
uneconomical. Primary education is The Child and the Family
A N IK E T A L A M
S R IN IV A S A N R A M A N I not a business and under the Right to
A S H IM A S O O D Education Act, the State is bound to ell said, Vasanthi Raman (“ The
B H A R A T I BH A R G A V A

COPY EDITORS
provide a school even if one child wishes
to attend. way”
‘ W
Foster Parent Industry’of Nor­
, epw, 10 March 2012). We need
P R A B H A P IL L A I
JY O T I SH ETTY The Karnataka minister for primary more informed discussion about the
ASSISTANT EDITOR education says that the state will State supporting the family rather than
P S L EE L A provide autos for those children who breaking it up in the attempt to provide
PRODUCTION cannot walk long distances to attend for child welfare. We need to flesh out
U RAGHU NATHAN neighbouring primary schools. How­ the notion of the “ child”which really is
S L E S L IN E C O R E R A
S U N E E T H I N A IR ever this appears to lack any common an omnibus term for the very different
CIRCULATION
sense; rural schools are not like their stages o f being and experience that the
G A U R A A N G P R A D H A N MANAGER urban counterparts. Further, primary human being goes through from infan­
B S SH A RM A
schoolteachers in Karnataka are well cy, through the toddler years, to early
ADVERTISEMENT MANAGER paid but many loiter around, without childhood, to the teenage years and
K A M A L G F A N IB A N D A
attending school, run tea shops and then to young adulthood. We have to
GENERAL MANAGER & PUBLISHER
grocery stores, etc. Why cannot the pay more attention to differentiating
K V IJ A Y A K U M A R
government dismiss such primary between these stages and to the dif­
EDITORIAL
edit@epw.in schoolteachers and merge primary ferent parameters o f well-being that
CIRCULATION schools with few children with the an- apply to each stage, particularly in ref­
circulation@epw.in
ganwadi (where children of the 3-5 erence to the presence o f the mother
ADVERTISING
advt@epw.in
year age group attend and where nutri­ and father in the life o f the child in
tional supplements are also provided) each stage.
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY We need to educate the public on the
of that particular village. The whole
320-321, A TO Z INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
GANPATRAO KADAM MARG, LOWER PAREL purpose of launching anganwadis in pressing need for help that mothers
MUMBAI 4 0 0 013 the 1970s was to attract the 3-5 year age of very young children have. We also
phone: (022) 4 0 6 3 8282
fax: (022) 2493 4515
group children and prepare them to en­ need to speak of the rights, within
ter primary schools. Now they can be reasonable parameters, o f parents to
EPW RESEARCH FOUNDATION combined and managed by primary have access to their children and to
Research Fbundation, established in 1993, conducts
epw
schoolteachers and anganwadi workers have control of decisions regarding
research on financial and macro-economic issues in India.
for both the preschool and the primary their children’ s education, doctors and
DIRECTOR
K K A N A G A SA B A P A T H Y
school (6+ age group) children. treatment. And most importantly, we
C 212, AKURLI INDUSTRIAL ESTATE Anganwadis are run by the social have to challenge and question foreign-
KANDIVALI (EAST), MUMBAI 4 0 0 IO I
ph on es: (022) 2887 3038/41 welfare department and the primary funded and affiliated organisations in
fax: (022) 2887 3038 schools are run by the education India that are advocating ch ild’ s rights,
epwrf@vsnl.com
department and there is no coordina­ having swallowed hook, line and sinker
Printed by K Vijayakumar at Modem Arts and Industries,
151, A-Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg,
tion between them. Many of the angan­ the anti-family, or family-neutral, ideo­
Lower Parel, Mumbai-400013 and wadis are run in private buildings of logy o f child welfare services in the
published by him on behalf of Sameeksha Trust
from 320-321, A-Z Industrial Estate,
villagers and the primary schools are developed world.
Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400013. state-owned. In such cases anganwadis Suranya Aiyar
Editor: C Rammanohar Reddy
can be shifted to the primary school DELHI

4 m arch 24, 2012 vol XLVii n o 12 Q 3Q Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:44 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 LETTERS
Police Raj living under police protection inside the But whether such legislation should
police camp. Additional director general be at the state level or national level has
he People’ s Union for Democratic (Naxal) of police dismissed the warrant not yet been decided. An attempt to
T Rights ( p u d r ) has drawn the public’s and accusation as being part of a “
attention from time to time to the law­ conceived strategy of Naxals”
well- decide the issue at the state level seems
, the s p to be foiled in the case of Maharashtra.
less conduct of the security forces in war (Security) at Chhattisgarh police head­ The committee appointed for the pur­
zones across the country. Recent develop­ quarters went so far as to say that Kartam pose prepared the recommendatory
ments reported from Chhattisgarh show Surya “ was able to instil fear in the draft of the bill which has not yet been
that security forces enjoy so much impu­ ultras for his ruthlessness”and praised pressed for further action. The chief
nity that they have begun to flout even him for being a “ Chhattisgarh hero” . minister, Prithviraj Chavan has report­
the instructions/orders of the state home The fact that the police routinely flout edly disclosed that most of the political
minister. And such is their clout that they judicial warrants/orders against their parties were not in favour of the legisla­
can dismiss warrant/s issued by judicial own personnel accused of rape and kill­ tion, although individual members
officials, knowing fully well that no ing or even refuse to obey the home min­ express their support. It is difficult to
action against them would ensue. ister to record a f i r against their person­ understand why political parties are
Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nanki nel for molesting a minor is not an aber­ afraid of this legislation. The legisla­
Ram Kanwar told reporters on 15 Febru­ ration. It is the inner logic of fighting a tion is urgently needed as the assaults
ary that the police do not follow his war against our own people. on journalists and newspapers are in­
orders. He complained to them that on 12 Paramjeet Singh, Preeti Chauhan creasing by the day. Especially in the
February he had asked the Superintendent Secretaries, p u d r semi-urban and rural areas allurement,
of Police (s p ) of Korba to file a first infor­ NEW DELHI threats and attacks are being used to
mation report (f i r ) against two police pressure journalists.
personnel of the Kotwali police station Journalists3Protection Instead of relying on states for the leg­
for molesting and attempting to rape a islation, the union government should
minor, daughter of Milon Das, resident ress freedom in our country is not a take the initiative to pass a central act
of Dhanmarpara, in Korba district. How­ P
special privilege of journalists. They which will be binding on all states. It is
ever, the Korba s p dismissed these enjoy the general freedom of expression similar to the Right to Information Act
allegations and claimed he had not guaranteed by the Constitution for all which was passed by Parliament and the
received any such order from the minister. citizens. Whether special freedom needs rules under the Act are made applicable
The home minister told the media that to be given to journalists or not may be a to all states in the country.
there is a Supreme Court ruling stating matter of two opinions. But special pro­ The assignment to prepare a draft of
that a mere oral complaint by a girl victim tection should be given as journalists are such a central legislation may well be
is enough in such cases for filing a f i r . attacked, killed and their offices are ran­ entrusted to the Press Council of India,
This is the same Chhattisgarh police sacked by dissatisfied activists mostly whose head is a former justice of the
that also eulogises as “ Chhattisgarh belonging to sociopolitical organisations Supreme Court and has been vocal and
hero”a fugitive from justice and alleged or criminal elements. Madhya Pradesh critical about the inability of the govern­
rapist and killer, Kartam Surya. journalist Chandrika Rai and his family ment to protect the press. A draft pre­
Kartam Surya is a 29-year-old police members were killed recently, allegedly pared by the Press Council will have
constable who was one of the three by the local mining mafia. Earlier, the legitimacy and will incorporate the
“ informal”commanders of a band of office of a Marathi daily in Mumbai was requirements of the journalists. The
approximately 100 special police officers assaulted and ransacked by activists central government should waste no
(s p o s ) dubbed as “ Koya Commandos” . of a political party. There have been nu­ further time and speed up the process
After the Supreme Court declared as il­ merous similar incidents and journalists of drafting such a legislation.
legal the recruitment of s p o s , nearly all have consistently demanded better pro­ Prabhakar Kulkarni
KOLHAPUR
of them were absorbed in a special aux­ tection, including legislation.
iliary force constituted by the Chhattis­
garh government. Kartam Surya was
accused of raping three tribal women,
EPW In d ex
aged 19-23, at Sam Sehi village in 2006. An author-title index for EPW has been prepared for the years from 1968 to 2010. The PDFs
On 17November 2009, the sessions court of the Index have been uploaded, year-wise, on the EPWweb site. Visitors can download the
issued a warrant against the accused, in­ Index for all the years from the site. (The Index for a few years is yet to be prepared and will
cluding Kartam Surya. The prosecutor be uploaded when ready.)
claimed that Kartam and others could EPW would like to acknowledge the help of the staff of the library of the Indira Gandhi
not be traced, although Kartam and other Institute for Development Research, Mumbai, in preparing the index under a project
s p o s continued to engage in raid and supported by the RD Tata Trust.
search operations in Sukma district,

Economic & Political weekly E Q 53 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 5

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:46 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 S u b scr ip tio n R a tes
Print Edition-For India Web Edition/Pigital Archives
Rates for Six Months (in Rs) The full content of the EPW and the entire archives are also available to those who do not wish to
subscribe to the print edition.
Category Print (Plus free web access to issues of previous two years) Print + Digital Archives
Individuals 800 1,100 India (in Rs) SAARC (in US $) Rest of the World (in US $)
Category Number of Number of Number of
Rates for One Year (in Rs) Concurrent Users Concurrent Users | Concurrent Users
Category Print (Plus free web access
to issues of previous two years)
Print + Digital Archives
(According to Number of Concurrent Users) Institutions Up to Five 2,500 Up to Five 200
Up to 5 1 6 to 10 1 More than 10 1Single User Six to 10 4,000 Six to 10 320
Institutions 3,000 5,000 6,000 7,500 More than 10 6,000 More than 10 50 More than 10 410
Individuals 1,500 1,800 Individuals Single User 1,000 Single User 20 Single User 40
Teachers/Researchers 1,200 1,400
Students 750 900
Rates for Three Years (in Rs) Types of Web Access to the Digital Archives
Category Print (Plus free web access to Print + Digital Archives
issues of previous two years) Single User Individual subscribers can access the site by a username and a password, while
Individuals 4,200 5,100 institutional subscribers get access by specifying IP ranges.
Teachers/Researchers 3,300 4,000 To know more about online access to the archives and how to access the archives send
Concessional rates are restricted to students, teachers and researchers in India. To subscribe us an email at circulation@epw.in and we will be pleased to explain the process.
at concessional rates, please submit proof of eligibility from an institution.
Print Edition: All subscribers to the print edition can download from the web, without making
any extra payment, articles published in the previous two calendar years. Howto Subscribe:
PrintplusDigitalArchives: Subscriber receives the print copy and has access to the entire archives Payment can be made by either sending a demand draft/cheque in favour of
on the EPW web site. Economic and Political Weekly or by making online payment with a credit card/net
Print Edition — For SAARC and Rest of the World (AirMail) banking on our secure site at www.epw.in. (For Inland subscriptions if making
Airmail Subscription for One Year (in US $) payment by cheque, please add Rs 35 to cheques drawn on banks outside Mumbai,
Print (Plus free web access to issues Print + Digital Archives when collection is not at par).
of previous two years) (According to Number of Concurrent Users)
Institutions
SAARC 130 Address for communication:
Rest of the World 250 Economic & Political Weekly
individuals 320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate
SAARC______ 100 Ganpatrao Kadam Marg,
Rest of the World 170 Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India

Contributors are requested to follow epw's style
sheet while preparing their articles. The style
sheet is posted on epw's web site at
http://epw.in/epw/user/styletocontributors.jsp. It will
help immensely for faster processing and error-free
editing if writers follow the recommended style
sheet, especially with regard to citation and
preparation of the bibliography.
Special Articles
epwwelcomes original research papers in any of the
social sciences.
• Articles must be no more than 8,000 words,
including notes and references. Longer articles will
not be processed.
• Contributions should be sent preferably by email.
• Articles longer than 4,000 words should be sent
in hard and soft copy format.
• Contributions from outside India need not be
sent in hard copy format.
• Special articles should be accompanied by an
abstract of a maximum of 150-200 words.
• Papers should not have been simultaneously
submitted for publication to another journal or
newspaper. If the paper has appeared earlier in a
different version, we would appreciate a copy of this
along with the submitted paper.
• Graphs and charts need to be prepared in MS
Office (Word/Excel) and are preferable to material
prepared in jpeg or other formats.
• Receipt of articles will be immediately
acknowledged by email/post.
• Every effort is taken to complete early processing
J of the papers we receive. We receive more than 50
articles every week and adequate time has to be
N o te s f o r C o n tr ib u to r s
provided for internal reading and external refereeing.
It can therefore take up to four months for a final
decision on whether the paper is accepted for
publication.
• Articles accepted for publication can take up to
six to eight months from date of acceptance to
appear in the epw. Papers with immediate relevance
for policy would be considered for early publication.
Please note that this is a matter of editorial
judgment.
Commentary
epw invites short contributions to the 'Commentary'
section on topical social, economic and political
developments. These should ideally be between 1,000
and 2,500 words.
Book Reviews
epw sends out books for review. It does not normally
accept unsolicited reviews. However, all reviews that
are received are read with interest and where a book
has not been sent out for review, the unsolicited
review is on occasion considered for publication.
Discussion
epw encourages researchers to comment on
articles published in epw. Submissions should be
1,000 to 1,750 words.
Letters
Readers of epw are encouraged to comment
(300 words) on published articles.
All letters should have the writer's full name and
postal address.
General Guidelines
• Writers are requested to provide full details for
correspondence: postal address, day-time phone
numbers and email address.
(The email address of writers in the Special Article,
Commentary and Discussion sections will be
published at the end of the article.)
epw requests writers not to send revised versions
based on stylistic changes/additions, deletions of
references, minor changes, etc, as this poses
challenges in processing. Revised versions will not be
processed. When there are major developments in
the field of study after the first submission, authors
can send a revised version.
Copyright
• epw posts all published articles on its web site
and may reproduce them on cos.
• epw also posts all published articles on select
databases.
• Copyright of all articles published in the Journal
belongs to the author or to the organisation where
the author is employed as determined by the
author's terms of employment.
Permission for Reproduction
• No published article or part thereof should be
reproduced in any form without prior permission of
the author(s).
A soft/hard copy of the author(s)'s approval should
be sent to epw.
Address for communication:
Economic & Political Weekly
320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate
Ganpatrao Kadam Marg,
Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India
Email: edit@epw.in, epw.mumbai@gmail.com

6 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 E32S3 E con om ic & Political w e e k l y

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:00:47 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Econom ic& Politicalw EEK LY
O nce A gain w ithout Credibility
Budget 2012, built yet again at the altar o f fisca l fundam entalism , will not convince anybody.
I
n this era of immediate assessment it took just a few minutes
for the Union Budget for 2012-13 to be given one or the other
negative appellation - “ lacklustre” ,“anti-growth” ,“ back to
the 1980s” ,“without reform”and the like. Such evaluations forget
that union budgets have long since ceased to be statements of
macroeconomic policy for the short and medium term. They are
now entirely accounting exercises geared towards meeting just
one objective - producing a fiscal deficit that is acceptable to the
stock market, foreign investor and pundit. Fiscal fundamental­
ism is, of course, itself a definite policy. But this obsession means
that all other economic policies are made hostage to narrowing
the deficit or rather to producing an artificial number that will
convince the market.
The fiscal deficit of 5.1% of the gross domestic product (g d p )
which Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has come up
with as the budget estimate (b e ) for 2012-13 has few takers. The
numbers for revenue and expenditure have been played around
with so much that they have lost all credibility. Consider, for
instance, a major item of government expenditure - petroleum
subsidies. In a year when the west is orchestrating action against
Iran and there is uncertainty about the movement of global
prices, petroleum subsidies in Budget 2012 are expected to
decline by Rs 24,901 crore. Or is the government planning a major
revision in product prices, which it has chosen not to mention in
Budget 2012? Either way, few believe the numbers.
The budgets these days are forgotten the morning after. But it is
instructive to look at how Budget 2011 fared, for this will throw
light on the integrity of Budget 2012. Last year, total expenditure
was budgeted to grow by a mere 5% (2011-12 b e over the 2010-11
actuals), non-Plan expenditure was budgeted to even decline by
1%, gross tax revenue was projected to grow by as much as 18%,
and market borrowings by just 11%- all in the cause of projecting
a deficit of 4.6% of g d p . And the actual outcome? Total expendi­
ture has expanded by double the rate (10%), non-Plan outlays have
not declined but have risen by as much as 9% and tax revenue has
grown by only 10%, with the result that market borrowings have
expanded by as much as 40% and the deficit in 2011-12 will now
be 5.9% of g d p . There are many reasons offered for the complete
mismatch between the budgeted and the actual in 2011-12 - a
difficult global environment, poor corporate performance,
rising subsidies, etc. All true, but a budget has value only if it
Economic & Political weekly D 3S3 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:51 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
MARCH 24, 2012
gives some allowance for the uncertain and not if it is generated
with artificially low/high numbers. What of the numbers in
2012-13? Total expenditure is budgeted to rise by a more realistic
13%, non-Plan spending at slightly less than last year (8.7%) and
the growth of gross tax revenue is expected to double (20%).
Should we be surprised if in February 2013 we are told once
again that the target for the fiscal deficit has not been met?
The obsession with the fiscal deficit also means that during the
course of the year the axe falls on those items of spending which
have no constituencies to stand up for them. In 2011-12, Plan
expenditure was budgeted to increase by 16.5%, in the event it
has grown by only 12.6%. The 2012-13 b e projects an ambitious
22% growth in Plan spending, but what will happen during the
course of the year if other items of government spending and
revenue do not stick to their targets?
A government that has seen the middle class turn against it is
compelled to make pathetic attempts to win it over with tax
breaks. Hence the changes in the income tax slabs, higher exemp­
tion limits and so also the new exemption to interest earnings of
Rs 10,000 from savings bank deposits. These are modest for a
middle class that is forever thirsty for more. Besides, by already
implementing the income tax rates of the Direct Tax Code with­
out doing away with the exemptions as planned earlier, the
government has shot itself in the foot. And what does it say of the
government and our society that a low peak tax rate of 30% will
now kick in only at an annual income of Rs 10 lakh, which is as
much as 17times the annual per capita income of Rs 61,000?
The deficit reduction imperative that runs through Budget 2012
also means that some of the positive decisions get ignored. One of
them is the decision to abandon the piecemeal expansion of the
service tax and opt for universal coverage with a negative list of 17
categories. This will reduce the power of discretion and the scope
for lobbying. The increase in the service and excise duties from
10% to 12% is not going to have a major upward impact on infla­
tion but questions must be asked of the implications of a high cen­
tral service rate for the level of the Goods and Services Tax when it
is introduced later. Another proposal to be welcomed is the 40%
increase in allocation from Rs 10,000 crore (2011-12 revised esti­
mates) to Rs 14,000 crore (2012-13 b e ) for the hitherto neglected
area of drinking water and sanitation. A third important proposal
is the doubling of the customs duty on gold imports. The Indian
12 7
EDITORIALS
greed for gold has been given fresh fuel in recent years by a very
low import duty, which has led to an ever-growing value of
imports that has strained the balance of payments. This will now
change, but only if the customs authorities see to it that smugglers
do not revive the hawala channel to bring in gold illegally.
The positives are, however, very few. Overall, it seems that a
weak government that is doubly burdened with a marriage to
market orthodoxy has no idea about how to work towards a
Growth Conundrums
The preconditions for the revival o f Indian economic growth a la the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 are absent
ovelty, it seems, is difficult to sustain; so too economic
N growth. The unusualness that marked the Economic Sur­
vey two years ago has gone; the latest edition, that of
20x1-12, parrots its previous issue on many a count. Of course, the
official scrutinising of the economy on an annual basis in the
Economic Survey has never been authentic - it is really about
boosting “ investor confidence” , and that is what it has done quite
admirably. Overall, real gross domestic product ( g d p ) growth
has decelerated over the first three quarters of the current finan­
cial year. Growth of g d p at factor cost (2004-05 prices) in the last
quarter of 2010-11 was 7.8%, declining in the first quarter of 2011-
12 to 7.7%, to 6.9% in the second quarter, to touch 6.1% in the
third quarter. Inflation still remains high; the slowdown in indus­
trial growth persists; the growth rate of gross fixed capital forma­
tion has significantly declined, so have exports of goods and
services in real terms; Brent crude oil prices are ruling exception­
ally high; the current account of the balance of payments has de­
teriorated; net portfolio capital inflows are much lower than
what they were in 2010-11; the rupee has been on a downward
slide with sharp fluctuations, and net accretion to the foreign ex­
change reserves has been much lower than in the corresponding
period of 2010-11. The authors of the Survey, nevertheless, in
their wisdom, see an imminent upswing.
For them, fiscal consolidation is going to get back on track,
inflationary pressures are about to ease in the coming months, the
Reserve Bank of India (r b i ) will then reduce interest rates and
investment will become buoyant again. Their forecast of the
growth rate of real g d p in the coming financial year, 2012-13 is
7.6% (V-o.25%). Indeed, in the Ministry of Finance’ s view, the
economy will pick up momentum to record an 8.6% real g d p
growth rate in 2013-14, back on track to the high growth recorded
during 2003-04 to 2007-08. But, for this, in the view of the Survey
the present policy paralysis has to be overcome. Just like informa­
tion technology, business process outsourcing (b p o ) and financial
services have been largely put outside the tax net, a similar enabling
business environment has to be put in place for the manufactur­
ing sector. More generally, a whole lot of “ micro-foundational
reforms”have to be brought about to achieve the “ desired macr­
oeconomic outcom es” . the Ministry of Finance, such preconditions for the revival of
It seems as if Standard & Poor’ s (s & p ) downgrading of long­
term sovereign debt of the United States in August 2011 has cast a
8 m arch
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:51 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
more equitable pace of growth (if it indeed values an equitable
process of economic expansion as much as a higher rate of
growth). For now it prefers to look at what incentives to give the
market so that the latter can take over the responsibility of
increasing investment while it restricts itself to tinkering with
social sector schemes in the hope that this will ensure its
re-election in 2014. It looks like it is going to fail on all three
counts - growth, social support and re-election.
magic spell on governments worldwide to play to the tune of
“high finance” . The s & p downgrade triggered an obsession of
governments with regard not merely to their own sovereign cred­
it rating, but how it compared with that of other countries. In this
race to get a better sovereign credit rating than others, the “ wish
list”of the public policy changes that the international credit rat­
ing agencies wanted assumed added importance. So the authors
of this year’ s Survey and the governor of the r b i have got into the
act of pushing for such “ policy reform s”
.
The pedants in the Ministry of Finance have, once again, ped­
dled “ foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail”to “ cut
down the large middleman price margin”thereby assuring “ large
gains for farmers and also for ordinary consum ers” . Surely they
could not be unaware of the increase in the degree of buyer con­
centration in the food supply chain that would, instead, have a
tendency to depress the price the farmer got for her/his produce.
Wal-Mart and Carrefour would, no doubt, be pleased. So would
high finance, for the finance m inistry’ s mandarins also make a
strong case for development of the bond market and hail the
sharp increase in foreign borrowing.
Frankly, if growth a la the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 is to be
revived, the huge receipts from foreign remittances and software-
cum-BPO exports and the extraordinary net capital inflows have
to resume, cost-push and food inflation have to be dampened, and
a low interest rate regime has to be re-established so that private
debt-financed expenditure can resume. But the long-term neglect
of the country’ s backward agricultural sector is coming home to
roost; supply constraints have been fuelling food inflation. As it is,
with increasing openness, the economy is now no longer insulat­
ed from global price trends. In such a context, the r b i will be con­
strained to keep interest rates high once again, and this would
dampen household spending on homes and durables and small
and medium business investment expenditure. Moreover, it is
only with a very significant step-up of net portfolio capital inflows
as a proportion of g d p that the wealth effect would come into
play, liquidity and consumer credit expansion would resume, “ an­
imal spirits”would be released, and the elite consumption and
private investment-led growth process take off. Sadly though, for
Indian economic growth a la the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 are
not to be found this time around.
24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 DSD Economic & Political weekly
 EDITORIALS

How to Kill a River

The quantity o f water in a river is as important as the quality, something the govemmentfails to understand.

ivers are designed by nature to flow freely. And to When the Ganga was declared a “ national river”in 2008, one

R regenerate as they flow. But if you constrain a river

near its source, dump sewage, construction debris and
industrial pollutants along the way and expect at the end
that it will still be a “
living”entity, you are obviously delusional.
That is precisely what the self-proclaimed protectors of
Indian rivers have been over the decades. What else can explain
the state of most rivers in the country including the mighty
Ganga that is worshipped and revered. Despite well over two
decades of special efforts to clean up the Ganga, today in parts
its water is so polluted that you would be advised not to dip
your toe in it.
The recent resignation of three of the nine non-official “expert”
members of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (n grba)
has drawn attention once again to the tragedy of the Ganga
River. Last year, the 34-year-old Swami Nigamananda from
Uttarakhand went on an indefinite fast and died before anyone
paid heed to his demand that no more dams should be built in the
upper reaches of the Ganga. Two months ago, G D Agarwal, an
engineer and recognised authority on dams, went on a fast in
Varanasi with a similar demand. What both men emphasised
through this form of protest is the importance of ensuring that
the quantity of water flowing down the Ganga is not restricted.
For if the flow declines, as is already evident, no amount of
back-end solutions, such as limiting the quantity of pollutants
dumped in the river's lower reaches, will save it.
This self-evident truth has yet to strike those who make policy.
In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi initiated the Ganga Action Plan (gap) in
response to petitions by environmentalists about the dangers
facing a river that supports almost 400 million people over its
2,510 km long course. In its first phase, g a p spent Rs 1,400 crore
to install sewage treatment plants in 25 towns as an estimated
45% of sewage generated in the Ganga basin is released into its
waters untreated. A second phase of g a p addressed the Ganga’ s struction debris and finally the addition of untreated, or partially
tributaries. Again thousands of crores of rupees were sanctioned
and spent to reduce water pollution. Despite these efforts, the
pollution of the river remains virtually unabated.
expected that this might herald a shift in the approach towards
cleaning up the river. Such a hope was further reinforced when in
February 2009 the n g r b a was set up with the objective of ensur­
ing “ effective abatement of pollution and conservation of the river
Ganga by adopting a river basin approach for comprehensive
planning and management” . However, the performance of n g r b a
since its inception makes a mockery of this lofty objective.
The three members who resigned from the n g r b a point out that
the authority has met just twice since its inception. In the mean
time, an estimated Rs 6,000 crore out of the total allocation of
Rs 15,000 crore has already been sanctioned without the experts
on the body being consulted. These projects are much like those
initiated through the g a p - sewage treatment plants, riverfront
projects, etc, cleared by subcommittees consisting of bureau­
crats. This has happened even before a comprehensive plan
being drafted by a consortium of seven Indian Institutes of
Technology is ready. The delay is partly due to the difficulties of
getting water flow data that the government prefers to keep under
lock and key. Yet, by continuing along the same lines that have
failed to make a difference in the past, it is evident that the
n g r b a has not adopted the comprehensive approach it promised.
Although reducing the quantum of pollutants discharged into
our rivers is crucial, efforts have to be in place to ensure that the
flow of water is not reduced below a sustainable level. A free
flowing river has the ability to cleanse itself. But if you stop or
reduce its flow, even the mightiest of rivers will be affected. This
is precisely what has happened to the Ganga. In its upper reaches,
in the 135-km ecologically fragile stretch between Gomukh and
Uttarkashi, some 50 new dams are on the anvil. Already, the
Tehri dam and the 400 megawatt power project at Vishnuprayag
have had a negative effect on river flows. Add to this diversion of
water along its course, the dumping of vast quantities of con­
treated sewage and industrial waste from scores of cities along
the route. What you will have at the end is not a “ national river”
but a “ dead”one.

FROM 50 YEARS AGO not yet been taken to dovetail the import-ex­ The Committee fully realises that any

Wm Economic Wfeklt)
a Journal at Current economic ant) political g ft s ir f
VOL XIV, NO 12, MARCH 24,1962
E D IT O R IA L S
Exports-Push or Pull?
The Mudaliar Committee finds that so far the
country has touched only a fringe of the ex­
port problem. This is, among other things, or
rather mainly, because while targets of a high
order have been drawn up, adequate steps have
port targets with the plans and projects of the
private and public sectors. This is a very basic
and serious criticism. But, unfortunately, it is
fully justified. Exports grow out of production
and their character and composition are shaped
by the changing pattern of production that is
planned or emerges in reality. There is a lack
of direction in our current export efforts and
much confusion in the thinking on the subject.
How ambivalent is our attitude will be evi­
dent if one puts our annual exports against
our foreign exchange requirements and the
target of self-sufficiency...
export effort worth the name can only pro­
ceed after surpluses have been created by
means other than that what can be expected
from usual fiscal measures like excise duties.
This is a field which has necessarily to be ex­
plored in much greater detail. Taking this in
conjunction with the Committee’ s emphasis
on winning over the business community, the
recommendation can be summed up as one of
pooling of exports, a device which has al­
ready been introduced in a token manner in a
few industries. This is the main plan in the
Ministry’ s present programme.

Economic & Political w e e k ly Q 2Q m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 9

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:52 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 HT PAREKH FINANCE COLUMN
India Dimmed
AVINASH PERSAUD
W
hen you are in a country suf­
fering a decline of confidence,
a drying up of international
capital flows and a weakening currency,
its citizens tend to place all blame on the
government. This is not entirely unfair.
Even if the government is not directly to
blame and even though confidence is a
fickle thing, who else should take respon­
sibility? The reality, though, is that exter­
nal factors often play a role too and a
change in the flows could also trigger a
change in domestic confidence. Few
commentators like to dwell on that.
They far prefer the delicious exercise of
pointing fingers at local politicians and
gossiping about the fate of Rahul and
Priyanka Gandhi.
Yet the loss of confidence in India and
the drying up of international public and
private equity flows coincided with the
European credit crisis and a similar
slowdown in portfolio flows across Asia.
The crisis put western investors into a
risk-averse mode: stay close to home,
bring in investment time horizons and
switch to safe assets. The characteristics
o f investing in India do not fit the bill.
First, there is the “institutional and cul­
tural distance” between operating in
India and operating elsewhere. Accord­
ing to the World Bank, Doing Business
report, India ranks 134th out of 184 in
the ease of doing business (how does
business get done in the other 50 coun­
tries?) and 182nd out of 183 in terms of
enforcement of contracts. Second, after
the many bull runs, Indian equities offer,
at best, long-term, not short-term value.
And, third, despite, or perhaps because
of the heavy weight of over-regulation,
Indian equity prices are more volatile
than those in developed markets. In
risk-averse environments all the warts
that were always there but were air-
brushed out of dreams and investment
prospectuses alike, come squarely back
into focus.
10
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:55 U TC
In the second quarter of 2011 India
saw $3.sbn worth of private equity
transactions with 90% of the 123 deals
involving an overseas private equity
investor. However, by the fourth quarter
this had slumped by 50% to $i.8bn. This
slump reflected a general loss of allure of
Indian assets and saw the value of the
rupee fall 20% at one point. In India,
commentators cite many proximate
causes of this decline. Almost all of them
are born in India.
Global Influences
Fair enough. But it is interesting to note
that the fortunes of the rupee, so appar­
ently tied up with local Indian factors,
were matched very closely by the for­
tunes of the euro, which, starting off in
the second quarter of 2011, lost around
15% of its value versus the dollar, plumb­
ing depths at precisely the same time as
the rupee. Rahul Gandhi can be blamed
for many things, but surely not the value
of the euro. What we are witnessing in
Indian financial markets relates in part
to developments in India, but in equal
part, they reflect a loss of investor risk
appetite the world over. The ebb and
flow of this international investor risk
appetite is heavily influenced by the
European credit crisis.
It is important to note then that the
European crisis has turned a corner. The
decision of European governments to
Permission for Reproduction o f
Articles Published in EPW
No article published in epw or part thereof should be reproduced in any
form w ithout prior permission of the author(s).
A soft/hard copy of the author(s)'s approval should be sent to epw.
In cases where the email address of the author has not been published
along w ith the articles, epw can be contacted for help.
m a r c h 24, 2012
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
agree to a fiscal pact in December 2011
and to support a Greek restructuring
plan gave the European Central Bank
(ecb) cover to ignore the intentions o f its
founding fathers and act as a lender of
last resort for European banks, provid­
ing them with sufficiently long-term and
favourable liquidity so that fears of a
European banking crisis have decisively
fallen off. The slow return of risk appe­
tite can be seen in lower bond yields and
buoyant equity markets. There have
been many false dawns before in the
European crisis. Investors have had a
roller-coaster ride. But the e c b ’
s actions
in December 2011 and again in February
20x2 are on a completely different level.
In two, three-year, longer-term refinanc­
ing operations ( lt r o s ) in December and
February, the e c b offered $1.3 trillion of
liquidity to banks on longer term and
more favourable collateral arrangements.
Woe betides any speculator still betting
against the euro and standing against
this wall of liquidity.
As bond yields fall further and equity
markets become more fairly valued,
international investors will once more
lift their heads up and consider the long­
term growth prospects of India, paying
less heed to the near-term challenges.
India's light will shine once more. If it
means that Indian politicians lose inter­
est in the continuing task of improving
the ability to do business in India and
improving the court system, this will be
a mixed blessing.
Avinash Persaud (1apersaud@me.com) is
chairman of the financial firm. Intelligence
Capital, and senior fellow, London Business
School.
v o l x l v i i n o 12 IWM Economic & Political WEEKLY
 COM M ENTARY
The Koodankulam Struggle
and the ‘
Foreign Hand’
S P UDAYAKUMAR___________________________
The Government of India is bent
on maligning the struggle against
the Koodankulam nuclear power
plant in Tamil Nadu because it
cannot comprehend that ordinary
citizens can understand issues
and wage a spirited struggle to
protect their lives and livelihoods.
One of the leaders of the
movement writes about their
struggle and addresses
the allegation that the protests
are being funded by
foreign organisations.
This is a revised version of an article that was
first posted on the website DiaNuke.org.
S P Udayakumar (Koodankulam@yahoo.com)
is coordinator of the struggle committee,
People’ s Movement against Nuclear Energy,
Koodankulam.
Economic & Political w e e k ly 13329
W
e, the fisherfolk, farmers, shop­
keepers, dalit workers, beedi­
rolling women and others
near the southernmost tip of India, have
been fighting against the Koodankulam
Nuclear Power Project ( k k n p p ) since the
late 1980s.
This Russian project was shelved right
after the Soviet Union’ s collapse and
taken up again in 1997. The Government
of India and the Government of Russia
have constructed two huge reactors of
1,000 m w each without any consent o f
or consultation with the local people.
We have just obtained the outdated
Environmental Impact Assessment ( e ia )
report after 23 years of a long and
hard struggle.
The nuclear authorities of the Govern­
ment of India have not shared any basic
information about the project with the
public. They do not give complete and
truthful answers to our questions on the
“daily routine emissions” from these
reactors, the amount and management
of nuclear waste, fresh water needs, im­
pact of the coolant water on our sea and
seafood, decommissioning costs and
effects, Russian liability and so forth.
We are deeply disturbed by all this.
Causing Panic
We the people in the villages in the area
watched the Fukushima accident of
11 March 2011 on t v in our homes and
understood the magnitude and reper­
cussions of a nuclear accident. Right
after that on 1 July 2011, the k k n p p
announced the “ hot run” of the first
reactor that made so much noise and
emitted smoke. Furthermore, the autho­
rities asked the people, in a mock drill
notice, to cover their nose and mouth and
run for their life in case of an emergency.
As a result of all these, the people in
Koodankulam and Idinthakarai villages
m a r c h 24, 2012 VOL XLVII NO 12
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:57 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
made up their minds and took to the
streets on their own on 11 August 2011.
Then we all together decided to organise
a day-long hunger strike on 16 August at
Idinthakarai and a three-day fast on 17-
19 August at Koodankulam.
On 17 August itself the authorities
invited us for talks and asked us to post­
pone our struggle to the first week of
September because of the upcoming
Hindu and Muslim festivals. Within a
few days, the chief of the Department of
Atomic Energy (d a e ) announced that
the first reactor would go critical in Sep­
tember 2011.
So we embarked upon an indefinite
hunger strike on 11 September 2011 and
the women in the movement blocked a
state road on 13 September for a few hours
when the central and state governments
continued to ignore us. Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister J Jayalalithaa invited us for talks
on 21 September and passed a cabinet
resolution the next day asking the central
government to halt all the work until the
fears and concerns of the local people
were allayed. We ended our hunger strike
on the 22 September but went on another
round of indefinite hunger strike from 9
to 16 October when the talks with Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and the Prime
M inister’s Office failed.
We laid siege in front of the k k n p p on
13-16 October 2011 when the plant
authorities did not halt work at the site
as per the Tamil Nadu state cabinet reso­
lution. We ended both the indefinite
hunger strike and the siege on 16 Octo­
ber in order for our people to participate
in the local body elections on 17 October.
From 18 October 2011, we have been on a
relay hunger strike continuously for
more than 140 days now. We have been
conducting massive rallies, village cam­
paigns, public meetings, seminars, con­
ferences, and other demonstrations such
as shaving our heads, cooking on the
street, burning the models of the nuclear
plants, etc. This struggle has been going
on for the past 200 days and the morale
of the people is still very high.
Instead of understanding the peo­
ple’s genuine feelings and fulfilling our
demands, the Government of India has
11
foisted serious cases of “ sedition”and
“ waging war on the Indian state”on the
leaders of our movement. As many as
180-200 cases have been filed against
members of the movement. There has
been police harassment, stalking by
of India and the powerful government
supported by the rich capitalists, m n c s ,
imperial powers and the global nuclear
mafia. They promise foreign direct in­
vestment (f d i ), nuclear power, develop­
ment, atom bombs, security and super­
recently and deported him without
proving anything. He has been talking
to the Indian press saying that he has
had nothing to do with funding any anti­
nuclear activities in India. A few local
n g o s in Tamil Nadu belonging to Chris­

intelligence officers, concocted news
reports in the pro-government media,
abuse of our family members, hate mail,
death threats and even physical attacks.
The Government of India does not want
to acknowledge the simple fact that even
“ ordinary citizens”of India have a mind
of their own, can take a stand on policy
issues and “ development”projects that
affect their lives, and stand up for their
rights to life and livelihood.
Although India is a democracy, our
government in Delhi has been keen on
safeguarding the interests of the multi­
national corporations (m n c s ) and pleas­
ing some powerful countries such as the
United States, Russia, and France, etc.
The welfare of the “ ordinary citizens”of
India does not figure on their list of pri­
orities. The central government and the
ruling Congress Party stand by the
nuclear agreements they have made
with all different countries and consider
us as stumbling blocks on their road to
development. The main opposition party,
Bharatiya Janata Party (Hindu nationa­
list party), is interested in the nuclear
weapons programme and making India
a superpower and hence loves every­
thing nuclear. It is ironic that these two
corrupt and communal forces join hands
with each other against their own peo­
ple. They bend backwards to please their
us and other bosses but question our
integrity and nationalist credentials.
Our leaders and a group of 15 women
were physically attacked on 31 January
2012 at Tirunelveli by Congress Party
power status. We demand risk-free elec­ tian institutions and Christian individu­
tricity, a disease-free life, unpolluted als have been blacklisted, scrutinised
natural resources, sustainable develop­ and harassed. All of them have rightly
ment and a peaceful future. They say the denied that they have had anything to
Russian nuclear power plants are safe do with our struggle.1
and can withstand earthquakes and It is pertinent to note that this gov­
tsunamis. But we worry about their side- ernment has opened up our economy to
effects and after-effects. They speak for foreigners, their m n c s and f d i , etc. They
their scientist friends and business part­ even tried recently to hand over all the
ners and have their eyes on commissions retail businesses to foreigners. When the
and kickbacks. But we fight for our chil­ whole country opposed the move, they
dren and grandchildren, our animals have just put it on hold. And it is quite
and birds, our land, water, sea, air and ironic that they are accusing us of
the skies. having foreign collaboration and foreign
money connections!
Foreign Money? The Russian and us diplomats are also
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and freely interfering in our internal affairs
some of the ministers in the Government and expressing opinions, especially about
of India have been accusing us of receiv­ foreign funding. This presages the “ New
ing money from some non-governmental East India Company”meddling in our
organisations (n g o s ) in the us and Scan­ affairs from now on and even dictating
dinavian countries, and of collaborating terms to us, Indians. While accusing
with foreigners and so forth. The Gov­ us of receiving foreign money for our
ernment of India even detained a for­ struggle, Russian ambassador to India,
eign tourist from Germany at Nagercoil Alexander Kadakin, does not bother to
Training Programme in
Econom etrics:
Theory, A pplications and Softw are
Twelve full days (100 Hours) of intensive hands-on training
programme to learn econometrics by understanding the theoretical
base, application interfaces and the latest econometric software.
Participants w ill d e v e lo p ex p ertise in e co n o m e tr ic m o d el building, testin g and its a pplica tion
to v ariou s research problem s. Also, th ey learn the latest v e r sio n s o f e co n o m e tr ic softw a re
(including EViews 7 and Gretl) and u seful w e b resou rces. Consultants, Analysts, Teachers,
R esea rch ers and a n yon e in volved in analysing e co n o m ic data can have gre a t advantage!

thugs and Hindutva fascists when we
had gone for talks with the central gov­
ernment expert team. Now the govern­
ment cuts electricity supply so often and
so indiscriminately in order to drive
home the message that the nuclear
power plant is needed for additional
power. They try to create resentment
and opposition among the public against
our anti-nuclear struggle.
To put it all in a nutshell, this is a classic
David-Goliath fight between the citizens
12
• 1 0 0 % hands-on training p r o gr a m m e in the m o s t innovative, in tensive and inform al w ay
• Sim p lest p o s s ib le m o d e o f learn in g e co n o m e tr ic s at p rofe ssion a l level
• Even th ose w ith ou t e x p ertise in com p u te r s o r statistics can m ake u se o f the progra m m e.
• C ou rse m aterials inclu de text books, e b o o k s and free softw are.
• Only 10 seats; allotted on first c o m e first serv e basis.
For more details and online registration: www.normaschool.in
Phone: 0471-2446986/ 09447046986
NORMA SCHOOL
PB No. 2505, M edical C ollege P 0, Trivandru m 11, Kerala, India
Phone: 0471 2446986,09447046986 Fax: 0471 2445485 Email: office@ n orm a sch ool.in
W ebsite: w w w .norm aschool.in
m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i NO 12 Economic & Political w e e k l y

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:57 U TC

All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

explain why his country and his coun­
try's companies do not want to give any
liability whatsoever for the Koodan-
kulam reactors. If these reactors are “ the
most secure, the best and the safest”in
the whole wide world, why cannot Russia
offer the maximum and unlimited liabil­
ity for the Koodankulam reactors? Why
do they hide behind the secret Inter-
Governmental Agreement they signed
with the Government of India in 2008?
Authorities from the us have clarified
that n go s in their country do not support
any anti-nuclear activities in India. If the
us is so earnest in all its business deal­
ings, why do they keep pressurising the
Indian politicians and bureaucrats to water
down the Nuclear Liability Act? Why
does the Government of India not stand
up and fight for the best liability package
for its citizens instead of trying to please
their foreign masters? What moral legiti­
macy do these “ Merchants of Venice”
have to talk about foreign funding and
other people's financial dealings?
Our Funds and Personal Records
As the coordinator of this genuine strug­
gle of ordinary citizens of India, I would
like to clarify that we have not received
any money from any Indian or interna­
tional n g o or business house, or political
party. Our activities are funded exclu­
sively by the voluntary contributions of
our fishermen, farmers, shopkeepers,
workers and beedi-rolling women.
Our own people sustain our simple
Gandhian struggle on our own. Our needs
are very few and the expenses therefore
are also very little. People who come to
our protests/activities arrange their own
transportation. We, the organisers of the
relay hunger strike, offer nothing more
than drinking water. The Koodankulam
people have offered rice porridge or a sim­
ple vegetarian meal on a couple of occa­
sions (when we laid siege) from their own
contributions. We do not offer any daily
wages, or food, or alcohol or pocket money
to the participants as some Indian political
parties often do in their party events.
A team of 20 individuals from Idin-
thakarai village handles the donations
we receive for the struggle and they
keep accounts of what they receive and
spend. They have shown the accounts to
Economic & Political weekly m arch 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:57 U TC
visiting political leaders and have issued
the accounts to the press also.
Obviously, our money-minded politi­
cians cannot fathom the spontaneous,
powerful and revolutionary uprising of the
citizens of India who have had enough of
them. Our struggle and our people speak a
totally different language of truth and jus­
tice which these power-hungry unruly ele­
ments cannot and will not understand.
As the coordinator of the ongoing
struggle, I would like to state here that I
have not solicited or received or handled
any money from anybody for this struggle.
To demonstrate this point, I am giving be­
low my and my family's income details,
properties, bank accounts and loans.
(a) Income: My wife and I depend on
agricultural income from our lands, and
occasional speaking and teaching fees,
researching and writing fees. We both
have pan cards, audit our personal ac­
counts annually, and pay income taxes.
(b) Properties:
Inherited
From father: 5 cents land and house
Nagercoil, Kanyakumari district,
Tamil Nadu.
From mother: (i) 7.5 cents land and
house Nagercoil, Kanyakumari dis­
trict; (ii) 14 cents land paddy field
Thiruppathisaram village, Kanya­
kumari district.
Purchased (date of purchase, area,
location).
26 March 1994, 10 cents land Nager­
coil village, Kanyakumari district.
21 December 1994 to 30 March 2000,
3.77 acres Neendakarai village, Kan­
yakumari district (10pieces).
1 July 1998 to 23 March 1999, 8.435
acres Azhagiapandiapuram village,
Kanyakumari district (4 pieces).
9 September 2005, 7.5 cents land
and house Nagercoil, Kanyakumari
district 2 May 2008, 91cents Azhagia­
pandiapuram village, Kanyakumari
district (2pieces).
(c) Bank Account: (Bank name, branch,
account number, balance as most recen­
tly (early March) recorded).
(i) S P Udaykumar: State Bank of India
(sb i ), Nagercoil h o , a/c 10843375998,
v o l x l v ii n o 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
COMMENTARY
Rs 4*953-84, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank
(tmb), Edalakudy, a/c 92100050084848,
Rs 1,703.05.
(ii) Meera Udayakumar (my wife)
s b i , Nagercoil h o , a/c 10843378900,
Rs 1,380.72, t m b , Edalakudy, a/c
92100050303549, Rs 309.00, Canara
Bank, Kottar, a/c 1111101027576,
Rs 2,331.00.
(iii) s a c c e r Trust a/c sb i , Kottar,
a/c 10663109330, Rs 5,716.07.
(iv) s a c c e r Matriculation School a/c
Indian Bank, Meenakshipuram, a/c
460443812, Rs 12,632.00 (The s a c c e r
Trust runs the s a c c e r Matriculation
School; does not have a Foreign Curren­
cy (Regulation) Act registration; accepts
legal donations from local individuals
and institutions; audits the accounts
annually. The school owns two vans.)
(v) S Paramarthalingom a/c: tm b , Eda­
lakudy, a/c 92100050018652, Rs 714.19.
(vi) S Ponmony a/c: sb i , Nagercoil h o ,
a/c 10843329464, Rs 35,566.26.
(d) Jewel Loans: (Bank, name of the
person, loan amount, due date)
t m b , S P Udayakumar, Rs 1,06,000, due
date 30 March 2012, Canara Bank,
Meera Udayakumar, Rs 98,000, due
date 15April 2012,
t m b , Meera Udayakumar, Rs 1,05,000,
due date 23 April 2012,
t m b , Meera Udayakumar, Rs 1,20,000,
due date 6 May 2012.
t m b , S P Udayakumar, Rs 98,000, due
date 8 June 2012,
t m b , S Paramarthalingom, Rs 70,000,
due date 25 October 2012 and loan
against deposits,
Indian Bank, Meenakshipuram, Rs 50,000,
due date 22 December 2015 (deposit
amount Rs 1,20,000).
My wife has some 25 sovereign gold jew ­
els, and we have 2 small fixed deposits in
our boys' names, and two 2- and 3-sto-
reyed buildings at our school.
The approach of the Government of
India so far has been: “
Give the lame dog
a bad name and hang it” . They try to
malign the names and reputation of the
leaders of the struggle, undermine our
credibility and acceptance, and isolate us
from our own people. They try to confuse
the people about the goals and objec­
tives of the struggle by diverting their
13
COMMENTARY
attention from the real issues to the sen­
sational, fake and non-issues. Appearing
to be credible and responsible, the gov­
ernment cracks down on the movement
and the dissension. But as a friend Farai
Maguwu from Zimbabwe said, “ the ‘
ordi­
nary people’are extra-ordinarily intelli­
gent; they can read between the lin es” . to isolate you from the people by insinuating
When they read between the lines, they
refuse to fall in line as in the recent Uttar
Pradesh and other state elections. The
writing on the wall is clear! If only the
Government of India could read it!
Relevance o f Congress’
Victory
in Manipur
PRADIP PHANJOUBAM_____________________
The results of the Manipur
elections point to an interesting
theme paradox - the Congress
was voted back to power
despite its all-round failure in
governance. The voters perhaps
felt the need to vote the party
back to power in the state
contiguous to its reign in the
centre, conditioned by incidents
in history pertaining to
centre-state relations. The rise of
the Trinamool Congress as a force
in the state and the marginal
victories for the Naga People’
s
Front also carried important
local messages.
Pradip Phanjoubam (p h an jou b a m @ gm ailcom )
is editor o f the Imphal Free Press.
14
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:57 U TC
NOTE_______________________________________
1 Accusing the dissidents of collaborating with
foreign powers, receiving foreign funds and
being disloyal to their own country has becom e
a trend all over the world. Farai Maguwu, a
personal friend from Zimbabwe, has written to
me recently: “ Your description of the govern­
ment reaction to your constructive non-violent
struggle reflects some sort of desperation on
the part of your government and the strategy is
that you are working for foreign agents. Take
comfort in knowing that unaccountable gov­
ernments use the same manuscript in silencing
citizens and bulldozing their catastrophic
agendas and programmes. Your description of
the situation resonates very well with our
struggle here in Zimbabwe where a prefix has
y and large there were two chief
B determinants that led to the land­
slide victory of the Congress in
the elections to the 10th Manipur Legis­
lative Assembly held on 28 February
and the result of which was declared on
6 March together with those of four
other states. An assessment o f these two
conditions should make the picture
somewhat clear as to why the stunning
victory of the Congress was expected
and yet the sheer magnitude of the win
was surprising. One of these factors is
an innate insecurity of the state’ s elec­
torate and which is shared by most
other small north-eastern states. The
other is specific to Manipur and it has to
do with the atrocious manner in which
the parties in the opposition benches
chose to commit political hara-kiri
in the past 10 years of uninterrupted
Congress rule.
A convenient way to survey these fac­
tors would be a critical consideration of
the dramatic entry of two new political
parties into the state politics - that of the
ruling party in West Bengal - the All
India Trinamool Congress ( a itm c) and
the ruling party in Nagaland, the Naga
People’s Front (npf). They introduced
new colours, moods and concerns to the
electoral arena and indeed to the state
as such, in different ways.
m arch 24, 2012
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
been added to NGOs to read ‘ Western Funded
NGOs’ or ‘agents of regim e change’ . All this is a
propaganda campaign to mislead the people
into believing that we are their enemies. But
please be encouraged that the ‘ ordinary people’
are extra-ordinarily intelligent, they can read
between the lines”
Another common friend of Farai and me, Janyce
Konkin from Canada argues: “ It appears that
this tactic has become a worldwide pheno­
menon. Our Conservative Harper government in .
Canada has recently used this same shameless
accusation against not-for-profit environmental
organisations standing up against faulty oil & gas
development applications, pipelines, etc. They
are totally trying to discredit the hard-working,
dedicated, knowledgeable and honest volunteers
who are working to hold the government and the
oil companies to account” .
a i t m c not only entered but opened
accounts in a big way surprising many
observers. The party fielded 47 candi­
dates in the 60-member house. It also
returned seven legislators to finish
behind only the Congress. Some frivolous
explanations have been forwarded that
electoral politics in Manipur and indeed
the entire north-eastern states is not
rooted deep enough and therefore politi­
cians and political parties lack firm ideo­
logical leanings making them unscrupu­
lous about changing hues quickly and
whimsically. Instances of large-scale
defections in the political history of the
region, in particular that of a Bharatiya
Janata Party (Bjp)-led government in
Arunachal Pradesh switching over to
Congress overnight en masse when the
b j p fell from grace at the centre and a
Congress government replaced it, are
cited as a precedent. It is true there has
been a tendency of politics in these
states to always lean towards the party
that is in power at the centre but this has
a psychological explanation in which
the subjects are not the only ones to
blame. However before attempting this
explanation, it must be noted that the
answer of a i t m c doing well as a first­
time entrant in Manipur is partly pro­
vided by this dominant psyche in the
north-east, a it m c , though not the ruling
party at the centre, does control impor­
tant levers of power there and this
would have worked to its advantage.
Centre-Leaning Calculus
This centre-leaning politics in the region
however is born out of conditioning
rather than any independent whim.
VOL x l v ii NO 12 E23Q Economic & Political weekly
These switches of political loyalties are
an indication of a deep and shared inse­
curity that, unless they are on the right
side of the centre, could end up aban­
doned. A decade ago, when the Fifth Pay
Commission recommendations were out
and the salaries of government employ­
ees were hiked, the Manipur government
was headed by W Nipamacha Singh of
the Manipur State Congress Party (m scp ),
a state party. The chief minister did not
last a full term but while in power, he
had a harrowing time, running from
pillar to post to have funds released for
as many as six months’ worth of pending
salary bills at a time for government em­
ployees. The state at the time was in
untold turmoil. It could be that this was
a coincidence, but the common man on
the streets cannot be blamed for con­
cluding that when the party in power in
the state is not the same as the one at the
centre, bottlenecks develop in the chan­
nels of resource flow from the centre to
the state. Memories such as these cer­
tainly would influence not just politi­
cians but also electorate behaviour. The
Congress victory as well as the success
of the a i t m c have much to thank this.
The dramatic success of the a i t m c and
the Congress’victory has another very
significant reason. During the last Con­
gress tenure in power with Chief Minis­
ter Okram Ibobi at the helm, almost all
other political parties in the state through
their own selfish and limited visions mar­
ginalised themselves. On most of the
contentious issues these parties were
deafeningly silent. Many of their legisla­
tors hung around and nagged ministers
for favours. Still many of them queued
up for Congress tickets when the elec­
tions were announced. At least one party,
the Communist Party of India ( c p i) , re­
mained a formal partner in the state gov­
ernment, even after the party broke alli­
ance with the Congress at the centre.
The opposition space in the assembly
thus came to be abdicated. This is the
vacuum which was just right for a shrill
and pushy party with a charismatic leader
- like the a i t m c to enter the fray. The
party is now the second largest party in
the state assembly with seven m l a s ,
commendable by any standard for a new­
comer. Had the party entered the stage
E con om ic & Political w e e k l y Q 2
earlier, it probably would have done Most observers speculated a hung
much better. All other parties, depleted house with the ruling Congress emerg­
in morale and commitment, ended up ing as the single largest party. The cyni­
unable to field candidates in even half cism in the state being what it is, nobody
the assembly constituencies. Many in­ thought a clear mandate was a possibili­
cluding the c p i and Manipur People’ s ty. But as this author suggested in an
Party (m pp) drew blanks. article in The Hindu (10 March 2012), the
Desperately trying to remain relevant, same cynicism is evident in the clear
four of these parties urgently formed a mandate of the people as well. If the vot­
pre-poll alliance - the People’ s Demo­ ers have stopped expecting a change for
cratic Front ( p d f) but this proved too lit­ the better, they were desperate not to
tle too late, despite the alliance attract­ have things slip any further.
ing seven more parties at a later stage. It is no exaggeration that the outgoing
The p d f partners also probably did not Congress-headed government inspired
consider the thought that the Anti- only anger and indignation amongst a
Defection Law had lowered the ceiling large section of the people. Rampant
on cabinet size - 12 including the chief official corruption which has become a
minister in the case of Manipur, and way of life, acute shortage of electricity
therefore a coalition of more than two for almost a decade, leaving the ordi­
parties is likely to become strained as nary consumer with two hours of electri­
the only proven incentive for such coali­ city a day to manage with, water taps
tions is ministerial berths. which have run dry with the govern­
ment not lifting a finger to do anything
The Congress’ Winning Ability about it, crumbling roads have character­
The p d f did not therefore present a pic­ ised governance in the state. The contin­
ture of stability and was unable to instil ued imposition of the draconian Armed
confidence to the badly fractured and Forces Special Powers Act for the repeal
shaken electorate of Manipur. The ruling of which Irom Sharmila has been on an
Congress on the other hand was strong, epic hunger strike for nearly 12 years
resourceful, and because of its strength, now, abject lack of governance which
able to posture as a non-partisan party, has passed on the law and order agenda
reaching out to the valley as well as the into the hands of anybody or any organi­
hills, and to all ethnic groups, setting up sation with some nuisance value, peri­
candidates in all the 60 constituencies, odic prolonged blockades on the state’ s
campaigning with the confidence of lifelines with the government looking
winners. It was also able to convey the the other way even as prices of essential
message, unlike the other disunited and commodities rose to the sky, meant un­
decimated parties, that it had the sinews told misery, uncertainty and insecurity
to hold the beleaguered state together. for the common man. Yet, Manipur
It won seats from amongst all ethnic came out and voted resoundingly to
communities too. bring back the government it hated. It
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF
T E C H N O L O G Y BOMBAY
Pow ai, Mu mba i 400 076.
Admission to Post-Graduate Programmes 2012-2013
Applications are invited for admission to Post-Graduate Programmes viz. M.Tech., Ph.D. and M.Phil., for the Academic Year
2012-13 commencing from July 2012, as per the following schedule.
Programme Mode of Availability of Last date of submission/receipt
Application application forms of completed application forms
M.Tech. Online 16.03.2012 02.04.2012
Ph.D. Online 15.03.2012 04.04.2012
M.Phil. Offline 02.04.2012 11.05.2012
(Downloadable)
For Application Form, Information Brochure and other details, please visit to Institute website
http://www.iitb.ac.in/admissions
Dy. I Assistant Registrar (Academic)
Email: pgadm@iitb.ac.in Phone No. 022 - 2576 4008 / 7066 / 7042
Q m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 15
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 Nov 2018 11:00:58 U TC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
COMMENTARY
would not be incorrect to say Manipur
result therefore was not so much about
Congress winning. It was more about
the non-Congress parties losing.
The Naga Issue
The entry of the second political party
from outside the state, the n p f, was
watched with particularly keen interest
in both Manipur and Nagaland. On its
count, many had even dubbed the
Manipur election as an election which
had another referendum within. The
first was the familiar contest for power
in the legislative assembly under provi­
sions of the Indian Constitution, and the
second, a reconfirmation of the support
for Greater Nagaland, championed
strongly by the faction of the militant
organisation - the National Socialist
Council of Nagaland (or Nagalim) -
n s c n (im), headed by Thuingaleng
Muivah and Isak Chishi Swu, amongst
the Naga tribes in Manipur. The Naga­
land chief minister, Niphiu Rio, was
among the star campaigners for the n pf,
travelling by helicopter to the four hill
districts of Manipur, Tamenglong, Sena-
pati, Ukhrul and Chandel, considered by
the Nagas to be part of their ancestral
homeland. The party set up 12 candi­
dates, three each in Tamenglong, Senapati
and Ukhrul, two in Chandel and one in a
constituency in Churachandpur district
adjoining Tamenglong district, again
considered part of the greater Naga
homeland. The Nagaland chief minister,
either out of conviction or to capitalise
on what he thought was the dominant
mood in these constituencies, called for
the integration of Naga areas into one
administrative establishment.
Those in Manipur with a claimed
stake in the territorial integrity of the
state would have heaved a sigh of relief,
for if indeed this was a referendum for
greater Nagaland, the n p f which repre­
sented the ideology did not fare too well.
It returned four seats out of its 12, winning
by extremely narrow margins in all of
them. Significantly, in Ukhrul, the home
district of n s c n (im )’
s top leader, Thuin­
galeng Muivah, of the three assembly
seats the n p f could wrest only one, and
this too by a razor thin margin of 55votes.
The two others went to the Congress.
16
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:58 U T C
The n p f’ s tally is two lower than what There is yet another interesting deve­
another local Naga organisation in lopment which went largely unnoticed
Manipur campaigning on the same ideo­ in the national media which very well
logical plank, the United Naga Council could have also contributed to the final
(unc) which set up as many candidates outcome of the elections especially in
in the same constituencies, returned five the valley districts. But even if it did not,
years ago. This is despite, allegations of it carried a loud message. Just at the
interference by militants prompting the time of the announcement of the elec­
election office to order repolling in 76 tion by the Election Commission of
polling stations in these hill districts. India, seven powerful militant orga­
While it would be too hasty to draw con­ nisations operating in the valley got
clusions, regardless of whether there was together to form a coordinating com­
such a referendum, this result would have mittee which came to be known as
bearings on the peace negotiations (now CorCom, and banned the Congress
nearly a decade and a half old) between Party from contesting the election for
the n s c n (im) and the Government of In­ “being the most brutal party on the
dia. But the verdict on this imagined ref­ people” . On a daily basis, grenade at­
erendum is perhaps a vindication of an tacks were made on Congress candi­
innate understanding amongst the differ­ dates and workers to coerce them into
ent ethnic communities that regardless of submission. The Congress landslide vic­
politics and polemics, they are the ones tory against this backdrop is also almost
who would - by the compulsions of geo­ a statement of the will of the people on
graphy and economy - continue to be the matter of militancy. M anipur’ s re­
neighbours. The Sadar Hills tussle bet­ cent electoral history has always dem­
ween the Kukis and the Nagas in which onstrated such silent defiance which is a
the demands of the Kukis for bifurcation characteristic of the place. There are in­
of a separate Kuki-dominated adminis­ deed shared concerns between the peo­
trative district from the Naga-dominated ple and the militants, which is why the
Senapati district which led to a pro­ latter survive, but there is no complete
longed impasse and blockade of the congruence. This should be a valuable
state is just one episode that would have lesson for both the establishment as well
informed all of this impossibility. as those fighting them.
E con om ic& P oliticalw E E K L Y
EPW 5-Year CD-ROM 2004-08 on a Single Disk
The digital versions of Economic and Political Weekly for 2004,2005,2006,2007 and 2008
are now available on a single disk. The CD-ROM contains the complete text of 261 issues
published from 2004 to 2008 and comes equipped with a powerful search, tools to help organise
research and utilities to make your browsing experience productive.The contents of the CD-ROM
are organised as in the print edition, with articles laid out in individual sections in each issue.
With its easy-to-use features, the CD-ROM will be a convenient resource for social scientists,
researchers and executives in government and non-government organisations, social and political
activists, students, corporate and public sector executives and journalists.
Price for 5 year CD-ROM (in INDIA)
Individuals - Rs 1500
Institutions - Rs 2500
To order the CD-ROM send a bank draft payable at Mumbai in favour of Economic and Political
Weekly. The CD can also be purchased on-line using a credit card through a secure payment
gateway at epw.in
Any queries please email: circulation@epw.in
Circulation Manager,
Economic and Political Weekly
320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013, India
m arch 24, 2012 vol xLVii n o 12 13359 Economic & Political weekly
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

Nuclear Security Norms
Where Does India Stand?
P R CHARI
A us-based organisation has
placed India at as low as 28th
among 32 countries in the world
with respect to security of nuclear
materials. How accurate is the
ranking and how justified is the
defensive Indian anger at this
low ranking?
P R Chari {prchari@gmail.com) is visiting
fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict
Studies, New Delhi.
Economic & Political weekly DBS
ations are leery of being judged
N and, especially, of being judged
along with their peers, unless it
can be guaranteed that they will come
out smelling of roses. Therefore, while
predictions that India’ s growing g d p
ensures its manifest destiny to be the
w orld’ s third largest economy sends a
warm glow through Indian hearts, when
other indices place it among the upper
ranks of nations in the matter of public
corruption, illiteracy, infant and mater­
nal mortality, and so on they are greeted
with incredulity admixed with anger,
before ending in denial.
All this revealed itself in local reac­
tions to the Nuclear Materials Security
Index published in January by the Wash­
ington-based think tank Nuclear Threat
Initiative (nti). The index ranked the
security of nuclear materials within na­
tions after undertaking a baseline study
of 176 countries, which was conducted
by the London-based Economist Intelli­
gence Unit (eiu). Great incredulity and
anger arose in New Delhi because the
n t i index has ranked India 28th in a list
of 32 countries in the world that possess
more than 1 kg of weapons grade fissile
material. China is ranked 27th, just
above India. And, only Vietnam, Iran,
Pakistan, and North Korea, in that de­
scending order, are placed below India.
Is this fair?
An objective analysis of the n t i index
must proceed along two tracks. First,
what are the parameters used to con­
struct this index and what are the
respective weights accorded to each of
them? Second, how were these para­
meters applied to India? The n t i has
clarified that a facility-by-facility survey
was not undertaken, nor were their
materials control and accounting prac­
tices reviewed. Instead: “ The n t i index
assesses and scores each state across
a broad range of publicly available
indicators of a state’ s nuclear materials
security practices and conditions” . armament Department, has called upon
m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:00 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
COMMENTARY
Five factors thereafter guided the con­
struction of the index, viz, the quantities
of fissile materials present and the num­
ber of sites where they were stored (15);
the protective measures emplaced for
security and control (31); the global
norms or international commitments
accepted (15); the domestic capacity
available to implement these commit­
ments (15); and societal factors like cor­
ruption or instability that could under­
mine these commitments and practices
(23). The figures in parentheses reveal
the respective weights accorded to each
of these five factors. Value judgments
had obviously to be made, but impartia­
lity was ensured by the n t i placing the
data generated by the e i u before an
international panel of experts. A global
perspective required a Martian view to
be adopted; apparently, this was the
charter guiding the international panel
of experts.
Coming to India’ s problematical low
ranking, the n t i report states that it
gave India high marks for its adherence
to international obligations, physical
protection of nuclear sites, and its
response capabilities, but poor marks on
factors like transparency, corruption
and an independent regulatory autho­
rity. On issues like political stability,
adoption of safeguards and domestic
legislation to ensure nuclear materials
security, India got average marks. These
conclusions can, of course, be argued for
and against.
But the n t i report also informs us that
all states listed in its index had been sent
the assessments made of their nuclear
materials security for comments, if any.
It is not clear if India chose to make any
official response. Or, whether India felt
it would be safer to maintain silence
rather than get embroiled in what prom­
ised to become a public controversy,
especially with the government having
gone very much on the defensive over
the last several months.
Meanwhile, Russia seems highly con­
cerned with the poor scores received
in the n t i index by India, Pakistan, but
also Israel - all non-signatories to the Non-
Proliferation Treaty. Mikhail Ulyanovsk,
director of the Russian Security and Dis­
17
them “ to guarantee effective resistance
to illegal turnover of nuclear materials
and technologies, the reliable safety of
their nuclear materials and the improve­
ment of the physical security of their
nuclear facilities”. He added that the
problem of sensitive technologies and
materials falling into the wrong hands
was “ of a global nature and requires
efforts of all countries and the inter­
national community on the whole”
Consequently, the dismissal of the n t i
index in India by the media and other
organisations as motivated is not very
helpful, but not surprising. The gove­
rnment is very sensitive to criticism of
the Atomic Energy Commission ( a e c ) ,
which has traditionally functioned in
high secrecy, while enjoying privileged
access to the highest echelons in the
government. Any adverse criticism is
therefore lampooned as being either
motivated or deriving from ignorance. It
must be admitted, however, that the
Indian nuclear programme is far from
being accident-free. Instances of workers
being exposed to radiation beyond nor­
mal levels, leakages from waste-storage
facilities, apart from a serious fire in
Narora and the collapse of a contain­
ment dome in Kaiga have occurred in the
past. The a e c has, of course, counter-
argued that no accident has occurred in
India comparable to mishaps like the
Three Mile Island in the us or Chernobyl in
the erstwhile Soviet Union, or Fukushima-
Daiichi in Japan in March 2011.
Still, “Murphy’ s Law”informs us that
if anything can go wrong in a particular
situation it will go wrong with the efflux
of time. The public resistance to new
atomic power plants in different parts
of India reveals the imperative need for
the a e c to reassure a sceptical civil so­
ciety regarding the safety and security
of its nuclear materials. What should
disturb everyone is the lack of an inde­
pendent regulatory authority to oversee
the nuclear infrastructure. An effort was
made recently to rectify this situation by
establishing a new regulatory authority
to oversee nuclear security. But serious
objections have been raised to this
modality since its oversight council con­
sists of officials who would resist, rather
than promote, greater transparency in
the a e c ’
s working.
And, this reality reinforces the con­
tention made in the n t i report that indi­
ces and rankings apart, all nations can
and should urgently review and im­
prove the safety and security of their
nuclear materials.

Plenty of media,
Zero accountability.
Who will turn the spotlight on the M edia?

Regional Media t Media and Conflict • Media Ethics

Media Books and Research • Media and Gender t Online Media
Community Media • Media Activism • Columns

m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i NO 12 DEES E con om ic & Political w e e k ly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:00 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

Anglicisation o f Hindi
The Official Perspective
M UKUL PRIY A DA R SH IN I
The enrichment process of a
language happens in proportion
to its wide use: the more a
language is used in various
domains, the more it will be
equipped to meet the challenges
posed by academic and technical
advancement. Hindi certainly
needs to break free from
the shackles of rigidity and
meaningless complexity in the
name of the “
dignified”and the
“standard” , but we must not look
for quick, superficial measures.
What is needed is a very critical
review of existing administrative
and academic terminology with a
willingness to accommodate not
just English, but also Urdu and
other languages spoken in the
Hindi belt.
Mukul Priyadarshini (mukulpriya@yahoo.
co.in) is with the department of elementary
education, Miranda House, University of
Delhi, Delhi.
Economic & Political weekly MARCH 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC
n a linguistically rich country like
I India, one of the most important fac­
tors that can harm a language is the
excessive emphasis on the notion of
standardisation and uniformity. It leads
to the development of stilted and artifi­
cial language that is not a part of any
native speaker's linguistic repertoire.
Obsession with standardisation is reflec­
tive of an attitude that is anti-democratic
and judgmental because it is based on
the assumption of sanctity of a single
form and rejection of others.
Language is a perennially evolving
and changing phenomenon and instru­
mental behind this process are the peo­
ple - the native speakers of a language.
The contours and character of a lan­
guage are constantly being defined and
redefined by users of a language. The re­
gions with a colonial past borrow freely
from the language of the colonisers too.
Then there are many other languages
known as dialects that supplement the
vocabulary of a language: but this goes
on unnoticed and unacknowledged. In a
multilingual country like India, which is
a linguistic area in itself, the situation is
even more interesting: we also borrow
from geographically contiguous lan­
guages across language groups, i e, from
other Indian languages and “ dialects”of
various language families. This is true of
Hindi as well which is situated in a multi­
lingual context surrounded by domi­
nance of English and people’ s aspira­
tions for it.
Need for Expansion
There is no denying the fact that the aca­
demic need to expand and enrich the
lexicon of Hindi in respect of various
subject disciplines has always been
there, and when Hindi became an offi­
cial language (along with English as an
associate official language), it became
necessary to promote the use of Hindi
for administrative purposes too. To fulfil
VOL XLVII NO 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
COMMENTARY
these needs, the government had set up
various departments, bodies and com­
missions that are a part of the Ministry
of Home Affairs and the Ministry of
Human Resource Development. The
government agencies like the Central
Commission for Scientific and Technical
Terminology (c s t t ) have been produc­
ing volumes of technical terminology,
glossary, definitional dictionaries and
encyclopedia in Hindi and other major
Indian languages that covered all the
sciences, social sciences and humanities
and the vocabulary pertaining to the ad­
ministrative register.
However, in this process a very un­
natural and staid Hindi has evolved in
the past few decades, which is often low
on communicability. Even the govern­
ment notices and advertisements pub­
lished in newspapers carry similar Hindi
though such texts aim to reach out to
and communicate to the general public.
We know that innumerable examples
of ludicrous Hindi coinages like lauh
path gaamini (“ one which runs on an
iron track” , i e, train) have been cited
innumerable times in formal-informal
public conversations.
What is it that characterises the Hindi
used in official domain? What is it that
makes this Hindi terse and heavy? It is
not just the terminology (which is most­
ly constructed and derived from words
of Sanskrit origin), but the sentence
structure is also artificial because it is
often a literal translation from English.
While translating texts into Hindi, so
much importance is given to remain loyal
to the original text that in spite of the
language and the script of the docu­
ments being Hindi and Devanagari, res­
pectively, their syntax remains essen­
tially English.
This makes the language artificial,
heavy and difficult to comprehend for
an average native speaker of Hindi. So
much so that words like hetu, not ke liye
are used for a simple word like “ for”
Somewhat similar is the situation of aca­
demic technical terminology. In order to
equip Hindi to deal with m odem aca­
demic discourse and new area of episte­
mology, lakhs of new words were coined
and the process still continues. However,
the strategy invariably has been to resort
19
COMMENTARY

to a Sanskrit word to create a new word throats prematurely. However, the dull and one national language. Though Hindi
even though there may be better options nature of the language of a limited was deemed to be the most suitable lan­
available in Hindi, Urdu, English or oth­ number of texts, which are provided to guage for this role by many, what kind of
er languages known as “ dialects”which students mainly through a single text­ Hindi it would be - was a contentious
are in sync with the idiom of the lan­ book, deprives them of the richness and issue. While Gandhi, Nehru, etc, fa­
guage and are easy to understand. For aesthetics of the language. While this voured “ people’ s vernacular Hindi”char­
example, people would rarely be able to has serious repercussion on students’ acterised by “ its diverse borrowings, its
understand parimaarjan kalaayen for linguistic knowledge, it also convinces flexibility, its local sensitivities, its enor­
‘‘
perform ing arts”. Why cannot we use them that Hindi texts can never be a mous geographical and social reach”
manchan kalaayen instead which rings pleasure to read. Eventually, they devel­ (Rai 2000:109), there were others who
some familiarity in a reader’ s mind be­ op a huge disinterest for the language consistently tried to promote rashtra -
cause most of the, if not all such arts are and become wary of it. bhasha Hindi marked by “ its uniformity,
performed on manch, i e, stage (even Coming back to the much-ridiculed its absence of local colouring” (ibid
though it may not be a literal and exact sarkari Hindi, it needs to change drasti­ 2000:109).
translation)!There has to be a balance of cally and come closer to the language of Eventually, the people’ s Hindi or Hin­
preciseness and communicability. How­ the people. Recently, on 26 September dustani was pushed away by Sanskri­
ever, informal domain mostly tatsama 2011, a circular was sent by the secretary tised Hindi. Later, the recommendations
words are acceptable as “ standard” . of the Department of Official Languages of the Constituent Assem bly’ s sub-com­
to all the concerned departments giving mittee on language chose Hindustani
Sarkari Hindi them instructions to use easy and natu­ written in Devanagari or Persian script
The notion of a “ standard” , Sanskri- ral Hindi in government functioning. as the national language and English as
tised Hindi is not restricted to the offi­ That the government has woken up to the the second official language. This, how­
cial and academic sphere; its domi­ need must certainly be welcomed. Appar­ ever, was vehemently opposed by the in­
nance in the education system has had ently such orders had been issued many a tolerant group in favour of only Hindi
a deeply negative influence on both time in the past three decades or so as the and only Devanagari. Eventually, the
educational perspectives and pedago­ letter mentions. Then why is it that the compromise decision taken was that
gy. Any good teaching-learning prac­ official Hindi continues to remain heavily Hindi would be the official (not nation­
tice must link to what the learner al­ Sanskritised, insipid and complex? al) language and English would be used
ready knows. Learners play an active Language has always been a political for official purposes for 15years after the
role in the process of learning and issue in any society. It is an effective Constitution came into effect, i e, till 26
“constructing their own knowledge by weapon to maintain the class hierarchy. January 1965.
connecting new ideas to existing ide­ At one point in history we had “ Hindi
as”( n c e r t 2005:17). ideologues”who had hegemonic inten­ Implications
Learning cannot happen if there is a tions to b e co m e the ruling class through If we read the fine print of the directive
huge gap between what we know and “ the politico-cultural weapon”of Sanskri­ from the Department of Official Lan­
what we need to know; at best, it would tised Hindi (Rai 2000: 8). And today, due guages, it involves many problems both
be memorising without understanding, to the persistence of that Hindi, which in terms of the understanding about lan­
and not learning in true sense of the has no relevance to the literary world and guage as reflected in the letter and long­
term. The same is the case with teach­ to people’ s everyday linguistic sphere, the term implications of it for the Hindi lan­
ing-learning process of languages. The language is unable to face the challenges guage, if it is implemented religiously. At
Hindi used in classroom transaction, in of global imperialism of English. the same time, the letter also creates a
textbooks and the Hindi which students On the one hand, Hindi is and has context to contest and discuss some
are expected to master is the same shuddh been a source of a power struggle, and issues about which vague public percep­
and “ high”Hindi characterised by tatsam on the other, advocating sanskritised tions exist. To begin with, the letter pro­
words and avoidance of Urdu words at the Hindi (or other Indian languages for claims that any language has two forms:
cost of aesthetics, rhythm and communi­ that matter) in the name of nationalism “ literary language and functional lan­
cability of language: this Hindi is far is a garb for maintaining the status quo guage” .“If literary words are used in
removed from the language heard and and proving that the complex character functional domain, people lose interest
used by students in various life domains. of Hindi cannot compete with lucid, us­ in the language” . However, we know
Of course, a language has many er-friendly English. The existing official that any language has many forms
forms, styles and registers and this is ideology is not a post-1961 phenomenon linked to the social context, purpose and
one of the styles or registers, which stu­ when c s t t was formed as a part of pro­ domain of its usage. Every speaker has,
dents must become familiar with gradu­ motion and expansion of Hindi and other if not all, then multiple varieties in her
ally. However, the approach should be to Indian languages. It goes back to the linguistic repertoire, irrespective of class,
move from the known to the unknown pre-independence era with its roots in gender, education, etc, the same person
without forcing things down children’ s the “ romantic-ethnic”idea of nationalism may use different kinds of Hindis in
20 m arch 24, 2012 vol XLVii n o 12 USES Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 COMMENTARY

different domains with different people debated and challenged by linguists, (varieties) of a language is a part of the
for different functions and purposes. educationists and social scientists alike language learning process.
What the letter sweepingly calls “ liter­ (Pennycook 1994; Phillipson 1992). It
ary”is actually something heavily domi­ has been asserted that global, social, ‘
Easy’and ‘
Difficult’
nated by Sanskritised jargons, and political and economic forces have been In this context, we also need to discuss the
hence, complex both lexically and syn­ working “ ruthlessly and doggedly for notion of “ easy”and “ difficult”
. Artificiali­
tactically. As a matter of fact, literary extending and intensifying the use of ty of language apart, what is easy and
forms of a language are often rich, English”(Agnihotri 2008: 24). what is difficult often depends on the fre­
aesthetic and nuanced. The letter implies that it is in the in­ quency of usage. Words like mudrika (bus
terest of Hindi to mould its idiom and service in Delhi that plies on Ring Road
Who Speaks and What? flavour to accommodate the strokes of around the city), aatankavaadi, vishwavi-
Advocating the use of easily comprehen­ the international lexicon. The problem dyalaya (one of the metro stations in
sible Hindi - the letter says if (the) “ in­ may also be ascribed to the linguistic Delhi), pehchaart patra, tatkal seva (train
ternationally popular language English” behaviour and attitude of the educated reservation facility on making extra pay­
could change itself over the years, then elite who are the native speakers of In­ ment) are some of the words which are of
the functional form of Hindi must also dian languages; they have “ mortgaged Sanskrit origin, but are commonly known
modify itself and come closer to the bol- the cognitive sector of their verbality to to people. The semantically self-explana­
chaal ki bhasha (spoken language). While the techno-industrial leviathan (i e, tory nature of words also helps in guessing
overtly this sounds fine, the model ex­ English)...”because a fairly large sec­ or deducing the meaning of words. In a
amples quoted and endorsed in the letter tion of them have “ an investment in that leading private school of Delhi which has
are indicative of a different subtext to it. language as a definer of the functioning Hindi as the medium of education (and of
In these examples which have been taken and reproduction of the entire elite” course, in all the government schools in
from sources of newspapers and maga­ (Dasgupta 2008: 71-72). Thus, without the Hindi belt) children in primary classes
zines not mentioned in the letter, words even making a sensible and creative ef­ understand the maths terminology such
like “ awareness”(jaagrukta ), “ regular” fort to put Hindi to discursive and regis­ as vibhaajyataa niyam (divisibility rule),
(niyam it), “ programme” (kaaiyakram ), ter-specific use, we seem to be resigned guranphal (product of multiplication), etc,
“international business”(antarrashtriya to the perception that Hindi cannot de­ because they are introduced to the con­
vyaapaar), “ higher education” {uccha velop reasonably good discourses that cepts through these words. Similarly, in
shiksha), etc, have been opted for even are the need of the day. science, vaashpikaran for them is as
though the Hindi equivalents of these And then the question arises as to difficult or easy as “ evaporation” . Also,
words are quite popular or are common­ whose spoken language are we talking words often are semantically transpar­
ly used in the written mode of Hindi. about. The Hindi belt is spread in a large ent: one needs little bit of observation to
The letter says that since contempo­ area comprising seven states and each identify the words vibhaajan and guraa
rary Hindi magazines can use sentences area has its own region-specific texture in vibhaajyata and guranphal. However,
like - college me ek re-foresation abhiy- of the language. The kind of Hindi the developing the skills of linguistic obser­
an h a ijo regular chalta rahta hai. Iska is concerned ministry is trying to promote vation and prediction are not a part of
saal se ek aur programme shuru hua hai is the conversational style of the metro­ our language pedagogy.
jisme har student ek per lagaayega - politan city Delhi and it certainly does So where does the problem lie then
adapting official Hindi in this fashion not represent the entire Hindi belt. You and how does one resolve it?
would help in wider popularisation of go to any hinterland of the Hindi belt It is a well-proven fact that all lan­
the language. Further, the Department and you will find people using words guages, including those known as dia­
of Official Languages suggests that mentioned above in the spoken mode lects, are rule-governed and are poten­
“ store” instead of bhandar, “ apply” too. Even in Delhi, in the Lok Sabha and tially capable of meeting the demands of
instead of aavedan and “ para”instead of Rajya Sabha debates, politicians' state­ their speakers. The enrichment process
anucched, “ lunch”instead of dopahar ka ments and spontaneous speeches and of a language happens in proportion to
bhojan should be preferred in transla­ panel discussions by many of the experts its wide use: the more a language is used
tions to simplify Hindi. on television news channels are ample in various domains, the more it will be
The subtext emerging from these ex­ evidence that chat style Hindi is not the equipped to meet the challenges posed by
amples is that “ changing times”(badalte single most popular variety of Hindi. academic and technical advancement.
maahaul) being referred to is the era of Spoken language is a broader category Hindi certainly needs to break free from
globalisation, where English is the lan­ and conversational form is a sub-category the shackles of rigidity and meaningless
guage of the dominant powers, of mar­ of it. Also, there is always a difference complexity in the name of the “ dignified”
ket and of technical advancement. The between the spoken and the written and the “ standard” , but we must not look
issue of whether and how English is an form of a language. In the field of lan­ for quick, superficial measures.
international language and what the guage education it is a well-established What is needed is a very critical
whole politics behind it is, has been much fact that acquisition of various registers review of existing administrative and

Economic & Political w e e k ly IS3H m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 21

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 EPW Research Foundation (a u n i t o f s a m e e k s h a t r u s t )

w w w . e p w r f . i n w w w . e p w r f i t s . i n
India Time Series
A few months ago EPWRF introduced an online database service christened as India Time Series’, www.epwrfits.in.
The project envisaged dissemination of data in fifteen modules displaying time series on a wide range of macroeconomic
and financial sector variables in a manner convenient for research and analytical work. This is targeted to benefit particularly
students, research scholars, professionals and the academic community, both in India and abroad.
This online service is a part of the project funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and executed by the Tata
Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and the Economic and Political Weekly {EPW).
Time series data sets have been structured under various modules. EPWRF has thus far released six modules (see below as
per price list). The following nine more modules will be added in stages soon.
1) National Accounts Statistics
2) Annual Survey of Industries
3) Finances of Government of India
4) Finances of State Governments
5) Industrial Production
6) External Trade
7) Insurance
8) Education
9) Health
K ey O n lin e D a ta b a s e F ea tu re s

• Disseminating data in time-series.

• Interactive on-line access to time series data updated periodically.
• Select data series as per requirement and download at ease.
• Instantly compare, plot and analyze different data in relation to each other.
• Export to Excel for time series analysis and econometric work.
• Save time and energy in data compilation.
• Get help needed from our team.
The demo version can be accessed by free registration. The existing members already registered with us and accessing member
services at www.epwrf.in will require no fresh registration. To gain full access, the subscription rates are:

Initial Subscription Rates Per Annum

Modules Individuals* Universities/Deemed Other institutions
Universities or Colleges According to Number of
Concurrent Users
Up to 5 More than 5
Financial Markets India (in Rs.) 5000 10000 12500 20000
Foreign (in US $) 200 500 1000
Banking Statistics India (in Rs.) 4000 8000 10000 16000
(Basic Statistical Returns) Foreign (in US $) 160 400 800
Domestic Product of India (in Rs.) 3000 6000 7500 12000
States of India (SDP) Foreign (in US $) 120 300 600
Agricultural Statistics India (in Rs.) 2000 4000 5000 8000
Foreign (in US $) 80 200 400
Price Indices India (in Rs.) 2000 4000 5000 8000
Foreign (in US $) 80 200 400
Power Sector India (in Rs.) 2000 4000 5000 8000
Foreign (in US $) 80 200 400
*lndividual students and research scholars in Indian universities and colleges are eligible for a discount of 25% on
producing brief evidence of eligibility from the concerned institution.
1) When subscription is made for two or more modules, a discount of 10% will be available per module.
2) Initial subscription is valid for one year and renewals on an annual basis will be available on a 30% discount over
initial subscription amount.
For any further details or clarifications, please contact:
Director
EPW Research Foundation
C-212, Akurli Industrial Estate, Akurli Road, Kandivli (East), Mumbai - 400 101.
(phone: 91-22-2885 4995/4996) or mail to: epwrf@vsnl.com

22 MARCH 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 EEQ9 Economic & Political w e e k ly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:01 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

academic terminology with a willing­
ness to accommodate not just English,
but also Urdu and other languages spo­
ken in the Hindi belt. Promoting the use
of Hindi (and other Indian languages)
should not be a ritualistic affair confined
to Hindi Diwas, H indi Pakhwaaraa, etc.
In fact, if it has to be there then why Hindi
Diwas, why not Bhartiya Bhasha Diwas?
Concrete and pragmatic strategies should
be worked out to encourage the use of
Indian languages in public and acade­
mic, educational domain. As far as edu­
cation is concerned, drastic reforms are
needed both with respect to pedagogy
Custody Deaths in Kerala
A Study from Post-mortem Data
in Thrissur Medical College
HITHESH SANKER T S, PRAVEENLAL KUTTICHIRA________________________
Though there are reports
pointing to the magnitude of the
problem, there has been no study
conducted on the nature of deaths
that have taken place in police
custody. This article is an attempt
in that direction, and studies 23
autopsies related to custodial
deaths that were conducted
in the Government Medical
College, Thrissur.
Hithesh Sanker T S and Praveenlal Kuttichira
(1
drpraveenlalkuttichira@gmail.com) are at the
Government Medical College, Thrissur.
Economic & Political weekly 13351 m arch
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC
and perspective. People can be con­
vinced about the worthiness of a lan­
guage if it is actually a part of their life
in informal as well as formal domains.
Should instructions given in the
orders be followed in letter and spirit, it
will do as much damage to Hindi lan­
guage as obsession with standardisation
and uniformity has done. After all Hindi
does not exist in two extremities of
“high”Hindi and bazaar H indi’ s “gro­
tesque cousin Zee Hindi” (Rai 2000:
119). However, Zee Hindi, we apprehend,
may soon become G-Hindi or the gov­
ernment Hindi.
Torture means any act by which severe pain
or suffering, whether physical or mental, is
intentionally inflicted on a person for such
purposes as obtaining from him or a third
person information or a confession, punish­
ing him for an act he or a third person has
committed or is suspected of having com­
mitted, or intimidating or coercing him or
a third person for any reason based on dis­
crimination of any kind, when such pain or
suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation
of or with the consent or acquiescence of a
public official or other person acting in an
official capacity.
-UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights 1999
he four treaties of the Geneva
T Convention of 1949 have been rat­
ified by 194 states. All the four
treaties have Article 3, which states,
The following acts are and shall remain pro­
hibited at anytime and in any place whatso­
ever. ... violence to life and person, in par­
ticular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel
treatment and torture; ... outrages upon
personal dignity, in particular humiliating
and degrading treatment.
Introduction
A death in custody or a custodial death is
easy to define. It happens when a person
dies while he or she in the custody of the
24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
COMMENTARY
REFERENCES_______________________________
Agnihotri, R K (2 0 0 8 ): “
Language, Literacy Prac­
tices and English”in Dheram, Premakumari
(ed.), Negotiating Empowerment (Hyderabad:
Orient Longman), pp 2 4 -4 0 .
Dasgupta, Probal (2 0 0 8 ): “
Sustainable Scenarios in
Indian Language Cultivation”in Dheram, Pre­
makumari (ed.), Negotiating Empowerment
(Hyderabad: Orient Longman).
NCERT (2 0 0 5 ): National Curriculum Framework
2 0 0 5 , National Council o f Educational Re­
search and Training, New Delhi.
Pennycook, Alistair (1994 ): The Cultural Politics of
English as an International Language (London:
Longman).
Phillipson, Robert (1992 ): Linguistic Imperialism
(New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
Rai, Alok (2 0 0 0 ): Hindi Nationalism (New Delhi:
Orient Longman).
police, prison service or other authori­
ties. Custodial deaths include those
caused or contributed to by traumatic in­
juries and a lack of proper care while in
custody or detention; those occurring in
the process of police or prison officers at­
tempting to detain a person; and those
occurring in the process of a person es­
caping or attempting to escape (McCall
2003). Deaths in police custody are di­
vided into two main categories - deaths
in institutional settings or police opera­
tions such as raids and shootings where
officers are in close contact with the de­
ceased and deaths during custody-relat­
ed police operations such as sieges and
pursuit. A person in police custody is un­
der the care of the State and it is the re­
sponsibility of the State to ensure pro­
tection of his or her basic human rights
( n h r c 2008). Custodial torture is uni­
versally held as one of the cruellest forms
of human rights abuse and the Constitu­
tion of India, the Supreme Court, the Na­
tional Human Rights Commission
( n h r c) forbid it ( n h r c and p r a j a 2006).
Estimates regarding the exact number
of custodial deaths in India vary, but
when these deaths in custody are studied,
well over half are attributable to natural
causes. These natural causes are prima­
rily heart disease, other atherosclerotic
diseases, seizure disorders and alcohol
and drug abuse. A large proportion of
the remaining deaths in custody are
from suicide, homicide and unintention­
ally lethal acts of violence (Chan 2006).
India has a low rate of 32 persons per
1,00,000 population in jail ( n h r c 2008).
23
COMMENTARY

India records a high number of viola­ considered for this study. The identities electric shock while drying clothes on a
tions to the right to life in the form of of those who died in custody were af­ wet rope. Of the 23 cases for which post­
torture, custodial deaths, killings in fake firmed from the autopsy register. Details mortem reports were available, findings
encounters and deaths through the dis­ regarding the circumstances of death in three were suggestive of physical
proportionate use of firearms. Though were noted down from the records and trauma (Table 4). In two cases, the caus­
there are reports pointing to the magni­ analysed in relation to the cause of al relationship was a possibility, but not
tude of the problem, there has been no death. Conclusions on the causes of definite. In the remaining 18 cases, psy­
study conducted on the nature of deaths death were drawn after detailed evalua­ chological trauma was definite in one
that have taken place in custody in the tion of the autopsy, histopathology and case; it could have contributed to death
country. This article is an attempt in toxicology examinations of the cases. in nine cases; and was a possibility in
that direction. The data were arranged in tables and eight cases.
the results were discussed.
Materials and Methods Discussion
For the purpose of this study, death in Observations and Results The low number and percentage of custo­
custody is defined as any death that oc­ During the period 2005-07,5,416 medico­ dial deaths for which autopsies were con­
curs while a person is either in the care legal autopsies were conducted by foren­ ducted in the Government Medical Col­
or custody of the police, the correctional sic experts in the Government Medical lege, Thrissur, correspond to figures that
College, Thrissur. Twenty-three autop­ have been cited in media reports and the
Table 1: Prisoner Type and Number of Victims
Type of Prisoner N um ber sies were related to custodial deaths. findings of non-governmental organisa­
Remand prisoners 8 Eight were remand prisoners and six tions (n gos). The chances of cases having
Convicts 6 were convicts while four were under­ been under-reported or concealed were
Under-trial prisoner 1 trial prisoners who had been accused of remote because Kerala has a very vigilant
Accused o f crime 3 Table 4: Evident Trauma and Number of Victims media, active political organisations and
For interrogation 4 Trauma Physical Psychological knowledgeable human rights activists. In
No crime 1 Definite 0(0.0%) 1 (4.3%) the year of its establishment, 1993-94,
Total 3 Possible 2 (8.7%) 8 (34.8%) the n h r c received only 496 complaints
Impossible 21 (91.3%) 14(60.9%)
Table 2:Crime Details and Number of Cases of violation of human rights from all over
Total 23(100%) 23 (100%)
Crime Number India. The number has steadily increased
Subjected to interrogation 4 crime. Of the remaining five, four were in over the years and it received 1,00,616
Convict prisoners 6
the custody of the police for interrogation complaints during the financial year
Remand prisoners 8
but no charges had been filed against 2007-08 ( n h r c 2008).
Under trial prisoner 1
them and one was not related to any The lack of any recorded crime in the
Accused o f crime 4
1
crime. The last was a female trainee in the case of four victims is a matter of con­
N ocrim e
Total 23 p olice training academ y (Tables 1 and 2). cern. T h ey had b e e n arrested and d e ­
Coronary artery disease was the sin­ tained for interrogation by the police,
Table 3: Causes of Death and Number of Cases gle largest cause of death, accounting for who had received information on their
Cause Number
five cases (Table 3). Four deaths were possible involvement in crime. There ap­
Coronary Artery Disease 5
from Hiv-related infections and two pears to have been a serious violation of
HIV and infection 4
Other infection 3 from subarachnoid haemorrage or human rights in these cases.
Subarachnoid haemorrage 2 bleeding, a form of stroke. There were Death occurred in two cases because of
Hanging 2 two cases of hanging, one of poisoning subarachnoid haemorrage. Subarachnoid
Electrocution 1 and one of electrocution. The poisoning bleeding usually causes instantaneous
Perforation 1 was from excess consumption of ethyl death even though the mechanism in
Aspiration 1 alcohol and the electrocution was an which this happens is not very clear.
Poisoning 1 accident when the victim suffered an There could be cardiac arrest caused by
Myonecrosis 1
Pheochromocytoma 1
Unknown 1 JAMIA MILLIAISLAMIA
Total 23 slSB w Jamia Nagar, New Delhi -110025
service or the psychiatric service. It in­ CORRIGENDUM
cludes death while being pursued by the This has reference to our Advt. No. 06/2-11 -12 dated 24.2.2012 published in
police or while being detained in a pris­ the leading Newspapers between February 27-29, 2012, the post
on or psychiatric institution. advertised at F. (5) “Technician in the Department of Biosciences” is
Autopsies conducted in the Govern­ hereby withdrawn from the advertisement.
ment Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, (Prof. S.M. Sajid)
Dated: 09.03.2012 Registrar
during the period 2005 to 2007 were

24 m a r c h 24. 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 Q 3S3 Economic & Political

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

the sudden bathing of the brain stem in
blood when a jet of arterial blood im­
pinges on the base of brain. Life-threat­
ening cardiac arrhythmias can also oc­
cur in patients with subarachnoid haem­
orrhage. Causes of subarachnoid bleed­
ing include high blood pressure, physical
exertion, emotional stress or head injury
(Kadoji and Barac 2001). Strokes can oc­
cur in a paroxysm of rage or other strong
emotion, possibly because of a sudden
rise in blood pressure. There is evidence
that the role of emotional stress is greater
in patients with subarachnoid haemor­
rhage than in those with cerebral berry
aneurysm (Storey 1969). The mere pres­
ence of a demonstrable pathology does
not exclude the possibility of trauma.
The possible contribution of alcohol
intoxication to cause of death is a known
phenomenon. Alcohol is capable of de­
creasing myocardial contractility and
the amount required to do this is low if
the heart muscle is damaged or there is a
long history of heavy ingestion (Klatsky
1982). Heavy drinking is associated with
the increased risk of sudden death
(Wannamethee and Shaper 1992). Those
heavily intoxicated are not adequately
cared for in police custody and when a
medical crisis occurs, police officers do not
have the support, resources, skill or train­
ing to provide the required intervention.
The role of emotional stress in coro­
nary heart disease has been scientifically
documented (Lecomte et al 1996). Stress­
ful cardiac sudden death occurs almost
instantaneously in those with severe
heart diseases, with 75% occurring dur­
ing stress or in minutes after it. Episodes
of acute emotional stress can have signifi­
cant adverse effects on the heart.
The cause of death in one victim was
pheochromocytoma, a rare tumor of the
adrenal glands that results in the release
of too much epinephrine and norepine­
phrine, hormones that control the heart
rate, metabolism, and blood pressure.
Paroxysms or crises occur in more than
half of patients suffering from this dis­
ease and they can be precipitated by any
activity that displaces the contents of the
abdomen. Although psychological stress
does not usually provoke a crisis (Land-
berg and Young 2005), an assault on the
abdomen can contribute to it.
Economic & Political w e e k ly I33Q m a r c h 24 , 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
In natural death due to infectious dis­
eases, the inadequacy of treatment
could play a part. This could be an issue
to consider when looking into deaths
due to Hiv-related infections. The un­
known cause of death in one case may
be attributed to excited delirium. The
very act of resisting arrest could trigger
excited delirium in some people. The bi­
zarre and threatening behaviour of indi­
viduals in delirium usually provokes a
police response (Wetli 2005).
Custodial deaths tend to occur when
ordinary policemen who find them­
selves unable to generate evidence or get
a confession within a short time frame
step over the line. The pressure on them
to file a charge sheet within an unrealis­
tic deadline is often added to by superior
officers, social activists and the media.
There is usually no vengeance as such
against a victim and the police action
cannot, strictly speaking, be equated
with murder. However, the police or cus­
todian is responsible for providing a de­
cent and protective environment to all
detainees. Ordinary policemen are either
not very aware of this obligation or it is
superseded by the pressure on them to
immediately fix responsibility for a crime.
There should be a zero tolerance policy
for any violation of human rights in
custody. A scientific, professional and
humane approach towards persons
detained for investigations has to be
emphasised. Full use of up to date inter­
rogating skills and forensic science tech­
niques will minimise the need to use
physical torture during interrogations.
Accordingly, police personnel should be
trained to specialise in investigation
procedures ( n h r c and p r a j a 2006).
Bifurcation of the police into two sepa­
rate wings, one to deal with criminal in­
vestigations and the other to maintain
law and order, would be of benefit.
The United Nations Convention against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment is
an international human rights instru­
ment that was signed by India in 1997. In
May 2010, the Lok Sabha passed the
Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010, which is
aimed towards ratification of the u n
convention and seeks to prohibit torture,
among other places, in custody. In case
v o l x l v i i n o 12
COMMENTARY
of deaths in custody, an inquiry by a ju­
dicial magistrate is mandatory and a re­
port has to be sent to the n h r c within 24
hours of its occurrence. There is a need
for scrupulous implementation of the
procedure established under Section 176
(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (crpc).
In addition, forensic experts and labora­
tories must be involved because their
expertise and scientific mode of investi­
gation can assist in preserving accurate
and reliable evidence ( n h r c 2008).
The establishment of custody centres
independent of the police department
has been proposed as an alternative
model. Anyone taken into custody by the
police has to be immediately transferred
to a custody centre. The custody centres
are to be run by social welfare depart­
ments and their security arrangements
are to be provided by prison depart­
ments. Round-the-clock monitoring by
closed-circuit cameras has been mooted
and is probably advisable. Health de­
partments are to be responsible for the
healthcare of the inmates and there are
to be mandatory health check-ups at the
time of entry and exit. On application,
the police will be able to take any inmate
from this centre for interrogation. But
they will have to return the person to the
centre after interrogation. Only convicted
criminals are to be jailed in prisons. It
would be preferable to have exclusive in­
terrogation teams in the police depart­
ment that specialise in the process of
gathering evidence from those detained.
Procedures for Physicians
The Istanbul protocol, which became an
official u n document in 1999, is a set of
international guidelines for documenta­
tion of torture and its consequences. It lists
the steps and procedures to be followed by
physicians when they come across victims
of torture. This needs to be adapted and
extended to victims of torture who may
have died in custody as well. It is high time
a new system was evolved in India to in­
vestigate the causes of death in custody
and other suspicious deaths. In many us
states, a medical examiner's inquest is a
formal hearing that is held into the causes
and circumstances of death that results
from violence in custody or in conditions
which give reason to suspect that a death
25
COMMENTARY
may have been due to a criminal act or
criminal negligence. It is conducted to
make a formal determination of the cause
and manner of death to allow further legal
proceedings. In addition to establishing
the cause and manner of death and possi­
ble criminal liability, the open inquests
serve as forums to bring about changes in
laws and regulations or to create public
awareness of related health and safety is­
sues (Allegheny County 2010).
In India, the magisterial inquest system
is the current procedure for investigat­
ing custodial deaths. In this, an execu­
tive magistrate holds an inquest and the
body is forwarded through the police to
ideal for conducting an inquest. The way
things are, the medical exam iner’ s
system prevalent in the us seems to be a
better option.
We acknowledge the limitations of
this study. In cases of death in custody,
the first information report (f i r ) pre­
pared by the police, the details of the in­
quest, views of the victim ’s relatives and
colleagues, interviews with the alleged
perpetrators and the final verdict of the
court need to be examined. This study is
a preliminary one and it is expected to
draw the attention of scientists from
various disciplines to this area.
Landberg, Lewis and James B Young (2 0 0 5 ): “ Phe-
ochrom ocytoma”in Dennis L Kasper, Eugene
Braunwald, Anthonys Fauci, Stephen L Hauser,
Dan L Longo and J Larry Jameson (eds), Harri­
son’s Principles o f Internal Medicine, 16 th edi­
tion, McGraw Hill, New York, pp 2148 -52 .
McCall, Marissa (2 0 0 3 ): “
Deaths in Custody in
Australia: National Deaths in Custody Program
(NDICP) Annual Report” , Australian Institute
of Criminology, Canberra.
National Human Rights Commission (2 0 0 8 ): “
Some
Important Interventions of NHRC”, 21 August,
New Delhi, at nhrc.nic.in/dispArchive.asp?
610 = 158 9 .
- (2 0 0 8 ): Proceedings of Workshop on Detention ,
NHRC, New Delhi.
National Human Rights Commission and Penal
Reform and Justice Administration (PRAJA)
(2 0 0 6 ): “
NHRC’s Recommendations on Cus­
todial Justice” , at nhrc.nic.in/disparchive.
asp?fno=i 375 .

the office of the police surgeon for
autopsy. Further investigations are car­
ried out by the deputy superintendent of
police. If the death has occurred in jail, a
judicial officer inspects the body before
the inquest. However, this system suf­
fers from weaknesses. The designation
of a doctor as a police surgeon can raise
suspicions among the public and an
executive magistrate is not really a pro­
fessionally qualified person to hold an
inquest. A team led by a magistrate,
which includes a medical professional,
forensic expert and a nominee from the
human rights commission, would be
R EF ER EN CES____________________________________
Allegheny County (2010 ): “ Medical Examiner’
s
Inquest”, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, at
www.alleghenycounty.us/me/inquest.aspx,
accessed on 1 August 201 0 .
Chan, Theodore C (2 0 0 6 ): “
Medical Overview of
Sudden In-Custody Deaths”in Darrell L Ross
and Theodore C Chan (ed.), Sudden Deaths in
Custody (New Jersey: Humana Press, Totowa).
Kadoji, Dragutin and B Barac (2001 ): “ Stress as a
Possible Factor Facilitating Subarachnoid
Hemorrhage” ,Neuroepidemiology, 2 0 , pp 45 -4 6 .
Klatsky, A L (1982 ): “ The Relations of Alcohol and
the Cardiovascular System” , Annual Review of
Nutrition, 2 , pp 51-71..
Lecomte, Dominique, Guy Nicolas and Paul Fornes
(1996 ): “
Stressful Events as a Trigger of Sudden
Death: A Study of 43 Medico-legal Autopsy
Cases, Forensic Science International, 5 , pp 1-10 .
Storey, P B (1969 ): “ The Precipitation of Subarach­
noid Hemorrhage” , Journal o f Psychosomatic
Research , 13, 2 , pp 175-8 2 .
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1999 ):
“Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective
Investigation and Documentation o f Torture
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treat­
ment or Punishment” , at http://www.unhchr,
accessed on 3 March 2011 .
Wannamethee, Goya and A G Shaper (1992 ): “ Alco­
hol and Sudden Cardiac Death” , British Heart
Journal, 6 8 (5 ), pp 443-48.
Wetli, C V (2 0 0 5 ): “Excited Delirium”in Jason
Payne-James, Roger W Byard, Tracey S Corey
and Carol Henderson (ed.). Encyclopedia of
Forensic and Legal Medicine (London: Elsevier
Academic Press), pp 2 7 6 -8 0 .
Ziegelstein, Roy C (2 0 0 7 ): “
Acute Emotional Stress
and Cardiac Arrhythmias” ,Journal of the Amer­
ican Medical Association, 29 8 (3), pp 324 -2 9 .

SAMEEKSHA TRUST BOOKS

Global Economic & Financial Crisis

Essays fro m Econom ic and P olitical W eekly
In this volume economists and policymakers from across the world address a number of aspects of the global economic crisis.
One set of articles discusses the structural causes of the financial crisis. A second focuses on banking and offers solutions for the
future. A third examines the role of the US dollar in the unfolding of the crisis. A fourth area of study is the impact on global income
distribution. A fifth set of essays takes a long-term view of policy choices confronting the governments of the world.

A separate section assesses the downturn in India, the state of the domestic financial sector, the impact on the informal economy
and the reforms necessary to prevent another crisis.

This is a collection of essays on a number of aspects of the global economic and financial crisis that were first published in the
Economic & Political Weekly in early 2009.

Pp viii + 368 2009 Rs 350

Available from
O rient Blacksw an Pvt Ltd
Mumbai Chennai New Delhi Kolkata Bangalore Bhubaneshwar Ernakulam Guwahati Jaipur Lucknow
Patna Chandigarh Hyderabad
Contact: info@orientblackswan.com

26 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 IM Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:03 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

Turning the Page
in Wildlife Science
Conservation Biology and Bureaucracy
N A N D IN I V E L H Q , M E O H N A K R IS H N A D A S , S A C H IN S R ID H A R A , U M E S H S R tN IV A S A N __________
A majority of Indian wildlife
scientists are unable to come
together to create a united
front to add a much-needed
conservation focus to
policymaking. In an age when we
are trying to balance development
with protection of forest areas,
wildlife biologists need to actively
respond to and engage with
situations where the wildlife and
conservation angles need to be
highlighted. They should make
the effort to translate science into
policy in conjunction with the
bureaucracy and actively work
towards creating a much-needed
platform for collaboration.
NandiniVelho {nandinivelho@gmail.com) is
with the Centre for Tropical Environmental
and Sustainability Science and School of
Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook
University, Australia and also with the
National Centre for Biological Sciences,
Bangalore. Meghna Krishnadas and Umesh
Srinivasan are with the National Centre for
Biological Sciences, Bangalore.
Sachin Sridhara is with the Centre for
Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of
Sciences, Bangalore.
Economic & Political w e e k ly B 3Q m a r c h 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:05 U TC
recent article by the authors in
A this journal (“
and Bureaucracy”
Turning the Page
.in Forest Governance: Science
, e p w , 10 December
2011) highlighted the need for the forest
bureaucracy and wildlife scientists to
liaise actively to ensure better forest gov­
ernance, pointing out how the forest
bureaucracy often made it difficult for
independent scientists to engage mean­
ingfully with them. To highlight the other
side of the story, as it were, we would
like to present how the reverse is just as
true - many in the wildlife science com­
munity in India are resistant to working
productively with the forest bureaucracy
as peers, preferring to remain aloof from
real world conservation issues, and un­
willing to engage in constructive dialogue
for change. Strangely, however, at the
same time, almost every wildlife scien­
tist has an opinion on the practice of
conservation (whether by the forest
department or other scientists), that
they presume stems from their objectiv­
ity as practitioners of science. We argue
that wildlife scientists need to realise
that science is but one cog in the wheel
of conservation practice. Scientists need
to make the effort to translate science
into policy in conjunction with the
bureaucracy, and actively work towards
creating that much-needed platform
for collaboration.
The Insular World of Scientists
Scientists often live in an insular world
within the boundaries of their academic
interests, and out of touch with the
on-ground issues facing forest govern­
ance. It is true that a scientist has enough
worries about the day-to-day grind of
doing research - thinking of a good study,
collecting quality data, publishing the
results, and obtaining funding for her/
his work. The contingent responsibilities
v o l x l v i i n o 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
COMMENTARY
of an academic career sometimes make
it onerous for a scientist to pursue the
long trail towards systemic action. Some­
times, it may not even be possible to do
so, as the study may not have an applied
component. However, a redefining of
the boundary encompassing wildlife
science and action in India is now essen­
tial. This is particularly important in a
crisis discipline such as conservation
biology, where basic and applied sciences
can be equally valuable, and scientists
who study the field must be willing to
engage with a complexity of issues that
influence their field of study (Ludwig
et al 2001).
Many scientists are often unaware of
the complexity of a forest m anager’ s
task. In addition to his assigned duties,
the forest manager often has to deal
with a multitude of real world, non­
abstract problems of social and political
dimensions. These might include, among
other things, working with resident
communities hostile to management de­
cisions, dealing with threats from local
militant outfits, pressures from political
bigwigs, and inter- and intra-depart-
mental politics that impede their regular
duties. Even with so much on their plate,
a large number of forest officers are
genuinely interested in using science
and research to guide management, and
actively seek inputs from scientists. It is
for the scientist then to go that extra
mile with an interested officer, and ap­
prise forest managers of the nature and
scope of scientific studies, and when
necessary, help in translating science
into action. This does not necessarily re­
quire a scientist to do applied science, or
start a new project entirely. It only needs
them to use their training to collate
scientific material relevant to an issue at
hand and present the potential conserva­
tion implications of it, when the depart­
ment needs it. Sometimes, it may need
scientists to engage in a formal manner
with bodies like the Forest Advisory
Committee or the National Board for
Wildlife, to nuance the debate on a con­
servation issue.
A vast majority of wildlife scientists are,
however, unwilling to take on political,
bureaucratic, or corporate interests even
when they pose an obvious detriment to
27
COMMENTARY

wildlife. Scientists especially shy away conservation programme, information tend to believe that their own beliefs
from bureaucratic battles that might je o ­ on species biology is important. But no and actions are drawn from an empirical
pardise obtaining research permits from amount of information on species bio­ repertoire of understanding, while those
the forest department. Consequently, a logy is useful if this information does of peers are contingent on personal
majority of Indian wildlife scientists are not inform policy when needed. To do shortcomings, biased inclinations, and
unable to come together to create a uni­ this, it may often be up to the scientists self-interest (Burchell 2007). The prob­
ted front to add a much-needed conser­ to come forth and present their work in a lem of the “ empirical self and contingent
vation focus to policymaking. In this age simple and lucid manner to those in others”is pronounced in conservation
when we are trying to balance develop­ decision-making circles. Sometimes, it biology, where scientists are expected to
ment with protection of forest areas, might not be enough for scientists to maintain their objectivity through data-
wildlife biologists need to actively simply make their own research accessi­ driven arguments, and at the same time,
respond to and engage with situations ble. Very often, wildlife managers need advocate a set of biodiversity values. The
that need the wildlife and conservation specific information that are not rele­ completion of a data-oriented study many
angle to be highlighted. However, making vant to a scientists’core interests, but times spirals out of context into philo­
this change will involve dealing with which scientists can provide without sophical rhetoric. For instance, most ad­
challenges that will force scientists to much effort. For instance, the impact of vocacy (by scientists, no less!) on sustain­
leave their comfort zones and wear dif­ roads on amphibians is not the primary ability in extraction of non-timber forest
ferent hats, accept different viewpoints, focus of an ornithologist, who can none­ produce in India scales up from individ­
and speak in a language other than theless synthesise the literature on the ual case studies, glossing over pan-Indian
academia (Ludwig et al 2001). issue and highlight the relevant scienti­ reviews calling for more information on
fic aspects to inform a park manager on key ecological processes to model sus­
Fostering Engagements the impacts of a proposed road. tainability better (Shahabuddin and
A first exercise in plurality should be a Most important, biologists must make Prasad 2004). As a result, use regimes
more inclusive approach within the larger the leap from simply offering analysis to are advocated not based on a compre­
community of science itself. The acknow­ actively ensuring that their inference is hensive evaluation of data but on per­
ledgement of barriers between scientific incorporated into policy, and persevere sonal philosophies. Sophistry gains over
disciplines is often recognised when for a change in conservation decision­ science, even for scientists.
wildlife scientists say “ I am not a social making. With few exceptions, many wild­
scientist/economist/political scientist” . life scientists do not take those simple Along with Government,
Undoubtedly, any single person rarely extra steps, such as translating reports Not Instead o f It
has the combined skills, inclination, or submitted to the forest department into Wildlife scientists can and should play a
the time to comprehend and master vernacular languages, or placing infor­ large role in defining the contours of sci­
these multiple disciplines. It is, however, mation in relevant context through ence and conservation, and more impor­
essential to respect the com pon en ts o f updates and presentations. The incre­ tantly, placing it in the con text of oth er
these fields that influence conservation mental step from a research paper to a larger societal goals (Lele 2011). One
issues, and integrate these disciplines to policy document is missing, in large part could argue that India today lacks a
find multidimensional solutions to wildlife due to the reluctance of scientists to en­ constituency of wildlife science and con­
conservation (Mascia et al 2003). The gage with peers, non-scientists, and ex­ servation due to the “ tunnel-vision”
lack of dialogue between disciplines is perts outside the sphere of conservation approach of placing the goals of science
best illustrated in the past two decades, science. It is time to discard the eloquent or conservation in a vacuum. It is impera­
where the w orld’ s top five political sci­ discourse as to why cross-disciplinary tive to get social scientists, economists
ence journals have published only one talk would not work - in fact, it is the and non-scientists alike to think o f wild­
article on biodiversity conservation out only thing that is likely to work, and the life science and conservation as desirable
of more than 2,000 articles (Agrawal sooner we get moving, the better for all. goals. Consequently, scientists may have
and Ostrom 2006). to engage with the government directly
As a next and very crucial step, scien­ The Recalcitrant Biologist or through civil society organisations.
tists need to make their research more For a policymaker, dealing with scien­ Civil society and scientists, like we
accessible to policymakers. Like any spe­ tists is generally not easy. Their attitude pointed out in Krishnadas et al (2011),
cialty, conservation science has its fair towards bureaucracy is often unreason­ are essential to add a democratic balance
share of jargon that by definition is meant able or condescending, and towards to state governance. Scientists and con­
only for other scientists to understand, peers, dogmatic and adversarial. “ If you servationists, nonetheless, underestimate
and this needs to be “ translated into put five scientists together you get 10 dif­ the importance of state mechanisms,
English”to inculcate an interest in the ferent opinions and no consensus” . The dismissing good forest officials or lea­
general public and make it more accessible result often is that scientists are unable ders of being one-man shows, when
to a policymaker or forest manager. For to present concrete, usable information many research or conservation pro­
instance, it is very true that for a successful to aid conservation decisions. Scientists grammes are also contingent on a variety
28 m arch 24, 2012 VOL x l v ii n o 12 Q 2 Q E con om ic & P olitical weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:05 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
of externalities. No matter how well-
intentioned and scientifically equipped,
civil society cannot provide a long-term
replacement for the overarching system
of government machinery in the country.
Non-governmental organisations (n gos)
often rely on funding from competitive
grants, for limited periods, for specific
projects. This means that long-term
institution-building at a countrywide
scale by n g o s is a near impossibility,
unless they channelise their efforts
through existing systems to maximise
impact. In fact, sometimes n g o s find
themselves pulling out of conservation
efforts (such as providing alternative live­
lihoods or sometimes even withdrawing
life-saving drugs) when funding runs
out or when the going gets tough, high­
lighting the limitations of civil society.
Invariably, governmental agencies are
dismissed as dysfunctional institutions
when, disturbingly, not enough institu­
tion-building happens within the scien­
tific community. Personal biases and en­
trenched viewpoints preclude collabora­
tions and data sharing, often hampering
the next generation of independent
thought and practice.
Notwithstanding a flourishing n g o
sector,1 the focus should be on streng­
thening pre-existing governmental me­
chanisms, doubtless the most important
challenge for biodiversity conservation
over the next century (Agrawal and
Ostrom 2006). A diversity of measures
for adaptive governance will lead to su­
stainable long-term conservation strate­
gies. This will require strengthening,
organising and devising rules, and moni­
toring government units at different
scales. The best way forward is to incor­
porate independent conservation efforts
within the framework of governance to
provide incremental changes that can
make permanent improvements in the
system. Scientists and civil society can be
vital catalysts, but not the process itself.
Scientists need to understand the dif­
ference between pointless intransigence
and constructive criticism, and move
from accusations to fruitful debate -
both within themselves and with the gov­
ernment. There are notable examples of
wildlife scientists and civil society en­
gaging with policy matters, rather than
Economic & Political weekly E3359 m a r c h 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:05 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
simply stopping at providing informa­
tion and reports. The issue of human-
leopard conflict, leading to loss of hu­
man lives and killing of leopards, is a se­
rious matter across India. A scientific
study found that translocation of leo­
pards, a routine conflict mitigation mea­
sure used by the forest department in
Maharashtra, increased the frequency of
leopard attacks (Athreya et al 2010). The
state forest department trapped 276 leo­
pards during 2001-05, but this did not
arrest attacks. With scientists working
with the department, and strong leader­
ship within the forest department, a dif­
ferent policy was followed based on
scientific understanding. The Maha­
rashtra state forest department issued
guidelines which were based on the fin­
dings from the scientific study on leo­
pard translocation. Only 38 leopards
were trapped during 2005-09. The im­
plementation of the guidelines decrea­
sed the number of attacks on humans
from 218 (between the years 2000-05)
to 34 (2006-10) and the number of hu­
man deaths from 66 to six (Athreya et al
2010). Several other states such as Hima­
chal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir
followed suit with similar guidelines.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests
(m o e f ) jointly hosted a workshop with
the Wildlife Trust of India and Inter­
national Fund for Animal Welfare in 2007,
where forest department officials, n g o s ,
scientists and veterinarians discussed
the best practices to deal with human-
leopard conflict. Working with several
scientists and institutions, the m o e f
created a comprehensive set of national
guidelines (April 2011), to best deal with
human-leopard conflict (Anon 2011). A
complex issue was thus dealt with multi­
sectoral cooperation at the local and
national level.
Moving On
If one traces the evolution of wildlife sci­
ence in India and the attitudes of many
wildlife scientists today, it has followed
a trajectory similar to the history of sci­
ence in general. From Socrates and Pla­
to’s ideas of ignorance, to the scientific
revolution which injected a triumphant
faith of scientific pretension (Ravetz 1993),
our lack of a systematic understanding
v o l x l v ii n o 12
of our natural world changed with the
advent of wildlife science in the early
1960s. Forty years later, there is wide­
spread arrogance and egotism among
academics who are unwilling to work to­
gether or with the system, and we re­
quire a renewal of humility, modesty
and plain common sense. Humility and
modesty to acknowledge that expert
knowledge is not privileged, and that
public and policymakers should be part
of a greater sphere of engagement be­
tween science and society. Common
sense to acknowledge that infighting
does not solve conservation problems,
only exacerbates them.
India’
s conservation legacy is going to
be judged by the degree of unity that
conservationists and scientists attain to
fight agendas that are bigger than the
fractured philosophies of personal view­
points and academic debate. We must
learn to tame the beast inside, before we
move on to saving wildlife.
n ote ____________________________________
1 There are around four NGOs per 1 ,0 0 0 urban
dwellers and 2.3 NGOs per 1,0 0 0 rural dwellers -
(http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/33712)
REFERENCES_______________________________
Agrawal, A and E Ostrom (2 0 0 6 ): “ Political Science
and Conservation Biology: The Dialog o f the
D ea f’
, Conservation Biology , 2 0 : 681 -8 2 .
Anon (2011): Guidelines for Human-leopard Conflict
Management (New Delhi: Ministry o f Environ­
ment and Forests, Government o f India).
Athreya, V, M Odden, J D C Linnell and K U Kara-
nth (2010 ): “Translocation as a Tool for Mitigat­
ing Conflict with Leopards in Human-dominat­
ed Landscapes o f India” , Conservation Biology,
1:133-41.
Burchell, K (2 0 0 7 ): “Empiricist Selves and Contin­
gent ‘others’ : The Performative Function o f the
Discourse o f Scientists Working in Conditions
o f Controversy” , Public Understanding of Sci­
ence, 16 : 145-6 2 .
Krishnadas, M, U Srinivasan, N Velho and S Srid-
hara (2011): “ Turning the Page in Forest Gov­
ernance: Science and Bureaucracy” , Economic
& Political Weekly, 4 6 : 10 -13.
Lele, S (2011): “ Rereading the Interdisciplinary
Mindscape: A Response to Redford” , Oryx, 4 5 :
331- 32.
Ludwig, D, M Mangel and B Haddad (2001 ):
“Ecology, Conservation and Public Policy” ,
Annual Review o f Ecology and Systematics, 3 2 :
481 -517.
Mascia, M B, J P Brosius, T A Dobson, B C Forbes,
L Horowitz, M A McKean and N J Tbrner
(2 0 0 3 ): “
Conservation and the Social Scien­
ces” , Conservation Biology, 17: 6 4 9 -6 5 0 .
Ravetz, F (1993 ): “ The Sin of Science, Ignorance of
Ignorance” , Science Communication, 15: 157*6 5 .
Shahabuddin, G and S Prasad (2 0 0 4 ): “ Assessing
Ecological Sustainability of Non-timber Forest
Produce Extraction: The Indian Scenario” ,
Conservation and Society, 2: 235 -5 0 .
29
 Institute of Applied Manpower Research
Sector A-7. Institutional Area. Narela. Delhi-40

VACANCY CIRCULAR

1. The Institute of Applied Manpower Research invites applications from dynamic, result oriented and experienced
professionals for filling up of faculty positions for research work in the Institute on direct recruitment basis as
per following details.

Name of the post and No. of posts Age Educational qualification and Experience
Pay scale

Chief Essential
(Re-designated as Director) 3 (Three) Below 50 • Master’s Degree (Minimum 55% marks) in
years* Economics or Statistics from a recognized
(Rs. 37400-67000 + 8700) SC-1 University or equivalent.

UR-2 • At least 15 years post qualification (i.e. M.A)

research experience at supervisory level
inany ofthe areas namely, Statistics/Econometrics/
Labour Economics/lndustrial Economics/
Economics of Health/Education/Rural
Development.

• A Doctorate Degree in any of the above areas.

Desirable
• Practical experience of handling consultancy
research projects in any field relevant to human
development, manpower planning or development
of information system and data bank.

• Published work of high quality in national/

international journals.

* Candidates upto 55 years of age as on last date may also apply. However, relaxation in age & qualification to deserving
candidates will be considered as per rules and the discretion of the Competent Authority.

2. Interested and eligible candidates may send their application by post at the following address:-
Dr. Santosh Mehrotra
Director-General
Institute of Applied Manpower Research,
Sector A-7, Institutional Area,
Narela, Delhi -110040.

Telephone No. 011-27783468

Fax 011-27783467

3. Only advance copy of application can be sent by email: dlr.iamr@nic.in

4. Those who have already applied in response to our advertisement No. EN/41/133 dated 7-13 January, 2012
published in Employment News and Economic & Political Weekly dated 24.12.2011 need not apply again.

5. The application should reach within 30 days from the date of publication of this advt.

6. For further details, please visit our website : http://iamrindia.gov.in

(Raj Kumar)
Administrative Officer
Tel.: 011-27787039

30 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 Q3SSI Economic & Political WEEKLY

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:00:01 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
A Text Self-Consciously Realist
and Never Utopian
RAJAN GURUKKAL
his book by Partha Chatterjee,
T a leading political theorist, is a
thoughtful analysis of postcolonial
democratic practices in India. Ten inde­
pendent essays, grouped under three
major heads: Genealogies, Popular Rea­
son and Democracy, constitute an ac­
complished volume of original thinking.
The opening essay, “ Lineages of Politi­
cal Society” , which is the hermeneutic
thread that binds all the essays together,
traces the lineage of normative political
theory back to the conclusion of the
epoch of tyrannical power historically
marked by the French Revolution, the
British Reform Acts and the civil rights
legislation in us in the 19th century, and
discusses the mythical space-time of
normative theory, the norms, senses and
exceptions, the divide between the civil
and political, containment of violence,
and normative redefinition.
The section, Genealogies, consisting
of three essays, examines 500 years of
fear and love towards the European
aspects of the rule of subjects, the debate
between Nabin Chandra Sen and
Rabindranath Tagore on the issue of
public condolence on Bankim Chandra
Chatterjee’ s death, and implications of
Tagore’ s non-nation perspective. Like­
wise, the three essays in the section
Popular Reason seek to analyse the
people in utopian and real time, the
sacred circulation of national images,
and critical facets of popular culture.
The last section, Democracy, discusses
in three essays themes such as commu­
nity and capital, democracy and eco­
nomic transformation, and the nature of
empire and nation today.
The central thesis in the book revolves
around three insights: first, the most
significant site of transformations in the
colonial period was that of civil society;
and the most significant transformations
Economic & Political w e e k ly QBE3 m a r c h 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:06 U TC
BOOK REVIEW
Lineages of Political Society by Partha Chatterjee
(Ranikhet: Permanent Black), 2011;pp xiv+278,Rs 750.
occurring in the postcolonial period are
in political society. Second, the question
that frames the debate over social trans­
formation in the colonial period was that
of modernity, and in political society of
the postcolonial period, the framing
question is that of democracy. Third, in
the context of the latest phase of glo­
balisation of capital, we may well be wit­
nessing an opposition between moder­
nity and democracy, i e, between civil
society and political society.
Epistemological Encounter
Unlike Chatterjee’
s previous book, The
Politics o f the Governed, this book is an
epistemological encounter with hege­
monic western political theory broadly
called “liberal political thought”and the
universal normative standard that it dis­
cursively set. It is maintained that the
discourse of western political theory has
been rendering plausible the representa­
tion of differences about democratic
practices in south Asia as deviations from
the universal normative standard and
hence as imperfections. Every essay
either illustrates or anticipates or sup­
plements the central thesis that differ­
ences seen in postcolonial democratisa-
tion processes are historically contin­
gent characteristics. The author chal­
lenges the normative status of liberal
democratic theory as it exists today by
using the rapidly accumulating empirical
evidence for differences in India’ s post­
colonial democratic experiences. He un­
derlines the need for an epistemological
reconstitution of normative political
theory in the light of the richness of
empirical proofs.
v o l x l v i i n o 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
The discursive effect that exasperates
the author is the prejudice that the dif­
ferences manifest in democratic practices
of non-European countries are signs of
political immaturity, for they are devia­
tions from the normative universals. He
raises the question as to “ how normative
political theory as practised in the West
managed to fortify itself against the
turmoil of the real world of politics and
assert the continued validity of its norms
as pronounced at its moment of crea­
tion” , over the past 300 years. He asks as
to how the variety in the struggles against
colonial exploitation has managed not to
displace the modem political theory from
its stable discursive location of normative
reasoning. He wonders as to how “ the
normative political theory was never
pushed into constructing a theory of the
nation, or of gender, or of race, or indeed
of class, except by marginal figures,
whose efforts were often greeted with
h ostility”. He asks in annoyance as to
“how could it be that the entire conceptual
history of modern politics was foretold
at the birth of modern political theory” .
The questions do evoke serious interven­
tionist concern beyond mere heuristic
interest within historical empiricism.
In his cognitive encounter, Chatterjee
is trying to point out that the constitu­
tionally ordained norms of civil society,
drawn from the particular history of
western liberal democracy, were incapa­
ble of ensuring justice or fairness for all
citizens in a country like India. Hence
the compulsion for deviations as impro­
vised in response to current conditions
of existence, which, in the absence of an
alternative normative order, often turned
out to be illegalities or even violence.
The author’ s encounter with western
normative theory is destined to expose
the inadequacy of its universal standard
rather than to fill the gap with any
alternative normative model of the
future political order. Chatteijee strongly
believes that the paths to our normative
future will diverge from those taken in
the past, but their direction remains
uncertain and open. The perspective is
self-consciously realist and not utopian,
as he clarifies.
31
BOOK REVIEW
Chatterjee exposes the fact that
“normative debates of modern political
theory take place in the time-space of
epic proportions, which manifested only
after the victorious end of an epochal
struggle against the historical despotic
power, the normatively unacceptable
for the present” . To him the curious
thing is that “this negatively designated
historical past could even be found to
coexist with the normatively constituted
order of modern political life in a syn­
chronous, if anomalous, time of the
present” .The negatively designated past,
he says, “is limitlessly elastic in its capa­
city to include any historical place and
time as stages to be overcome - this
phase of backwardness coexist with the
normatively constituted order o f m od­
ern political life in a synchronous time
of the present”The particular sequence
in which the different processes of
democratisation occurred in western
history, he rightly points out, need not be
repeated elsewhere. He is impatient of
the deviation being called a historical
lag that had to be made up, for deviation
from liberal norms meant necessarily
retardation or corruption of democracy
- a prejudice engendered under the
inescapable discursive control of ab­
stract normative political theory.
Hermeneutic Turn
A book of sustained engagement with
the conceptualisation of ideas, institu­
tions, relations and structures, enabled
by being strongly anchored in both the
empirically given and the theoretically
presupposed, Lineages o f Political Society
is path-breaking. It is not a text of new
empirical details but new knowledge
created through discovery and interpre­
tation of new meanings and relations in
old details, which has an enlightening
effect on many things that we take for
granted about political practices of our
times. It is a shift in the science of inter­
pretation too, providing new concepts
and analytical tools that are fit to under­
stand the formation of democratic
practices in the non-western world. The
new knowledge goes against old ideas
about the nature of democracy, which
grew predominantly out of notions and
practices in the west. It exposes the
32
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:06 U TC
judgment on political practices in the
non-western world as instances of im­
perfections and immaturity, a discur­
sive prejudice based on the construal of
democracy in the western world. Chat-
terjee’s interpretations pieced together
constitute a powerful theory in defence
of the contemporary Indian democratic
practices as differences rather than
deviations. It enables an independent
explanation o f histories of modern
political institutions which are not part
of the genealogy of western democracy.
Although the book does not boast of a
new normative theory as an alternative
to the western, its critique of liberal
political theory, understandings of con­
temporary capitalism, interpretation of
nationalism and populism, conceptuali­
sation of nationalist thought and colonial
world, and formulation of “ political
society”marks a rupture with the dis­
cursive notions engendered by western
concept of democracy. One experiences
the rise of a new political theory of
postcolonial democracy, and a herme­
neutic turn in the historiography of the
contemporary Indian politics. Even
though most of the illustrations in the
book are drawn from India, the concep­
tual presuppositions behind them render
comparisons with postcolonial demo­
cratic processes in countries in Asia,
Africa and Latin America, plausible. The
reason is that democracy, perhaps in
most of the present-day world, cannot be
brought into being, or even fought for, in
the image of western democracy as it
exists today, for the norms o f the latter
once thought to be the universal stand­
ard, hardly hold good anymore.
Political Society
The main fallout of Chatterjee’ s episte­
mological encounter with “ Western nor­
mative political theory”is his concept of
“political society” , an empathetic con­
struct. “Political society”, he argues,
is a domain of politics where particular
population groups organise to press upon
governmental authorities their specific
demands for basic necessities such as hous­
ing, food, livelihood, daily amenities, and
so on, which they have thus far, provided
for themselves by violating the law or
administrative regulations or established
civic norms. They maybe squatters on public
MARCH 24, 2012
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
land or ticketless commuters on public trans­
port, or illegal users of water and electricity,
or hawkers on city streets, or manufacturers
in the informal sector violating pollution or
taxation or labour regulations.
This is the domain that distinguishes
Indian democracy from other capitalist
democracies. These groups do have the
formal status of citizens and use the
space of democratic politics to make
their demands, sometimes even violently.
Governmental authorities accommodate
them as exceptions within the general
structure of normative regulations, but
without treating them as proper citizens
belonging to the civil society. “They make
their claims on government, and in turn
are governed, not within the framework
of stable constitutionally defined rights
and laws, but rather through temporary,
contextual and unstable arrangements
arrived at through direct political nego­
tiations” . Chatterjee’s contention is that
a great deal of democratic politics in
India is about such negotiations. Accord­
ing to him what made Indian democracy
different is a split between a domain of
properly constituted civil society and a
more ill-defined and contingently acti­
vated political society.
The uncertain institutionalisation of
this domain of political society, he says,
can be traced to the absence of a suffi­
ciently differentiated and flexible notion
of community in the theoretical concep­
tion of the modern state. There are two
basic features of what he calls political
society: One is its demands belong to the
interface of legality and illegality pres­
surising administrative policies to nego­
tiate between claims and benefits. The
other is the inseparability of its acts
between the voluntary and coercive.
This is a domain contingently activated
as a contrast of the properly constituted
civil society. Chatterjee’ s proposition is:
“Civil society is where corporate capital
is hegemonic, whereas political society
is the space of management of non­
corporate capital” .
An unencumbered grasp of what poli­
tical society means and how it works is
fundamental to Chatterjee’ s book and the
methodology sought to achieve the objec­
tive is that of genealogical investigation
and empirical analysis. Some o f the
VOL XLVII NO 12 Economic & Political weekly

essays vindicate the author’ s search for
the genealogy of political society back to
the 18th century, along the course of In­
dian response to colonial forms of gov­
ernment, and within certain strands of
anti-colonial politics. It was his attempt
to understand the evolution of Indian
democracy in the 1990s, which led him
to formulate the concept of political
society as a disjuncture within the demo­
cratic process itself. He seeks to try and
provide theoretical self-justification for
conceiving political society as distinct
from civil society by developing on the
Gramscian hunch about the possible
disjuncture between the political and
the civil spheres. In liberal political
theory, political society is the sphere
of political organisation of citizen’ s Chatterjee believes that it has become
demands through representation, voting,
political parties, etc, whereas civil society
is the associative public sphere of eco­
nomic and cultural life, but with the
same principles of freedom, equality,
rule of law, and so on, prevailing in both
spheres, suggestive of no disjuncture
between the two.
Chatterjee makes liberal political
theory’ s normative characterisation of
the two spheres irrelevant by elaborat­
ing on the disjuncture, valid within clas­
sical Marxism. Empirically well ancho­
red in the changing democratic practices
of the vulnerable vote-force, which let
the legal and illegal or the peaceful and
violent converge, Chatterjee locates his
political society in a volatile space-time
and empathetically defines it, ignoring
the highbrow scepticism. One is convin­
ced of the intelligibility and analytical
viability of the category of political
society when he elaborates for the first
time on its features such as populism or
the informal sector of production or the
role of violence.
Future Democracy
Chatterjee shows insights into the fea­
tures and dynamic of future democracy
through his probing of the transfor­
mation processes of capital, peasant poli­
tics and governmental technologies. In
the chapter, “The Rule of Subjects” , he
works out the archaeology of the mod­
ern Indian republic by tracing its genea­
logy from dharma (ethical postulates)
Economic & Political weekly MARCH 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:06 U TC
through n iti (justice) to prajatantra
(statecraft). He thinks that the more the
will of the subjects shifts from an en­
gagement with sovereignty to a concern
for the daily nitty-gritty of govem-
mentality, the more the principles of
dharma yield to those of niti. He argues
that as prajasakti (citizens’strength)
asserts itself, the demands mount for
governmental services just as ever new­
er methods of politics get devised to
secure them. But the ruling powers
as a class coalition normally resist the
advance of the citizenry. To him it is
through this power struggle between
the subjects and the rulers that the
future practices of Indian democracy
get defined.
important to revisit the question of
the basic structures of power in Indian
society, especially the position of the
peasantry. This is not because he thinks
that the advance of capitalist industrial
growth is inevitably breaking down
peasant communities and turning them
into a proletarian workforce, as has been
predicted innumerable times in the last
century and a half. On the contrary, he
argues that the forms of capitalist indus­
trial growth now under way in India will
make room for the preservation of the
peasantry, but under completely altered
conditions. Chatterjee begins by referring
to the incidents of violent agitation in
different regions of India, especially in
West Bengal and Orissa against the ac­
quisition of agricultural land for industry.
He sees the “ peasant insurgency thesis”
inadequate in today’ s context. So is the
case with the “ vanishing village”thesis of
Dipankar Gupta. Although proletariani­
sation and dissolution of the peasantry
as historical consequences of primitive
accumulation are still continuing, there is a
reverse effect exerted by governmental
technologies that have been expanding
in India in the last three decades, as a
result of the penetration of the develop­
mental state under conditions of elector­
al democracy. Chatterjee says that the
State is no longer an external entity to
the peasant community, but internal to
its everyday life as an agency providing
education, healthcare, food, roadways,
water, electricity, agricultural technology,
VOL XLVII NO 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
BOOK REVIEW
emergency relief and so on. In that sense,
the relation between peasant and the
state has been, and is still being, redefined.
Chatterjee argues that a corresponding
transformation has taken place in the
structure of political power too. There is
the “ dominant class coalition model”
ably put across by Sudipto Kaviraj, based
on Gramsci’ s concept of “ passive revolu­
tion”as a blocked dialectic, which as­
cribes to the process of class domination
in postcolonial India its own dynamic.
Power had to be shared because no one
class had the ability to exercise hegemony
on its own. Chatterjee does agree that
“passive revolution” is still valid for
India, but to him it is crucial to notice
the fact that its structure and dynamic
have undergone a change. He says that
changes introduced since 1990s such as
the dismantling of the licence regime,
greater entry of foreign capital and for­
eign consumer goods; and the opening
up of sectors such as telecommunica­
tions, transport, infrastructure, mining,
banking, insurance, etc, to private capi­
tal, have transformed the framework of
class dominance. All this, according to
Chatterjee, has led to a change in the
very composition of the capitalist class.
Governmental technologies have deeply
penetrated and turned the peasants into
a highly state-dependent community. He
thinks that the forms o f current capita­
lism in India under conditions of elec­
toral democracy require new conceptual
work, for none of the known theories is
appropriate to explain them.
Chatterjee argues that with the
continuing rapid growth of the Indian
economy, the hegemonic hold of corpo­
rate capital over the domain of civil
society is likely to continue. To him this
will inevitably mean continued primitive
accumulation ensuring more and more
of primary producers likely to be divest­
ed of their means of production, most of
whom are unlikely to be absorbed in the
new growth sectors of the economy and
quite likely to be marginalised and
turned into a “ dangerous class” .
Critical Appreciation
The political society of Chatterjee, a
quite creative construct, that draws a
conceptual map of emerging practices
33
BOOK REVIEW

of new political societies of the eastern
world, is a historicised projection of the
empirical present, not in the track of any
pre-established interpretative scheme
heading towards any predetermined
meaning. In Chatteijee’ s own words, it
is a different con ceptualisation o f the sub­
je c t o f political practice as con crete selves
n ecessarily acting w ithin multiple netw orks
o f collective obligation s and solidarities to
w orkout strategies o f cop in g with, resisting,
or u sing to their advantage the vast array
o f tech n ologies o f pow er deploy ed by the
m odern state.
The conceptual map of emerging
practices in a democracy is profound
and the contemporary empirical detail
rich, albeit the historicised projection
tends to be hasty and hence not
painstakingly rigorous.
Chatteijee’ s conceptualisation, like Jean-
Luc Nancy's, dissolves the Hegelian/
Marxian binaries like the self and other,
form and content, essence and appearance,
base and superstructure, and so on. It
is structuralist Marxism together with
leftist creative pragmatism that works as
a leavening influence in Chatterjee’ s thinks that even Marx, the most powerful
conceptualisation, as in the case of critique, failed to offer an effective chal­
Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Slavoj lenge to normative liberal political theory,
Zizek, Alain Badiou and others. One probably due to the latter’s subordination
experiences the Marxist creativity of of the political to the economic. Histori­
Laclau, Negri, Michel Hardt and Nancy ans who seriously base their herme­
in his essays. It empowers us to imagine neutics on historical materialism cannot
community politics setting aside sover­ agree with this argument, because this
eignty and domination as conceived by subordination is only in the last instance,
Jean-Luc Nancy who sees no distinction and hence regarding political principles
between ontology and ethics. Chatteijee’ s as the instrumental means for securing
is the Zizekian position of taking onto­ economic ends, is mechanical Marxism.
logical determination of capital as the They, holding the primary source first, go
real, which is like Nancy’ s equidistance by the economy - polity simultaneity
between Heidegger and Marx. under overdeterminism.
The historicised projection of the
Mapping Theory empirical present is seemingly an untai­
Chatterjee claims to be consistently ad­ lored appendage to what Chatterjee
hering to Marx’ s methodological premise views as a principal task of political the­
(not as a traditional Marxist), with a view ory today - a conceptual mapping of the
to positioning his political theory against contemporary democratic practices. Any
global capitalism. The bearing of his historian viewing process-analysis fun­
interpretations on the power of negati­ damental to her methodology cannot be
vity draws them closer to Marxian social happy about Chatterjee’ s hopping above
theory, notwithstanding the fact that his the course to rush with conceptual map­
hermeneutics as such is not Marxian. He ping. A Marxist historian would expect

INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC GROWTH

UNIVERSITY OF DELHI ENCLAVE
NORTH CAMPUS, DELHI-110007

The Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) plans to appoint a Professor in the Agricultural Economics
Research Unit of the Institute in the pay scale of Rs. 37,400-67,000, AGP: Rs. 10,000 with the usual
allowances admissible from time to time.

Essential Qualifications

The candidate should have a Ph.D. and an outstanding academic record, with excellence in publications
on different aspects of agricultural development, and at least 10 years research experience in Agricultural
Economics.

The Institute may consider suitable candidates who may not have applied. The Institute reserves the
right not to fill up the above position, if circumstances so warrant. Other things being equal, SC/
ST/OBC candidates will be preferred.

Interested persons may send their details in the prescribed form (downloadable from the IEG website:
www.iegindia.org), with names of three referees and copies of the five best publications. This material
should be sent to the Academic Programmes Officer, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University,
North Campus, Delhi-110007 (email: sushil@iegindia.org), within six weeks of the publication of this
advertisement. Employed candidates must route their applications through proper channels.

DIRECTOR

34 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 KSSQ Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:06 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

him to have grounded his political
philosophy on the social theory of the
simultaneity of material and ideational
processes at the micro level, but with the
causal primacy in the last instance clear.
It is my feeling as a historian that this
would have helped him speak about the
material process of philosophical differ­
entiation rather than the cultural pro­
cess of the phenomenon of difference.
Nevertheless, no historian can push the
demand that it is only a matter of
opinion beyond a point, for Chatterjee
has strong points of theoretical justifi­
cation for his choice of focus and ways
of doing political philosophy. A critical
left, he insists, to hold fast his right to
be critical.
People with the hangover of liberal
political theory tend to quarrel with
Iran’s Revolution
and the Global Politics of Resistance
VINAY LAL
I
n the euphoria over the “ Arab
Spring”, which has brought revolu­
tions to the doorsteps of autocratic
regimes that only last year seemed
unflappable in their resolve to keep the
aspirations of their peoples suppressed,
it becomes imperative to recall that the
first sustained signs of change in west
Asia in recent years appeared in Iran.
The Arab world seemed so firmly in the
grip of monarchs and dictators, many of
them bolstered by the United States (us),
which has been in the business of ex­
porting the rhetoric of electoral demo­
cracy to the world but has feared reform
and revolution at every turn, that no one
expected the people to take to the streets
in millions. And how people have
stormed the streets, facing police barri­
cades, braving tear gas and baton charg­
es - and not just in the Arab world! The
Arab spring turned into a long summer
of discontent, as signs of protest began
to appear in other parts of the world, in
Athens, Rome, Madrid, Tel Aviv, and
elsewhere. As these lines are being
Economic & Political weekly E33S3 m arch
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:08 U TC
Chatterjee over the differentiation be­
tween the civil and political societies as
well as organised and unorganised poli­
tics. The reason is that Chatterjee’ s char­
acterisation of the civil society, like his
“political society” , transcends the cur­
rent puzzle around the former (civil
society) and precludes its overlapping
with the latter (political society).
His view, that just because populism is
the most pervasive democratic politics,
all populist moves are not worthy of sup­
port, provokes the postcolonial radicals
who take every populist surge as ideal,
and therefore quarrel with him.
A lot more secrets about postcolonial
democracy come undone in this wonder­
ful narrative, steady and systematic,
exploring a new domain of the contem­
porary democratic relations and practices.
The People Reloaded: The Green Movement
and the Struggle for Iran's Future edited by Nader
Hashemi and Danny Postel (Brooklyn, N e w York: M elville
H ouse),2010; p p 4 3 9 , $18.95.
written, the Occupy Wall Street move­
ment has even brought dissenters and
rebels to the fore in the us, where poli­
tics for far too long has been reduced
to an exercise of choosing between
Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Yet, all
this was anticipated in Iran's dramatic
political upheaval in June 2009, the out­
come of which, perhaps contrary to
received opinion, is far from settled.
Road to Revolution
Though nearly everything in Iran is
marked by the watershed events of 1979
that led to the ouster of the Shah and the
assumption of power by the Ayatollahs, it
is possible that some years from now the
phrase, “ after the revolution” , will reso­
nate with an altogether different meaning.
The burden of the present collection of
essays, The People Reloaded, which brings
24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
BOOK REVIEW
Any attempt to summarise them is sure
to be superfluous. Every essay in the
volume is too exhaustive for us to make
an attempt to wrap-up things in any
form. Chatterjee’ s interpretations there
will have a remarkable methodological
influence on areas of knowledge such
as political philosophy, social theory,
postcolonial historiography and culture
studies. The mode of perception and
conceptual appreciation that his book
exemplifies will be indispensable for
anyone wishing to understand the nature
and history of democracy, its practices
and functions in the contemporary non­
western world.
Rajan Gurukkal (rgurukkal@ gm ailcom )
is w ith the M ahatma G andhi University,
Kottayam, Kerala.
together the reflections of some 50 schol­
ars, activists, and observers of contempo­
rary Iranian society, is to suggest that we
may be in the midst of another momen­
tous upheaval in Iran’ s 30 years after the
revolution which replaced the dictatorship
of the Shah with the rule of a theocratic
elite. Some of the contributors take a long­
term view of Iranians’ “bloody and painful
march towards democracy”(p 27), com­
mencing with the Constitutional Revolu­
tion of 1906 and the coup, engineered by
the Central Intelligence Agency (cia) and
British military intelligence, of 1953,
which led to the deposition of the nation­
alist hero Mohammed Mossadegh; others
hearken back to the Shah’ s despotism and
the political skill with which Ayatollah
Khomeini and his supporters orchestrated
his removal; and yet others set their
sights resolutely on the mammoth pro­
tests against the “ stolen election”of 2009.
But all the contributors are clearly ani­
mated by one central question, aptly
reflected in the book’ s subtitle, “
The Green
Movement and the Struggle for Iran’ s
Future” : how might political action in Iran
continue to be steered in directions that
would help to secure a future for the coun­
try’s citizens that allows for the fulfilment
of legitimate political aspirations, the free
pursuit of one’ s livelihood, economic
security, and some commonly agreed
upon conception of human dignity?
35
BOOK REVIEW

“Iran” writes Ervand Abrahamian
with precision and elegance, “ has a
healthy respect for crowds - and for
good reason”(p 60). It is the crowds that
started gathering in Tehran, Isfahan,
Shiraz and other provincial towns in
June 2009, most particularly, the mil­
lion or two or more people who con­
verged on Tehran’ s Azadi (Freedom)
Square on the 15th in a silent rally, as the
10th presidential election since the 1979
revolution came to an end, that are the
subject of this book. As the election re­
sults were announced, unambiguously
affirming the victory of the incumbent,
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran
appeared to be engulfed by huge waves
of disbelief. A host of pre-election polls
suggested that Ahmadinejad and his
closest competitor, the reformist Mir
Hossein Mousavi, were neck-to-neck;
yet, Ahmadinejad would be declared the
winner with 64% of the vote. Mousavi, it
was announced, had been unable even
to carry his hometown of Tabriz; mean­
while, another candidate, Mehdi Kar-
roubi, apparently had more people cam­
paigning than voting for him. Reports of
fraud came streaming in - an extra 14.5
million ballots had been printed, and
could not be accounted for; or, to take
another example, voting had not even
been completed in some districts when
Ahmadinejad was declared the victor on
state-owned television. The complaints
lodged with the Election Commission
would have a predictable outcome: on
investigation, the interior ministry dis­
missed allegations of rigging and fraud
as baseless, and went on to issue adviso­
ries urging people to accept the electoral
results and desist from protests.
Over a few days, notwithstanding
supreme leader Ayatollah Khom eini’ s protestors into abject submission with
admonitions that protestors, character­
ised by Ahmadinejad as “ specks of dirt”,
would face the wrath of the law, the
crowds surged in size. Tehran’ s own con­
servative mayor estimated that three
million people had gathered in Tehran
on 15 June to register their dissent - one
of the largest gatherings of people, be­
reft of arms and intent on non-violent
resistance, in recent history anywhere in
the world. If repression is generally the
only language in which the modern na­
tion state trades, then Iran’ s response
cannot be viewed as entirely surprising.
On 20 June the 27-year-old Neda Aghan-
Soltan, a philosophy student and bud­
ding musician with no previous history
of involvement in politics, was shot dead
by a member of the Basij (government)
militia as she approached the site of the
protest. Three amateur videos of her
death went viral: within days, millions
around the world had viewed them and
Neda had become, at least in the west,
the supreme icon of resistance to theo­
cratic despotism. As criticism of the gov­
ernment mounted, the full machinery of
state repression was brought crashing
down upon the dissenters. Before the
end of the month, the protestors had
largely dispersed. The state might have
imagined that it had broken the back­
bone of the movement, and dulled the
beatings, police firings, and targeted as­
sassinations of dissenters; yet, less than
two years later, Iran would again be
rocked by a series of demonstrations
over the course of a month in February
and March 2011.
Sizeable Female Presence
What, then, is the Green Movement, and
what are some of the strands of Iran’ s
complex history and culture that have
been interwoven into the nation’ s con­
temporary politics? There remain differ­
ences of opinion among the volum e’ s
contributors on the question of the
m ovem ent’ s demography: while the
American sociologist Charles Kurzman
argues that the less educated in Iran
have repeatedly shown themselves to
be more supportive of Ahmadinejad
(p 17), the Iranian blogger and writer
Nasrin Alavi is among those who soundly
reject the argument that the movement
drew its support largely from educated

SAMEEKSHA TRUST BOOKS

China after 1978: Craters on the Moon

The breathtakingly rapid economic growth in China since 1978 has attracted world-wide attention. But the condition of more than 350 million workers is abysmal,
especially that of the migrants among them. Why do the migrants put up with so much hardship in the urban factories? Has post-reform China forsaken the
earlier goal of "socialist equality"? What has been the contribution of rural industries to regional development, alleviation of poverty and spatial inequality, and
in relieving the grim employment situation? How has the meltdown in the global economy in the second half of 2008 afFected the domestic economy? What
of the current leadership's call for a "harmonious society"? Does it signal an important "course correction"?

A collection of essays from the Economic & Political Weekly seeks to find tentative answers to these questions, and more.

Pp viii + 318 ISBN 978-81-250-3953-2 2010 Rs 350

Available from

Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd

www.orientblackswan.com
Mumbai Chennai New Delhi Kolkata Bangalore Bhubaneshwar Ernakulam Guwahati
Jaipur Lucknow Patna Chandigarh Hyderabad
Contact: info@orientblackswan.com

36 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 H 3Q Economic & Political WEEKLY

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:08 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

urban elites. The student leaders, Alavi
avers, “ are not the children o f affluent
citizens of north Tehran, but instead
come from provincial working-class
families or are the children of rural
schoolteachers and clerks” ; indeed,
she goes so far as to say that “ these fu­
ture leaders of Iran hail from the very
heartland of Ahmadinejad’ s purported
support base”(p 211).
What is indisputably true is that those
under 30 have predominated among the
dissenters, and that it is among the
ranks of the young that unemployment
rates are the highest - but in these re­
spects the protests in Iran would not ap­
pear to be at all atypical. What is far
more noteworthy, particularly in view of
images about the Muslim world that
freely circulate in the west and one sus­
pects in some measure in other parts of
the non-Muslim world, is, as a number of
contributors point out, “ the sizeable
female presence m the Iranian Green
Movement”(p 37); indeed, if the eminent
scholar of contemporary Iranian society,
Hamid Dabashi is to be believed, “ the
most well-known aspect of these anti-
Ahmadinejad demonstrations is that
women visibly outnumber men”(p 23).
Contrary to the overwhelming im­
pression about the docility of Muslim
women that has been formed in much of
the world, Iranian women have played a
not inconsiderable role in the political
life of the nation. The “
Million Signatures
Campaign”(2006), which has resulted
in the arrest of some of Iran’ s most
respected feminists and human rights
campaigners, sought to put men on no­
tice that Iranian women sought com­
plete equality under the law; and the
“ Stop Stoning Forever”campaign has
sought alterations to Iran’s Islamic Penal
Code, the greatest burden of which has,
not surprisingly, fallen upon women.
If the 1979 revolution imposed con­
straints on women, it also emboldened
those who came from traditional fami­
lies and who were reluctant to enter
higher education in the days of the Shah
to step into the public sphere once the
revolution mandated segregation by
sexes. This may partly explain why, even
if a little more than 12% of Iran’ s labour
force is comprised of women (p 38),
Economic & Political weekly 13353 m a r c h 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:08 U TC
women are nearly two-thirds of all
entering university students.
Green and Gandhian
The prominence of women at demonstra­
tions in Iran may offer as well some cues
on the remarkably non-violent nature of
the protests. The dissident cleric Mohsen
Kavidar, asked to explain the most salient
aspects of the Green Movement, noted
that it is “peaceful and against violence”
(p 113), and the Toronto-based Iranian
philosopher, RaminJehanbegloo, is certain
that Iran in 2009 experienced a “ Gandhian
moment”(p 19). Mousavi’ s advisoi; Moh­
sen Makhmalbaf, writing in the Guardian
(London) in the thick of the struggle, may
have put the matter more accurately when
he said of his leader: “ Previously, he was
revolutionary, because everyone inside the
system was a revolutionary. But now he’ sa
reformer. Now he knows Gandhi - before
he knew only Che Guevara. If we gain
power through aggression we would have
to keep it through aggression. That is why
we’ re having a green revolution, defined
by peace and democracy”(“ I Speak for
Mousavi. And Iran” , 19 June 2009).
The colour green has long been asso­
ciated with Islam, and Kavidar suggests
that in flaunting green ribbons and ban­
ners, the demonstrators may even have
sought to convey the idea that they were
not prepared to relinquish their Islam to
the Ayatollahs and other official purvey­
ors of the religion. To be “ Green”and
“Gandhian” , however, means much more
than abstention from violence and ad­
herence to non-violent strategies of re­
sistance to oppression. It may be too
much to expect that non-violence should
become for everyone, as it did for Gan­
dhi, the very law of our existence, an un­
impeachable and incontrovertible guide
to everyday conduct; nor would it rea­
sonable to suppose that everyone should
accede to Gandhi’ s firmly held belief
that to hold to the law of non-violence
entails the transformation of one’ s whole
life such that one might live it with the
full awareness of ecological plurality
and attentiveness to every little detail.
Nevertheless, one has the feeling that
the characterisation of the “ Green Move­
ment”as Gandhian has received insuffi­
cient critical analysis, just as on occasion
v o l x l v i i NO 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
BOOK REVIEW
some of the contributors seem to want to
embrace, rather too easily, slick terms
such as “ cultural Jiu-Jitsu”or “ Green
Tsunami”or facile comparisons with the
American Civil Rights Movement to
highlight the significance of Iran’
s own
great movement of dissent.
Shortcomings in Volume
A more intensely political reading of what
has transpired in Iran over the last few
years may perhaps suggest other short­
comings in the volume to some readers.
Iran has been looking down the barrel of
a gun for decades: though the profound­
ly democratic aspirations of the volum e’ s
contributors need not be doubted, few of
them choose to consider how the relent­
less assault on Iran’ s sovereignty, spear­
headed since the revolution of 1979 by
the us, has played its part in shaping the
world view of the so-called “ hardliners” .
Similarly, many of the contributors
underestimate the intense resentment
that persists against Britain in many
sectors of Iran’s society, and in general,
the history of anti-colonial sentiment
and resistance receives little attention in
this volume. These deficiencies may, in
the last analysis, be overlooked, since
the contributions essayed in this volume
offer nuanced and perceptive insights
into the remarkable display of people’ s
power in Iran. Those who have lavished
their attention on the Arab Spring, or,
more lately, on the Occupy Wall Street
movement as it unravels across the us,
Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere,
would do well to turn their gaze back on
Azadi Square in Tehran, June 2009. The
democracies in the global north have
long thought that it is their prerogative
to lead the way; but, if there is at all a
grave inference to be drawn from the
movement in Iran documented and dis­
sected in The People Reloaded, it may be
that the vanguard of resistance to op­
pression will be found in all those places
where it has been least expected. For
this reason, if for none other, Iran’ s
Green Movement augurs a new phase in
the global politics of resistance.
Vinay Lai Cvlal@history.ucla.edu ) is at the
University o f California, Los Angeles,
the United States.
37
 Environment, Technology and Developm ent:
Critical and Subversive Essays
Essays from the Econom ic and Political Weekly
Edited By
MOHANO'SOUZA
R ohan D 'S ouza
j Environment, Technology

at SubvwtwEw*v» j Many political battles, policy initiatives, academic debates and our understanding of the world in general
have been shaped by the ideas that have developed around the concepts of environment, technology
and development.

How do these concepts influence each other? How have they subverted established ideas and dogmas?
How have they developed over time and what are its varied meaning? This volume brings together
writings across disciplines, perspectives and ideologies that answer these questions, map the main
conceptual lines and identify the points where they converge and diverge.

The articles have appeared over the past four decades in the Economic and Political Weekly.
Pp x + 394 Rs 495 The introduction provides a brief chronological overview of the theoretical underpinnings that led to the
ISBN 978-81-250-4506-9 emergence of the current notion of environmental development.The chapters are selected and arranged
2012
in a non-linear manner that allows the reader to get a sense of the wide-ranging debates.

The essays see the progress of technology in its political context and in relation to the social and environmental consequences it
engenders. They show how technology is meshed with politics as is environment with development, and how agriculture is woven
with ecology.The transfer of resources from the marginalised to the empowered groups and the crucial issue of spatial politics where
space is constituted, assembled and forged by the economically powerful are also discussed. This volume will provoke, educate,
stimulate and inform the lay reader and specialist alike.

Authors include
T R Thankappan Achari • Manshi Asher • P A Azeez • Jayanta Bandyopadhyay • Charul Bharwada • Philippe Cullet • Mahasveta Devi
• Sumita Gupta Gangopadhyay • Hiren Gohain • Rahul Gupta • Barbara Harriss-White • L C Jain • Annu Jalais • Ashwin Kumar • John
Kurien • Vinay Mahajan • Arjun M akhijani • Dinesh Mohan • D ipti M ukherji • Chandrika Parmar • K Krishna Prasad
• P P Nikhil Raj • M V Ramana • C H Hanumantha Rao • Amulya Kumar N Reddy • Sunali Rohra • Vandana Shiva • Nigel Singh
• Sudha Srivastava • Geetam Tiwari • G Vijay • Gregor Meerganz von Medeazza • Shiv Visvanathan • Arundhuti Roy Choudhury.

Readings on the Economy, Polity and Society

This series is being published as part of a University Grants Commission project to promote teaching and
research in the social sciences in India.The project (2010-12) is being jointly executed by the Tata Institute
of Social Sciences, Mumbai, and the Economic and Political W e e k ly .Ih e series is meant to int
students and research scholars to important research that has been published in EPW in specific areas.

Also published
Economic Reforms and Growth in India ed. P B a lakrish n an
T his v o lu m e in v e s tig a te s th e n a tu re o f e c o n o m ic g r o w th in In d ia , its pace o v e r tim e ,
its re la tio n s h ip to ch a n g e s in th e p o lic y re g im e a n d th e ro le o f th e e x te rn a l secto r. T he
c o lle c tio n c o m p rise s pa p e rs p u b lis h e d in th e E conom ic a n d P o litic a l W eekly b e tw e e n th e
la te 1990s an d 2008.
It is an im p o r ta n t a d d itio n to th e lite ra tu re o n p o s t-lib e ra lis a tio n e c o n o m ic g r o w th in
Pp xiv + 454 Rs 445
Ind ia. It w ill be u se fu l to s tu d e n ts a n d scho la rs o f e c o n o m ic s an d m a n a g e m e n t.
ISBN 978-81-250-4271-6
Forthcoming titles 2011
Village Society, ed. S u rin d e r S Jodhka • Decentralisation and Local Government, ed. T R a g h u n a n d a n
Adivasis and Rights to Forests, ed. In d ra M u n sh i • Gender and Employment, ed. P a d m in i S w a m in a th a n and more

Orient Blackswan Pvt Ltd

www.orientblackswan.com
Mumbai • Chennai • New Delhi • Koikata • Bangalore • Bhubaneshwar • Ernakulam • Guwahati • Jaipur • Lucknow • Patna • Chandigarh • Hyderabad
C o ntact: in fo @ o rie n tb la c k s w a n .c o m

38 MARCH 24, 2012 VOL XLVII NO 12 E con om ic & P olitical weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:00:01 U TC

All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 PERSPECTIVES
Tertiary Healthcare within
a Universal System
Some Reflections
A N A N D Z A C H A R I A H ____________________________
Tertiary care plays an important ertiary care is a key aspect in pro­
role in determining the structure
of the healthcare system and
universal access to it. Breaking
T viding universal access to health­
care in the 21st century. Though it
may be required only in 1% of cases in a
functioning health system, it plays an
away from western-oriented important role in determining the struc­
tertiary care medical knowledge, ture of the healthcare system as a whole.
Tertiary care supports primary and sec­
a number of issues have to be
ondary care, and it is therefore neces­
rethought to define tertiary care sary for effective care at the level of pri­
in the Indian setting that can be mary health centres (phcs) and commu­
provided by the existing system. nity health centres (chcs). The high cost
in most health systems is due to the ex­
Providing tertiary care with
penses involved in tertiary care. Tertiary
district health services will care is the setting within which medical
mutually reinforce both and education and research take place. While
provide healthcare that is primary and secondary care in the public
health system in India is inadequate,
affordable and appropriate to
public-funded tertiary care is even more
local conditions.I insufficient. For all these reasons, it is
important to consider the issue of terti­
ary care when discussing the concept of
universal access to healthcare.
Tertiary care developed in western
healthcare systems after 1940 with large
hospitals, technology-oriented investiga­
tions and expensive treatment. In the
uk, it was the government’ s intent to
I am grateful to R Srivatsan for his com m ents. provide universal access to healthcare
The con ceptual backgroun d on the n eed for and the budgetary support for this
reorientation o f tertiary care and m edical
through the Beveridge plan that made it
education origin ates from Towards a Critical
Medical Practice, Reflections on the Dilemmas of
possible. In western health systems, ter­
Medical Culture, edited by A nand Zachariah, tiary care developed for diseases com­
R Srivatsan and Susie Tharu, mon to those regions, using tests and
O rient BlackSwan, 2010. treatments that were affordable to them.
A presentation b ased on this paper w as m ade
Even so, this has resulted in escalating
at the M edico Friend C ircle 39th A nnual M eet
on “
E xploring R oadm ap for Health Care for
health expenditures in developed coun­
All/Universal A ccess to H ealthcare in India” tries, consuming up to 8% to 10% of
on 6-8 January 2012 at Wardha. their health budgets, making it almost
Anand Zachariah (Zachariah@cmcvellore.ac.in) unaffordable to many. Recent develop­
is professor o f m edicin e at Christian M edical ments in the u k and the us show that
College, Vellore. He w as a m em ber o f the there is a crunch in funding, implying
Planning C om m ission ’
s W orking Group on that the mode of provisioning health­
Tertiary Care Institutions.
care has resulted in expenditures that
E con om ic & P olitical weekly fSSQ m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
are difficult to sustain in times of eco­
nomic distress.
In India, the situation is the reverse.
Planning has focused on providing pri­
mary healthcare, immunisation, maternal
and child healthcare and family planning
at the expense of hospital-based care.
The provision of government-funded,
hospital-based care at the taluk, district
and medical college levels in the country
has developed in a skeletal manner.
With the liberalisation of the economy
after the 1980s, there has been a prolif­
eration of private tertiary care institu­
tions, first in big cities and then in smaller
towns. So private tertiary care has not
only developed with the active support
of the government (provision of land, tax
concessions, and so on) but also because
of the lack of government investment in
hospital-based care. Private hospitals
have transplanted the western mode of
tertiary care to India, focusing on dis­
eases, investigations and treatments that
enhance profitability. This is one of the
reasons for the catastrophic costs and
debts that result when patients access
hospital-based care in the private sector.
Any move to address the problem of
universal access to healthcare has to con­
front the issue of providing tertiary care
to all citizens. Is there another mode of
imagining tertiary care for India? How
will it pull away from the current system
of market-oriented tertiary care? What
would be its characteristics? How would
it be provisioned within the existing
health system? In this article, I attempt
to answer the following questions:
•How does one define tertiary care in
the Indian setting?
•How can tertiary care be provided by
the existing health system in India?
•What are the implications of universal
access to healthcare for medical education?
•What are the limitations of health plan­
ning processes in relation to tertiary care?
Defining Tertiary Care
An important point to understand is that
tertiary care medical knowledge under­
girds the edifice of the western medical
system. Today, all medical knowledge,
evidence-based guidelines and primary
39
PERSPECTIVES
and tertiary care management protocols
are based on this format of tertiary care
knowledge. This knowledge format has
spread to all countries, including India,
and examples of this are the scans, testing
facilities, angiograms and endoscopies now
used. This presents a difficulty for redefin­
ing tertiary care in the Indian setting.
To define tertiary care in India, we
need to define the common public health
conditions in the country that require
outpatient care and hospital care, inclu­
ding emergency conditions. Emergency
conditions (for example, head traumas,
strokes, heart attacks, organophosphate
poisoning and neonatal emergencies) and
chronic conditions (for example, cancer
treatment, palliative care and stroke reha­
bilitation) require provisioning of tertiary
care at the district level or within the
extent of a district. These services, parti­
cularly for emergency conditions, should
be available to the public as close to their
place of residence as possible.
Therefore, one, the definition of terti­
ary care should focus on public health
conditions requiring this; and, two, on
tests and treatments that are cost effec­
tive and can be provided to everyone at
different levels of the health system
(p h c s , c h c s and medical colleges). Such
a redefinition requires data on the epide­
miological prevalence of different dis­
eases at the community level in different
districts, states and regions, and current
and future projections. It also needs
cost-effectiveness data on different
tests, treatments and technology inter­
ventions. Such data is not currently
available. It is important that the gov­
ernment institute a technical group to
define the parameters for tertiary care
in India. The example of the National
Institute for Health and Clinical Excel­
lence (n i c e ) 1 in the u k is one such
approach to the problem.
In this article, I attempt to outline the
scope of tertiary care in the Indian setting.
Tertiary care services that should be pro­
vided at the medical college level in a
district is given in Appendix i (pp 44-45).
This is based on the common diseases
that occur in districts and the require­
ments of tertiary care in them. The differ­
ence between these suggestions in the
appendix and the current Medical Council
40
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC
of India ( m c i ) guidelines for medical col­
leges is that the latter are planned on the
basis of educational requirements. The
tertiary services shown in Appendix I
should be available in medical colleges
but are now available only in private hos­
pitals. These services should no longer be
available only in specialist centres or su­
perspeciality hospitals, but be accessible
at the point of need in district medical col­
leges. So it is suggested that medical col­
leges be located at the district level and
they be planned on the basis of the terti­
ary care requirements of each district.
In defining tertiary care, we need to
consider not only prevalence and cost-
effectiveness, but also appropriateness.
Some treatments may be appropriate in
a western setting, but may be inappro­
priate for Indian patients. For example,
coronary artery disease, a common public
health condition, requires angioplasty,
stent placement and coronary artery
bypass graft (c a b g ) surgery according
to standard treatment guidelines. How­
ever, these interventions may be inap­
propriate in the Indian setting because of
cost and the lack of centres and trained
cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons
to perform these procedures. Since most
of these treatments evolved in western
settings, the research base to evolve evi­
dence and management guidelines for
the Indian setting does not exist. There­
fore we need research into the manage­
ment of conditions common to our set­
ting. We need innovations that address
the issues of cost and appropriateness.
Examples such as the Jaipur foot, the
Aravind eye care system, the Sri Chitra
valve, acute respiratory infection (a r i )
protocols for children and oral rehydra­
tion solutions/salts (o r s ) for dehydra­
tion are treatments that turn conven­
tional tertiary care wisdom on its head.
They provide new management para­
digms appropriate for our own setting.
To define such a knowledge base, we
need to reset research agendas and in­
volve medical colleges, private practi­
tioners and p h c doctors in research in
the community. There is the need to
reconceptualise “ evidence”and “ quality”
in more real settings, taking into account
not only short-term but also long-term
effects in various aspects.
m arch 24. 2012
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
However, such a reorientation could
face hurdles. For instance, with legisla­
tion on blood banks to ensure quality,
many o f them in rural hospitals have
closed down because they cannot meet
the standards regarding space or afford
air-conditioned rooms and personnel.
This has led to a lack o f access to
blood transfusion in rural areas for life-
threatening conditions. Similarly, stand­
ards for ultrasound machines require
radiologists to operate them, making it
difficult to carry out ultrasound scans in
rural areas. The cheap mosquito mesh
is a very effective implant material for
hernia repair compared to commercial
mesh. But surgical departments in
medical colleges are reluctant to imple­
ment such a non-western solution. Re­
definition may also face pressures from
professional bodies, regulatory agen­
cies, corporate hospitals and pharma­
ceutical companies.
Providing Tertiary Care
Ideally, tertiary care should be well inte­
grated within a functioning health sys­
tem. Most conditions would be taken
care of at the primary and secondary
levels. Patients would be referred to
tertiary care when required and referred
back to the primary and secondary
levels after completing their tertiary
ca r e trea tm en t.
However, in India, tertiary care is not
well integrated with the functioning
health system. The health system func­
tions up to the district hospital level
(p h c s , c h c s , taluk hospitals and district
hospitals). Set apart from this chain,
medical colleges function as standalone
entities under the department of medi­
cal education. Public-funded tertiary
care varies in availability, depending on
whether a medical college exists in a
region. While government medical col­
leges are supposed to provide tertiary
care, they may often not have the infra­
structure, resources and staff to do so.
This means that they effectively func­
tion at the secondary level. The follow­
ing is necessary to ensure that tertiary
care can be provided by the existing
health system.
•Medical colleges should be responsible
for healthcare provisioning in a given
v o l x l v ii NO 12 QSSx Economic & Political WEEKLY

geographical area (one district or a set of
districts), providing tertiary care services
in liaison with district health services.
•District hospitals must be strength­
ened to provide effective secondary-
level care.
•Medical colleges must be strengthened
to provide tertiary care for each district.
It is suggested that there be one medi­
cal college for every district or for every
two to four districts, depending on pop­
ulation, geographic area and the exist­
ing availability of hospital-based servic­
es. The medical college should support
secondary and primary level services
through referrals and training. The dis­
trict health system will, in turn, offer the
medical college an opportunity to ex­
pand its training base. Undergraduate
and postgraduate students could be
trained not only in the medical college,
but also at the district hospital, taluk
hospital and p h c . This arrangement
would solve the problem of economic vi­
ability of tertiary care at the district
town level. Normally the problem of pro­
viding such medical care in rural areas
is that patient catchment is low. If the
district tertiary care centre is also a
training establishment, the patient base
need not be economically rewarding in
itself. This change would require that
medical colleges be conceived as part of
the referral system of government health
services. The functioning of this referral
system would require referral guidelines,
training, referral linkages, the transfer of
patient information and mechanisms for
ensuring quality and accountability.
When medical colleges are responsi­
ble for a functioning health system, the
priorities for medical education will
need to change. Specialists now domi­
nate the m c i board and postgraduate
boards, which means there is undue
emphasis on specialist courses. Integra­
tion of medical colleges with the health
system will require a reorientation of
medical training. It will have to change
from a medical education system based
on western requirements to one that will
meet the human resource requirements
of the health system. This may require
an expansion of paramedical training
(village health nurses, nurse practition­
ers, physician assistants, paramedics.
Economic & Political w e e k ly 039 m a r c h 24 , 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
and so on) and the setting up of family
medicine departments in every medical
college to train multi-competent general
practitioners (g p s ).
District Hospitals for
Secondary Care
If good tertiary care is to be provided at
the district level, district hospitals have
to be strengthened to provide high-end
secondary care while they are seamlessly
linked to the medical college in the area.
Many specialist conditions can be effec­
tively managed at the district level,
reducing the need for referrals. This
requires a good referral linkage with the
medical college, which can support the
district hospital in a referral continuum.
Medical colleges could support district-
level care through telephones and tele­
medicine, consultant visits and special­
ist clinics. They could also be involved in
training district hospital staff in specialist
care. Ambulance services and electronic
transfer of patient information can bol­
ster the referral linkage.
Tamil Nadu’ s health system project
has shown that obstetrics and neonatal
care can be upgraded through a health
systems approach, with improvements
in infrastructure, staffing, training, guide­
lines and health system management.
In many parts of the country, maternal
and neonatal services have improved
through similar approaches. With simi­
lar attention, improvements could occur
in medical, surgical and emergency
care, chronic disease care, cancer detec­
tion and prevention, rehabilitation,
mental healthcare and palliative care.
Appendix n (p 45) has details on how
the secondary level at the district level
can be strengthened in specific areas.
What are the difficulties of doing this
in district hospitals? To begin with, it is
difficult to get doctors to stay in the dis­
tricts. Medical students usually come
from cities and more elite backgrounds.
There is a social expectation that a med­
ical graduate will specialise, go abroad
for further studies and do well financially.
Working in districts does not fulfil these
expectations. Doctors working in dis­
tricts find it difficult to look after the
schooling needs of their children and
feel socially and academically isolated.
v o l x l v i i n o 12
PERSPECTIVES
Therefore, strengthening the district
health system also requires selecting
students from the local area, orienting
training to the needs of the district, sup­
porting doctors working in the area on a
long-term basis and providing them with
suitable incentives.
Medical Colleges for
Tertiary Care
In planning and regulatory terms, medi­
cal colleges are defined as educational
institutions, not as service institutions.
Hence the standards that define them
and their planning requirements are
based on the needs of education (infra­
structure, staffing and patient care
facilities). If medical colleges are to pro­
vide tertiary care services for a district,
it is necessary to define their standards
of care and services based on the
requirements of each district.
There are several specialist services
that medical colleges at the district level
will have to provide but they may not
be required for undergraduate medical
education. For example, general medicine
services should be upgraded in the areas
of cardiology (echocardiogram, cardiac
catheterisation and pacing), nephrology
(haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis),
gastroenterology (upper and lower gas­
trointestinal endoscopy) and critical
care (ventilators and monitoring equip­
ment). General surgery services should
be upgraded in urology, neurosurgery
and oncological surgery. This may
require specific skills training for general
specialty faculty (endoscopy or echocar­
diography) and the employment of
superspecialists in specific areas (for ex­
ample, neurosurgery, cardiology or urol­
ogy). Radiotherapy, palliative care and
rehabilitation departments should be
established in each medical college. In
some cases, a specialist service (for ex­
ample, cardiology, neurosurgery or uro­
logy) could provide for the needs of two
or three districts. Infrastructure deve­
lopment and technology upgradation for
the provision of tertiary care services in
each medical college is necessary to fa­
cilitate the development of specialist
services. Appendix 1 provides details of
the nature and requirements of such
services in a medical college.
41
PERSPECTIVES
In each of these areas, the medical
college would provide tertiary care serv­
ices for the district. The medical college
would also support the services at the
district and sub-district levels through
telephone and telemedicine consultation
and training for district-level staff, there­
by strengthening the referral linkage.
Hence the planning requirements of the
medical college should keep in mind the
health service requirements of the dis­
trict. For providing universal access to
healthcare, the government may have to
contract such services from private sector
hospitals if there is no medical college or
if the medical college does not have the
facilities to provide the services.
How would these services be different
from tertiary care services that are cur­
rently provided in private hospitals? The
structure of many of these services in
private hospitals today is driven by the
profit motive, which results in high
costs. However, many of these services -
for example, echocardiogram, dialysis
or endoscopy - are today no longer so
esoteric as to be not found in apex refer­
ral centres. Work in the non-governmen­
tal sector shows that when a sufficient
number of these services are efficiently
provided, economies of scale reduce
cost. These examples show that it is
possible to provide tertiary care in a cost
effective and accessible manner. We
hold that it is possible to reinvent terti­
ary care so that it can be provided in dis­
trict medical colleges, using resources
judiciously and efficiently.
set of districts and have formal linkages
to the district hospital, taluk hospitals or
community hospitals to support clinical
service and training.
(b) Postgraduate and undergraduate
students will receive training not only in
the medical college, but also at the district
and taluk hospitals and p h c s with the
involvement of medical teachers in train­
ing and service at these different levels.
(c) Each medical college should have a
family medicine department with clini­
cal services at the medical college and
district hospital, and run postgraduate
courses in family medicine.
(d) Preference should be given to stu­
dents from the local area, who are moti­
vated to work on a long term to meet
local needs.
(e) Graduates should be required to pro­
vide compulsory service at the district or
taluk hospital, thereby supporting the
local health service system.
(f) Each medical college should focus its
research agenda on identifying and
answering priority health issues and
questions and strengthening services in
the district.
On the surface, these recommenda­
tions read very much like the Bhore
Committee report and for that very rea­
son seem utopian. However, unlike the
Bhore report, the proposals here are
about upgrading and reorienting what
CENTRE FOR IC&SR, IIT MADRAS, CHENNAI 600036
Invites applications for the post of:
already exists. What would be the pro­
blems in trying to implement these
administrative proposals?
There are many practical difficulties.
The government administration consists
of a state health service (in charge of
district hospitals, c h c s and taluk hospi­
tals), the department of medical educa­
tion (in charge of medical colleges) and
the department of public health (in
charge of p h c s ), each with its own
centralised administration. The proposals
envisage better linkages between these
different departments, but bureaucratic
difficulties between departments may
make them difficult to implement.
The imperatives and difficulties at
each level are different. The focus of
medical colleges is not on improving
health services in the district but on
training medical students and taking
care of the patients who come to them.
Government medical colleges are over­
loaded and underprovided (lack of
equipment, drugs, staff and teachers)
and hence work under trying conditions.
State governments are unwilling to invest
in the infrastructure required for good
medical colleges. So medical colleges
would hardly be keen to take on the re­
sponsibility of improving health services
in the districts. Teachers are transferred
from one college to another and often
posted in departments different from

Implications o f Universal Access A. Project Associates [PAS] to assist research in:

for Medical Education
1. History of Medical Institutions, Technologies, Diagnosis and Cures
The concept of universal access to health­ in Colonial South India
care has many implications for medical
education. It primarily raises the issue of 2. Bio-medical ethics in the Indian context
the social accountability of medical educa­
tion. If healthcare is a social good that Post Graduates or professional UG degree-holders in related disciplines
may apply.
should be provided to every citizen and
medical colleges are involved in the task of The position offers a monthly emolument of Rs. 18,000 to 20,000/-
making sure that this happens, questions
need to be asked about the social account­ The PA may also be able to join the Ph.D programme of the department
ability of medical education. How can
B. Post-Doctoral Fellows to conduct research in areas related to the above.
medical colleges incorporate the principle
of social accountability to ensure that uni­ The position offers a monthly emolument of Rs. 40,000 for one year.
versal access to healthcare takes place?
(a) Each medical college should be respon­ For further details visit: http://www.hss.iitm.ac.in/wipmitepsi
sible for the healthcare of a district or a
42 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 I33H Economic & Political WEEKLY

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

their original specialty. Specialists are
posted in towns where they cannot prac­
tise their specialty. Professors in state
medical colleges are underpaid in com­
parison to the central University Grants
Commission (u g c ) pay scales. Therefore
medical college teachers are for the most
part interested in facilitating their private
practice. Patients are often taken care of
by postgraduates and medical officers
and the commitment to good patient
care is variable.
District hospitals and c h c s are even
weaker in infrastructure, staffing and
supplies. The issue of private practice ap­
plies to these levels as well. So even if we
were to establish medical colleges in every
district, would health services improve?
District hospitals are now being convert­
ed into medical colleges, depriving dis­
tricts of functioning district hospitals,
which are often moved to more remote
areas. Teachers commute from big cities
every day to mark their attendance in
rural medical colleges. Would private
hospitals be keen to provide tertiary care
services to people from the districts?
They would be interested in doing this if
they can earn profits rather than because
they want to improve healthcare, as has
happened with the Aarogyasri scheme.
As the examples of Andhra Pradesh (Aaro­
gyasri), Tamil Nadu (Kalaignar scheme)
or Gujarat (Chiranjeevi scheme) have
shown, public-private partnerships im­
prove access to private services, but
without necessarily strengthening public
health services.
Planning Processes
There are several limitadons in the plan­
ning process and its ability to tackle
actual issues on the ground. These include
the following:
Delink betw een Planning and Imple­
mentation: The Planning Commission
makes plans and advises the govern­
ment on allocation of funds to ensure
implementation. However, the Planning
Commission has no control over the im­
plementation of different schemes. For
example, the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya
Suraksha Yojana (p m s s y ) was started
in 2006 to address imbalances in the
availability of tertiary care. Under this
Economic & Political w e e k ly K33H m a r c h 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
PERSPECTIVES
scheme, funds were allotted to set up six training activities enable the develop­
institutions on the model of the All-In­ ment of health manpower for a region?
dia Institute of Medical Sciences (a i i m s ). How will they answer pertinent research
However, at the end of the Eleventh questions for a region?
Five-Year Plan (2007-2012), all these
institutions are yet to be functional, Public-Private Partnerships: A govern­
chiefly because of delays in implementa­ ment problem is that it does not have the
tion. The evaluation of implementation budgetary resources for public-funded
is in terms of budgets spent and output healthcare. Therefore public-private part­
(for example, x number of medical col­ nerships (p p p ) are seen as a way of infus­
leges upgraded). But there is little data ing funds into the system and meeting
on the outcomes in relation to quality of budgetary deficits. Supporting the pri­
services or quality of medical education vate health sector is also seen as an im­
in these institutions. portant way of ensuring that the eco­
nomic growth rate remains high, p p p is
Centre vs State: Medical colleges and conceptualised as a management pro­
the health infrastructure in districts are blem. If there is mutual equality bet­
under the state government. Therefore ween partners, mutual commitments
improvements in infrastructure, staffing and mutual benefits, the profit orienta­
and linkages can only be brought about tion of private players can be addressed.
by the state government. The central If the conditior s are good and the part­
government can allocate funds to the nership is well managed, the p p p will
state governments to upgrade services, work. But here the problem of the profit
staffing and infrastructure but it has no orientation of the private sector, the
control over implementation or the qual­ need of social commitment to provide
ity of services and medical education universal access to healthcare and the
provided in state medical colleges. importance of regulating private players
is glossed over. The government plays a
Accountability: There are different lev­ benevolent and passive role towards the
els of lack of accountability in the plan­ private sector. For example, in the Aaro­
ning process. First, planning groups may gyasri programme, private corporate
have experts, but end users are not hospitals, in collaboration with insur­
represented in them. Second, public ance agencies, determine which high
accountability does not enter the process technology procedure is offered to a pa­
in which the Planning Commission tient. In this relationship, the equality is
makes plans and the government imple­ between the medical provider and the
ments these plans. How does the public insurance agency supported by the gov­
give its views on a new a i i m s , a new ernment, and the patient has little say in
medical college or a new district hospi­ what treatment he or she should receive.
tal? What would be the processes to
ensure accountability to the local people? Research Issues: The problem of re­
search is seen as one of setting up
Focus on AIIMS-like Institutes: Cen­ national-level research institutes in pri­
tral planning has little control over state ority areas such as cardiovascular dis­
healthcare institutions. Therefore the eases or diabetes. What questions will
focus of central planning is on centrally- these research institutes answer? How
funded institutions, or AiiMS-like insti-, will the availability of these research in­
tutions. The premise is that the presence stitutes make a difference to the man­
of AiiMS-like institutions will improve agement of these health problems in the
the availability of tertiary care services country? What about the research that
in disadvantaged regions where they are needs to be done in every medical col­
located. Questions that are not an­ lege to answer local questions? A useful
swered include the following. What ex­ research programme for the Planning
actly is the role of AiiMS-like institu­ Commission would be setting up experi­
tions? How will they improve healthcare mental models across the country (for
provision in a region? How will their example, on the linkage of medical
v o l x l v i i n o 12 43
PERSPECTIVES
colleges to district healthcare systems)
to see what works and what does not.
Lack o f Sufficient Data and Difficulty
o f Planning: There is a lack of adequate
information to facilitate the planning
process of gargantuan proportions that
the country needs. For instance, what
are the common public health diseases
in different parts of the country? What is
the current availability of tertiary care
services in different medical colleges
and in different specialties? The Planning
Commission envisages only one solution
for the whole country though the require­
ments of each state are different.
Conclusions
It has been argued in this paper that the
problem with providing tertiary care is a
systemic one related to the western-ori­
ented structure of medical knowledge,
the market-driven mode of private terti­
ary care that has evolved in India and
the lack of development of public cura­
tive services. Despite the structural na­
ture of the problem, it is possible to re-
envisage and redistribute it so that small
but concerted changes will result in im­
provements in healthcare provision.
Our suggestion is that we redefine
what tertiary care is in relation to
common diseases and identify the cost-
effective and feasible treatments that
can be provided to all citizens of the
country. In other words, work out what
an appropriate tertiary care strategy for
India would be. The problem of cost
does not necessarily have to do with the
actual cost of technology or a drug but
with the market cost that yields maxi­
mum profit. We argue that it is possible
to provide tertiary care at an affordable
cost, working with economies of scale
and a common sense approach to treat­
ments that can effectively be provided
across the health system.
We suggest that tertiary care be pro­
vided in a non-market mode through
medical colleges servicing a district pop­
ulation and supporting a district health
system. Today, the district hospital is the
apex referral hospital in the health sys­
tem and medical colleges are primarily
engaged in training, in isolation from
the health system. Upgrading district
44
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC
hospitals and improving linkages be­
tween them and medical colleges can
serve to support a functioning health
system within which tertiary care can
be provided. The use of a functioning
district health system for both teaching
and services can make it economically
viable and fulfil the twin goals of pro­
viding universal access to healthcare
and training doctors and health pro­
fessionals in the practice of medicine
appropriate to India.
N OTE
i The National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence (NICE) was set up in 1999 to reduce
variation in the availability and quality of
National Health Service (NHS) treatments and
care. Its guidelines help resolve uncertainty
about which medicines, treatments, proce­
dures and devices represent the best quality
care and which offer the best value for money
in the NHS. Every NICE guideline and quality
standard has been developed by an independ­
ent committee of experts, including clinicians,
patients, carers and health economists.
Appendix I
District Medical College - Development and
Requirements for SpecialityCare
The requirem ents for speciality care in a dis­
trict m edical colleg e are b ased on an under­
stan ding o f serv ices that are n e ed e d to take
care o f a m ajority o f tertiary care problem s in a
district. Th ese are services that shou ld b e p ro­
v ided m ost physicians w ou ld agree, to all pa ­
tients w ith a particular disease. T h ese are dif­
ferent from the m ci gu id elin es for m edica l col­
leges, w hich are b ased on the requirem ents o f
undergraduate and postgradu ate training. In
this case, the su ggested planning requirem ents
o f a m edical colleg e are based on the health
services to b e provided in a geogra ph ica l area.
M any o f the su ggested services (for example,
cardiac care, dialysis facilities, neurosurgery,
pm r and neonatal intensive care units (icus)
m ay not be available in specialist centres in the
govern m ent health system but are com m on ly
available in private hospitals in sm all tow ns
and cities. It is su ggested that district m edical
colleg es dev elop the capability to provide m any
o f the m uch-needed specialist serv ices that are
currently prov ided by private hospitals.
1 Cardiology
Every district m edical colleg e should have fa­
cilities for treadm ill test and ech ocardiology. It
should b e able to m an age patients w ith m y o­
cardial infarction and other cardiac em ergen ­
cies. It should have a ca rdiologist or an m d
sician w ith training in cardiology. O ne m edical
colleg e for every few districts should have
facilities for interventional p rocedu res (such as
stent placem ent and b a lloon valvotomy) and
th oracic surgery w ith a trained card iologist
and thoracic surgeon.
m arch
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
2 Nephrology
Each district m edica l colleg e should have facili­
ties for haem odialysis or peritoneal dialysis
w ith a trained n eph rologist or an m d in general
m edicin e w ith training in dialysis.
3 Respiratory Medicine
Every district medical college should have facilities
for pulmonary function tests and bronchoscopy.
4 Neurosurgery
Every district m edica l colleg e should have fa­
cilities to m anage head injury w ith trained neu­
rosu rgeon w h o can drain subdural haem atom a
w ith burr hole, p erform shunt su rgery for hy­
droceph alus and b asic n eurosurgical work.
5 Urology
Every few districts shou ld have a u rologist w h o
can perform surgery cy stoscop ic and o p e n sur­
ge ry for stone rem oval, transurethral resection
o f the prostate (t u rp ) and other basic u rologi­
cal procedures.
6 Radiotherapy
For every few districts, on e m ed ica l colleg e
shou ld have facilities for linear accelerator/
Cobalt unit for head and neck, breast and cervical
cancers w ith m d in radiotherapy, su rgeon s w h o
can perform cancer surgery, radiation physi­
cists and nurse educators.
7 Palliative Care
Each district m edica l colleg e sh ou ld have d o c ­
tors, socia l workers, nurses and auxiliary nurse
m idw ives w ith experience in palliative care w h o
can administer morphine. Each m edica l colleg e
should have stock o f oral m orphine.
8 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Each district m edica l c o lle g e shou ld have an
m d in physical m edicin e and rehabilitation
w ith physiotherapist, occu pa tion a l therapist,
sp ee ch therapist and socia l w orkers w h o are
e q u ip p ed to m an age spinal cord and head
injury, strokes and other locom otor disorders.
9 Critical Care or ICU
Each district m edical college should have a well-
equ ipped ic u w ith a trained m d physician or
anaesthetist w ith infusion pum ps, ventilators,
invasive m onitoring and ic u technicians/respi-
ratory therapists.
Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
available at
Life Book House
phy­
Shop No 7, Masjid Betul
Mukarram Subji Mandi Road
Bhopal 462 001
Madhya Pradesh
Ph: 2740705
24, 2012 VOL XLVii n o 12 D 3S3 Economic & Political weekly

10 Neonatology
Each district m edical college should have a n eo­
natal ic u w ith facilities to handle critically sick
neon ates w ith appropriately trained paediatri­
cians and nurses.
u Gastroenterology
Each district m edical colleg e should have a g a s­
troen terologist or m d physician w ith training
in e n d osco p y w ith facilities for gastroscopy,
colon oscop y and en d osco p ic interventions.
12 Neurology
Each district m edica l colleg e should have a
n eu rologist or an m d physican w ith training in
n eu rology w ith facilities for eeg (electroen­
cephalogram ) and em g (electromyogram).
13 Clinical Pathology and Blood Bank
Each district m edical colleg e should have facili­
ties for p erform in g standard clin ical pa th ology
tests in cluding b on e m arrow examination, c o ­
agulation profile and screen in g for sickle cell
disease and haem oglobinopathies. It should
have adequate b lo o d ban k in g facilities for sup­
plyin g w h ole b lo o d and b lo o d com ponents.
14 Clinical Biochemistry
Each district m edical college should have facili­
ties for standard clin ical biochem istry, includ­
ing horm onal assays, dru g assays, toxicologica l
assays, can cer screening, etc.
15 Microbiology
Each district m edical colleg e should have facili­
ties for standard bacterial, fungal, m ycobacte­
rial cultures, serolog ica l tests and m olecular
d iagn osis for com m on infections.
16 Clinical Virology
Each district m edical co lleg e should have facili­
ties for hepatitis serology, h iv serology, CD4
tests and other standard serologica l tests for
locally prevalent viral infections.
17 Radiology
Each district medical college should have facilities
for ultrasonography, Doppler studies and c t scans.
Appendix II
Requirements of Hospital-based Services ina
District Hospital
Current efforts to strengthen district-level
healthcare in relation to maternity and neonatal
care have show n that it is possible to provide
what w as previously con sidered as tertiary care
at the district level. M uch o f this has been
achieved through training, gu idelin es and im ­
proved infrastructure and fu n ction in g o f the
health system. It is possible to take these lesson s
to other areas such as chronic diseases, rehabili­
tation, palliative care, trauma care and inten­
sive care. Th ese suggestion s are already part o f
the guidelin es for district hospitals but are not
im plem ented because o f the lack o f infrastruc­
ture, person n el and expertise. It is possible to
decrease the tertiary care load on m edical
Economic & Political weekly DEE3 m arch 24, 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:10 U TC
colleges b y strengthening district hospitals.
M edical colleges, in turn, can support the up-
gradation and provision o f services at district
hospitals. Similarly, m edical colleges can use
the district hospital for training undergraduate
and postgraduate students in general special­
ties and fam ily medicine. Better linkages b e ­
tw een m edical colleg es and district hospitals
through telephones, video-conferencing, shar­
in g electron ic m edical records and am bulance
services can result in a better functioning
health system.
1 Emergency Obstetrics and Neonatal
Services
O bstetric care: Every district hospital should
have facilities to d o instrum ental deliveries and
caesarean sections, in addition to prov idin g an­
aesthetic support and b lood bank services.
N eonatal care: Each m edical colleg e should
establish a neonatal care unit. It should have
b asic equipm ent for resuscitation, infusion,
phototherapy and th erm oregulation and a
variety o f sophisticated equipment such as blood
pressure monitors, infusion pum ps and pu lse
oximeters. It should b e m anned by paediatri­
cians or doctors trained in n ew born care and
nurses w ith skills for caring for a sick new born
child (e g, intravenous catheterisation, umbilical
vein catheterisation and naso-gastric feeding).
2 Emergency Services
Each district should have a ic u w ith e le ctro­
cardiogram , pulse oxim eters, infusion pumps,
m echanical ventilators and non-invasive venti­
lation facilities. They should have an m d in ge n ­
eral m edicin e or anaethetist w ith respiratory/
critical care therapist. The district should be
able to handle short-term ventilator therapy for
acute reversible illnesses. It should b e able to
m an age road traffic accidents, p oison in g and
snake bites, acute cardiac and respiratory
em ergencies, strokes, acute febrile illnesses
and in fectiou s disease em ergencies.
3 Chronic Disease Care
District hospitals should have good-quality
services for chronic disea se care, including dia­
b etes mellitus, hypertension, coron ary artery
disease, bronchial asthm a and chronic ob stru c­
tive pu lm onary disea se (c o p d ) . The team
should include doctors, nurse educators, socia l
w orkers and a dietitian. The services should
include chronic disea se prevention, screen in g
and patient education.
4 Rehabilitation services
Each district hospital should have a centre for
rehabilitation. W ith increasing road accidents
and v ascular accidents as w ell as an a ge in g
population, it is n ecessa ry to prov ide rehabili­
tation serv ices at district hospitals. D istrict
rehabilitation serv ices have b ee n establish ed
in Kerala. Each district h ospital sh ou ld b e
m an n ed by a sp ecia list in physical m edicin e
and rehabilitation (p m r ) o r a d octor w ith som e
pm r experien ce (m d in m edicin e or m s in
v o l x l v ii n o 12
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
PERSPECTIVES
orthopaedics) and inclu de sp ee ch therapists,
occu p a tion a l therapists, physiotherapists and
so c ia l workers. The facility sh ou ld have suffi­
cient space for therapy, b a sic physical and o c ­
cupational therapy equipm en t and a p rosth etic
and orth otic set-up. It shou ld a lso have inpa­
tient facilities. The centre sh ou ld b e involved
in training c h c , phc sta ff and v illa ge health
w orkers and in id en tify in g disabilities and p r o ­
v idin g solution s th rough lo c a l resources. It
shou ld b e lin ked to loca l com m u n ities to p r o ­
v id e com m unity-based rehabilitation services.
5 Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and
Palliative Care
District hospitals should offer can cer preven­
tion and early d etection services, e sp ecia lly o f
tobacco-related cancers (head and neck,
lungs), carcin om a cervix and breast cancer.
The early detection serv ices should include pap
smears, colposcopy, self-breast exam inations
and oral exam inations. Patients d etected to
have can cer shou ld b e referred to m edical col­
leges or region a l cancer centres for m an age­
ment. Each district hospital should have the
provision for palliative care w ith one d octor
and tw o nurses. Th ey should b e trained to ad­
m inister m orph ine and advise on palliative
care, in clu din g teach ing relatives o f bed ridden
patients. O ral m orph ine should b e available at
the district hospital. Palliative care in district
hospitals should b e linked to non-governm en­
tal organisations (n g o s ) involved in can cer and
geriatric care and elderly self-help groups. This
has b ee n d on e in Kerala, w hich has a state pal­
liative care p olicy w ith trained district-level
staff, district hospitals stock in g m orph ine and
com m unity grou ps prov idin g palliative care
supported by panchayats.
6 Mental Health
Each district hospital should have a m ental
health clin ic m anned b y a psychiatrist w h o can
m anage com m on m ental illn esses and refer
patients w h en required. The district m ental
health clinic shou ld b e linked to services at the
chc and phc levels.
7 Strengthening Laboratory and Radiology
Services
For district hospitals to provide all the above,
reliable district-level laboratory services and
rad iology services are required. Specific
strength ening and quality assurance m easures
have to b e im plem ented.
8 Ambulance Services
O ne o f the significant advances in district
health services in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Uttarakhand, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Assam, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is the availability o f
108 free or subsidised am bulance serv ices
across the states. This is crucial in the linkage
betw een district hospitals and m edical colleges.
It is recom m en d ed that such services b e estab­
lish ed across the country.
45
 SPECIAL ARTICLE
Multinationals and M onopolies
Pharmaceutical Industry in India after TRIPS
S U D IP C H A U D H U R I
In January 2005, drug product patent protection was
reintroduced in India to comply w ith the agreement on
Trade Related Aspects o f Intellectual Property Rights.
How are the multinational pharmaceutical companies
responding to the new policy environment? Is India
likely to see monopolisation o f the industry and high
prices, which was the pattern before 1972 when India
had product patent protection? Will the positive features
o f the post-1972 process patent era be diluted or negated?
This study finds that the m ncs have started marketing
new patented drugs in India at exorbitant prices
particularly for life-threatening diseases such as cancer.
The manufacturing and im porting behaviour o f the m n cs
since the 1990s bear a close resemblance to that before
the 1970s. Imports o f high-priced finished formulations
are expanding rapidly w ith manufacturing
investments lagging far behind. The m n cs are also
expanding vigorously in the generic segments and
are trying to grow not only organically but through
mergers & acquisitions and strategic alliance w ith
Indian generic companies.
The author thanks Sunil Sriwastava and Sushanta R oy for research
assistance and Amitava Guha for discussions. The paper is a con den sed
version o f a w ork in g paper o f the Indian Institute o f M anagem ent
Calcutta (Chaudhuri 2011). A research grant from the institute is
gratefully acknow ledged.
Sudip Chaudhuri (sudip@ iim calac.iri) teaches eco n om ics at the Indian
Institute o f M anagem ent Calcutta.
46
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
1 Background
nited States (us) Senate committee (The Kefauver
U
Committee) found in the 1960s that India was among
the highest priced nations in the world in pharmaceu­
ticals.1 In 2007, Medecins sans Frontieres, the international
medical aid organisation operating in more than 70 countries
described India as the “ pharmacy for the developing w orld” .
One of the most important factors contributing to this re­
markable transformation was the abolition of product patent
protection for pharmaceuticals in 1972. After Independence,
when India wanted to develop the pharmaceutical industry,
the multinational corporations (m n c s ) were invited to come to
India to help in these efforts. But before 1972 while the m n c s
themselves were not very keen on manufacturing in India,
they used their patent rights to prevent Indian companies from
manufacturing. As a result, on the one hand, the industry
remained underdeveloped and, on the other, the monopolies
led to high prices. The abolition of product patents eliminated
the monopoly power of the m n c s . The cost-efficient processes
developed by the indigenous sector, often in collaboration
with government laboratories, could be used for manufactur­
ing the latest drugs, introducing them at a fraction of inter­
national prices and dislodging the m n c s from the position of
dominance in the domestic market. India became self-reliant
in drugs. It emerged as a major player in the global pharma­
ceutical industry receiving worldwide recognition as a low-
cost producer of high quality pharmaceuticals. India supplies
medicines not only to other developing countries but also to
developed countries such as the us.2
But from 1 January 2005, drug product patent protection
has been reintroduced in India to comply with the require­
ments under the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intel­
lectual Property Rights ( tr ip s) of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organisation (w to). H o w are
the m n c s responding to the new policy environment? As in the
pre-1972 situation, is India likely to see monopolisation of the
industry and high prices? Will the positive features of the post-
1972 experience be diluted or negated? This paper deals with
the behaviour of the m n c s in the post-TRIPs situation.
2 Rising MNC Dominance
The Indian generic companies are no longer permitted to manu­
facture new patented drugs. These can now be manufactured
only by the patentees and their licencees. Thus depending on
the rate of introduction of the new patented drugs, the market
m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 Q 959 Economic & Political weekly
share of the m n c s is expected to go up. We discuss in Section 3,
the changes in the patented drug market in India.
But the m n c s are not interested only in patented markets.
They are trying to grow aggressively in the generic segments
as well. Traditionally, m n c s have relied for their growth on
patented drugs and focused mainly on developed country
markets. The high monopoly prices of patented drugs yielded
high returns. But recent years have witnessed a sharp fall in
the number of new drugs introduced in the market. The m n c s
are finding it increasingly difficult to fill the product gap as the
patents on their blockbuster drugs are expiring and they are
in fact, remained the largest seller in the domestic formula­
tions market till recently. But the m n c s in general maintained
a low profile. They were hesitant to introduce their latest prod­
ucts. Some of them continued to compete but created new lo­
cal brands rather than use their international brands. Others
stopped selling products they thought were priced too low
(Chaudhuri 2005: Chapter 4).
What is new in the post-TRIPs situation is the vigour with
which the m n c s are trying to expand not only in the patented
markets, but also in the generic markets, m n c s such as Pfizer,
g s k , Merck earlier opted not to introduce some of their block­

facing constraints on further profitable growth in developed buster drugs in India. These are now being introduced. Exam­
country markets. Pfizer, for example, is set to lose a $10 billion ples are azithromycin and quinapril by Pfizer, simvastatin by
a year revenue stream as the patent on its blockbuster drug Merck and carvedilol by g s k . In fact the m n c s are not hesitat­
Lipitor expires. Desperate attempts by Pfizer to find a replace­ ing to market even products developed by the other m n c s .
ment have not yielded results.3The net profit of the top 15 m n c s Pfizer, for example, is marketing telmisartan developed by
declined sharply by 20.1% in 2010 with a major setback for Boehringer Ingelheim (i d f c -s s k i 2010:16).
companies such as Merck, Bristol-Myers and GlaxoSmithKline As far as India is concerned, the most obvious reflection of
(g s k ).4 On the other hand, some developing country markets such changes in strategy is the takeover of Indian companies
are experiencing rapid growth. The seven emerging markets by m n c s and strategic alliances between m n c s and Indian
of China, Brazil, India, Russia, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey companies (Table 1). Indian companies such as Dr Reddys,
contributed to more than half of the growth of the pharma­ Aurobindo, Cadila Healthcare and Torrent have entered into
ceutical market of the world in 2009 compared to only 16% by supply agreements with m n c s such as g s k , Astrazeneca and
the developed country markets of North America, western Abbott. Dr Reddys, for example will supply about 100 branded
Europe and Japan. The figures were, respectively, 7% and 79% formulation to g s k for marketing in different emerging markets
in 2001 (Tempest 2011). Not unexpectedly, the m n c s are tar­ across Latin America, Africa, west Asia and Asia-Pacific ex­
geting the generic industry in these emerging markets as well. cluding India. Dr Reddys will get a predetermined share of the
Involvement of the m n c s in the generic market is nothing revenue earned by g s k for these products. In some markets
new in India. When product patents were abolished in India in where Dr Reddys has a presence, the formulations will be
1972, the m n c s did not stop their business in India. All the marketed jointly. Another example is the Aurobindo-Pfizer
major m n c s decided to stay back, g s k (earlier known as Glaxo), deal. Aurobindo will supply more than 100 formulations to
Table 1:M&Asand Tie-ups in Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (2006-10)
Indian Company Foreign Company Date Type Comments
Aurobindo Astrazeneca 10 September Tie-up Licensing and supply agreements fo r several solid dosage and sterile products fo r emerging
markets across anti-infectives, CVS & CNS segments
Primal Healthcare A bbott 10 May M&A A b b ott acquired the dom estic form ulation business o f Piram alfor$3.7 billion.
Cadila A b bott 10 May Tie-up A b b o tt licences 24 Cadila products in 15 high grow th em erging markets, holds option fo r more
than 40 additional products
Orchid Chemicals Alvogen 10 May Tie-up Alvogen to have m arketing rights fo r eight oral generic form ulations fo r US in the area o f CNS and
Osteoporosis. The product to be sourced exclusively from Orchid
Indoco Aspen 10 March Tie-up Generic supply deal for ophthalm ic products across 30 countries in em erging markets. Aspen w ill
have market authorisation over these products
Torrent Astrazeneca 10 March Tie-up Generic supply deal fo r 18 products across nine countries. Further fle xib ility to add more products
and new countries
Strides Pfizer lOJanuary Tie-up Generic supply o f off-patent sterile injectable and oral products. Expects supplies o f 40 o ff patent
products in oncology therapeutics
Orchid Chemicals Hospira 9 December M&A Hospira acquired generic injectable business for $400 m illion.
Shantha Biotech Sanofi-Aventis 9 July M&A Sanofi-Aventis acquired Shantha for $783 m illion
Dr Reddy's GSK 9June Tie-up GSK w ill gain exclusive access to Dr Reddy's rich and diverse p ortfo lio and future pipeline.
Dr Reddy's to m anufacture but w ill be licensed and supplied by GSK in Latin American markets
w ith the exception o f co-m arketing in certain markets
Aurobindo Pfizer 9 May Tie-up Licensing and supply agreements for several solid dosage and sterile products fo r emerging
markets. Offers rights to Pfizer fo r 55 solid and five sterile products in Latin American markets
covering anti-infective CVS & CNS
Claris Lifescience Pfizer 9 May Tie-up The deal offers Pfizer w ith marketing right fo r 15 injectables product in area o f anti-infective and
pain m g t fo r regulated markets
Ranbaxy Daiichi-Sankyo 8 June M&A Daiichi-Sankyo acquired Ranbaxy fo r $4.6 billion
DaburPharma Fresenius Kabi 8 April M&A Fresenius Kabi o f Singapore acquired Dabur for $219 m illion
M atrix Laboratories Mylan 6 August M&A The US generic company Mylan acquired Matrix for $736 m illion
Sources: SBICAP (2010); DIPP (2010).

E con om ic & P olitical WEEKLY HTTP! MARCH 24, 2012 VOL XLVII NO 12 47

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE

Pfizer for the regulated markets of us and the European Union
(eu) and more than 50 products for about 70 non-us/Eu markets.
It has been reported that apart from revenue sharing, the deal
involves payment of upfront licence fees by Pfizer to Aurobindo.
These deals enable the m n c s to get access to low-cost reliable
products without undergoing the lengthy process of getting
regulatory approvals in different markets and without incurring
any capital expenditure for setting up manufacturing plants.
The Indian companies gain by having access to the formidable
marketing resources of the m n cs. Experience suggests that it is
not easy to simultaneously enter into different markets on
their own. Efforts by some Indian companies to enter and
expand in foreign markets with their own marketing
infrastructure have not always led to the desired results. The
Indian companies hope to better realise their manufacturing
capacities and capabilities through these alliances with the
MNCS (IDFC-SSKI 2009, 2010).
More significant than these alliances is the take over of
Indian companies by the m n cs. The share of the m n c s in the
domestic formulations market has dramatically increased
from less than 20% in March 2008 to 28% in December 2010,
with the acquisition of Ranbaxy by Daiichi Sankyo in June
2008, Dabur Pharma by Fresenius Kabi Oncology in August
2008, Shantha Biotechs by Sanofi-Aventis in July 2009 and the
domestic formulations business of Piramal Healthcare by
Abbott in May 2010. In March 2008, there was only one m n c
(gsk) among the top 10 companies in India. By December 2010
the number of m n cs in the top 10 went up to three (gsk, Ran­
baxy and the Abbott group). The Abbott group comprising
Abbott, Piramal Healthcare and Solvay Pharma is now the
largest company in India with a market share of 6.2% ahead of
the second largest Cipla (5.7%). Abbott was the 30th largest
company in the domestic formulations market in March 2008
w ith a m a rk et sh a re of only i.i% .5
Thus, the declining trend in the aggregate market share of
the m n c s which started in the 1970s has been reversed. The
m n c s are recovering lost ground. The post-TRIPs environment
and the strategy being adopted by the m n c s suggest that they
are on the way to dominating the industry again. First, the
m n c s are aggressively pursuing growth in the generic seg­
ments. Second, they will enjoy monopoly power in the pat­
ented drugs market. Third, they have the financial capacity to
take over more Indian companies. If a few other major Indian
companies such as Cipla (5.7% market share in 2010), Sun
(4 .3%), Cadila Healthcare (3-9%), Mankind (3.2%), Alkem
(3%), Lupin (2.9%) are taken over, the m n c share will exceed
50% immediately.
The m n c s are not only taking over Indian companies. They
are also consolidating their control over their Indian counter­
parts. Under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973, (fe ra ) ,
the pharmaceutical m n cs, which were manufacturing only
formulations or bulk drugs not involving “ high technology”
were required to reduce foreign equity to 40% or below. With
the abolition of f e r a as a part of economic reforms of the
1990s, not surprisingly the m n c s have increased their equity
stakes. Currently a ll the pharmaceutical m n c s listed in Indian
stock exchanges have a majority foreign shareholding of more
than 50%. The tendency to increase the equity stake has actu­
ally accelerated in the last few years (Table 2). Novartis has
increased foreign equity from 50.93% in 2005 to 76.42% in
2010, Pfizer from 40% to 70.75%, Abbott from 61.7% to 68.94%
and Aventis from 50.1% to 60.4%.
Table 2: Foreign Equity in Pharmaceutical MNCs in India (2001-10,%)
2001 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Astrazeneca Pharma India 51.5 90 90 90 90 90 90
Novartis India 50.99 50.93 50.93 50.93 50.93 50.93 76.42
Pfizer 40 40 41.23 41.23 41.23 41.23 70.75
A b b o tt India 51 61.7 61.7 65.14 65.14 68.94 68.94
Aventis Pharma 50.1 50.1 50.1 50.12 50.12 50.12 60.4
Fulford (India) 40 40 40 50.77 53.93 53.93 53.93
Merck 51 51 51 51 51 51 51.8
W yeth 50.37 51.12 51.12 51.12 51.12 51.12 51.12
GlaxoSmithKline 51 49.15 50.67 50.67 50.67 50.67 50.67
Source: Foreign promoters equity data from the CMIE Prowess database.
3 Rising Imports of Finished Formulations
Legitimately, the abolition of product patent protection in
India has attracted more attention. But two other policies
which helped the growth of the Indian pharmaceutical industry
were f e r a and the New Drug Policy, 1978 (revised in 1986).
The drug policy imposed restrictions on the f e r a companies
(i e, those with more than 40% foreign equity) which were
not applicable to Indian companies. One of the most impor­
tant policies that was implemented was that the m n c s were
not allowed to market formulations unless they themselves
produced the bulk drugs in specified ratios. This compelled
the m n c s to undertake manufacturing investments from basic
stages. In fact, together with the Indian companies, the
manufacturing activities of the m n c s too expanded after
the 1970s.6
But after the mid-1990s with the withdrawal of such restric­
tions, the m n c s started disinvesting in manufacturing opera­
tions. They have sold a number of plants which they had set up
earlier under government pressure. Thanks to the develop­
ment of the bulk drugs industry in India from 1970s onwards,
most of the bulk drugs are now produced by a number of
Indian producers and are available at very low competitive
prices. Since it was no longer mandatory for the m n c s to manu­
facture bulk drugs, they could afford to close down the plants
previously set up and rely on cheaper supplies form Indian
bulk drugs manufacturers (Chaudhuri 2005: Chapter 4).
In 1994, the investments in plant and machinery (including
computers and electrical installations) of the top nine m n c s
was Rs 455.51 crore, accounting for about 70% of that of the
top 10 Indian companies.7Thereafter as Figure 1 (p 49) shows,
whereas plant and machinery investments by the Indian
companies increased rapidly, that o f the m n c s essentially
stagnated. By 2010, m n c investments accounted for only 5%
of the investments of Indian companies o f Rs 13,765.25 crore.
These data at current prices suggest that real investments by
the m n c s have been falling in absolute terms. If we use the
Wholesale Price Index (1993-94 series) of the broad manufac­
turing group of “ machinery and machine tools” ,8 then m n c

48 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 13259 Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Figure 1: Plant and Machinery Investments (Rs crore)
Sources and Notes: Calculated from data from the CMIE Prowess database.
See Notes to Table 3 for the names o f the companies covered.
investments at 1994 prices show a decline from Rs 455.51 crore
in 1994 to Rs 406.56 crore in 2009.
Thus, the manufacturing activities of the m n c s after eco­
nomic liberalisation are reminiscent of the 1950s and 1960s
when the official policy was quite liberal but the m n c s were
reluctant to undertake manufacturing. In fact, as in the previ­
ous period one finds that the propensity to import finished
medicines for the purposes of marketing in India has gone up.
What has attracted widespread attention is India’ s success
as a pharmaceutical exporter. What is less noticed is that in
recent years imports of formulations have been rising sharply.
Figure 2 shows the impressive growth of formulations exports.
The same figure also shows the sharp rise in formulations
imports. Exports exceed imports, but between 1995 and 2010,
imports have grown at a faster rate than exports leading to a
decrease in the “trade surplus”in formulations. Imports of for­
mulations have expanded from $69.5 million in 1995 to
$1,096.1 million, i e, at a compound annual rate of growth of
20%. Exports have grown at 17% from $503.2 million in 1995.
Figure 2: India's Formulations Trade ($million)
6,000 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources and Notes: (i) Calculated from Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and
Statistics (DGCI&S) trade data obtained from CMIE India Trades database, (ii) Trade figures
reported under Chapter 30 have been treated as formulations.
Further details are not available about the composition of
these formulations imports. But there are reasons to believe
that much of these imports relate to high-priced products of the
m n c s for which there are no generic equivalents in the country.
In 2010, about 65% of these imports came from the five coun­
tries - Switzerland, us, u k , Germany and France - where most
of the m n c s are located. Switzerland alone accounted for a
third of these imports.9 India has demonstrated its cost com­
petitiveness in pharmaceutical manufacturing. As mentioned
above, a number of m n c s are entering into alliances with Indian
companies for supplying not only bulk drugs but also formulations
for generic markets across the globe. Thus it is unlikely that
Economic & Political w e e k ly m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12
This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:12 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
anyone would be importing mature generic formulations from
these countries. In patent protected monopoly markets, costs
are not so important. In fact, costs can be a small fraction of the
high prices that can be charged. As we will discuss below, the
m n c s have started marketing high priced patented products.
The m n c s which are already operating in the country are
directly involved in such imports. Figure 3 shows how the
imports of finished products by seven major m n c s have grown
in recent years. After increasing sharply in the late 1990s,
imports stabilised a bit. It again started increasing in the
mid-20oos. The Indian companies and agents are also in­
volved in such imports of finished drugs, m n c s not operating
in India are entering into marketing alliances to sell their
products. Indian companies which act as authorised agents for
imported formulations include Elder, usv, Emcure, Cadila
Healthcare, Piramal, Ranbaxy.10
Figure 3: Imports of Finished Goods by MNCs ($ million)
140--------------------------------------------
0 .----------- T----------- T----------- ,----------- T----------- .----------- T----------- T----------- ,----------- T----------- 7----------- T----------- ,----------- T----------
1997 1998 1991 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Sources and Notes: (i) Calculated from CMIE Prowess database, (ii) The MNCs considered
here are Abbott, Aventis, GSK, Pfizer, Novartis, Merck and Wyeth, (iii) Data are available
for each of the years 1997 to 2010 for only these seven MNCs in the CMIE database. These
seven companies account for about 83% o f sales o f all the 16 MNCs reported by Prowess
in 2010.
One of the ways in which patented drugs can be made more
affordable is to impose price controls. This is an important
policy tool which countries have - none of the w t o agree­
ments forbid price control. Prices of selected drugs are contro­
lled by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (n p p a )
under the Drugs Price Control Order (d p c o ), 1995. If the cur­
rent provisions of d p c o are to be strictly followed, n p p a cannot
ask for the details of the imported cost of drugs. In fact, an at­
tempt by n p p a to do so has failed - the concerned m n c went to
the court to prevent n p p a from asking for cost data.11n p p a is
required to accept whatever costs the importers declare. Thus
importing high priced drugs is one way of avoiding price con­
trol. It is important to change the provisions of d p c o . The
d p c o can and should be changed to find out whether the costs
and prices claimed by the importers are reasonable.
That m n c s with huge technological resources can help host
countries to develop industries is one of the basic expectations
of the foreign direct investment policy. Technology imports, as­
similation and diffusion can help build the technological base
of a country. But this cannot happen unless manufacturing
activities are undertaken by the m n c s in the host country. If
they are more interested in selling imported drugs and/or
drugs manufactured by others in India, obviously the question
of beneficial technlogical impact does not arise. In view of the
progress of the Indian companies, India may not require
foreign technology for matured products. But the new drugs
being introduced may require new technologies. If these
49
SPECIAL ARTICLE

products are manufactured in the country, the country may Indian generic companies are no longer permitted to manu­
gain. But if that is not happening then it is legitimate to ques­ facture and market new drugs for which patents have been
tion the role of the m n c s and ask for proper regulations to tune granted in India. But not all new drugs are patentable in India.
their activities more in line with country’ s interest. Under Article 70(3) of t r i p s , a w t o member country has no
Not only with respect to manufacturing technology. On obligation to provide patent protection for any subject matter
several other counts the performance of the m n c s compares which has fallen into the “ public domain”before the w t o
unfavourably with that of the top Indian companies (Table 3). came into being, i e, before 1 January 1995. Thus any drug
Unlike the Indian companies, the m n c s spend more in foreign product patented abroad before 1995 can continue to be manu­
exchange for imports, interest payments, royalty/technical factured and sold in India after 1995 even though these may be
fees, dividend remittances, etc, than they earn through exports under patent protection in other countries.
and other means. Whereas the foreign exchange deficit of the Drugs patented after 1 January 1995 can be classified into
m n cs has gone up from $20.52 million in 1994 to $205.05 million the following categories:
in 2019, i e, at 15% per annum, the foreign exchange surplus of (1) Those involving new chemical entities (nces) (also known
Table 3: Relative Performance of MNCs and Top Indian Companies________ as new molecular entities (nmes)), and new biological entities
1994 2004 2010 Compound Annual CARG (nbes) patented after 1995.
Rate of Growth (CARG) (2004-10) (%)
(1994-2010) (%) (2) Those involving n c e s / n b e s developed before 1995 but with
Exports ($ m illion) patents after 1995 for: (a) new formulations and compositions,
MNCs* 38.22 56.92 82.75 5 6 (b) new combinations, and (c) new chemical derivatives (salts,
Top 10 Indian cos** 167.50 1,456.64 4,006.48 22 18 esters, etc).
Exports/sales (%) According to Article 27(1) of t r i p s , patents are required to
MNCs 4.73 5.02 4.41
be provided for inventions, which are “ new, involve an inven­
Top 10 Indian cos 27.78 45.71 49.31
Net forex earnings
tive step and are capable of industrial application” . The agree­
($ m illion) ment, however, does not define these terms. This provides
MNCs -20.52 -79.66 -205.05 -15 -17 some flexibility. India has taken advantage of this flexibility by
Top 10 Indian cos 40.07 702.20 2,392.58 29 23 enacting Section 3(d) in the amended Patents Act and restrict­
Dividend remittances
ing product patents to some extent. Under Section 3(d), India
($ million)
MNCs 5.18 27.43 54.67 16 12 is not obliged to provide protection to any secondary patents
* T h e MNCs considered are: GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Aventis Pharma, (of new formulations/combinations/chemical derivatives) after
A bbott India, Novartis India, Wyeth, Astrazeneca Pharma India, Merck, Fulford (India).
Consistent data for 1 9 9 4,2 00 4 and 2010 are available for only these nine MNCs o ut of the
1995 involving n c e s developed before 1995 “ unless they differ
17 MNCs considered by the CMIE Prowess database. significantly in properties with regard to efficacy ”
**T h e Indian companies considered are Cipla, Dr Reddy'S Laboratories, Ranbaxy Laboratories,
Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Matrix Laboratories, Sun Pharmaceutical lnds.,lpca Laboratories,
Further, in cases where Indian companies were already pro­
Torrent Pharmaceuticals, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals.These are the top 10 Indian ducing and marketing before 1January 2005, the products for
companies (in terms of sales in 2010) for which consistent data are available for 1994,2004
and 2010. For some of the variables,the number o f companies actually considered is less
which patent applications have been made in the mailbox,
depending on the data available. they need not suspend production even if m n c s get the patents.
Source: Calculated from CMIE Prowess database.
Under Section i i a ( 7), they can continue to produce on pay­
the top Indian companies increased at 29% per annum during ment of “ reasonable royalty” .
the same period. Between 1994 and 2010, m n c export earnings Elsewhere we have listed all the 180 new drugs marketed in
increased by only 5% per annum (compared to 22% by the In­ India since 1995 (and till 2010) (Chaudhuri 2011: Appendix).
dian companies), but dividend remittances increased by 16% We consider as new drugs all n c e s and n b e s approved for
per annum. Export intensity, i e, exports as a percentage of marketing in the us by the United States Food and Drug
sales, has remained stagnant for the m n c s at around 4% in Administration (u sfda ). This has been obtained from the web­
2010 compared to about 50% for the Indian companies. site of the u s f d a . We used the website of India’s Central Drugs
Standard Control Organisation to find out whether and when
4 Market Structure and Prices of Patented Products these have been approved for marketing in India. Since it is
Considering the role that the abolition of product patent difficult to get systematic information on pharmaceutical
protection played in the pharmaceutical industry in India, product patents granted by the patent office in India, we have
reintroduction of product patent protection since 2005 has used the website of the u s f d a for this purpose as w ell.13
crucial significance. The basic apprehension is whether As Table 4 (p 51) shows, the sales of the 180 new drugs being
India will now go back to the pre-1972 situation of an m n c m o­ marketed in India constitute about 9.1% of the total pharma­
nopoly and high prices. Though product patents have been in­ ceutical market in India in 2010. These 180 drugs are further
troduced from 1January 2005, earlier from 1January 1995, a classified into:
mailbox facility was put in place to receive and hold product (1) Sixty-two drugs for which patents have expired in the us
patent applications.12As per the t r i p s agreement, these appli­ (3.8% of the Indian market).
cations are being processed since 1January 2005 for the grant (2) Sixty-seven drugs for which patents were granted in the us
of patents. Thus, to understand the impact on the market before 1995 and hence not patentable in India in accordance
structure and prices, we consider the period since 1995. with the t r i p s agreement (4.2%).
50 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 Q S 53 Economic & Political WEEKLY

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

(3) Fifty-one drugs for which patents were granted in the us monopolies for only 1% of the market. Thus these markets are
after 1995 and hence patentable in India subject to Section 3(d) essentially competitive.
provisions (1.2%). But for the third category of post-1995 drugs, there are
monopolies in 50% of the products accounting for 20% of the
Table 4: Patent Status of New Drags Marketed in India (1995-2010)________
No Safes 2010 Sales 2010(%) MNCShare market. Surprisingly even for the post-1995 products, for about
(RsCrore) 2010 three-fourths of the market the number of sellers is five or
A New drugs 180 4,726.66 9.1 10.9 more. Two t r i p s flexibilities may explain this. Under Section
A.1 Patented post-1995 51 599.95 1.2 25.2 i i a ( 7), Indian generic companies which have started manufac­
A.2 Patented pre-1995 67 2,173.20 4.2 5.5 turing before 2005 are not required to suspend production
A 3 Patent expired 62 1,953.51 3.8 12.6
even if patents are granted (after 2005).
B Total pharmaceutical market 52,052.56 100.0 19.1
More important is the Section 3(d) flexibility. Consider, for
Sources and Notes: (i) See te x t and Chaudhuri (2011: Appendix) for th e m ethodology to
find o ut th e new drugs and the patent status, (ii) Product-wise annual sales figures example, the two post-1995 products, Novartis’anti-cancer
have been obtained from the "Sales audit data" o f AIOCD Pharmasofttech AWACS
drug, imatinib mesylate, and G ilead’ s anti-Hiv/AiDS drug,
(AIOCD-AWACS). AIOCD-AWACS is a pharmaceutical m arket research com pany form ed
by All Indian Origin Chemists and Distributors. AIOCD in a jo in t venture w ith Trikaal tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. Product patents are in force in
Mediinfotech. It is a corporate pharm a retail chain set up by 5,50,000 m embers o f All India
the us for these products. But for both these products the
Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (http://w w w .aiocdaw acs.com /).
original compound - imatinib and tenofovir, respectively -
Thus, the market share of patentable new drugs market in were disclosed before 1995. What actually have been pat­
India is still very sm all It would however not be correct to in­ ented are a particular beta crystalline form (mesylate) and a
fer from here that patented drugs are not a problem in the particular salt (disoproxil fumarate). Hence, these are not
country. As we will see below, for life-threatening diseases patentable in India subject to the enhanced efficacy clause of
such as cancer, exorbitant prices are being charged for the new Section 3(d). Patent Office/high courts have rejected these
patented drugs. For these patients it is a question of not getting patent applications. The matter is currently with the Supreme
proper treatment if they cannot afford the high cost. Moreover, Court.15 In the absence of any legal barrier to enter these
it is just in a few years that product patent protection has been markets a number of Indian generic companies are manufac­
introduced in India. Considering the time lag between the turing and selling these products in the market. There are 14
time when an n c e / n b e is patented and when it is finally companies selling imatinib mesylate and six companies sell­
approved for marketing, all the post-1995 n c e s / n b e s are not ing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. Another product where
yet ready for the market. Some of the m n c s , for example, g s k the m n c product patent has been contested relates to the
have revealed ambitious plans to launch a basket of patented anti-cancer drug, erlotinib. This is manufactured by six
products. They are expanding their marketing infrastructure Indian companies.
in anticipation of the future patented market.14 In a product patent regime, the main interest centres around
Table 5: Market Structure of New Drugs (2010) the behaviour of the m n c s . In India, they are involved in
Total No of No of No of No of marketing 92 out of the 180 new drugs. As Table 6 shows.
Molecules Molecules Molecules Molecules
with Five or with Two to with One Table 6: New Drugs Marketed by MNCs (2010)___________________________________________________
More Sellers Four Sellers Seller Noof Molecules MNCSales 2010 MNCSales 2010(%)
1 Patented post-1995 (Rs Crore)
1.1 No o f molecules (no) 51 19 6 26
Marketed by MNCs (1 to 7) 92 517.14 100.0
1.2 Sales 2010 (Rs crore) 599.95 462.67 15.59 121.69
1 MNC m onopoly (1.1 to 1.3) 33 160.18 31.0
1.3 No o f molecules (%) 100.0 37.3 11.8 51.0
1.1 Patented 25 121.40 23.5
1.4 Sales 2010 (%) 100.0 77.1 2.6 20.3
1.2 Patent expired 2 12.09 2.3
2 Patented pre-1995
1.3 Pre-1995 6 26.69 5.2
2.1 No o f molecules (no) 67 46 11 10
2 MNC share: 50-100% 8 91.01 17.6
2.2 Sales 2010 (Rs crore) 2173.20 2,115.38 30.92 26.90
68.7 16.4 3 MNC share: 25-50% 12 137.64 26.6
2.3 No o f molecules (%) 100.0 14.9
4 MNC share: 10-25% 7 56.70 11.0
2.4 Sales 2010 {%) 100.0 97.3 1.4 1.2
5 MNC share: 5-10% 9 53.19 10.3
3 Patent expired
3.1 No o f molecules (no) 62 43 11 8 6 MNC share: 1-5% 12 16.59 3.2
3.2 Sales 2010 (Rs crore) 1,953.51 1,912.50 25.67 15.34 7 MNC share: < 1 % 11 1.81 0.3
Source: Same as in Table 4.
3.3 No o f molecules (%) 100.0 69.4 17.7 12.9
3.4 Sales 2010 (%) 100.0 97.9 1.3 0.8 m n c s have monopolies in 33 products accounting for 31% of
Source: Same as in Table 4.
their sales o f Rs 517.14 crore of these 92 products. In fact, in
Table 5 shows the nature of competition in these three cate­ 53 products accounting for more than three-fourths of their
gories of new drugs. In the first two categories where patent sales they have a market share of 50% or more. It is interesting
barriers are not there in India, the markets are much more to note that eight out of these 33 products, for example, anidu-
competitive than the third category. For patent expired lafungin, caspofungin, micafungin and pegaptanib, are pre-
molecules, there are five or more sellers for 43 products 1995 molecules or patents have expired. This suggests that
accounting for 97.9% of the market. For pre-1995 molecules there are entry barriers other than patent barriers, for
the figures are 46 products and 97.9%, respectively. There are example, complex manufacturing process.16

Economic & Political weekly [3253 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 51

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE

Table 7 gives an idea about the pricing policy adopted by the myeloid leukaemia. The price of a 70 mg dasatinib tablet is
m ncs for these 33 monopoly products. A 50 ml injection of Roche’
s Rs 3,905. Assuming a treatment regimen of 100 mg per day,
anti-cancer drug Herceptin (generic name: trastumuzab) costs the cost of treatment per person per year exceeds Rs 20 lakh.
Rs 1,35,200. Among the other high priced drugs are M erck’ s The corresponding cost in the u k is £30,477 suggesting that
Table 7;Prices of MWCMonopoly Drugs the company (Bristol Myers Squibb)
Molecule Name Brand Name MNC MRP* in Rs Therapeutic Group is essentially charging the same price
Trastuzumab Herceptin injection 50 ml Roche 1,35,200 Anti-cancer and not using differential pricing.17
Cetuximab Erbitux 700 mg injection 50 ml Merck 87,920 Anti-cancer All the drugs listed in Table 7 are
Ixabepilone Ixempra 45 mg injection 1 Bristol-Myers Squibb 66,430 Anti-cancer
monopoly drugs in the sense there is
Pegaptanib Macugen 0.3 mg injection 90 ml Pfizer 45,350 O phthal/ otologicals
only one seller of the molecule
Rasburicase Fasturtec 1.5 mg injection 1 Vial Sanofi-Aventis 45,000 Cancer related
concerned. Effective competition in
Inflixim ab Remicade 100 mg injection 1 Fulford 41,039 Pain/analgesics
Tocilizunab Actemra 400 mg injection 1 Roche 40,545 Anti-cancer pharmaceuticals takes place within
Bevacizumab# Avastin 100 mg injection 1 Roche 37,180 Anti-cancer therapeutic categories, for example,
Abatacept Orencia 250 mg injection 1 - Bristol-Myers Squibb 31,851 Pain/analgesics cardiac, anti-diabetic, etc, where
Daclizumab Zenapax 25 mg injection 5 ml Roche 28,875 Anti-cancer different molecules may compete
Etanercept Enbrel 50 mg injection 1 Wyeth 15,761 Pain/analgesics against each other. It is important to
Caspofungin Cancidas 70 mg injection 10 ml MSD 12,500 Anti-infectives note that in therapeutic categories
Anidulafungin Eraxis 100 mg injection 1 Pfizer 9,107 Anti-infectives such as cardiac and anti-diabetic,
Sunitinib Sutent 50 mg capsule 1 Pfizer 8,715 Anti-cancer where different molecules are avail­
M icafungin Mycamine 50 mg injection 1 Vial GlaxoSmithKline 6,250 Anti-infectives
able in the market, the prices of the
Lenograstim Granocyte 34 injection 1 Sanofi Aventis 5,720 Anti-cancer
monopoly molecules in Table 7 are
Daptomycin Cubicin 350 mg injection 1 Novartis 5,051 Others
relatively low, for example, cerivas-
Lapatinib Tykerb 250 mg tablet 1 GlaxoSmithKline 4,468 Anti-cancer
Liraglutide Victoza 6 mg injection 3 ml A b b ott 4,315 Anti diabetic tation, dronedarone, saxagliptin and
Dasatinib Sprycei 70 mg tablet 1 Bristol-Myers Squibb 3,905 Anti-cancer sitagliptin. But for life-threatening
Fondaparinux Arixtra 2.5 mg injection 0.5 ml GlaxoSmithKline 620 Cardiac diseases such as cancer, for essential
Reviparin Clivarine PFS SC 4,200 lu injection 0.6 ml A b b ott 482 Cardiac drugs without effective substitutes,
Rivaroxaban Xarelto 10 mg ta b le t 1 Bayer 480 Cardiac prices are exorbitant as in the cases
Ceftibuten Procadax 90 mg syrup 30 ml Fulford 384 Anti-infectives trastuzumab, cetuximab, ixabepilone,
Zudopenthixol Ctopixol Depot 200 mg injection 1 ml Lundbeck 247 Neuro/CNS etc. Similarly, the prices of vital
Certoparin Troparin 3,000 lu injection 0.3 ml Novartis 235 Cardiac drugs such as Wyeth’ s Enbrel
Dronedarone M ultaq 400 mg ta b le t 1 Sanofi Aventis 84 Cardiac
(etanercept) (Rs 15,761 per injection)
Varenicline Champix 1 mg tablet 1 Pfizer 59 Neuro/CNS
used for rheumatoid arthritis, which
Aliskiren Rasilez 300 mg ta b le t 1 Novartis 58 Cardiac
can incapacitate people, P fizer’ s
Sitagliptin Januvia 100 mg tablet 1 MSD 43 A nti-diabetic
Saxagliptin 0nglyza5 mg ta b le t 1 Bristol-Myers Squibb 38 A nti-diabetic Macugen (pegaptanib) (Rs 45,350
Cerivastatin Lipobay 0.3 mg tablet 1 Bayer 32 Cardiac per 90 ml injection) used for pre­
Piribedil Trivastal L A 50 mg tablet Serdia 20 Neuro/CNS venting loss of vision in the case o f
Mianserin Depnon 30 mg ta b le t 1 Organon 12 Neuro/CNS age-related masucular degenera­
Sources and Notes: (i) Sales data (to find out the m onopoly status) and price data have been obtained from the "sales audit data" of tion, Sanofi-Aventis’Fasturtec (ras­
AIOCD-AWACS. (ii) For the selected molecules, w e also tried to find out the prices from tw o large retail outlets in Kolkata - Calcutta
Chemist Corner and AMRI hospitals.
buricase) (Rs 45,000 per injection)
*: MRP: m axim um retail price. used to treat the side effects of
#: We have also included this product for which Roche accounts for 96% of the market.
chemotherapy for treating leukae­
Erbitux (cetuximab) (Rs 87,920), Bristol-Myers-Squibb’ s Ixempra mia and lymphoma are very highly priced.
(ixabepilone) (Rs 66,430), Pfizer’ s Macugen (pegaptanib) Table 7 does not cover all the patented and monopoly drugs
(Rs 45,35°), Sanofi-Aventis’ Fasturtec (rasburicase) (Rs 45,000), marketed in India. We have tried to focus on products where
Roche’ s Avastin (bevicizumab) (Rs 37,180). There are six m n c s have a monopoly. There are also products where m n c s
products costing between Rs 10,000 and Rs 45,000 (for do not have a monopoly but are charging very high prices
example, Wyeth’ s Enbrel (etanercept): Rs 15,761), eight products pending the settlement of patent disputes. This paper has not
between Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000 (g s k ’ s Tykerb (lapatinib): systematically studied these products. But an example can be
Rs 4,468), another six products between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 given. The price of pegalyted interferons beta (Roche’ s
(Bayer’ s Xarelto (rivaroxaban): Rs 480) and only eight products Pegasys) costs between Rs 14,000 and Rs 18,000 per dose. It
with prices below Rs 100 (for example, m s d ’ s Januvia is used for Hepatitis co-infected with h i v . Roche got the prod­
(sitagliptin): Rs 43). uct patent in India. But due to patent disputes, some Indian
It is important to note that the prices mentioned in Table 7 generic companies are also manufacturing and marketing it.18
are for a single injection/tablet, etc. The cost of treatment per Table 7 lists the monopoly products directly marketed by
person per year would of course be much higher. Consider, for m n c s . But, as we have mentioned above, m n c s not operating in
example, dasatinib, which is used for the treatment of chronic India are using the marketing infrastructure of Indian companies

52 MARCH 24, 2012 VOL XLVII NO 12 Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

to import and sell their products. We have also not been able to
find out the structure of prices of these imported products. But the
example of poractant alfa shows that these prices also can be
very high. The drug is imported by Piramal.19Piramal as the sole
seller charges a price of Rs 17,957.8 per 80 mg injection 3 ml vial.
Though we have not been able to list all the products with
high prices in Table 7, it is clear that the days of monopolies
and high drug prices are back again in India particularly for
drugs without close substitutes.
In the product patent regime, the prices of new drugs will
depend on:
• the prices the m n c s holding the patents would charge;
• the steps that can be taken to regulate such prices including
price control or price negotiation;
• the steps which are taken to provide competition from
generic producers.
If m n c s charge affordable prices for patented drugs in devel­
oping countries, access may not be adversely affected. Some
m n c s are selling drugs at a discount compared to the prices
charged in the developed country markets, g s k is an example
- the company has adopted the policy of selling drugs at a dis­
count compared to the us price. But even with a discount, the
cost of treatment of Tykerb is about Rs 6 lakh per person per
year.20 Or if the m n c s give voluntary licences to generic com­
panies to manufacture the patented drugs, the consequent
competition can make drugs more affordable. But, voluntary
licences have mainly been given for products which have very
little patent life left and have rarely been given voluntarily.
Usually they follow some public pressure or legal action and
sometimes they have been used as a strategy to thwart opposi­
tions by generic companies.
Price control is not forbidden under t r i p s or any other
agreement of the w t o . India's Draft National Pharmaceuticals
Policy, 2006 recommended mandatory price negotiations of
patented drugs before granting marketing approval and stressed
the importance of studying the experiences of Canada, Australia,
France and other countries believed to have a good system (p 15).
In fact a Committee on Price Negotiations on Patented Drugs
has been set up in the department of pharmaceuticals. This is
an important initiative and efforts should be expedited to initi­
ate measures to control the prices of patented drugs. One im­
portant difference between direct price control measures and
efforts to enhance generic competition to keep price in directly
under control may be noted. The former, if properly imple­
mented, makes drugs more affordable but does not provide
any room for the generic companies. The latter not only makes
the prices more affordable through competition. It also en­
sures some space to the generic companies, which is vital for
their long term sustenance.
N O T E S ________________________________________________
1 Cited by Kidron (1965: 251).
2 See Chaudhuri 2005: Chapter 2 for an account
of the rise and growth o f the Indian pharma­
ceutical industry.
3 “Drug Firms Face Billions in Losses as Patents
End” , New York Times article reproduced in
Business Standard, 3 August 2011.
Economic & Political w e e k ly 0353 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIALARTICLE
The importance of generic competition is clear from cases of
Section 3(d) of the Patents (Amendment) Act 2005. Like dasat-
inib, imatinib mesylate is indicated for chronic myeloid leu­
kaemia. For dasatinib, there is only one seller and the price is
very high (Table 7). But there are about 14 Indian generic com­
panies manufacturing imatinib mesylate. As a result, the cost
of treatment has gone down sharply compared to that of the
m n c (Novartis) product. Sun, the market leader, charges a
price of Rs 203 for a 400 mg tablet. Similarly there are six man­
ufacturers of tenofovir. Cipla the market leader charges a price
Rs 150 per 30 mg tablet. Again for erlotinib, compared to
Roche's Tarceva’ s price of Rs 4,200 (150 mg tablet) Cipla’ s
Erlocip costs Rs 1,530.
While Section 3(d) has played quite a useful role in India in
recent years, the policy option which is much more potent and
sustainable in the longer run in compulsory licensing. Com­
pulsory licensing is a permission given by the government to a
non-patentee to manufacture a drug without (or even against)
patentee's consent. As is widely recognised, compulsory licens­
ing is one of the ways in which t r i p s attempts to strike a balance
between promoting access to existing drugs and promoting
Research and Development (r & d ) into new drugs. If generic
companies are given licenses to produce a patented drug on
payment o f royalty, then competition among manufacturers
would drive down prices, but the royalty paid to the innovators
would continue to provide funds and the incentive for r & d .
The exorbitant prices being charged by the m n c s for some of
the products provide a very good rationale for compulsory
licensing intervention. It is really surprising that it has not yet
attracted the attention it deserves among generic companies,
civil society organisations and government.
5 Conclusions
The most important conclusion of this study is that the days
of product monopolies and high prices are back in India.
The m n c s have started marketing new patented drugs at
exorbitant prices particularly for life-threatening diseases
such as cancer.
The manufacturing and importing behaviour since the
1990s bears a close resemblance to that before the 1970s.
Imports of high priced finished formulations are expanding
rapidly, with manufacturing investments lagging far behind.
The m n c s are also expanding vigorously in the generic
segments. They are trying to grow not only organically but
through mergers & acquisitions and strategic alliance with
Indian generic companies. The aggregate market share in the
formulations market has gone up dramatically with the taking
over of some Indian companies by the m n c s . The m n c s are on
the way to dominating the industry again.
4 Sanjay Pingle, “
Leading 15 Global Pharma Majors identified by us as MNCs out of the 671 compa­
Suffer Setback in 2010, Net Falls by Over 20%”
, nies reported by AIOCD-AWACS based on mis­
www.pharmabiz.com, 6 June 2011. cellaneous sources including, the list o f top 50
5 As mentioned in Table 4, sales data have been MNCs in the world in Pharmaceutical Executive,
obtained from AIOCD-AWACS. The MNC sec­ May 2010 (www.pharmexec.com); CMIE Prowess
tor comprises the following two groups. The database; the list of MNCs from market survey
first group o f 35 companies (see Table 2, reports of ORG-IMS as used in Chaudhuri (2005),
Chaudhuri 2011) are those which have been Table 2.2 and relevant company websites. The
53
SPECIALARTICLE
second group of four companies are the Indian
companies which have been taken over by MNCs
in recent years and are now part of the MNC
sector. Another Indian company, Matrix taken
over by Mylan in August 2006, not being a domes­
tic formulations player is not considered above.
6 MNCs invested more in India during 1972-94
than they did in the earlier period see the inter­
view with N H Israni, in IDMA Bulletin, XXXIII
(42), 14 November 2002.
7 CMIE Prowess database. Consistent data for
1994 to 2010 are available for only these nine
MNCs out of the 17 MNCs considered by the
CMIE Prowess database. For the names o f these
MNCs and the top 10 companies, see Table 3.
8 Accessed on 1March 2012 from the website of the
Office of the Economic Adviser, Ministry of
Commerce and Industry (www.eaindustry.nic.in).
9 Calculated from CMIE India Trades database.
10 See, for example, “ List o f Finished formulation
registered from 2003 to 2009”accessed from
the website o f Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation (www.cdsco.nic.in).
11 “Eli Lilly Insulin Brand Paves Way for Hike
in Imported Rug Prices” , Economic Times,
11June 2011.
12 Under Articles 65.2 and 64.4 o f TRIPS, India
had time till 1January 2005 to introduce prod­
uct patent protection in pharmaceuticals. But
Articles 70.8 and 70.9 put a limitation on the
transition period allowed under Article 65 -
India was required to introduce “ mail box”and
“exclusive marketing rights”from 1January 1995.
13 See the notes to the Appendix of Chaudhuri
(2011) for further elaboration of the m ethodo­
logy and also of the limitations.
14 Business Monitor, “ India: Pharmaceuticals and
Healthcare Report” , June 2011.
15 For the background, see Park (2010).
16 Another possibility is that the use of USFDA
Orange Book did not correctly reveal the patent
status. As explained in the notes to the Appendix
of Chaudhuri 2011, we have considered the
Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
Agrarian Transition and Emerging Challenges in Asian Agriculture:
A Critical Assessment
Institutional and Policy Aspects o f Punjab A griculture: A Sm allholder Perspective
Khap Panchayats: A Socio-Historical O verview
Rural W ater Access: Governance and Contestation in a Semi-Arid
W atershed in Udaipur, Rajasthan
Panchayat Finances and the Need fo r Devolutions from th e State G overnm ent
Temporary and Seasonal M igration: Regional Pattern,
Characteristics and Associated Factors
320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg,
54
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue,06 N ov 2018 11:01:12 U TC
patent with the earliest expiry date as the NME
patent. The earliest patents for these four prod­
ucts, for example, expires during 2011 to 2013
and hence these have been treated as pre-1995
molecules. But there are also other patents list­
ed expiring after 2014 and if any o f these are
the relevant product patents, then these are ac­
tually post-1995 products.
17 “Leukaemia (chronic myeloid) - dasatinib,
high dose imatinib and nilotinib (review): ap­
praisal consultation document”in the website
o f the National Institute for Health and Clinical
Excellence, http://guidance.nice.org.uk/TA/
WaveR/99/Consultation/DraftGuidance. For­
eign exchange rates fluctuate. Assuming a rate
of Rs 70 per GBP, the cost of treatment is same.
18 “Hepatitis C Virus - Prevention and Treatment” , - (2010): “ MNC Pharma: New Avatar?”IDFC-SSKI
Press statement issued by International Treat­
ment Preparedness Coalition - India (ITPC- India),
21 October 2011.
19 See, for example, “ List of Finished Formulation
Registered from 2003 to 2009”accessed from
the website of Central Drugs Standard Control
Organisation (www.cdsco.nic.in).
20 “GlaxoSmithKline Launches Two Cancer Drugs
at Reduced Prices”in The Hindu Business Line,
22 July 2011, http://www.thehindubusi-
nessline.com/companies/article2285697.ece.
R E F E R E N C E S _______________________________________
Chaudhuri, Sudip (2005): The WTO and India's
Pharmaceuticals Industry: Patent Protection
TRIPS and Developing Countries (New Delhi:
Oxford University Press).
- (2010): “The Industry Response”in Chaudhuri,
Park and Gopakumar.
- (2011): “Multinationals and Monopolies: Phar­
maceutical Industry in India after TRIPS” , Their Possible Implications for Intellectual
Working Paper Series Number 685, Indian
Institute of Management Calcutta, November
(http://facultylive.iimcal.ac.in/sites/facultylive.
iimcal.ac.in/files/WPS%20685_0.pdf).
REVIEW OF RURAL AFFAIRS
January 28,2012
For copies write to:
Circulation Manager,
Economic and Political Weekly,
Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013.
email: circulation@epw.in
MARCH 24, 2012
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Chaudhuri, Sudip, Chan Park and K M Gopakumar
(2010): Five Years into the Product Patent Re­
gime: India's Response (New York: United Na­
tions Development Programme) (http://con-
tent.undp.org/go/cms-service/download/publ
ication/?version=live&id=3o89934).
DIPP (2010): “ Discussion Paper: Compulsory Licens­
ing” (New Delhi: Department of Industrial
Promotion and Policy, Government o f India).
Gopakumar, K M (2010): “ Landscape o f Pharma­
ceutical Patent Applications in India: Implica­
tions for Access to Medicines”in Chaudhuri,
Park and Gopakumar.
IDFC-SSKI (2009): “ Recent MMNC Alliances: Sig­
nalling Paradigm Shift?”IDFC-SSKI Securities
Ltd, June.
Securities Ltd, March.
Kidron, Michael (1965): Foreign Investments in
India (London: Oxford University Press).
Ministry o f Commerce and Industry (2008): “ Strat­
egy of Increasing Exports o f Pharmaceutical
products - Report o f a Task Force”(New Delhi:
Ministry of Commerce and Industry).
Park, Chan (2010): “ Implementation of India’
s Patent
Law: A Review o f Patents Granted by the Indi­
an Patent Office”in Chaudhuri, Park and Gopa­
kumar.
Sengupta, Amit, Reji K Joseph, Shilpa Modi and
Nirmalya Syam (nd): Economic Constraints to
Access to Essential Medicines in India (New
Delhi: Centre for Technology and Development
Studies, Society for Economic and Social
Studies).
SBICAP (2010): “ India Equity: Pharma” SBICAP
Securities Ltd.
Tempest, Brian (2011): “ The Structural Changes in
the Global Pharmaceutical Marketplace and
Property” , UNCTAD-ICTSD Project on IPRs
and Sustainable Development, Policy Brief
Number 10, July (http://ictsd.org/i/publica-
tions/111430/).
-P K Viswanathan, Gopal B Thapa,
Jayant K Routray, Mokbul M Ahmad
- Sukhpal Singh
-A ja y Kumar
-NCNarayanan, Lalitha Kamath
- Anand Sahasranaman
- KunaI Keshri, R B Bhagat
v o l x l v i i n o 12 BBSS Economic & Political w e e k ly
SPECIAL ARTICLE
Resisting Patriarchy
Complexities and Conflicts in the Memoir o f Haimabati Sen
IN D R A N I S E N ______________________________ __________________
The autobiography. The Memoirs o f Haimabati Sen, is
valuable for the light it throws on women's lives in the
late 19th and early 20th centuries. This memoir of an
unusual woman maps the nuances, the tw ists and turns
o f the immeasurably long journey o f a woman in 19th
century rural East Bengal from becoming a child-widow
at the age o f 10 to finally becoming a doctor. It also
reveals the complex and contradictory relations within
the family, the diverse forms o f gendered oppressions,
the negotiations and struggles against patriarchal
tendencies in society, as well as the contradictions and
even compromises w ithin the forms of negotiation.
I am grateful to the Indian C oun cil for Social Science R esearch for a
Senior Fellow ship du rin g w hich this paper w as written.
Indrani Sen (1
i ndranisen2002@gmail.com ) teaches at the departm ent o f
English, Sri V enkateswara College, Delhi University.
Economic & Political w e e k ly QBB9 m a r c h 2 4 , 2012
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
H
istorically, Indian women started to write their life-
stories only from the late 19th century onwards. It is,
o f course, a complex and contradictory fact that wom­
en's autobiography-writing in colonial India was a by-product
of colonialism.1 By all accounts, this genre had its roots in
western literary and cultural traditions and was born out of a
new wave of individualism and selfhood. A legacy of “ colonial
m odernity” , social reform, and in particular, the movement for
female education, wom en’ s life-writing was interlinked with
western notion of individualism. More importantly, still, the
writing of autobiographies by women denoted the growth of a
sense of selfhood.
The memoir of Haimabati Sen2 (C1866-1932), who led an ex­
traordinary, unconventional life, is worth examining. After
becoming a child-widow in the 1870s, she remarried, studied
and finally became a “ lady doctor”By the 19th century, the
position of women in upper caste Hindu society had badly de­
clined and they were subjected to wide-ranging oppressive
practices. This female autobiography, which is unusually de­
tailed, is a testimony to the oppressions that women were sub­
jected to, but more importantly, their struggles and resistance
against oppression.
Although she wrote her memoir in the 1920s, it remained
unpublished during her lifetime. It is, indeed, a sad illustration
of the marginalisation of wom en’ s memoirs that many of them
remained dusty and forgotten in family cupboards during
their authors’lifetime and were “ rescued”and published dec­
ades later.3 Haim abati’ s notebook too, written in Bengali, lay
for two generations with her family and came to be finally
translated and published only during her grandchildren’ s
time, almost 80 years after her death. In this paper, I intend to
examine this memoir of an unusual woman and her striking
life-story as narrated by herself. The idea would be to examine
the key features of this memoir, and to situate this memoir
within the gendered struggle for education and financial
independence that characterised wom en’ s struggles in 19th
century colonial India.
Gender Oppression: Childhood, Family and Child Marriage
Haimabati Ghosh was born the eldest and favourite child of
her father’
s, an affluent zamindar belonging to the Kulin Ka-
yastha caste in Khulna, in East Bengal. As a child, a striking
feature was her closeness to her father - something that re­
mained lifelong. Although he was not interested in reform, he
was indulgent to his highly intelligent firstborn during her
v o l x l v i i n o 12 55
SPECIAL ARTICLE
childhood, allowing her to wear boys' clothes and pick up
some odd smattering of education from her boy cousins.
In contrast, the womenfolk in her family were far more tradi­
tional. Indeed, it has often been noted how women have been
the self-appointed custodians of traditional practices. It was at
the initiative of her tradition - upholding mother and grand­
mother - and very much against her father’ s wishes - that
Haimabati was married off at the age of nine and a half. Mar­
riage in the Kulin subgroup of the three upper castes in Bengal
- viz, brahmins, Vaidyas and Kayasthas - had to be conducted
within the same Kulin subgroup. Her female relatives, there­
fore, selected what they held was a “ suitable”groom for her,
viz, an affluent, Kulin Kayastha husband - 45 years of age,
twice widowed, with two daughters nearly of her age. It was, of
course, most commonplace to find a huge age gap between
widower-grooms getting remarried to child-brides.
Although the groom was a deputy magistrate in the colonial
bureaucracy, it did not stop the marriage from being con­
ducted in violation of the minimum age of 10 which had been
fixed in i860 as the legal age of consummation o f marriage for
girls. The middle-aged husband turned out to be a debauchee,
who had prostitutes coming to his room at night. But over and
above that, the deputy magistrate had no compunctions about
trying to consummate his marriage with a child - who was
barely older than his own eldest daughter. In fact, she recalls
how her step-daughters were her playmates: “ My step-daugh­
ters and I had nothing to do. The three of us used to play with
dolls in the afternoon”(p 84).
Haimabati frankly delineates how her husband made
repeated attempts at sexual intercourse: “ I would lie silently,
stiff like a piece of wood. When I fell asleep, someone removed
my clothes. I woke up, felt scared, and again wrapped my
clothes around my body”(p 81). One night she witnessed her
husband having sex with a prostitute:
O n e night, w h en I w ok e up at a very late hour b eca u se I w anted.to g o
to the toilet, I saw the babu and a w om a n claspin g each other and
thrashing around... I lay like a corp se o n m y side o f the bed. After a
w hile they p ou red som e drinks and drank togeth er (p 84).
Another night, she accidentally woke up and witnessed an
“unnatural”sexual act (details of which she does not divulge)
being performed by them, and fainted out of shock at the sight:
“After that - good heavens! When I saw what was going on I
began to quake with fear and lost consciousness”(p 86). The
prostitute, pouring water over the child-w ife’
s head to revive
her, had rebuked the husband:
She has b een scared b y w hat y ou w ere u p to. She is still shivering.
Precious, d on ’
t d o such things again. She com e s from a decen t h om e
and is a m ere child... She has b e e n scared by the very sight o f w hat w as
go in g on...One should not d o such things at h om e (p 86).
But the man, completely unabashed at this, had merely
replied: “I think you are right, chum, the hussy (referring to
Haimabati) probably saw what we were doing. But how else
would she learn?”(p 86). Moreover, even after this, his efforts
at sexual intercourse did not cease - although, he eventually
failed to carry out his wishes. Looking back almost 50 years
on this experience, Haimabati comments: “ This gentleman, a
56
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Deputy Magistrate was a person of this sort! For shame, this
man is my husband! I cannot put in words the sense o f revul­
sion I felt”(p 86).
Negotiating Child Widowhood:
Oppression and Resistance
Within a few months of her marriage, however, the debauched
husband suddenly fell ill and died of pneumonia and liver ab­
scess - leaving Haimabati a virgin child-widow at the age of
10.4 Initially, her mother-in-law called her “
an ogress”(p 96)
who had “ eaten up”her son and made the dazed child-widow
observe austerities: “ I was not supposed to oil my hair at that
time. For ten or twelve days I had to eat boiled rice I cooked
myself...”(p 97). Gradually, the thought o f being a widow
started filling her with a nameless sense of shame: “ I do not
know why, but I had a deep feeling of shame and stopped
going out of my room altogether. When no one was around, I
would go once to the toilet and take my bath...”(p 97). Recol­
lecting her feelings of helplessness, Haimabati recalls:
I ju st lay in a corner. My parents had finished their duty tow ards me.
N o on e w as responsible any lon ger for this child w idow . If I n e ed e d a
single pice, I w ou ld have to b e g for it from others. W hat about m y
husband - he had taken a third w ife and thereby cut a ch ild’
s throat...
(PP 97-9 8).
Gradually, however, her mother-in-law, who was essentially
a kind-hearted woman, let her resume a “ normal”life - wear­
ing bangles, eating fish and retaining her long hair - and did
not subject her to the disfigurements (e g, hair-shaving) and
privations (dietary) usually meted out to widows. Haimabati
helped out in domestic chores and studied in her free time; so
much so, she did not even realise in the initial years what, in
fact, it meant to be a widow.
Widowhood in the 19th century for upper caste women - in­
cluding for child widows - meant social ostracisation and
could involve domestic torture, starvation, physical and/or
sexual abuse at the hands of male relatives.5De-sexualised in
the “ w idow ’s garb”(which in Bengal, was a white coloured
dhoti), with heads sheared, widows had to eat spartanly, re­
frain from consuming fish (a great deprivation for a fish-eating
community) and observe fasts (bratas) and penances.6 The
banning of “ heating”foods (e g, onions, garlic, masoor dal or
red lentils) as well as non-vegetarian food items (e g, fish, meat,
eggs) was meant to control the w idow ’ s sexual urges, since
these foods supposedly inflamed sexual passions.7 A w idow ’ s
sexuality was considered suspect and she was closely scruti­
nised for signs of bhog or “ sensuous pleasure” ; conversely, all
signs of austerity or sadhvi traits were highly praised.8
In her delineation of her life as a widow, Haimabati under­
lines how her own relatives too abused her for “ devouring”
(p 99) her husband: “ All their lamentations were for that old
drunkard and whoremonger who had been their son-in-law
for only a few days... I found in them no sympathy for me”
(p 99)* Several others - including her mother and grand­
mother - blamed her literacy for her widowhood. She recalls
how one relative commented: “ Everybody knew that she
would be widowed if she learned to read and write”(p 99).
m arch 24, 2012 VOL x l v ii NO i 2 13259 Economic & Political w e e k ly
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Although her grief-stricken father tried to make some financial soon discovered that there was no escape from these in
arrangements for her, including earmarking a portion of his Benares and this sometimes resulted in unwanted pregnan­
property to go to her, he too died all of a sudden, leaving her cies, prostitution and widow-suicides.
financially dependent and emotionally shattered, with “ a ter­
rible wound in my heart” : Widowhood: Negotiating Sexual Vulnerability
Even now, I have not go t over m y regret that I cou ld not see m y father Behind the sexual targeting of widows was their popular cul­
b efore he died. There w as n o on e else w h o had b een such a friend and tural association with sexual availability and, by extension,
well-wisher (p 115). with prostitution. With regard to the Hindu widows of
When, a few years later, her mother-in-law too passed away, Benares, scholars have noted that in popular perception,
the situation at her in-laws’place sharply declined; Haimabati a w id o w is unguarded: w ithout th e p rotection o f a husband, her ad-
now suffered the typical w idow ’ s fate of financial and physical harmik nature is b ou n d to assert itself. She is thus, like the prostitute,
deprivation and dispossession of property. Once, when her an em b odim en t o f lustful and u ncontrollable sexuality... m any o f the
com m on w ords for widow, such as the H indi rand or the Punjabi randiy
husband’ s elder brother spent lavishly on his daughter’ s wed­
are ob scen e term s o f abuse that a lso m ean ‘
a w h ore’
.9
ding, she later discovered that the spending had been from her
share of her husband’ s money: “Benares” , a female acquaintance warns Haimabati at one
...all this m on ey cam e from m y husband’ s savings. They had taken m y point, “is not a good place for a young woman to live”(p 140).
signature to acquire the p ow er o f attorney... T h ough I had rights to m y And indeed, she does find that young widows living in the
husband’ s property, in effect, I w as n othing but a slave dependent on “city of widows”are extremely vulnerable sexually; the lech­
them for m y subsistence (p 118).
erous behaviour she witnesses ranges from lewd comments
When the daily slights increased, she moved to her m other’ s passed at her by an 8o-year-old man, to the sight of a “ north
home and lived there for a few years. But when her mother Indian”pilgrim pinching a w idow ’ s bottom throughout while
died, she was left penniless, and her profligate brother started circumambulating around a temple. In fact, when she had first
a life of excesses: “ drinks, theatrical parties, evil company” arrived at Benares, she had even been refused initial shelter by
(p 122) and cheated her of her jewellery. The result was that a cousin’ s wife on sexual grounds:
she soon found herself reduced to such penury that, on seeing You are a w id o w and you are a lso y ou n g and beautiful... People w ill
her condition, a grieved well-wisher wept: “ You are the daugh­ say that y ou stay here as you r cou sin ’s m istress. W ho know s that there
ter of such an eminent person. Whoever thought that they w ill b e n o liaison b etw een the tw o o f you? That is h ow p e op le in

would reduce you to such a state?”(p 129). Benares generally behave (p 132).

Of course, lecherous behaviour is something that she

Benares: City of Widows' encounters everywhere - not only in Benares - ranging from
Subjected to the daily “ humiliation for my handful of rice!” propositions by a police constable in rural East Bengal to
(p 123), Haimabati, like innumerable widows before her, de­ seduction attempts by a raja (i e, rich zamindar), whose wife,
cided to move to Benares, the traditional place of refuge for she was later employed to teach. The point to be noted here is
Bengali widows. At Benares she decided to live in semi-starva­ the manner in which she negotiates these situations without
tion rather than accept help - not oiling her hair, subsisting on getting intimidated or losing her nerve.
only “ three handfuls of rice with salt”(p 134) and, as things Haimabati discovers that even the “ homes for w idow s” ,
increasingly got worse, going “ without food for six or seven which were set up to provide protection from abuse, are not
days”(p 136). Her austere existence won her the approval of safe from sexual predators. During her boat journey to East
the people around, who praised her as a “ virtuous, ascetic Bengal she comes across one victim, a pretty, young pregnant
widow”who showed signs of austerity and sadhvi traits - and widow named Tara, who sheds bitter tears and reveals how
most did not even notice she was starving. she had been promised marriage by the son of the head o f the
The widows of Benares largely came from Bengal; behind widows’home where she had been living - but had been
their large presence at Kashi (Benares) and Vrindavan lay the thrown out by his parents. When one recalls that such homes
Dayabhaga school of law prevailing in Bengal, which allowed were an outcome of 19th century gender reform efforts, ques­
the widow to inherit her husband’ s property. Relatives, eager tions arise about the ground realities of such reformist steps.
to misappropriate the widows’ property, would subject them to Gradually, Haimabati also realises another “ great truth”about
neglect and ill-treatment at home, hoping to drive them away being a widow in a patriarchal society, i e, the sexual morality of a
and migrate to Benares. Thus, widows cheated of their inherit­ widow is always suspect - not only in the eyes of men, but even
ance by male relatives and reduced to penury, ended up taking among women. When she travels around alone in East Bengal
refuge in Benares. Here they would try to get a morsel of food (after she has left Benares), curious village women speculate:
either by begging or singing bhajans at ashrams or temples “ We have heard she is a great beauty. What can she be but a
which provided food and shelter in return; or in some desper­ tart?”(p 172), leading her to bitterly raise questions regarding
ate cases, by turning to prostitution for survival. In other cases gender, society and perceptions about “ morality/immorality” :
they fell prey to the lust of priests or wandering pilgrims. D o I have to suffer all this sim ply beca u se I am a w om an? W ould any­
Indeed, many a time, widows who had fled to Benares in an on e have inflicted so m uch suffering on a man? W hy are they so w or­
attempt to escape sexual harassment or exploitation at home, ried as to as to w h ose w ife I am or w h ose daughter? (p 184).

Economic & Political w e e k ly QX3 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 57

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIALARTICLE — ^ :
Negotiating and resisting patriarchy for Haimabati was
through the means of “ higher education”, the desire for which,
she pointed out, “ has persisted throughout my life”(p 139).
Certainly, for a woman in the 1880s to pursue education - an
activity prohibited for women - was to seriously challenge pa­
triarchy. Of course, she recalls, while seriously challenging
tradition, she had to face opposition and criticism from innu­
merable quarters:
My am bition w as to study and d o som e prestigiou s work. I did not care
if p e op le called m e a Christian or w hatever (p 149).
The passion for studying had, of course, been instilled in her
early childhood years itself, when she had picked up the letters
while playing with her male cousins and attending their
lessons in the outer courtyard of their house. Later, her indul­
gent father had even allowed her to be taught by a teacher -
despite angry protests from female family members.
Indeed, a burning, all-consuming passion for learning
became the driving force of her life, sometimes even leading
her to make rash decisions. For instance, one day, after she had
settled down at Benares in modest, but respectable, employ­
ment as a teacher in a girls’school, she suddenly decided to
plunge out into the unknown city of Calcutta, merely for the
sake of studying there:
I w as m aking a fair living from m y jo b as a teacher and I did not have
to w orry about m y subsistence. Yet I seem ed to b e o b sessed w ith an
idea (viz, education) w hich I cou ld not give up... (p 147).
Accompanied by a distant male relative, she leaves Benares
and sets out for Calcutta (where all the major Brahmo educa­
tionists were located). Her plan is to seek out some of these
famous educationists and reformers, live in one of the several
widows’ homes set up at Calcutta by them, and study there.10
This journey bore no fruit, since she found in Calcutta that
the famous educationists were busily preparing to leave for
England. Although sympathetic, they could not help much.
Undeterred by this failure, however, she set out for rural East
Bengal - but not to her brother’ s house. Instead she sought out
independent employment - briefly working as a teacher to the
wife of a raja (zamindar); at other times receiving hospitality
from various quarters.
At the same time, one notes, Haimabati’ s leaving Benares is
also a quest for an identity. One can read this journey of hers as
a mission to carve out an independent “ male-type”of identity
for herself - based on courage, financial independence and
self-reliance. Thus, all her life, she seeks financial independence
- first as a widow, and later on, as a remarried woman.
'Conversion', Widow Remarriage and Domesticity
Upper caste widow-remarriage was a vexed matter in the late
19th century; while it had been legalised in 1856, in reality,
however, it hardly ever took place among upper caste Hindus.11
Haimabati’ s memoir too shows widow marriage to be prob­
lematic. In 19th century Bengal, the cause of women, particu­
larly of widows, was associated with the Brahmo Samaj. The
samaj encouraged schools for girls, as well as the setting up of
widows’homes, where widows were provided shelter and
imparted education training. As Meredith Borthwick notes:
58
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
The Brahm o Samaj, and to a lesser extent, Christianity, h eld ou t h ope
for w id ow s by w aiving all the usual restrictions im p o sed u pon them.
On their ow n initiative, m any w id ow s e sca p ed from their v illa ge
h om es to jo in a Brahmo com m un ity in on e o f the district tow n s or in
Calcutta...There are records o f a nu m ber o f w id o w s and kulin brides
w h o w ere attracted to the Brahm o Samaj. O n ce th ey had join ed, provi­
sions w ere m ade for their education and v ocation a l training, and
som etim es a lso their rem arriage.12
Haimabati becomes a Brahmo by her own choice - in an im­
plicit rejection of brahminical Hinduism and its gender tyran­
nies. Indeed, conversion to Christianity (or to the Brahmo
Samaj, in the case of Bengal) was a feature associated with a
great deal of what may be termed 19th century “ fem inism ”
.13
However, Haimabati’ s memoir strikingly shows contradictions
even among some advanced Brahmo Samaj families, where
unspoken prejudices still persist against marrying adult
widows - thereby revealing a yawning gap between practice
and precept. For instance, in the case of Tara, the pregnant
young widow mentioned earlier, her Brahmo lover’ s parents
(who are in charge of that widows’home) fiercely opposed
their marriage - even though they themselves had undergone
a widow-remarriage.
Seeing the sexual dangers she was exposed to, wandering
alone across the countryside, Haim abati’ s friends and well-
wishers urged her to get remarried (and implicitly secure male
protection). She received four arranged marriage proposals
from Brahmo Samajis (and in one instance, even from an “ ad­
vanced”Hindu) - which was a fairly large number for an adult
widow. But none of these proposals worked out for various
reasons. Eventually, her marriage was arranged in 1890, with
the help of well-wishers and friends, to Kunjabehari Sen, a low
level Brahmo Samaj worker, at what was then considered to be
the ripe old age of 25.
The marriage, however, turned out to be a difficult one for
Haimabati. Due to her husband’ s impractical and eccentric na­
ture, they led for years a highly disrupted, nomadic and dys­
functional life. Nor was there any steady income; even after
five children (four sons and one daughter) had been bom, her
husband remained blissfully unmindful about his responsibili­
ties and unaffected by financial worries. As she puts it, “ My
debts were quite substantial by now...My husband was not
worried about anything. All the worries were mine”(p 324).
Careers for Women: Medical Training
After her marriage, the need to financially support herself and
her husband, led her to choose a medical education, which,
“would make it possible for me to earn an independent in­
come”(p 299). Moreover, “ Many girls had joined medical
schools at that time and I decided I would do the same”
(p 290). Indeed, the medical profession was one of the earliest
professions that Indian women entered, especially from the
1880s onwards, as Geraldine Forbes notes:14
M edicine w as on e o f the n ew careers op e n ed to Indian w om en in the
late nineteenth century. Western m edical training had lon g been availa­
ble to Indian m ales but it w as n ot until 1885 that Lady Dufferin...
established the National A ssociation for S upplying Fem ale M edical
Aid to the W om en o f India or the D ufferin Fund. This a ssociation
MARCH 24, 2012 VOL XLVII NO 12 13329 Economic & Political WEEKLY
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

highest-scoring male candidate - who had secured the second

prov ided financial assistance to w om en w illin g to b e trained as d o c ­
highest position - by half a mark. As the “
tors, hospital assistants, nurses, and m idw ives; aided in establishing topper” , she qualified
m edica l training program m es for w om en; and en couraged construc­ for the gold medal. However, what followed was a shocking
tion o f hospitals and dispensaries.15
instance of crude, institutionalised gender discrimination.
Moreover, in Bengal, women could also earn a Vernacular The boys in her college immediately went on strike in protest
Licentiate in Medicine and Surgery (v lm s ) degree. In fact, the against her being awarded the gold medal. They formed
opening up of the Campbell Medical School to women stu­ pickets, stopped attending classes and even pelted the girl
dents in 1888 marked an important step in that direction. students’carriage with bricks and stones. What is perhaps
Located in Calcutta, the Campbell Medical School conferred even more disturbing is that even the general public sup­
the v lm s degree on its graduates who were known as “ hospital ported the boys. Letters in the newspapers joined in the fray;
assistants” . Campbell classes were conducted in the vernacu­ one reader even advised: “ Why don’ t we kill off that girl? That
lar by Indian teachers and taught from textbooks written in would be the end of the matter. It is a great mistake to pamper
Bengali or translated from English. This institute trained stu­ women”(p 302).
dents in the rudiments of medicine and some basic surgeries, Shockingly enough, it was the boys who finally won the
with its graduates receiving the “ inferior”v lm s degree (rather batde. They petitioned the inspector general and the lieutenant
than the m b or m d degrees which were conferred on graduates governor on this matter and the latter persuaded Haimabati,
of the Calcutta Medical College who were taught in English by who, with characteristic pragmatism, readily agreed to relin­
British teachers).16 What made the Campbell school more quish her gold medal and settle for silver medals instead.
accessible to a larger number of Indian women was that it did Right now she needed money and her only request was that
not require a knowledge of English or a formal education at she be given a monthly scholarship of Rs 30 instead which
the time of admission, while the Calcutta Medical College only would enable her to attend lectures at the Calcutta Medical
admitted students holding a ba degree. College. One of the planks of the colonial “ civilising mission”
Despite the several, obvious disadvantages that they faced had, of course, been their programme of gendered social re­
(low status, very poor salary), these Campbell “ lady doctors” form, and the “ native”female uplift programme, including
actually played an important role, especially in the districts female education. Hence, the role of the colonial establish­
and in rural areas. Even though they were hospital assistants ment in this instance raises questions about their avowed
rather than full-fledged doctors, they became, as Geraldine gendered intent.
Forbes puts it, “ the backbone of these small hospitals and dis­
pensaries, staffing almost 90% of those set up by the Dufferin Gender Contradictions:
Fund as well as a number of government institutions” .17The Self-subservience of the Female Breadwinner
v lm s degree, thus, “ prepared women with very little formal Things stabilised financially only after Haimabati joined the
education to ‘ assist’doctors...Although these women held Hooghly Lady Dufferin W omen’ s Hospital, Chinsurah as a
‘inferior’ degrees, they were often put in charge of the hospitals “ lady doctor”“ on a pay of fifty rupees a month”(p 325). With
that employed them” .18 Moreover, their greatest advantage the job came free living quarters, and she was also allowed to
was that because they “ had grown up in Bengal, they knew the have a private medical practice alongside. Thus, she started to
language and usually the local dialect where they practised” receive an income from the hospital as well as from her private
and were especially effective in home visits, which constituted practice, becoming the fam ily’ s sole breadwinner. At this junc­
the larger part of their consultations.19 ture, she performed the dual roles of the “ male”breadwinner
by going out into the public world (traditionally a “ male”
Gender and Patriarchy in Medical College domain), and earning money, and of the traditional “ female”
Thus, with an infant in arms, Haimabati joined the Campbell nurturing of looking after the home and children.
Medical School in 1891 at the age of 26, along with a few other As a wife, Haimabati was sharp-tongued, mincing no words
girls. She points out that her sharp intelligence - “ My memory and they both had frequent arguments. However, one notes a
was quite good”(p 292) - served her in good stead and she profound contradiction in her with regard to the patriarchy
immediately started to do extremely well in her studies.20 she had fought and resisted all her life. The same woman
There were four females and 12 male students in her class. At who had displayed such fierce independence all her life,
the end of the first year, she “ stood first in the examination now suddenly showed unusual subservience. Like a docile
and was awarded two scholarships for this”(p 298). Her “ good w ife” , she handed over all her earnings - starting with
innate courage, coupled with her sharp intelligence made her the money from her two scholarships during her medical
a good student: school days:
I had no sense o f fear and that is w hy I m ade very few mistakes. The I received the stipend from m y scholarship every three months...
other girls w ere very jea lou s about this (p 299). I brought it h om e and h anded it over to m y husband and he spent it the
Later, when the final examinations took place (covering w ay he con sidered b est (p 296).

subjects like midwifery, surgery and surgical anatomy), it In fact, even after she had became a practising doctor and
was found that she had actually topped the class, scoring was earning well, she continued with this practice and gave
more than all the male students. In fact, she had beaten the him full control over the purse strings - clearly revealing how

Economic & Political weekly 133S3 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 59

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE
deeply rooted the internalisation of patriarchy can be. By cast­
ing herself in the traditional mould of a woman economically
dependent on a husband, Haimbati creates an “ imagined
reality”of economic dependence for herself.
Since I handed over to m y husband w hatever I earned, I cou ld not
p rom ise anything w ithout first talking to him. I h ad to ask him if I
n eed ed even a sin gle pice. I earn ed a lot at this time; I g o t three to four
hundred rupees from m y practice over and above m y pay. I cou ld not
prom ise anything w ithout asking h im first (p 330).
Medical Career: Negotiating Sexual Harassment
and Corruption at the Workplace
At this first job itself Haimabati was subjected to sexual har­
assment at the workplace by the assistant surgeon, Badri-
kanath Mukherji, who was her superior there:
The assistant su rgeon w as giv en the duty o f h elpin g the n e w lady
d octor (viz, herself) learn her work. He w ou ld com e to th e h ospital
and talk rubbish. He w ou ld b eg in to talk o f things w hich cau sed d is­
ease. W hen he raised the m atter o f sham eful diseases, I m ov ed away
and told him, ‘
I shall read up on the disea se in b o o k s’
. But he w as
not on e to listen to that. The dirty beast said w hatever cam e into his
m in d (p 328).
Her initial complaints (made to an English superior) were
acted upon, and her tormentor was sternly warned not to enter
the women's ward in this purdah hospital. However, this relief
was temporary. The furious Bengali assistant surgeon wreaked
revenge on her by continuing to harass her in different ways
(defecating at night near her kitchen, sending over goondas to
her house at night, etc), and the police turned a deaf ear to her
complaints, since the sub-inspector of Padma district was “ a making him compensate her financially. Similarly, when she
great friend of Doctor Badrika”(p 341).
Haimabati also frankly discloses other compromises that
she had to make at her workplace. The most striking of them
was the incident of a child of 11 dying in the hospital after
marital rape by her husband - in an echo of the infamous Phul-
mani Dasi case of 1890 which sparked off a raging controversy
over the minimum age of a girl-wife for the consummation
of marriage.21
A hair-raising incident occu rred around this time. A girl o f eleven, in
an oil presser’
s fam ily in British Chandernagore, w as raped by her h us­
band. She w as haem orrhagin g and it did not stop (p 334).
She was called one night to attend upon the profusely bleed­
ing child. But despite all the combined efforts of the civil sur­
geon, the assistant surgeon and herself, the girl died. At that
point, she voices her anger and outrage:
The girl died at three in the m orning. Th ey had not in form ed her par­
ents. She had com e to her in-laws’h ouse on ly for a few days before.
This is w hat h appen ed to her w ithin th ose days (p 334).
The point to be noted is that this incident occurred after the
passing of the Age of Consent Act of 1891, which had made it a
criminal offence for a husband to have sexual intercourse with
his child-wife until she was 12years of age. Hence this incident
was actually a criminal offence and should have been rightly a
police case. However, Haimabati is forced to participate in a
cover-up exercise carried out by the civil surgeon, Dr Kali Pado
Gupta and his assistant surgeon, Dr Badrikanath Mukherjee
60
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
(her sexual harasser). The civil surgeon gives a false certi­
ficate, stating that the girl was 14 years old and had died of
“septicaemia from normal menstruation”(p 334). For this
cover-up job, the civil surgeon was paid Rs 5,000; the assistant
surgeon got Rs 1,000 and Haimabati was given Rs 500.
Shocked that “ they had taken a bribe and given a false death
certificate”, she at first refused to accept the money, but her
bosses browbeat and bullied her into taking it. Eventually,
however, what worried her more in the long run was how to
hide the bribe-money from her husband rather than the act of
corruption itself! In other words, fear of the husband seemed
stronger in her than a sense of moral outrage.
Colonial Interactions
What could the colonial interactions have been for a Bengali
woman in the 19th century? Some interesting features emerge
from Haimabati’ s memoir. By and large, the image of colonial­
ism that emerges from her experiences - however limited and
abstruse they may be - is one of benevolence. Indirectly, she
was indeed a beneficiary of the move to induct women into
medical schools and the entire move to insert Indian women
into medical training at various levels. This was, in fact, a
result of the move initiated by the Countess of Dufferin Fund
from the 1880s onwards.22
Beyond that, Europeans were a remote entity in rural Bengal
and they crossed her path only occasionally. Once, during her
travels, when she was cheated of her railway pass by a Eura­
sian Railway employee, the European station master had dis­
pensed justice to her by punishing that Eurasian employee and
had been sexually harassed by a Bengali doctor at her work­
place, she had approached the European senior doctor, who
had come to her rescue, by forbidding the Bengali doctor from
entering the area, since it was supposed to be a “ zenana”hos­
pital. At the same time, however the image of the Europeans
as “saviours”and dispensers of justice does occasionally stand
dismantled - as happens in the episode concerning Haimaba-
ti’
s gold medal, where the local colonial authorities had bent to
popular pressure and taken it away from her.
Identity, Female Subjectivity and Agency
Female subjectivity and female agency predominate the
narrative, as Haimabati is shown to take control o f her life
time and again. She takes decisions for herself which are often
hazardous and which sometimes radically challenged received
19th century wisdom. Risks are taken by her in a single-
minded pursuit of education and the assertion of her own
identity - in the process, often flying in the face of custom in
achieving her objective.
There are four key aspects in her life which mark out her life
as extraordinary. First, she was a literate woman in an age
when female literacy was taboo; second, she was a child-widow
who remarried, with no family support, at the age of 23; third,
she went to great difficulties and even dangers in her passion
for learning; and lastly, she became a “ lady doctor” and
managed both ghar and bahir in her life. In all this she
m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 u ju a Economic & Political WEEKLY

displayed a female subjectivity which was the driving force
of her life.
Her female subjectivity and agency are also reflected in her
taking three key related decisions all on her very own, viz, the
decision to be on her own without family support; the decision
to convert from Hinduism to the reformist Brahmo Samaj
religion which afforded women higher social status and
encouraged female education and widow remarriage; and
the decision to educate herself at the medical college and
become a doctor.
She emerges as a highly intelligent, opinionated and out­
spoken woman who minced no words. She carved out for her­
self the identity of a rebel. Discussing the issue of identity,
one can also see, on her part, the appropriation of a “ male”
identity. Indeed, there was a blurring of gender identities from
her childhood itself, when she was affectionately nicknamed
Chuni Babu (or “ little mister Chuni” ) by her indulgent father.
In some sense, she even appropriated a male identity for her­
self - for instance, by dressing as a boy during her childhood
and playing with her male cousins in the family courtyard and
sitting with them during their lessons.
This kind of “male”identity coloured the rest of her life and
governed her persona as well. Equally “ masculine”is the scien­
tific temper and the tone of scientific scrutiny that she adopts.
In fact, the narrative tone is that of a detached, rational, scien­
tific narrator, compiling detailed, empirical observations about
her life, based on a careful accumulation of details and seeking
to recall facts with accuracy and veracity. This feeds into both
the scientific temper of a “ lady doctor”as well.
Feminist Critique of Patriarchal Society
Haimabati displays a feminist perspective and critiques pre­
vailing gender inequalities in the upper caste Hindu society.
The issue of child marriage - and the dangers of marital rape
that a minor wife was constantly exposed to - are spelled out
without any effort at euphemisms in the narrative. Hence, as a
narrator, she talks frankly about sex and sexuality (e g, her
witnessing of sexual intercourse as a child-bride). This is
indeed quite an unusual feature, especially given the fact that
sex and sexual matters were considered unsuitable topics to
enunciate in the 1870s.
The first gender issue that Haimabati critiques is that of
child marriage. She draws attention to it through her own ex­
perience of marriage to a twice-widowed man old enough to
be her father. She had vividly captured the psychological trau­
mas of a child torn from her familiar surroundings and sub­
jected to attempted sexual assaults by a middle-aged husband,
as well as the narrow escape she had from marital rape. Espe­
cially, censured by her was child-rape by aged husbands and
the manner in which child-wives were initiated into sexually
active lives at a premature age.
Haimabati reserved her strongest condemnation for
widower-remarriage, where aged widowers took as brides
girl-children who were sometimes younger than their children
by his previous wives. When her first husband’ s seven-year-old
daughter who looked seriously ill, she makes the acerbic
Economic & Political weekly E3329 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE
comment that “ the father wanted to remarry when his child
was virtually on her deathbed”(p 98). Later, when she be­
comes a widow, her critique of society is sharp:
Sham e on you, H indu society, grea t is you r glory! A girl o f ten w ill
have to pay for the m a rriage o f an o ld m an o f fifty. I b o w a th ou sand
tim es at th e feet o f parents w h o w o u ld in this w ay turn a daugh ter’
s
life into a desert. In no oth er cou n try d o e s on e find either such a s o ­
ciety or such conduct. Such op p re ssion o f w om e n is possib le on ly in
India; in no oth er cou ntry are such cu stom s in vogue. I w as but a
m ere child and I had a lready reliev ed m y parents o f all their r e sp o n ­
sibilities for m e and b ecom e a slave depen d en t on m y h usband’
s elder
brothers... I w ou ld b e a slave to other p e o p le ’
s w him s for a handful
o f rice (p 98).
Indeed, in later years too she harshly condemns old widow­
ers who were eager to get remarried. After she has grown into
a beautiful young woman, she roundly tells off an old widower
doctor who is all eyes for her and wants to marry her. To the
person who has brought the old man’ s marriage proposal, she
gives the advice that he should get his widowed daughter
married instead: “ He has a 20 year old widowed daughter.
Instead of arranging her marriage, he wants to get married
himself”(p 211).
The gendered evils critiqued are patriarchal practices such
as enforced female illiteracy, child marriage and the continu­
ing prejudice against widow remarriage. In this respect, gen­
dered reform is clearly associated with the Brahmo Samaj.
Thus, when she seeks higher education she aims to go to
Calcutta, where she seeks out leading Brahmo educationists
(who are based in that city), who favour female education. In
fact, in course of her widowhood, she even opts to convert to
the Brahmo Samaj because of the greater respect that it has for
women - seen especially in its encouragement of female
education as well its treatment of widows, and especially its
promotion of widow remarriage.
After she becomes a doctor, she complains how even in the
medical profession women doctors are financially disadvan­
taged, the profession being dominated by male physicians. In
one instance, while the male doctor, a senior man, is paid
Rs 1,000 in a particular delivery case; he pays the midwife
Rs 100 and to the lady doctor (Haimabati) he pays only Rs 50,
leading her to complain in her narrative,
Lady doctors and midwives were but pawns in the hands o f the male
doctors...when I thought o f these things, I lamented the fact that we
were born as women (p 317)-
At the same time, Haim abati’ s persona also reveals com­
plexities and unexpected contradictions. Hence, intelligent,
fearless, independent-minded and critical of patriarchal domi­
nation as she is, she nevertheless behaves like the most un­
questioning pativrata n a ri when she meekly hands over her
earnings regularly to her ne’er-do-well husband - although she
is the sole breadwinner.
Gender Solidarity through Female Suffering
Female sisterhood is a distinct trope in this personal narrative.
In course of her life and her wanderings through Benares,
Calcutta and through different villages of East Bengal,
Haimabati received sympathy and help from diverse women,
12 61
SPECIAL ARTICLE

many o f them utter strangers. One is struck also by the com­
mon sympathy and understanding that seems to have bound
them together in an intangible, unspoken bond of common
female suffering. Thus, she receives greater sympathy from
her brother’ s wife (rather than from her own brother) after
she is widowed. Similarly, in Benares one woman gives her
shelter, and another rich woman installs her in the school.
She calls many women d idi (older sister); she even finds a
“mother”during her wanderings in rural East Bengal, an old
married woman whom she helps, and who in turn, “ adopts”
her as a daughter, showering sympathetic love and affection
on her. In turn, she too is especially helpful to women, in­
cluding utter strangers; helping them in innumerable ways:
in domestic chores, or in writing and reading out letters
for them. In other words, she is not merely a recipient of
help from female sympathisers, but in fact, an active giver of
help as well.
Hence, one notes that there is almost a network of womanly
sympathy and support - which actually, in effect, carries an
unspoken critique of patriarchy under which they are all fel­
low-sufferers. In one way or the other, these women have suf­
fered at the hands of male family members - from husbands
who drink and ill-treat them, from sons who abandon them
after they have grown old, or from brothers who cheat and rob
them of their money and ornaments.
Conclusions
Increasingly, wom en’ s personal testimonies are being recog­
nised as an important historical source for studying history,
especially gender history. Haimabati Sen’ s extraordinary
memoir maps the nuances, the twists and turns of the immeas­
urably long journey of a woman in 19th century rural East Ben­
gal from becoming a child-widow at the age of 10 to finally be­
coming a lady doctor (hospital assistant) in the Hooghly Lady
Dufferin W omen’ s Hospital. Hence, perhaps one o f the most
valuable dimensions of this autobiography is the light it throws
on wom en’ s lives in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It
reveals the complex and contradictory relations within the
family, the diverse forms of gendered oppressions, the negotia­
tions and struggles against patriarchal tendencies in society,
as well as the contradictions and even compromises within the
forms of negotiation. In addition, this autobiography traces the
growth of selfhood, female subjectivity, the exercise of female
agency and self-assertion as well as the carving out of an iden­
tity in the cultural and historical context of gender oppression
in late 19th century colonial India.

n o tes ________________________________________________
1 For the linkages between colonialism and the
rise of the novel in 19th century India, see
Meenakshi Mukherjee, Realism and Reality:
The Novel and Society in India, 1985; Reprinted
(New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 2010.
2 The Memoirs o f Haimabati Sen: From Child
Widow to Lady Doctor (ed.) by Geraldine Forbes
and Tapan Raychaudhuri (New Delhi: Roli
Books), 2000.
3 Haimabati’ s memoir was “ re-discovered”in its
notebook form by gender historian Geraldine
Forbes in the course o f her interactions with
the former’ s great-grandson. After being trans­
lated by Tapan Raychaudury, the highly de­
tailed memoir, totalling 400 pages, was then
published (with some amount of difficulty in
finding an interested publisher) as late as 2003.
4 This phase of w idow hood in Haimabati’ s life
stretched for a period of 13 years (from c 1876
till 1890). Initially, she stayed on in her in-laws’
house; but following her kind mother-in-laws’
death, she shifted to her parents’ house; finally,
having to go away to Benares. Later, she
wandered about in Calcutta and East Bengal,
in search o f study and employment.
5 For details about the sufferings o f widows see the
anthology of writings on widows, including first-
person narratives by widows, see Uma Chakra-
varti and Preeti Gill (ed.), Shadow Lives: Writings
on Widowhood, 2001 (New Delhi: Zubaan), 2007.
6 For details see Parvatibai Athavale, Hindu Wid­
ow: An Autobiography, trans. Rev Justin E Ab­
bott, 1930; Reprinted (New Delhi: Reliance
Publishing House), 1986, pp 46-54.
7 For further details on widow s in Bengal, see
Tanika Sarkar, “ Wicked Widows: Law and
Faith in Nineteenth Century Public Sphere
Debates”in Tanika Sarkar, Rebels, Wives, Saints:
Designing Selves and Nations in Colonial Times
(New Delhi: Permanent Black), 2009, pp 121-52.
8 See Sumit Sarkar, “ Vidyasagar and Brahmini-
cal Society”in Sumit Sarkar, Writing Social
History (Delhi: Oxford University Press), 1997,
pp 242-81.
9 See Lynn Tesky Denton and Steve Collins,
Female Ascetics in Hinduism (Albany: SUNY
Press), 2004, p 45.
10 She did finally succeed in studying several
years later and becom ing a lady doctor’ . In the
interim period o f several years she went back
to East Bengal and wandered all over the coun­
tryside - briefly working as a teacher to a raja’ s
wife, at other times receiving hospitality from
various quarters.
11 See Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, “ Caste, Widow-
Remarriage and the Reform o f Popular Cul­
ture in Colonial Bengal”in Bharati Ray (ed.),
From the Seams o f History: Essays on Indian
Women (Delhi: Oxford University Press), 1995,
pp 8-36; see also Carroll, Lucy. “ Law, Custom
and Statutory Social Reform: The Hindu Wid­
ow s’Remarriage Act o f 1856”in J Krishna-
murthy (ed.), Women in Colonial India: Essays
on Survival, Work and the State (New Delhi:
Oxford University Press), 1989.
12 Meredith Borthwick, The Changing Role o f
Women in Bengal, 1849-1905 (Princeton: Princ­
eton University Press), p 143.
13 For a discussion of the link between conversion
to Christianity and “ feminism”in the 19th cen­
tury in the case of Maharashtra, see Padma An-
agol, “Indian Christian Women and Indigenous
Feminism, c 1850 - c 1920”in Clare Midgely
(ed.). Gender and Imperialism (Manchester and
New York: Manchester University Press), 1998,
pp 79-103: and Padma Anagol, The Emergence
o f Feminism in India, 1850-1920 (London: Ash-
gate), 2006.
14 Early female doctors included Kadambini Basu
in Bengal, who passed out o f the Calcutta Medical
College in 1886, and Anandibai Joshi in Maha*
rashtra, who passed out from the Women’ s Sarkar, Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation: Community,
Medical College, Philadelphia, also in 1886.
15 Geraldine Forbes, Women in Modern India,
The New Cambridge History o f India, Vol IV. 2
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press),
1998; Reprint, 2007, p 161. Forbes discusses
early women doctors, pp 161-67.
16 The Campbell Schools, their pattern o f educa­
tion, the type of employment they generated as
well as the kind o f patients these hospital
assistants catered to are discussed in great de­
tail in the chapters “ Education to Earn: Train­
ing Women in the Medical Professions” , and
“Medicine for Women: ‘ Lady Doctors’in the
Districts of Bengal”in Geraldine Forbes, Women
in Colonial India: Essays on Politics, Medicine,
and Historiography (New Delhi: Chronicle
Books), 2005; reprinted, 2008, pp 114-17 and
pp 121-33.
17 Geraldine Forbes, Women in Colonial India,
p 116.
18 Geraldine Forbes, Women in Colonial India,
P 117-
19 Geraldine Forbes, Women in Colonial India,
p 136. Regarding home visits, Reports from
Dacca and Mymensingh confirmed that “ lady
doctors treated more than ten times as many
w omen in their homes as in the hospital” . For
details see Geraldine Forbes, Women in Colonial
India, p 133.
20 The Campbell Medical School started admit­
ting wom en students from 1888. For details see
Geraldine Forbes, “ Medicine for Women: Lady
Doctors in the Districts of Bengal”in Geraldine
Forbes, Women in Colonial India, pp 121-40.
21 In 1890,11-year-old Phulmani was subjected to
violent sexual intercourse by her husband Hari
Maiti aged 35, resulting in her death. Following
the huge controversy that ensued after this
incident, the Age of Consent Act was passed in
1891, raising the age o f consent from 10 to 12.
For a discussion see the tw o chapters, “ Conju­
gality and Hindu Nationalism: Resisting C olo­
nial Reason and the Death o f a Child-wife” ;
and “ A Pre-History o f Rights? The Age o f Con­
sent Debates in Colonial Bengal” in Tanika
Religion and Cultural Nationalism , 2001; Re­
printed (New Delhi: Permanent Black), 2005,
pp 191-225; and pp 226-49.
22 For details about the Dufferin Fund see Manee-
sha Lai, “ The Politics Of Gender and Medicine
in Colonial India: The Countess o f Dufferin’ s
Fund, 1885-1888”in Bulletin o f the History of
Medicine 68, No 1, Spring 1994, pp 29-66.

62 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l XLvn n o 12 (323 E con om ic & P olitical w e e k ly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:14 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE
Rural Housing Quality as an Indicator
o f Consumption Sustainability
ABHIROOP MUKHOPADHYAY, INDIRA RAJARAMAN
An exogenously defined poverty line yields poverty
headcounts between any tw o points in tim e that are a
net outcome o f the tw o-w ay traffic into and out of
poverty. This paper argues that, for the rural Indian
context, where housing is too lumpy and illiquid to be
used for consumption smoothing, transitions in housing
quality in cross-sectional data sets can provide revealed
evidence o f household perceptions o f downside risk to
their current consumption levels. Using the tw o most
recent National Sample Survey housing surveys (the
58th round for 2002 and the 65th round for 2008-09),
composite housing quality classifications are unbundled,
and binary wall quality is selected from cross-quartile
behaviour as the feature most responsive to rising
household consumption levels. In both rounds, the
incremental move to better quality declines beyond the
consumption level at which half o f all households are in
better quality structures. The threshold consumption
level at which this happens was lower in 2008-09 than in
2002 and reflects an improvement in housing conditions
over the period. However, this effective saturation o f the
demand for the most basic element o f better housing,
much before actual saturation, provides a quantitative
measure of the percentage o f households even in the
topm ost quartile th a t fears downside consumption risk.
The research for this paper was funded by the Planning and Policy
Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, under the project titled
“Finding a Tracking Identifier for Poverty” .
Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay (abhiroop@isid.ac.in) is at the Indian
Statistical Institute, Delhi. The work on this paper was done while he
was Sir Ratan Tata Senior Fellow at the Institute o f Economic Growth,
Delhi. Indira Rajaraman dndira_raja@yahoo.com) is Honorary Visiting
Professor, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
Economic & Political w e e k ly EQQ m a r c h 2 4 , 2 012 v o l x l v i i n o 12
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:16 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
1 Introduction
overty assessments through independent cross-sectional
P
samples of the National Sample Survey (nss) variety can
track poverty over time only as a net outcome of the
two-way traffic out of, and into, poverty. Notwithstanding
conflicting stands on where exactly the poverty line should be
positioned for India, there is a fair degree of consensus across
definitional schools that the poverty headcount shows a
declining trend. This result is invariant to whether one uses
the official poverty line (28.3% for 2004-05 according to the
Planning Commission or the poverty line advocated by the
Tendulkar Committee, which places the headcount at 41.8%
for 2004-05).1
Very early results in the literature on rural poverty show
that there is yearly fluctuation around any poverty trend, as a
result of the exogenous weather factor in rain-dependent agri­
culture (Ahluwalia 1978). Non-synchronous shocks across the
15 agro-climatic regions in the land mass of India add a further
regional netting out across regions, so that such yearly move­
ments in the national headcount will be the net outcome of
movements into poverty in regions hit by adverse external
shocks, and movements out of poverty in regions that experi­
enced a good agricultural year. These exogenous shocks by
definition affect contiguous groupings of households, but there
will also be idiosyncratic shocks specific to the household (for
example, shocks to health). Consumption smoothing in the
face of income variability, whether idiosyncratic or otherwise,
is possible if there is a financial market offering liquidity
against asset collateral. Housing is the major durable asset
owned by households, but in rural India in particular, it differs
from all other assets in that it is not readily encashable. Hous­
ing is physically rooted in its location, and unless there is a
sufficient flow of population, as would be the case in an urban
setting, it has no collateral value.
Housing varies by quality, and therefore transitions in hous­
ing quality are potentially useful markers of the confidence of
a household in its future income stream. Higher quality hous­
ing should normally exhibit income elasticity, and show a rise
with income (or consumption) level, constrained at all times
by the illiquidity of the asset acquired, in the event of down­
side income risk. Cross-sectional data on housing quality in
principle therefore offer the prospect of revealing the income
(or consumption) level at which confidence in staving off
downside risk for the lumpy and irreversible move to be made
is sufficiently widespread that there is saturation in terms of
63
SPECIAL ARTICLE
transition to the higher quality level. At this point, the marginal
coefficient for transition to higher quality housing, in response
to changes in income, should begin to decline, relative to lower
levels of income.
Ideally, panel data on the same set of sample households
over time can reveal whether there are any downward move­
ments of a particular household from higher to lower housing
quality, contrary to the assumption made here that the key fea­
ture of housing, as distinct from other movable consumer du­
rables, like bicycles or domestic gadgets like fans, is its irre­
versibility. If the assumption holds, the further corollary is that
the quality of housing is an imprint of its prior consumption
confidence, possibly unrelated to the actual consumption level
recorded at the time of survey.
Recent work using nationwide panel data (Krishna and
Shariff 2011) examine similar issues of transition into and
escape from poverty. However, in their case they look at long
run poverty transitions from 1993-94 to 2004-05 and model
the role of household correlates. While such data are always
preferable, they are sporadic. Most national level data sets that
are more periodic in nature are cross sectional, such as those
collected by the National Sample Survey Office (n ss o ).
This paper points out a unique way to look at poverty; one
that endogenises household expectations of risk and future in­
come. Accordingly, this paper examines the evidence on rural
housing from two recent n ss surveys of housing, to understand
housing quality transitions across the per capita consumption
spectrum, divided into four quartiles.
Section 2 of the paper describes the data used from the hous­
ing surveys in the 58th round, which was canvassed over the
period July to December 2002 (in effect, a half-round), and the
65th round, which covered the period July 2008 to June 2009.
n s s housing surveys collect very detailed information on all
a s p e c ts of housing, with th e consumption level of the house­
hold recorded as part of the ancillary information on the sam­
ple household.2Although the two housing rounds cover both
rural and urban sectors, this paper is confined to the rural sec­
tor. In urban India, a bundled indicator of housing quality and
location may show a more systematic relationship with con­
sumption or income levels than housing quality alone.
Section 3 describes the method used to locate the consump­
tion quartile in which, from the evidence of marginal prob­
abilities of transition from lower to higher quality housing, the
demand for higher housing begins to get saturated. Therefore,
the residual percentage of households in the upper quartiles
who have not improved their housing yields an initial handle
on the percentage not sufficiently sure of their location at that
consumption level to embed themselves irreversibly in higher
quality housing.
An unresolved issue with rural housing is the degree to
which observed data may have been affected by rural housing
interventions, such as the Indira Awaas Yojana (iay). The iay
first started as a sub-scheme of the Rural Labour Employment
Guarantee Scheme in 1985-86, and became an independent
scheme in 1996.3 Since both our rounds are from much later
period, they are equally affected by this scheme. Therefore
64
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:16 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
one can make the case that the effect of the scheme is netted
out when comparing 2002 to 2008-09. However, given that
iay has seen increased funding in recent years, one could still
make the case that recent improvements in housing are a result
of iay . Since iay is targeted at the below the poverty line (bpl)
population, it is clear that this will cause an increase in the
number of poor people with pucca houses. However, this is un­
likely to affect the turning point in the marginal probabilities
of transitions in quality of housing which take place at quartiles
of consumption expenditure much higher than the poverty line.
2 Data and Methods
The n ss housing surveys collect information on various as­
pects of the structure in which the sample household resides.
Of all the features of housing quality on which information is
collected, including the number of rooms, and access to water
and sanitation, the most readily observed features are the type
of wall and roof. The wall and roof are each classified in one of
nine mutually exclusive categories. Table 1 shows that cate­
gories 1-4 in respect of each are classified as kutcha (imperma­
nent), and 5-9 as pucca (permanent).
Table 1: Rural Housing Categories by Type
Categories for Wall and Roof
1-4 Bamboo/reeds (1); m ud/m ud bricks (2); canvas/
cloth (3); other kutcha (4)
5 Tim ber (wall); tiles/slate (roof)
6-9 Burnt bricks/stone (6); m etal sheets (7); cem ent
w ith brick or concrete (8); other pucca (9)
Composite Standard Classification Kutcha (%) Semi-Pucca (%) 1Pucca(%)
1993 (49th round) 31.7 36.0 32.3
2002 (58th round) 21.3 30.3 48.4
2008-09 (65th round) 17.0 27.6 55.4
Composite alt classification
2002 (58th round) 21.3 42.8 35.9
The standard composite classification o f structures into kutcha (both w all and roof 1-4) and
pucca (both w all and roof 5-9) carried a residual sem i-pucca category w ith combinations
o f pucca walls (5 -9 ) and kutcha roofs (1-4), as also structures w ith kutcha walls and pucca
roofs. An alternate composite in th e 58th round assigned tiled roofs (category 5) to the
semi-pucca category, so th a t a pucca structure required roof categories 6 -9 . The estimates
for th a t round were regenerated to be com parable w ith th e 4 9th and 65th rounds.
SourcerNSSO reports on Housing (2002 and 2 00 8-09 ).
A composite classification of the quality of the house as a
whole is provided in the official n ss reports on the housing sur­
veys, into kutcha housing (both wall and roof in categories 1-4),
pucca housing (wall and roof in categories 5-9), and a residual
semi-pucca category, in which wall and roof do not fall in the
same numbered range of categories. Table 1 shows the data
from the n s s reports on three rounds, the 49th (January to
December 1993), 58th (July-December 2002) and the 65th
round (July 2008 to June 2009).
The figures suggest a substantial improvement in housing
condition in rural areas, with kutcha structures down from
31% to 17% over the 15years from 1993 to 2008-09, and pucca
structures up from 32% to 55%. When, as happened in the 58th
round (2002), roofs of tile/slate are assigned out of the pucca
category into the semi-pucca, the share of pucca structures
goes down substantially from 48% to 36%.
Clearly, the housing quality descriptives need to be unbun­
dled, and this is generated from the primary data for the latest
MARCH 24, 2012 v o l XLVil n o 12 E23Q Economic & Political w eb k ly
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

round in 2008-09 in Table 2, by monthly per capita consump­ share of structures with a kutcha roof, irrespective of wall
tion (m p c e ) quartile. These are quartiles of households, not of quality, is much flatter across quartiles as compared to
the total population, and are formed after weighting each kutcha walls.
sample household by the household multiplier supplied by the Third, the spread between the quartiles in housing quality is
n s s . The official poverty line for 2004-05 was a monthly per much narrower than the spread in m p c e , shown in the table.
capita consumption of Rs 356.35. The equivalent at 2002-03 The mean m p c e in the upper quartile is 3.5 times that in the
prices works out to Rs 334. All consumption figures for 2008-09 lowest quartile, but the percentage share with pucca walls
in the table are shown at 2002-03 prices. The poverty line at rises from 46% in the lowest to only 77% in the highest quartile.
2002-03 prices is just a little above the cut-off for quartile 1. (The consumption expenditure figures in the table are all at
Table 2:Wall and Roof Quality by Quartile (%share; 2008-09) 2002-03 prices.) Even in the uppermost quartile, the share of
Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4 Total households with kutcha walls is as high as 23%. This is some­
Mean MPCE, 2002 prices (Rs) 258.34 379.63 507.68 907.42 510.06 what startling. Likewise the share of households with pucca
Max MPCE, 2002 prices (Rs) 326.57 433.87 594.82 29,678.62 29,678.62 walls in the lowest quartile, at 46%, is also much higher than
Wall quality percentages might be expected. The shares by roof quality are even flatter
K-wall, K-roof 23 19 16 9 17
across quartiles.
K-wall, tiled roof 22 15 12 8 14
These descriptives point to wall, rather than roof quality, as
K-wall, non-tile pucca roof 9 9 9 6 9
the feature of housing quality that rises most sharply with
K-wall subtotal 54 43 37 23 40
K-wall, cum ulative 54 49 45 40
household consumption levels. The incremental change in
P-wall, kutcha roof 6 5 4 3 4 wall quality is sharpest between quartiles 3 and 4.
P-wall, tiled roof 9 11 12 12 11 The issue of the high share of pucca walls in the lowest quar­
P-wall, non-tile pucca roof 31 41 46 62 45 tile remains puzzling. There are two possible explanations.
P-wall subtotal 46 57 62 77 60 One is that this is the result of interventions such as the i a y . A
P-wall, cumulative 46 51 55 60 second possibility is that this is the result of movement down­
Total 100 100 100 100 100 ward into poverty of households that had earlier been able to
Roof quality percentages upgrade wall quality.
K-roof 29 24 20 12 22
Table 3 shows quartile specific housing shares in the 58th
Tiled roof 31 26 24 20 25
N on-tile pucca roof 40 50 56 68 53
round at the quartile cut-offs corresponding to those in the
Total 100 100 100 100 100 65th round (for comparability across the rounds, but as shown
Household quartiles are marked o ff by rupees per capita m onthly consumption expenditure in Table 3, the cut-offs yield quartiles approximately here as
(MPCE) at 2002 prices, deflated by the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers.
well). Here again, the pucca wall share in the lowest group is
All figures are obtained after weighting by household weights, not population w eights.
Source: Authors' calculations from the 65th round housing survey of the NSS, covering the 38%, rising to 71% in the highest group. It seems implausible
period July 200 8 to June 2009.
that so large a share in the lowest quartile between n s s rounds
Three features of the quartile wise data are especially note­ would be a result of downward movement of households on
worthy. First, the percentage share of the kutcha wall-kutcha the consumption scale, so the high percentages among the
roof (k-wall, k-roof) combination declines sharply across quar­ lowest group has to be a result of policy interventions among
tiles, but so does the share of structures with a tiled or other designated poverty groups. This if anything only heightens
pucca roof overlaid on a kutcha wall. Structures with kutcha Table 3:Wall and Roof Quality by Quartile (%Share),2002, using Quartile
walls, aggregating across roof types, decline steadily from Cut-offs fromthe 65th Round (2008-09) _____ ______
54% of total structures in quartile i to 23% in quartile 4. The Quantile 1 Quantile 2 Quantile 3 Quantile 4 Total
decline in share from quartile 1, to 43% in quartile 2, is parti­ Mean MPCE, 2002 prices (Rs) 245.57 380.01 500.08 843.98 492.63
Max MPCE, 2002 prices (Rs) 326.57 433.87 594.82 8,000.00 8,000.00
cularly sharp. This cross-quartile behaviour, in particular the
Per cent households
substantial movement out of kutcha walls going from quartile 22.88 25.2
at 65th round quartile cut-offs 25.31 26.62
1to quartile 2, reveal kutcha walls to be inferior to pucca walls. Housing quality percentages
The overall share across all quartiles of this (revealed inferior) K-wall, K-roof 31 24 19 11 21
type of structure with kutcha walls is 40%, much higher than K-wall, tiled roof 24 21 17 12 19
the 17% share of the composite kutcha structure. K-wall, non-tile pucca roof 7 9 8 6 7
The second noteworthy feature, is that when structures are K-wall subtotal 62 54 44 29 47
K-wall, cum ulative 62 58 53 47
aggregated by roof type, the share of structures with a kutcha
P-wall, kutcha roof 4 5 5 3 4
roof is much lower even in the lowest quartile, at 29%, and
P-wall, tiled roof 11 11 13 16 13
declines much less sharply going into quartile 2. The overall
P-wall, non-tile pucca roof 23 31 38 52 36
share across all quartiles of structures with a kutcha roof is 38 47 56 71 53
P-wall subtotal
only 22%. Kutcha wall structures are more likely to have a P-wall, cumulative 38 42 47 53
non-kutcha roof of tile, or better than tile, even in the lowest Total 100 100 100 100 100
quartile. Also, once the irreversible transition to a pucca wall Household quantiles are marked o ff using th e same cut-offs w hich marked o ff household
quartiles in the 65th round.
is made, there is a small stable per cent of structures staying Source: Authors' calculations from the 58th round housing survey of the NSS, covering the
with a kutcha roof cover pending the pucca roof. Thus, the period July to Decem ber 2002.

Economic & Political weekly Q 3S9 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 65

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:16 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE ~~
the puzzle over the lack of full coverage in the highest quartile
groups of a permanent wall, the most basic dimension of
housing quality.
Comparing across the rounds, 51% of the lowest two quar-
tiles in 2008-09 had pucca walls, as opposed to only 42% of
those at equivalent consumption levels in 2002. Cumulatively,
the bottom three quartiles in 2008-09 had 55%, higher than
the overall pucca wall share of 53% in 2002. If the move to
pucca walls is taken as irreversible, then the rise in the share
of pucca wall structures is plausible even in classes defined by
equivalent consumption levels, since the change would reflect
the addition to the stock on account of households which
experienced an improvement in m p c e within the same
cut-off markers.
3 Results
Table 4 shows the results from a probit specification estimating
the probability of transition to a pucca wall estimated sepa­
rately for each quartile, with controls for n s s state-regions.
(75 state regions as defined in the 58th round - these allow
for even more flexibility than considering only agro-climatic
zones which would require coarser partitions of the country.)
The quartile-specific estimation allows the estimation of mar­
ginal coefficients at the average of ranges of per capita con­
sumption, specified by (in this case, equal numbers of) house­
holds falling in the range.4
Table4: Marginal Coefficients for Probabilityof Transition toa Pucca Wallr
by MPCEQuartiles for the 65thand 58thRounds (Rural)_______________
Unit Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3 Quartile 4
Average marginal effect o f one
rupee increase in MPCE
2008-09 Exp (-4) 2.982 6.721 2.920
2002 Exp (-4) 1.630 6.191 8.231
Average marginal effect o f one
rupee increase in total hh con exp
2008-09 Exp (-4) 0.301 1.324 1.328
2002 Exp (-4) -0.581 0.610 1.184
The nominal consumption levels in th e 65th round w ere deflated to 58th round prices.
Quartiles w ere form ed w ith respect to consumption levels in th e 65th round and the same
absolute MPCE quartile cut-offs w ere used for th e 58th round as w ell (see Table 3).
Source: Authors' calculations from the 58th (2002) and 65th (2 0 0 8 -0 9 ) round housing
surveys o f th e NSS.
We test the following specification across n sample house­
holds in each survey, and the 75 state-regions, as defined in the
58th round, in which the sample household falls:
74
P r(y ; = 1) = 0) (a + p. X; + I 8 j. Dsj) ;i =
w h ere y - . is the bin ary depen den t variable w h ich takes a value
o f on e if the h ou seh old d w ellin g has a p u cca wall, an d ze ro if it
d o e s not, for the ith sam ple household. x(is the m onth ly per
capita con su m ption o f h ou seh old i and Dsj is a d u m m y variable
for the n s s region ;, and is a catch-all residual captu rin g the
agro-clim atic and e co n o m ic en viron m en t in w h ich the sam ple
h ou seh old falls.
The marginal probability of transition to a pucca wall, esti­
mated at the average of each quartile, for every rupee increase
in m p c e , rises from quartile 1 to quartile 2 in 2008-09, but
then declines in quartile 3 and then further in quartile 4. For
66
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:16 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
durables like a pucca wall, the decline in the marginal coeffi­
cient would normally be indicative of saturation. However, at
the start of the consumption range defining quartile 3, half of
households cumulating across the bottom two quartiles were
without a pucca wall. Within quartile 3, 37% of households
were without a pucca wall. The further sharp decline in the
marginal coefficient in quartile 4 coexists with 23% of house­
holds in that quartile without a pucca wall.
The marginal coefficients for the 58th round segments, are
estimated at the quartile cut-offs of the 65th round so as to be
for comparable consumption ranges. These approximate very
roughly to quartiles of the 58th round itself. The marginal
coefficients for this round show a decline only in quartile 4.
This implies that over time, there has either been an improve­
ment in housing or households are now less secure about their
future incomes. Since the proportion of households with pucca
walls has risen in every quartile, it is more likely that our
results reflects an improvement in housing quality.
The estimates were also run for total household expenditure
rather than m p c e , within the same quartiles defined by m p c e ,
to check for whether the pattern of transitions might change
with total expenditure, which incorporates household size.
The results are broadly similar, except that in 2008-09, the
marginal coefficient rises slightly in quartile 3 relative to quar­
tile 2, before declining in quartile 4. The negative coefficient in
the lowest quartile for 2002, is clearly because of household
size in this quartile increasing more than proportionately with
household total expenditure. This result in particular suggests
that m p c e is the better indicator of transitions in housing
quality. If the move to a pucca wall, as a decision not easily
0.933 reversed or encashable, is taken as an indicator of confidence in
1.609 the sustainability of current consumption levels, these results
in conjunction with the stock descriptives in Tables 2 and 3
suggest some structural similarities in terms of confidence
0.168
0.432 about downside consumption risk in 2008-09 relative to 2002.
The marginal coefficients decline in 2002 in quartile 4, at a
cumulative starting stock of 47% pucca walls, and in 2008-09
at quartile 3, at a starting cumulative stock of 51%. Beyond the
consumption level at which about half of all households have a
pucca wall, the incremental move to a pucca wall declines.
The coefficient for the lowest quartile is much higher in
2008-09 than in 2002, which once again heightens the puzzle
over iay interventions for households b p l . If that intervention
had operated at the lowest end of the quartile, it should in prin­
ciple have flattened the slope. But instead the marginal coeffi­
cient has risen in 2008-09 for this quartile relative to 2002
quite sharply, suggesting that the benefits of this programme
accrue to those at the top end of the poverty range.
Conclusions
By the latest rural housing survey for 2008-09 from the 65th
round of the n s s , structures classified as kutcha (a kutcha roof
on a kutcha wall) account for 17% of all structures. However,
when structures are not assigned a unique composite classi­
fication, and are unbundled by type of wall and roof, the share
of rural structures with a kutcha wall (of mud or bamboo), at
m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 EB3EI Economic & Political weekly
 SPECIAL ARTICLE

40%, is far higher. The overlay of a tile or metal sheet roof on a
kutcha wall accounts for the difference. Structures with a
kutcha wall, aggregating across roof types, show a sharp de­
cline in share across consumption quartiles in both the 65th
round, and the 58th round housing survey for 2002. Pucca
walls show a corresponding increase in share, revealing these
to be clearly preferred, with the incremental shift in wall qual­
ity sharpest between quartiles 3 and 4. By contrast, the share
of structures with a tile or other pucca roof, irrespective of
wall quality, is much flatter across quartiles. These descrip-
tives point to wall, rather than roof, type as the best indicator
of improvements in housing quality as households move up the
consumption scale.
A transition to a pucca wall is also irreversible, because it is
physically rooted in its location, and unless there is a sufficient
flow of population, as would be the case in an urban setting,
has no collateral value. Following from this, the transition of a
household to a pucca wall will be constrained by household
assessments of the sustainability of their current consumption
levels. These estimates of sustainability could differ for different
ranges of household m p c e . Also, at higher ranges of m p c e , the
probability of transition will be constrained by the received
stock of structures that have already made the transition.
The paper therefore estimates, separately for each con­
sumption quartile, the marginal probabilities of transition to
pucca walls, for every rise of one rupee in m p c e , with dummy
variables controlling for the state-region in which the house­
hold is located. The marginal probability of transition from a
kutcha to a pucca wall in 2008-09 rises from quartile 1 to
quartile 2, but then declines in quartile 3 and then further in
quartile 4. For durables like a pucca wall, the decline in the
marginal coefficient would normally be indicative of satura­
tion. However, at the start of the consumption range defining
quartile 3, 51% of households cumulating across the lowest
two quartiles were without a pucca wall. Within quartile 3
alone, 37% of households were without a pucca wall. The fur­
ther sharp decline in the marginal coefficient in quartile 4
coexists with 23% of households in that quartile without a
pucca wall. This effective saturation of the demand for the
most basic element of better housing, much before actual sat­
uration, provides a quantitative measure of the per cent of
households even in the topmost quartile that fears downside
consumption risk.
In 2002, the marginal coefficient declines only in quartile 4
(using the same real m p c e cut-offs as 2008-09), at a cumula­
tive stock of 47% pucca walls. Since the decline in the mar­
ginal coefficient occurs in 2008-09 at quartile 3, at a cumula­
tive stock of 51% with pucca walls, the incremental move to a
pucca wall declines in both years beyond the real consumption
level at which about half of all households have a pucca wall,
where that consumption level itself is lower in 2008-09 than
in 2002. If the move to a pucca wall, as a decision not easily
reversed or encashable, is taken as an indicator of confidence
in the sustainability of current consumption levels, these
results suggest that the structural parameters defining fear of
downside consumption risk have not changed appreciably dur­
ing this period, despite the rise in current m p c e between the
two survey years. The decline in the share of kutcha wall struc­
tures from 47% in 2002 to 40% in 2008-09, and the corre­
sponding rise in pucca wall structures from 53% to 60%, does
mark a slight improvement in the rural housing stock between
2002 and 2008-09.
The spread between the quartiles in housing quality is much
narrower than the spread in per capita consumption levels.
The mean m p c e in the upper quartile in 2008-09 is 3.5 times
that in the lowest quartile, but the percentage share with
puccaa walls is 77% in the highest quartile, as against 46% in
the lowest quartile.
Finally, the high share of structures with pucca walls at the
lowest quartile is possibly a result of the rural housing scheme
(iay). The marginal coefficient for the probability of transiting
to a pucca wall in the lowest quartile is much higher in 2008-09
than in 2002. If that intervention had operated at the lowest
end of the quartile, it should in principle have flattened the
slope. But instead the marginal coefficient has risen in 2008-09
for this quartile relative to 2002 quite sharply, suggesting that
the benefits of this programme accrue to those at the top end
of the poverty range.

n o t e s ____________________________________________ National Strategies? Rural Poverty Dynamics Housing Stock and Constructions” , Report
in States and Regions of India, 1993-2005” , No 488, March.
1 Himanshu (2010) provides a detailed descrip­
World Development. (2010): “Housing Condition and Amenities in
tion of these alternative poverty lines.
NSSO (2004): “Housing Condition in India, 2002: India: 2008-09”Report No 535, November.
2 The samples drawn for the consumption and
housing surveys in any round are different so
that no link is possible between the two.
3 http://rural.nic.in/iaygd2.html For the Attention o f Subscribers and
4 Alternatively, we could have considered a Subscription Agencies Outside India
quadratic specification in terms of per capita
consumption but this would impose a parametric It has come to our notice that a large number of subscriptions to the EPW from outside the
shape to our relationship.
country together with the subscription payments sent to supposed subscription agents in India
have not been forwarded to us.
R EF ER EN CES____________________________________

Ahluwalia, M (1978): “ Rural Poverty and Agricul­ We wish to point out to subscribers and subscription agencies outside India that all foreign
ture Performance in India” Journal o f Deve­ subscriptions, together with the appropriate remittances, must be forwarded to us and not to
lopment Studiesy Vol 14, Issue No 2, April,
pp 298-323. unauthorised third parties in India.
Himanshu (2010): “ Towards New Poverty Lines We take no responsibility whatsoever in respect of subscriptions not registered with us.
for India”Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 45,
Issue No 1,2-8 January, pp 38-48. M anager
Krishna, A and A Shariff (2011): “
The Irrelevance of

Economic & Political weekly 13353 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:16 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIAL ARTICLE
Total Factor Productivity Growth
and Its D ecom position
The Indian Banking Sector during Liberalisation
ANUP KUMAR BHANDARI_____________________________________
This article considers overall total factor productivity
improvement achieved by 68 Indian commercial banks
from 1998-99 to 2006-07, and breaks it into its
components - technical change, technical efficiency
change and scale (efficiency) change factor - using the
Data Envelopment Analysis methodology. The results
suggest that public sector banks, on an average,
adjusted to the changing environment better and
improved their performance relative to their
counterparts under private and foreign ownership.
This finding has important policy implications in that
the government should be more cautious in liberalising
the Indian banking sector and not blindly invite more
foreign players to it.
The author would like to thank an anonymous referee for some helpful
comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the paper. The usual
disclaimer applies.
Anup Kumar Bhandari (janupkbhandari@gmailcom) is with the Centre
for Development Studies, Ulloor, Thiruvananthapuram.
68
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:18 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
1 Introduction
recognition of the need of an efficient financial sector
A
to promote overall economic development can be
traced all the way back to the early 20th century when
Joseph Schumpeter (1911) argued in his Theory o f Economic
Development that scarcity of finance is a serious obstacle to
development. Cross-country experience also suggests that the
existence of a healthy, efficient and competitive financial
sector, which Joseph Stiglitz (1998) termed the “ brain”of the
economy, is a necessary precondition for rapid economic
development. This necessity is more pronounced in the case
of backward or so-called developing economies because the
opportunity cost of capital is more in them, coupled with
underdeveloped financial markets (Smith 1998). Further, in­
efficiency in financial intermediation carries with it the possi­
bility of misallocation of funds, which could result in more
non-performing assets (Barman 2007).
Financial intermediaries such as banks are major players in any
financial market, and their overall performance is therefore an
important determinant of the performance of the financial sector
concerned, in particular; and that of the overall eco n o m y in gen ­
eral. Over time, the banking systems in many developing econo­
mies performed poorly, and researchers diagnosed it as a direct
consequence of the excessive regulations that were in place.
However, the experience with deregulation in the banking sector
has been mixed in nature. Empirical studies in the us show that
measured cost productivity actually decreased following deregu­
lation (Bauer, Berger and Humphrey 1993; Humphrey and Pulley
1997; Berger and Mester 2001). On the other hand, a study by
Chaffai (1997) analysed the deregulation experience in Timisia
and found that total factor productivity ( t f p ) of banks increased
following a liberalisation programme initiated in 1986. However,
the rate of technical progress was higher than the rate of pro­
ductivity growth, implying that the banks, on an average,
became less efficient after liberalisation.1 Thus the issue of
whether financial deregulation actually helps overall develop­
ment or sometimes can be so counterproductive as to hinder
the process of development may be an interesting subject
of debate. The issue becomes more relevant in view of the
continuing global financial crisis, which originated in the us
mortgage lending market and soon spread to others. As noted
by analysts, uncontrolled financial innovations introduced by
investment agencies and other banks, as well as by some other
MARCH 24, 2012 v o l XLVII n o 12 I32S3 Economic & Political w e e k ly

financial institutions, were one of the major causes of the
crisis. The objective of the present paper is to study the overall
performance of major Indian commercial banks in the post-
financial deregulation period through a thorough analysis of
their t fp growth and its major components.
It is useful to briefly recall here the nature of the Indian bank­
ing system at the time financial sector reforms were initiated in
the early 1990s. This would facilitate a greater clarity of the ra­
tionale and basis of reforms. The Indian financial system in the
pre-reform period essentially catered to the needs of planned
development in a mixed economy where the government sector
played a dominant role in economic activity. The strategy of
planned economic development required huge expenditure,
which was met through the government ownership of major
banks, an automatic monetisation of the fiscal deficit and by
subjecting the banking sector to large pre-emptions - both in
terms of the statutory holding of government securities (statu­
tory liquidity ratio, or s l r ) and the administrative direction of
credit to preferred sectors. Further, a complex structure of ad­
ministered interest rates prevailed, guided more by social priori­
ties, necessitating cross-subsidisation to sustain the commercial
viability of institutions. These not only distorted the interest rate
mechanism but also adversely affected development of the
financial market (Rangarajan 2007).
Contrary to this, financial reforms in India created an ena­
bling environment for banks to overcome external constraints
and operate with greater flexibility. Such measures related to
dismantling the administered structure of interest rates, and
the removal of several pre-emptions to do with reserve re­
quirements and credit allocation to certain sectors. Interest
rate deregulation was carried out in stages, allowing suffi­
cient resilience to build up in the system. This was an impor­
tant component of the reform process, which has made re­
SPECIALARTICLE
enhance the quality of credit decisions and facilitate faster
credit delivery.
However, as pointed out by Barman (2007), two distinct
phases are discernible in the reform of the Indian banking sys­
tem. The first phase, 1992-98, can be thought of as a period of
transition from a regulated regime to one in which there was a
gradual adaptation of international standards. The second
phase, the post-1998 period, can be considered the “ true”post­
liberalisation period. In this regime, banks were able to enjoy
almost full freedom in pricing their products. In sharp contrast
to the earlier phase, this regime was perceived as more accom­
modative towards competition. Further, the entry of new pri­
vate banks and some foreign banks made a significant change
in the structure of the Indian banking sector. For one, there has
been increasing competition among banks (as reflected in their
share of expenditure on advertising and publicity as a propor­
tion of total operating cost), and the share of publicly owned
banks, though still the largest among the major bank groups,
has been gradually diminishing over time (Table 1). These
changes necessarily make the individual players more market-
oriented and call for them to improve their performance. Our
concern in this paper is whether such anticipation holds good
for the Indian banking industry in the “ true”post-liberalisation
period. For that, we have examined t f p changes that have
taken place in the last year we have considered, 2006-07 over
the year 1998-99. We also decompose such t f p changes into its
major components such as technical change, change in techni­
cal efficiency of banks and so on to identify the principal driv­
ing forcefs) of t f p changes in Indian banking over this period.
Table 1:Some Important Indicators of the Major Indian Commercial
BankGroups________________________________________
Important Indicators Year SBI and Its Other Domestic Foreign
Associates Nationalised Private Banks
Banks Banks

Share in Total Deposits 1999 30.3 58.0 7.2 4.6

source allocation more efficient. A parallel strengthening of
2000 30.1 57.0 8.6 4.3
prudential regulation, improved market behaviour, gradual 2001 31.2 55.0 9.4 4.5
financial opening and, above all, underlying improvements in 2002 30.5 54.1 11.1 4.4
macroeconomic management helped the liberalisation proc­ 2003 29.8 52.9 12.4 4.9
ess run smoothly. Interest rates have now been deregulated. 2004 28.4 52.8 13.9 4.9
2005 28.3 52.1 15.1 4.6
Other major objectives of banking sector reforms were en­
2006 25.8 51.3 17.7 5.1
hancing efficiency and productivity through increased com­ 2007 24.1 51.8 18.6 5.5
petition and, for that, modifying the overall legal environ­ Share in Total Assets 1999 32.1 54.8 7.0 6.0
ment for conducting banking business in India. Establishment 2000 32.2 53.5 8.4 5.9
of new banks was allowed in the private sector and foreign 2001 32.9 51.6 9.1 6.4
2002 30.6 48.5 14.8 6.1
banks were also permitted more liberal entry. Yet another
2003 30.1 48.7 14.8 6.5
step towards enhancing competition was allowing foreign di­ 2004 28.8 49.0 15.6 6.6
rect investment in private sector banks up to 74% from all 2005 27.4 50.1 16.2 6.3
sources. As for the modification of the legal environment, the 2006 25.6 48.9 18.6 6.9
Securitisation Act was enacted in 2002 to enhance protection 2007 24.0 48.6 19.7 7.7
Expenditure on A dvertisem ent/ 1999 0.3 0.4 1.5 6.0
of creditor rights. To combat the abuse of the financial system
Publicity as Percentage o f 2000 0.3 0.4 1.6 5.8
for crime-related activities, the Prevention of Money Laun­ Operating Expenditure 2001 0.3 0.3 2.9 7.0
dering Act was also enacted in 2002 to provide the enabling 2002 0.3 0.4 1.9 5.1
legal framework. The Negotiable Instruments (Amendments 2003 0.4 0.5 2.4 4.5
and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 expanded the erst­ 2004 0.7 0.8 2.6 5.6
2005 0.6 0.9 3.1 6.6
while definition of a “ cheque”by introducing the concept of
2006 0.8 1.0 3.1 10.9
“electronic money” and “ cheque truncation” . The Credit 2007 0.7 1.2 2.8 9.5
Information Companies (Regulation) Act 2005 is expected to Source: Reserve Bank o f India.

Economic & Political weekly ISSS3 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 69

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:18 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
SPECIALARTICLE
In this connection, we briefly review some of the important
recent work on the performance of the Indian banking sector.
Using data envelopment analysis (d e a ) to analyse data on 70
Indian commercial banks from 1986 to 1991, Bhattacharyya et
al (1997) found that publicly-owned Indian banks are the most
efficient among all ownership categories considered in the
study, followed by foreign-owned banks and Indian private
banks, respectively. However, they also found something odd
(and almost diametrically opposite) when the inter-temporal
behaviour of such performance was considered. Evidence of
temporal improvement was seen in the performance of foreign-
owned banks, virtually no such trend in that of Indian private
banks and a temporal decline in that of the publicly-owned
banks. They explained these patterns in terms of the govern­
ment’ s evolving regulatory policies. A study by Sarkar et al
(1998) - with the motive of evaluating enterprise performance
under different ownership patterns - confirmed that in the
absence of a well-functioning capital market, there might not
be any significant difference in the performance of public and
private sector banks. Their analysis highlighted the impor­
tance of creating an appropriate institutional background
before pushing privatisation in developing economies.
Kumbhakar and Sarkar (2003) analysed the relationship bet­
ween deregulation and t f p growth in the Indian banking indus­
try using a generalised shadow cost function approach. Analys­
ing disaggregated panel data on a population of public and pri­
vate banks from 1985 to 1996, they found evidence in favour of a
significant decline in regulatory distortions and also non-materi­
alisation of anticipated t f p growth until 1996. Using d e a , Sathye
(2003) measured the productive efficiency of banks in India for
1997-98. The efficiency scores, for three groups of banks -
publicly-owned, privately-owned and foreign - were measured.
The study showed that the mean efficiency score of Indian banks
com pared w ell with the w orld m ean efficiency score and the ef­
ficiency of private sector commercial banks as a group was para­
doxically lower than that of public sector banks and foreign
banks in India. The study also recommended that the existing
policy of reducing non-performing assets and rationalisation of
staff and branches might be continued to obtain efficiency gains
and make Indian banks internationally more competitive.
Chakrabarti and Chawla (2005) used d e a to evaluate the rela­
tive efficiency of Indian banks during 1990-2002 and observed
that on a “ value”basis, foreign banks as a group had been con­
siderably more efficient than all other bank groups, followed by
Indian private banks. However, from a “ quantity”perspective,
the Indian private banks seemed to be doing very well while the
foreign banks were the worst off. This, as it can be easily under­
stood, might be a reflection of the general policy of foreign banks
to “cherry-pick”more profitable businesses, ignoring the social
obligation of offering banking services to a wider section of soci­
ety. Further, public sector banks were seen to be lagging behind
their private counterparts in performance.
Das and Ghosh (2006) investigated the performance of the
Indian commercial banking sector during the post-reform period
1992-2002. Using d e a , they applied all the three different
approaches - intermediation, value added and operating - to
70
This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:18 U TC
A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
differentiate how efficiency scores varied with changes in inputs
and outputs. The analysis also linked the variation in calculated
efficiencies to a set of variables such as bank size, ownership,
capital adequacy ratio, non-performing loans, management
quality, and so on. Their findings suggested that medium-sized
public sector banks performed reasonably well and were more
likely to operate at higher levels of technical efficiency. A close
relationship was observed between efficiency and soundness as
determined by a bank’ s capital adequacy ratio. Their empirical
results also showed some evidence in favour of the expected
relationship that technically more efficient banks were those
that had, on an average, less non-performing loans.
To evaluate the impact of computerisation2 on the productiv­
ity and profitability of Indian banks, Mittal and Dhingra (2007)
applied d e a methodology to the Centre for Monitoring Indian
Economy (c m i e ) data on 27 selected Indian commercial banks in
2003-04 and 2004-05. They observed that private sector banks,
which took more information technology (i t ) initiatives, were
more efficient in terms of the productivity and profitability
parameters than their counterparts under public ownership.
Das, Ray and Nag (2009)3used d e a to measure the labour-use
efficiency of individual branches of a public sector bank with a
large network of branches across India. They found considerable
variation in the average levels of efficiency of bank branches
across the four metropolitan regions considered in the study.
They also introduced the concept of area or “ spatial efficiency”for
each region relative to the nation as a whole. The results sug­
gested that the policies, procedures, and incentives handed down
from the corporate level could not fully neutralise the detri­
mental influence of local work culture across different regions.
Most of the potential reduction in labour cost appeared to be com­
ing from possible downsizing of the clerical and subordinate staff.
We thus see that the issues raised earlier are yet to be ex­
p lored to a great extent and that is p recisely the objectiv e o f
this paper. The paper is organised as follows. Section 2 briefly
states the analytical methodology we consider here. Section 3
describes the data set we have used and our major findings
from analysing it and Section 4 concludes. Appendix (pp 75-76)
shows some further discussions.
2 Analytical Methodology
The productivity of a firm is measured by the quantity of out­
put produced by it per unit of input. In the simplest single-input
single-output case, it is merely the ratio of the quantity of the
firm ’s output to its input. But in a more general case where a
number of inputs are used to produce a number of outputs, out­
puts (in the numerator) as also inputs (in the denominator) are
to be meaningfully aggregated so that productivity still
remains the ratio of two scalar values. The productivity index
of a firm for a current period relative to a base period measures
the relative change in its productivity in the latter period rela­
tive to the earlier. Such a productivity index may be of two
types - positive and normative. Positive measures are those
measurements where one need not know the production tech­
nology. The Fisher productivity index and the Tornqvist
productivity index are two such popular positive measures
m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 Q 2S3 Economic & Political weekly
discussed in the literature. On the other hand, measurement of
the Malmquist productivity index, a normative measure, re­
quires knowledge about the benchmark production technol­
ogy. Since our objective in this paper is to measure the produc­
tivity change of Indian commercial banks over the last eight
years and decompose such change into economically meaning­
ful components such as technical change, technical efficiency
change and the scale (efficiency) change factor to get the rela­
tive importance of these factors causing changes in t f p , we
consider the Malmquist productivity index here.4
3 Data Used and Empirical Findings
A major problem one has to face in empirical banking research
is defining the “
inputs”and “ outputs”of banks. Due to its am­
biguous nature of use, an asset/liability may either be consid­
ered as an output of a bank or as its input used to produce
some other output. For instance, if we view banks as service
providers to their customers, as the production approach
does,5deposits of banks should be taken as an output. On the
other hand, it should be included in the set of inputs if we con­
sider a bank to be an intermediating entity between savers and
investors whose goal is to earn profit through lending and in­
vesting resources collected from customers in the form of
deposits. In view of such complexity, four approaches have
come to dominate the literature on banking output - the pro­
duction approach, the intermediation approach, the operating
(income-based) approach and, more recently, the modern ap­
proach.6We use a variant of the intermediation approach (sub­
ject to our data availability constraint) where deposits and
borrowings and other liabilities, together with real resources
such as labour, are defined as inputs whereas the output set
includes earning assets such as loans and investments (Model i,

Table 2: TFPChange and Its Components of Indian Banks between 1999and 2007
Name of Bank Model 1 Modelll Name of Bank Model 1 Modelll
TC TEC SCF TFP TC TEC SCF TFP TC TEC SCF TFP TC TEC SCF TFP

State Bank o f India 1.18 1.00 0.89 1.05 1.34 1.00 0.81 1.08 Induslnd Bank* 0.65 1.00 0.83 0.54 0.91 1.00 0.63 0.57
StateBankofBikaner& Jaipur 0.90 1.07 1.08 1.04 1.06 1.21 0.80 1.02 Jammu and Kashmir Bank 0.98 1.07 1.34 1.40 1.07 1.00 0.82 0.87
State Bank o f Hyderabad 0.97 0.95 1.04 0.96 1.17 0.95 0.74 0.82 KarurVysya Bank 0.98 1.07 1.21 1.27 1.21 0.90 0.84 0.92
State Bankof Indore 0.96 1.03 1.09 1.07 1.11 1.34 0.75 1.12 Lakshmi Vilas Bank 0.98 0.98 1.17 1.12 1.20 1.25 0.89 1.35
State Bank o f Mysore 0.94 1.07 1.03 1.04 1.14 0.76 0.77 0.67 Lord Krishna Bank 0.84 1.03 0.95 0.82 1.16 0.67 0.87 0.68
State Bankof Patiala 1.10 1.03 0.97 1.10 1.04 1.00 0.78 0.82 Nainital Bank 0.72 0.74 1.36 0.72 0.81 1.00 1.17 0.95
State BankofSaurashtra 0.92 1.04 1.11 1.06 0.93 0.97 0.91 0.83 RatnakarBank 0.85 0.97 1.07 0.88 0.80 1.08 1.15 1.00
State BankofTravancore 0.92 1.08 1.07 1.07 1.11 0.88 0.81 0.79 Sangli Bank 0.55 0.96 1.19 0.62 0.82 0.42 1.01 0.35
Average o f State Bank Group 0.98 1.03 1.03 1.05 1.11 1.00 0.79 0.88 SBI Comm and Intern Bank 0.71 0.91 1.03 0.67 0.79 1.16 0.86 0.79
Allahabad Bank 0.97 1.04 1.19 1.19 1.24 1.14 0.79 1.12 South Indian Bank 1.01 0.98 1.27 1.26 1.12 0.97 0.87 0.94
Andhra Bank 0.86 1.03 1.16 1.03 1.15 0.96 0.73 0.81 Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank 0.92 1.09 1.33 1.34 1.06 0.84 0.81 0.72
Bankof Baroda 1.24 1.00 1.05 1.30 1.35 1.00 0.70 0.95 Average o f New
Bank o f India 1.29 0.98 0.88 1.11 1.23 1.00 0.68 0.83 Private Sector Banks 0.97 0.99 0.66 0.63 1.38 0.93 0.48 0.61
Bankof Maharashtra 0.80 1.00 1.12 0.90 1.08 0.84 0.76 0.70 Average o f
Canara Bank 1.13 1.00 1.04 1.16 1.29 1.00 0.77 1.00 Private Sector Banks 0.89 0.97 1.01 0.88 1.10 0.90 0.77 0.76
Central Bankof India 0.79 1.00 1.08 0.85 1.05 1.16 0.93 1.13 ABN Amro Bank** 1.13 0.91 0.60 0.62 1.44 1.43 0.54 1.12
Corporation Bank 1.06 0.98 0.98 1.02 1.37 1.00 0.62 0.84 Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank 0.70 0.75 0.89 0.46 0.84 0.81 0.92 0.62
Dena Bank 0.95 0.98 1.14 1.07 1.17 0.91 0.83 0.88 American Express Bank** 0.82 1.04 1.00 0.85 1.53 0.54 0.77 0.64
IDBI Bank 1.25 1.00 0.47 0.59 1.25 1.00 0.58 0.73 Arab Bangladesh Bank - 1.00 - - - 1.00 -
Indian Bank 0.82 1.07 1.00 0.87 1.13 0.92 0 .81 0 .8 4 Bank International Indonesia 0.64 1.00 0.89 0.58 2.05 2.07 0.37 1.55
Indian Overseas Bank 1.09 1.02 0.95 1.05 1.18 1.01 0.79 0.94 B ankof Am erica** 0.79 1.00 1.10 0.87 2.27 1.00 1.20 2.72
Oriental Bank o f Commerce 0.89 1.00 1.25 1.12 1.47 1.00 0.66 0.97 Bank o f Bahrain & Kuwait 0.96 1.10 0.98 1.04 0.76 1.20 0.98 0.90
Punjab & Sind Bank 0.77 1.04 1.17 0.94 1.05 0.84 0.94 0.83 Bank o f Ceylon 0.69 0.54 0.98 0.36 - 1.00 -
Punjab National Bank 0.99 1.00 1.05 1.04 1.17 1.00 0.79 0.93 Bank o f Nova Scotia** 0.82 1.00 0.98 0.80 1.46 1.09 0.86 1.37
Syndicate Bank 1.04 0.97 1.07 1.08 1.28 1.03 0.79 1.05 Barclays Bank** 0.81 1.00 0.87 0.70 1.22 0.53 1.04 0.67
UCO Bank 0.95 1.02 1.01 0.99 1.07 1.07 0.88 1.01 C itibank** 1.21 0.97 0.56 0.66 1.46 1.00 0.64 0.94
Union B ankof India 0.91 1.00 1.06 0.96 1.33 1.05 0.78 1.09 DBS Bank** 0.63 0.84 1.01 0.54 2.06 1.27 1.15 3.02
United Bank o f India 0.59 1.00 1.13 0.67 0.86 0.97 0.90 0.75 Deutsche Bank** 0.91 1.00 0.81 0.74 2.00 1.00 0.84 1.67
Vijaya Bank 0.94 1.05 1.15 1.13 1.15 1.17 0.78 1.05 HSBC** 1.16 0.83 0.75 0.72 1.82 1.03 0.65 1.22
Average o f Other Krung Thai Bank - 1.00 - - 1.00 -
Nationalised Banks 0.95 1.01 1.03 0.99 1.19 1.00 0.77 0.91 Mashreq Bank 1.12 1.02 0.90 1.02 1.94 0.58 0.59 0.67
UTI/Axis Bank* 1.09 1.00 0.61 0.66 1.48 1.00 0.56 0.83 Oman International Bank 0.63 1.17 1.00 0.74 1.05 0.85 0.71 0.63
Bank o f Rajasthan 0.88 1.04 1.10 1.00 . 1.00 1.17 0.88 1.03 SocieteGenerale** 0.97 1.08 0.92 0.97 1.29 0.91 1.01 1.18
Catholic Syrian Bank 0.86 1.01 1.12 0.97 0.99 0.90 0.96 0.85 Sonali Bank 0.84 0.85 0.98 0.70 - 1.00 -
City Union Bank 0.96 0.98 1.19 1.12 1.10 0.92 0.87 0.88 Standard Chartered Bank** 1.27 0.94 0.64 0.76 1.70 1.29 0.70 1.52
Development Credit Bank* 0.82 0.93 1.04 0.80 1.26 0.71 0.68 0.61 Average of
Dhanalakshmi Bank 0.96 0.84 1.18 0.95 1.07 0.54 0.86 0.50 Big Foreign Banks 0.94 0.96 0.82 0.74 1.63 0.97 0.83 1.30
Federal Bank 1.03 0.97 1.07 1.07 1.17 1.07 0.86 1.07 Average o f Foreign Banks 0.87 0.94 0.87 0.71 1.49 0.98 0.78 1.13
HDFC Bank* 1.10 1.00 0.62 0.68 1.77 1.00 0.37 0.66 Bank w ith an asterisk (*) and tw o asterisks (* * ) is a N ew Private Sector Bank and Big Foreign
Bank respectively. By 'big' w e are referring to a foreign bank having 100 or even m ore
ICICI Bank* 1.35 1.00 0.37 0.50 1.67 1.00 0.28 0.46 num ber of em ployees in 2007.

Economic & Political w e e k ly K23Q m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 71

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 o n T u e ,0 6 N ov 2018 11:01:18 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Figure 2: Scatter Plot of TFP Change and Its Components through One Model Relative to the Other average value of the s b i lending
Technical Changes Comparison Technical Efficiency Changes Comparison rate; deposits are discounted by
♦
2.4
the average value of the deposit
O 2.0
rate; and borrowing and other
* ♦ ♦ 1.9
liabilities are discounted by the
♦♦ ♦ ♦
1.5 ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦ ' 1.4
average value of the bank rate
over the eight-year period
1.0 ♦ 0.9 (2000-07). Similarly, variables
♦% used in Model 11 are also ad­
0.5
0.50 0.70 0.90 1.10 1.30 1.50
0.4
0.50 0.70 0.90 1.10 1.30 justed by the average values of
Technical change - Model I TE c h a n g e -M o d e l I the proper variables over this
Scale Efficiency Changes Comparison TFP Changes Comparison period. For instance, demand
1.4 3.3 deposits and s t deposits are dis­
1.2 2.8 counted by the short-term (one
1 1.0 2.3 to three years) and long-term
~oo
2 0.8 1.8 (more than three years) deposit
* * < $ & * * *
1.3 rates respectively, fixed assets
0.4 0.8
are adjusted by the wholesale
♦
0.2 0.3
price index ( w p i) of the ma-
0.35 0.85 1.35 1.85 0.40 0.80 1 .2 0
160 chinery and equipment group
S C F -M o d e l I TFP C h a n g e s -M o d e l I
and the proxy variable for
hereafter).7 We also use the production approach (Model n, material used is adjusted by the w p i of manufactured products.
hereafter) to see whether or not the basic results of the per­
formance-related issues considered in the present study Empirical Findings
change drastically due to changes in the approach of defining We have used the econometric/statistical package s h a z a m to
the inputs and outputs of banks. solve the various d e a l p problems to determine the individual
We use individual bank-level (yearly) data for 68 major bank-wise scores on t f p change and its components. The re­
Indian commercial banks for 19998 and 2007. The data is sults we have obtained are given in Table 2 (p 71). As discussed
taken from the Reserve Bank of India ( r b i ) website. We have earlier, one of the objectives of using two alternative models in
data on eight State Bank of India (s b i) and its associates and 20 the present study is to see whether the basic results regarding
banks each from the other publicly-owned, privately-owned the performance-related issues of Indian commercial banks
and foreign-owned categories. The input and output variables changes by simply changing the sets of their inputs and out­
we have used in our analysis are discussed below. puts. Our answer to this question is clearly “ no” , at least for the
sets of inputs and outputs we have considered. For instance,
Model I we present scatter plots of t f p changes as well as of three of its
As we have already mentioned, the number of employees, total components, showing the correlation between these scores ex­
deposits and borrowing and other liabilities are considered as perienced by the individual banks through one model relative
three inputs whereas investments and advances are consid­ to the other in Figure 2. In two - those of technical change and
ered as two outputs. scale (efficiency) change factor - of the total four cases, there
is clearly a positive correlation between the two sets of scores.
Modelll Although there is no such evidence of any positive correlation
As per the production approach, the total number of deposits in the remaining two cases, there is undoubtedly no negative
created by a bank are considered its output. Since we have no correlation between the two sets of scores. The positive corre­
information about these numbers for all the three types of de­ lation for both technical change and scale (efficiency) change
posits a bank creates (viz, demand deposits, saving deposits factor is also confirmed by the Spearman’ s rank correlation
and term deposits), we have taken their values and consider coefficient between the rankings of the banks on the basis of
two different outputs - demand deposits and s t deposits the two sets of scores obtained through Model 1and Model 11.
(which is the sum of savings deposits and term deposits). Here We observed that this correlation coefficient is statistically sig­
we have considered the total number of employees, amount of nificantly different from zero9 for these two components of
fixed assets and operating expenses less payments to and pro­ t f p change experienced by the 68 Indian commercial banks
vision for employees (as a proxy of materials used by the bank) we have considered.
as three inputs. Now we turn to the overall changes in the performance of the
We have adjusted the nominal figures of the variables men­ Indian banks over the period 1999 to 2007. As can be easily
tioned above by discounting/adjusting them using suitable in­ understood from our methodological discussion, technical change
terest rate/price indicators. For instance, 2007 values of the is a measure of the extent of shift of the concerned frontier pro­
variables investments and advances are discounted by the duction function, it is, therefore, collectively determined by all

72 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 GEES Economic & Political w eek ly

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:18 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 -- ~ ~ SPECIALARTICLE
the firms and it is unusual that a firm in itself determining the By simply providing a close look at the output vectors we
(possible upward, if any) shift of the entire frontier and eventu­ have considered under the two models, it can be easily under­
ally the index of its (and others’ ) technical change. Rather, stood why nationalised banks are shown to be lagging behind
firms as a whole play a major role in determining it. Thus, al­ Table 3a: Distribution of the Top 17Banks according to the Change in
though technical change of a firm is an important component of Different Performance Indicators
its t f p change, the firm itself has generally little contribution in Bank Group No of Banks Out of the Top 17
Model 1 Modeill
determining it. Rather, two other components, namely technical
TC TEC SCF TFP TC TEC SCF TFP
efficiency change and scale (efficiency) change factor, of a firm State Bank of India and its associates 2 5 0 3 0 2 1 2
are much more important determinants (in improving its overall Other nationalised banks 7 4 8 7 3 4 4 4
performance) and they are influenced by its own activity. Private sector banks 3 4 9 7 3 5 6 2
So, in judging the improvement of overall performance of a Foreign banks 5 4 0 0 11 6 6 9
bank in our study we pay more attention to the two latter com­
ponents of its t f p change and relatively less to the earlier. Table 2 Table 3b: Distribution of the Top 34Banks according to the Change
in Different Performance Indicators_______________________
shows that, on an average, the group comprising the s b i and its Bank Group No of Banks Out of the Top 34

associates improved its performance best in the light of overall Model I Modeill

tfp change or any of its three components under Model 1 . TC TEC SCF TFP TC TEC SCF TFP

Other nationalised banks, private-sector banks and foreign
banks follow one after another in the same order. Contrary to
this, the order becomes foreign banks, other nationalised
banks, the s b i group and private-sector banks in the light of
overall t f p change under Model 11 . However, this improvement
of the foreign bank group is mainly driven by technical changes
among its various members. If we consider only technical effi­
ciency improvement and improvement in scale (efficiency)
change, the two indicators that are mostly determined by the
activity of a bank itself, the story becomes almost the same as that
which we have observed under Model 1. Here again, the s b i group
comes first, followed by other nationalised banks, foreign banks
and private-sector banks, one after another. Therefore, even in a
truly changed liberal economic environment, the nationalised
banks have adjusted and improved themselves better compared
to their counterparts under private or foreign ownership.
We now turn to individual bank-wise performance by con­
ducting some fractile group analysis. To be specific, we order
the individual banks according to the change in their overall
performance and three of its components and consider only
the top 17 banks (that is, 25% or more) and see what their dis­
tribution is among the four bank groups. This distribution,
given in Tables 3a and 3b (showing a similar distribution as
that of the top 34 banks (that is, 50% or more)). These two ta­
bles show almost an identical distribution, which demon­
strates that public-sector banks have adjusted well to the
changed scenario and improved their performance better than
their private as well as foreign counterparts under Model 1. On
the other hand, under Model 11, foreign banks followed by pri­
vate sector banks were doing better relative to their national­
ised counterparts. Now the immediate question is why then is
the overall performance of foreign banks low as per the latter
two indicators of t f p change even under Model 11? The obvious
answer is that there are a few foreign banks such as Abu Dhabi
Commercial Bank, American Express Bank, Mashreq Bank,
and Oman International Bank within the foreign group and
those like Development Credit Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank, and
Lord Krishna Bank within the private group which pull down
the respective group averages for technical efficiency change
and scale (efficiency) change factor to excessively low levels.
State Bank o f India and its associates 5 7 5 8 2 2 4 3
Other nationalised banks 12 11 14 14 12 10 7 12
Private sector banks 10 9 14 9 7 8 15 8
Foreign banks 7 7 1 3 13 14 8 11
their counterparts under foreign and private ownership under
Model 11while the scenario is the opposite under Model i. We
have already argued that the nationalised banks have more
developmental as well as social obligations than the other two
groups of banks and distribute their services among more and
more economically backward regions, in general, and rural
areas, in particular. Thus, one of their declared objectives, as a
representative of the government, is to bring as many people
as possible into the formal financial system and relieve them
from the credit-cobweb of informal moneylenders. In doing so,
they have a large number of small customers but the total
deposits collected from them are also relatively (or to be specific,
proportionately) small. On the other hand, private sector and
foreign banks mainly target a fewer number of creditworthy
customers and the total deposits collected from them are rela­
tively large. Since we have used the total value of deposits cre­
ated by a bank instead of the number o f deposits created by it,
as proposed by the production approach, foreign and private
sector banks seem to be better improving themselves when
compared to their nationalised counterparts. The picture may
show the opposite even under Model n if we were able to use
the total number of deposits created by a bank as its output.
Similarly, since we have considered investments and advances
as the two outputs produced by a bank under Model i, both of
which, in general, and the latter, in particular, is a combina­
tion of many of the socially desired factors, intuitively it is not
very difficult to understand why the public sector banks are
seen to be performing relatively better under this model.
Again, as shown in Table 2, nationalised banks show im­
provement in both technical efficiency and scale efficiency
during this time under Model 1while under Model 11there is
no change in the former and the change is, in fact, in the nega­
tive direction for the latter. On a totality, despite an improve­
ment in technical change under Model n overall t f p growth
indicator becomes smaller here than that under Model 1. On
the contrary, all the three components of change in t f p worsen

Economic & Political weekly E33Q m arch 24, 2012 vol x l v i i n o 12 73

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e ,06 Nov 2018 11:01:18 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 SPECIALARTICLE
under Model i for the foreign banks, while although the two
efficiency components change negatively under Model n tech­
nical improvement is so sharp here that it pulls the t f p change
index above unity In fact, although all of the four bank groups
experience technical improvement under Model n, the inten­
sity of such change is very high in case of foreign banks rela­
tive to their domestic counterparts, which results in highest
t f p change index for the foreign banks under this model. Ob­
serve that, the economic intuition discussed above considering
the specific output vectors in question may also be well appli­
cable here in explaining such differences in overall t f p change
indices across the bank groups under the two models.
However, one may opine that it is not desirable to consider
all the domestic private sector banks in a single group and sim­
ilarly for the foreign banks as well, in view of their widely dif­
ferent characteristics. For that, we have distinguished five new
private banks from the old private banks and 11 relatively big
foreign banks having 100 or more employees in 2007, from the
others. We have reported the overall performance indicators
for these two newly defined bank groups in Table 2. Interest­
ingly, the results we have already discussed remain exactly the
same even when we compare the performance of new private
banks and relatively bigger foreign banks with the national­
ised banks. Therefore, our results seem to be robust.
We want to examine one more feature, i e, whether and to
what extent the t f p performance is correlated with financial
performance of the banks. In doing so, we have calculated the
correlation coefficient of t f p indices with financial perform­
ance indicators like the average profit per employee (p p e ),
average business10per employee (b p e ), average profit per unit
volume of business (p p b ), growth of p p e , b p e and p p b during
this period, etc. We find such correlation to be significant11for
the cases of average p p e and t f p under Model 11, average b p e
and t f p under Model 11 and growth of b p e and t f p under
Model 1and these values are 0.33,0.37 and 0.64, respectively.
So, there is some degree of positive correlation between finan-
* cial performance and t f p performance of the banks.
4 Concluding Remarks
Assessments of the performance of Indian commercial banks are
not new in the literature. We have already discussed a few of
them earlier in this paper. As evident from our discussion, some
earlier studies have observed that nationalised banks per­
form relatively better than their counterparts under private
and foreign ownership, whereas others show an opposite kind
of experience. However, most of the earlier studies considered
relatively partial measures such as the technical efficiency of the
banks. We have considered overall t f p improvement achieved
by the individual banks and decomposed it into the three of its
economically meaningful components. Furthermore, we have
considered in some sense the true liberalised era of the Indian
banking sector as our study period and assessed the extent to
which individual banks have adjusted themselves to the new re­
gime and improved in this period. Our results suggest that pub­
lic sector banks are, on an average, adjusting themselves to the
changing environment better and improving their performance
relative to their counterparts under private and foreign owner­
ship. The latter were expected to do better under the new
regime, given their relatively more flexible operating systems as
well as their better market orientation.
In an earlier study, Bhaumik and Dimova (2004) show that
although the domestic private and foreign banks were better
performing, and, hence, more efficient than public sector
banks during the initial years of post-financial deregulation in
India, competition forced public sector banks to eliminate this
performance gap by the financial year 1998-99. Sensarma
(2006) also shows that although Indian banks, in totality, have
improved their performance during the period 1986 to 2000 in
terms of both efficiency and productivity, foreign banks were
the worst performers throughout the period as compared with
public and domestic private banks. Since we have considered
the immediate later period to that considered in the above two
studies, our findings, coupled with those of the two mentioned
here, have important policy implications for the government’ s
attitude towards overall market orientation of the Indian
banking sector. To be specific, the government should have a
more cautious approach liberalising its banking sector and not
blindly invite more foreign players to it in view of the fact that
the banks under (domestic) private and foreign ownerships
may not be necessarily better performers. Of course, their
presence may be of immense help to make the overall Indian
banking business more and more competitive, which obvi­
ously have a positive bearing on the Indian overall financial
system to be more efficient.
However, we have used d e a methodology, which is based on
mathematical programming techniques, without considering
the possible error structures that may affect the analysis. Since
any methodology has its relative advantages as well as dis­
advantages over its possible alternatives, our analysis is not
free from its respective limitations.

NOTES________________________________________
1 See Casu and Molyneux (2003) for an exten­
sive survey of the relevant literature on per­
formance o f banks.
2 Indian banks are now investing heavily in
computerized technologies such as telebank­
ing, mobile banking, net banking, automated
teller machines (ATMs), credit cards, debit
cards, smart cards, call centres, customer
relationship management (CRM), data ware­
housing and the like. All these facilities, which
are new innovations in banking technologies,
help the Indian banking system improve its
service quality, particularly by lowering the
time cost associated with each transaction, to
a huge extent.
3 However, this study is to some extent different
from the others mentioned above in the sense
that the others deal with different Indian com-
■mercial banks while this one deals with differ­
ent branches of a single public-sector bank.
4 Detailed exposition o f Malmquist productivity
index and its decomposition is shown in the
Appendix. Interested readers may also look up
Ray (2004, Chapter 11) for a detailed discus­
sion on popular productivity indices o f both
the positive and normative kind.
5 Which we shall discuss later in details.
6 Interested readers may look up Mohan (2005),
Berger and Humphrey (1992), Fredas and Rochet
(1997) for detailed discussions on these approaches.
7 This is also known as the “ asset approach” .
8 The year 1999 refers to the financial year be­
ginning in April 1998 and ending in March
1999. Similarly, the year 2007 refers to the
financial year April 2006 - March 2007. We
adopt this convention throughout the paper.
9 We know that for sample size (n) more than or
equal to 40, r$V n - i is approximately normally
distributed with mean zero and variance unity,
w herers = i - ( 6 S df/n(n2-i)j, is the Spearman's

74 m a r c h 24, 2012 v o l x l v i i n o 12 QQEO Economic & Political w e e k ly

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e ,06 Nov 2018 11:01:18 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

man’ s rank correlation coefficient between the
two sets of ranks of the observations and dj is
the difference between these two sets of ranks
for the ith observation. In our sample, values of
this statistic are 3.39 and 3.70 for technical
change and scale (efficiency) change factor re­
spectively, which clearly exceed the concerned
tabulated value even at 1% level of significance.
10 Sum of the values of total deposits and advan­
ces of a bank is defined to be the total volume
of business of it.
11 We know that for sample size (n) more than 6,
r Vn-2
---- - have an approximately t-distribution
V1-r2
with n - 2 degrees of freedom where r is the
sample correlation coefficient between the two
variables.
12 Clearly / (•) and R (•) are the north-western
boundary of T and Tc respectively.
13 Note that scale efficiency does not state any­
thing about the actual scale of production rela­
tive to the MPSS, in the sense that one cannot
say whether the firm is actually practising
more or less than the MPSS by simply observ­
ing its scale efficiency score.
14 VforVRSandCforCRS.
15 Simar and Wilson (1998) decomposed the
Malmquist TFP index further and provide
more economically meaningful interpretation
of both of the technical change and the scale
change factor of the Fare et al (1994) and Ray-
Desli (1997) measures. Interested readers may
look up the paper for this decomposition. How­
ever, we do not consider their decomposition in
the present study.
16 Interested readers may look up Ray (2004,
Chapters 2, 3) for an explicit discussion on the
formation of the respective production possi­
bility set for alternative technological specifi­
cations and how the associated LP problems
are structured from that.
R EFER EN CES____________________________________
Banker, R D (1984): “Estimating the Most Produc­
tive Scale Size Using Data Envelopment Analy­
sis”,European Journal of Operational Research,
17 fi)> pp 35-44-
Barman, RB (2007): “ Determinants of Profitability
of Banks in India” , presidential address deliv­
ered at the 43rd Annual Conference of the
Indian Econometric Society, Indian Institute of
Technology, Bombay (5 January).
Bauer, P W, A N Berger and D B Humphrey (1993):
“Efficiency and Productivity Growth in US
Banking”in H O Fried, C A K Lovell and
S S Schmidt (ed.), The Measurement of Produc­
tive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications
(Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp 386-413.
Berger, A N and D B Humphrey (1992): “ Measure­
ment and Efficiency Issues in Commercial
Banking”in Z Griliches (ed.), Output Measure­
ment in the Service Sector (Chicago: Chicago
University Press), pp 245-79.
Berger, A N and L J Mester (2001): “ Explaining the
Dramatic Changes in Performance of US
Banks: Technological Change, Deregulation,
and Dynamic Changes in Competition” , Work­
ing Paper, University of Pennsylvania.
Bhattacharyya, A, C A K Lovell and P Sahay (1997):
“The Impact of Liberalisation on the Produc­
tive Efficiency of Indian Commercial Banks” , Sathye, M (2003): “
European Journal of Operational Research, 98
(2), pp 332-45-
Bhaumik, S K and R Dimova (2004): “ How Impor­
tant Is Ownership in a Market with Level Play­
ing Field? The Indian Banking Sector Revisit­
ed” , Journal of Comparative Economics, 32 (1),
pp 165-80.
Chaffai, M E (1997): “ Productivity and Efficiency
E con om ic & P olitical w e e k ly BBC3 m a r c h 24, 2012
This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:18 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Performances of the Tunisian Banking Indus­
try before and after the Economic Liberalisa­
tion Program: An Econometric Study using
Panel Data”in R Dahel and I Sirageldin (ed.),
Models for Economic Policy Evaluation Theory
and Practice: An International Experience. Re­
search in Human Capital and Development
(Greenwich, CT: JAI Press), Vol II, Part B,
PP 335-50.
Chakrabarti, R and G Chawla (2005): “ Bank Effi­
ciency in India since the Reforms: An Assess­
ment” ,Money & Finance, 2 (22-23), pp 31-48.
Das, A and S Ghosh (2006): “ Financial Deregula­
tion and Efficiency: An Empirical Analysis
of Indian Banks during the Post-Reform
Period” , Review of Financial Economics, 15 (3),
pp 193-221.
Das, A, S C Ray and A Nag (2009): “ Labour-Use
Efficiency in Indian Banking: A Branch-Level
Analysis” , Omega, 37 (2), pp 411-25.
Fare, R, S Grosskopf, B Lindgren and P Roos (1992):
“ Productivity Changes in Swedish Pharmacies
1980-1989: A Non-parametric Malmquist Ap­
proach” , Journal of Productivity Analysis, 3
(1/2), pp 85-101.
Fare, R, S Grosskopf, M Norris and Z Zhang (1994):
“ Productivity Growth, Technical Progress, and
Efficiency Change in Industrialised Countries” , associated benchmark technology has to be
American Economic Review, 84 (1), pp 66-83.
Farrell, M J (1957): “ The Measurement of Produc­
tive Efficiency” , Journal of the Royal Statistical
Society, Series A, General, 120 (3), pp 253-81.
Frexias, X and J C Rochet (1997): Microeconomics of
Banking (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT
Press).
Frisch, R (1965): Theory of Production (Chicago:
Rand McNally).
Humphrey, D B and L B Pulley (1997): “ Banks’ Re­
sponses to Deregulation: Profits, Technology,
and Efficiency” , Journal of Money, Credit and
Banking, 29 (1), pp 73- 93-
Kumbhakar, S C and S Sarkar (2003): “ Deregula­
tion, Ownership, and Productivity Growth in
the Banking Industry: Evidence from India”
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 35 (3),
pp 403-24.
Mittal, R K and S Dhingra (2007): “ Assessing the
Impact of Computerisation on Productivity and
Profitability of Indian Banks: An Application of
Data Envelopment Analysis” ,Delhi Business Re­
view, 8 (1), pp 63-73.
Mohan, R (2005): “ Reforms, Productivity and Effi­
ciency in Banking: The Indian Experience” ,Ad­
dress Delivered at the 21st Annual General
Meeting and Conference of the Pakistan Socie­
ty of Development Economists, Islamabad.
Rangarajan, C (2007): “ The Indian Banking Sys­
tem - Challenges Ahead” , First R K Talwar Me­
morial Lecture, Indian Institute of Banking
and Finance.
Ray, S C (2004): Data Envelopment Analysis: Theory
and Techniques for Economics and Operations
Research (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press).
Ray, S C and E Desli (1997): “ Productivity Growth,
Technical Progress, and Efficiency Change in
Industrialised Countries: Comment” ,American
Economic Review, 87 (5), pp 1033-39.
Sarkar, J, S Sarkar and S K Bhaumik (1998): “ Does
Ownership Always Matter? Evidence from the
Indian Banking Industry” ,Journal of Compara­
tive Economics, 26 (2), pp 262-81.
Efficiency of Banks in a Devel­
oping Economy: The Case of India” , European
Journal of Operational Research, 148 (3), pp
662-71.
Schumpeter, J A (1911): “ The Theory of Economic
Development: An Inquiry into Profits, Capital,
Credit, Interest and the Business Cycle” , trans­
lated by Redvers Opie (Cambridge, Mass: Har­
vard University Press), 1934.
v o l x l v i i n o 12
SPECIAL ARTICLE
Sensarma, R (2006): “ Are Foreign Banks Always
the Best? Comparison of State-Owned, Private
and Foreign Banks in India” , Economic Model­
ling, 23 (4), pp 717-36.
Shephard, R W (1970): Theory of Cost and Produc­
tion Functions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Uni­
versity Press).
Simar, L and P W Wilson (1998): “ Productivity
Growth in Industrialised Countries” , Univer­
sity Catholique de Louvain, CORE Discussion
Paper No 1998036, Belgium.
Smith, RT (1998): “ Banking Competition and Macro-
economic Performance” , Journal of Money,
Credit and Banking, 30 (4), pp 793-815.
Stiglitz, J E (1998): “
More Instruments and Broader
Goals: Moving Towards the Post-Washington
Consensus” , WIDER Annual Lecture, Helsinki
(7 January).
A p p e n d ix
M a lm q u is t P r o d u c tiv ity In d e x a n d Its
D e c o m p o s it io n
As we have already mentioned, the Malmquist
productivity index is a normative measure; an
taken into account to measure it. Since produc­
tion technology itself may change over time,
either of the technology of the base period and
the current period may be used as the bench­
mark. To be specific, let us assume that (x^ y J
and (Xj, y ) are the input-output combinations
of a firm in the periods o and 1 respectively.
Then change in the Malmquist t f p index from
period o to period 1can be written as
^ Yl f*(xt)R'(xt)
n = x>_ f i(x1)'Ri(xl)> X, ,i = o , i
1 Xo y0 f i(xp)R'(x0)
, x0 f'(x0) R‘ (x0) xc
W here/1(•) and R‘(•) are the production fron­
tiers of the ith period, assuming that the pro­
duction technology exhibits variable returns
to scale ( v r s ) and constant returns to scale
( c r s ) respectively, and the two concerned
production possibility set be denoted by T and
T0respectively.12 Therefore, 770 and ITl may be
different if the production technology itself
changes from period 0 to period 1. To get rid
of such complexity, the conventional way is to
measure the index once considering the base
period technology as the benchmark and once
again considering the technology o f the cur­
rent period, and then take the geom etric aver­
age of these two measures to obtain the overall
Figure 1
SPECIAL ARTICLE

chan ge in the M alm quist tfp index. Thus the overall m easure o f changes
o f the M alm quist tpf in dex can b e w ritten as follow s:
n = [u ox u lr
Let us discu ss first the con cepts o f technical efficien cy (te) and scale ef­
ficiency o f a produ ction unit w ith the help o f the diagram below. Let atbc
(in Figure 1, p 75) b e the produ ction frontier (exhibiting vrs tech n ology
w ith other usual desirable properties). An (output-oriented) m easure o f
te o f firm f, as defined to b e the ratio o f actually prod u ced am ount o f out­
put to the frontier level o f output for the given level o f input u sed by this
FX1 FX1/OXl
firm, is given by — = --------- w hich is equal to the ratio o f productivity,
BXj BX/OXj
as defined to be the am ount o f output per unit o f input used, at the poin t
F to that at the poin t B. Note that te is identical (and equal to unity) at
all poin ts on the frontier, but productivity is not. It is easy to see that p r o ­
ductivity is the highest at the point T a m on g all feasible poin ts (that is,
th ose that lie w ithin the produ ction possibility set). Hence, ox* is the size
relating to the con cept o f techn ically optim al produ ction scale (tops)
(a la Frisch 1965), and the w id ely known, m ost productive scale size
(mpss) (a la Banker 1984) in the diagram. Output-oriented scale efficiency
o f a firm is defined to b e the ratio o f productivity at its (output-oriented)
projection on to the frontier to that at the mpss. Similarly, input-oriented
m easure o f scale efficiency o f a firm is the ratio o f productivity at its (in­
put-oriented) projection on to the frontier to that at the mpss . In other
w ords, scale efficiency is a m easu re o f the relative productivity o f a firm
w ith respect to productivity at the mpss, if the firm b ecom es able to elim ­
inate its technical inefficiency in produ ction and, therefore, naturally it
lies betw een o and 1.13 So, scale efficien cy o f any firm lies on the vertical
BX/OX
line BXj is >w hich is the ratio o f productivity at poin t B to that at
poin t T, and (the input-oriented) scale efficien cy o f any firm that lies on
the h orizontal line B^F is the ratio o f productivity at the point B1to that at
poin t T. But, productivity at poin t T is equivalent to that o f the h ypotheti­
cal firms at points D and Although, these poin ts are n ot feasible under
the vrs technology, they are on the graph o f the crs technology. Thus,
BX1/OX1 B X / O X ^ BXl FX/DXj
--------- and sim ilarly w e can sh ow that
TX*/OX* D X /O X " FX1/BX1
W Y1F
the ratio o f productivity at B, to that at D, is equal to the r a t io --------- .
1 1 YjB/YjF
So, scale efficien cy o f a firm is the ratio o f its te u nder the crs tech n ol­
o g y to that under the vrs technology, irrespective o f the orientation o f
the m easurem ent o f technical efficiency.
Let us n ow define the con cep t o f output-oriented distance function
(a la Shephard 1970) here. The (output-oriented) distance function evaluated
w here superscript and subscript o f D are used to indicate, respectively, the
period o f tech n o lo gy con sid ered as the benchm ark and assu m ed returns
to scale specification for the tech n o lo gy respectively.14 Before Ray-Desli,
Fare et al (1992) introdu ced a decom position o f the M alm quist tfp index
a ssu m in g that the true produ ction tech n o lo gy exhibits crs . A ccording to
their decom position, n can b e show n to b e the produ ct o f tw o different
RKxJ RKx)
com ponents: a m easure o f technical change x , w hich is
R°(xc) R°(xJ)J
the (un-weighted) geometric mean of the shift in the true (crs) produc­
tion function at input levels x 0 and x l} and technical efficiency change
y/R K x)
j > - again using the true (crs) production function as the
benchmark. Note that, if the produ ction tech n o lo gy truly exhibits crs ,
the last com ponent, that is, scf o f Ray-Desli d e com p osition disappears
w hereas the other tw o com pon en ts exactly m atch th ese tw o com pon en ts
o f Fare et al (1992). Since glob a lly crs is a restrictive assu m ption about
the u nderlying technology, w hen crs d o e s not h old everyw here. Fare et
al (1992) d ecom p osition is not particularly m eaningful. In an effort to
a ccom m oda te vrs, Fare et al (1994) p r op ose d the exten ded d e c o m p o ­
sition a ccordin g to w hich the M alm quist tfp in dex can b e w ritten as a
produ ct o f three different com ponents: a m easu re o f tech n ical change,
R1^ R1^ ) y/pfe.)
x ; a m easure o f technical efficien cy change.
RofxJ R°(x1) ,y /W
HxJ/RK*,)
and a m easu re o f scale efficiency change. . But Ray and
f°(x0)/Ro(x0)
D esli (1997) rightly argu ed that the first com p on en t o f Fare et al (1994) is
not an appropriate m easu re o f technical ch a n ge w h en prod u ction tech ­
n olog y d o e s not follow crs globally.
However, on e particular disadvantage o f the Ray-Desli d e com p osition
is that at m ost tw o (namely, the first and the third ones) o f their three
d e c o m p o se d com pon en ts m ay n ot b e ob ta in ed for som e ob serv ation s if
the quantity o f any individual input o f an observation in the b ase (cur­
rent) p e riod is sm aller than the sm allest quantity o f the corresp on d in g
input across all firm s in the current (base) period. However, w e follow
on ly the Ray-Desli m easu re15in ou r study.
From the description o f the distance fu n ction prov ided ear­
lier, it is easy to see that the Shephard distance fu nction is identi­
cal to Farrell’
s (1957) m easu re o f (output-oriented) tech n ical ef­
ficiency and can, therefore, b e ob ta in ed straightw ay by solv in g
the various dea linear p rogra m m in g (lp) problem s for alterna­
tive tech n ologica l specifications. For instance, the “
sam e-period”
v rs distance function for the kth p rodu ction unit can b e show n to
b e Dy (xt,yt) = i/tf>£ w here cp£ = m ax 9 such that the four constraints:

at any input-output pair (x,y) is given b y D ^ ^ (x, y) = min 5: (*5") e T(°rTc) (i) 2 yf X\ > <pyL (ii) 2 x| X\ < x*, (iii) 2 AJ = 1 and (iv) X] > o for all i, are
i=i 1 1 K i=i 1 1 K i= i 1 1
if produ ction tech n ology is assu m ed to exhibit vrs (or crs). So, it can b e cross-p eriod ” vrs dista n ce fu n ctio n for
satisfied. Similarly, the “
easily u n derstood that the (output-oriented) te and the (output-orient­ the Xth produ ction unit can b e sh ow n to b e D* (xt,yt) = 1/9J* w here
ed) distance function are the same. However, u sin g distance functions, ** n
= m ax 9 w here such that the four constrains: (i) .2 y? X? > 9yjc,
n can b e shown, a la Ray and D esli (1997), to b e the produ ct o f three e c o ­
nom ically m ean in gful com ponents: technical chan ge (tc ), technical ef­ N N
(ii) 2 xf Xf < xL (iii) 2Xf = 1 and (iv) X*> o, for all i, are satisfied. We have
ficiency chan ge (tec) and scale (efficiency) chan ge factor (scf) and th ese i=i 1 1 K i= i1 1

com pon en ts can b e show n as follow s: to solve these tw o lp problem s w ithout the constraint (iii) to ge t the crs
distance functions for sam e p e riod and cross period respectively.16In the
DX>yo) above lp problem s, any one o f s and t can b e u sed as an indicator o f the
TC X
W xo.y<>) DIM,) base p eriod and the other as an indicator o f the current period.

f y/POq) D^xi.y,)
and Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
TEC 1 V * X ) [dX>Yo)J
Dc(x,»y1) D^Ovy,) available at
f PCxJ/R'Cx) P>(x1)/R°(x1)' Dv(xi-y>)
X
Dv(xi.y,) B.N.Dey & Co. N ew s A gen t
SCF A— ——
1 PCxJ/R'CxJ D ^ o’
Ya) Dc(Xc’
Yo) Panbazar, Guwahati 781001, Assam.

Dv(xo>y<>) Dv(xo.yo), Ph: 2546979, 2547931

76 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 IM Economic & Political weekly

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:18 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
D IS C U S S IO N
Transgressive Secularism
ARUN KUMAR PATNAIK_______________
Akeel Bilgrami’
s article
28 January 2012) generates a
lot of enchantment. But he also
transgresses its significance
by a discussion of Gandhi’
s Gandhi’
project as non-secular, by his
binary projection of religious
fundamentalism and by his
un-dialectical scrutiny of
Charles Taylor’s redefinition
of secularism.
Arun Kumar Patnaik (ia kpatnaiki@ yahoo.com )
teaches political scien ce at the University o f
Hyderabad.
Economic & Political weekly B flQ
I
(e p w , read Akeel Bilgrami’ s paper (“ Secu­
larism: Its Content and Context”
e p w , 2 8 January 2 0 1 2 ) on secularism
with a lot of excitement and got finally
disenchanted with his discussion of
s project as non-secular and his
binary projection of religious fundamen­
talism, among other things.
Let me first capture the areas of agree­
ment with his thesis. First, I agree with
him that any redefinition of secularism
must not be arbitrary and must not
assume a prior understanding valid for
all contexts. Second, I also agree with
him that Charles Taylor’ s redefinition of
secularism as a doctrine of equidistance
between religion and the State (my under­
standing of Taylor is entirely based on
Bilgrami’ s reflections) is problematic,
even though Bilgrami discards its rele­
vance for secularism. For Taylor’ s thesis
ignores that the State may intervene in
religious reforms as in Hirkey or India
rather than remain neutral and equidis­
tant towards many religions.
Third, he is correct in saying that sec­
ularism may not be always liberal demo­
cratic as in the contemporary West. It
could be articulated in an authoritarian
context in modern Turkey. Also, there
are many variants of non-liberal, non­
modern, non-secular articulations of
toleration, inter-religious peace as in
India’ s diverse syncretic religious cults
which are anathema to modern religious
fundamentalism today. By using blas­
phemy laws and gender inequality,
Bilgrami argues for the lexical ordering
of (s) (the principles and practices of
making secularism) such that (s) could
be arrived at by respecting religious and
non-religious domains, while at the
same time seeking intervention in do­
mains of religion, press for reforms
through dialogue by the State (dialogue
assumed by him here but mentioned in
e p w , 4 October 1997) by relying on “ reli­
gion ’ s internal reasons” . equidistance and neutrality of the State
m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12
This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:22 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Another important precondition o f (s)
is that the State does not drive away
religion, while seeking interventions to
reform religions. I entirely agree with
his contention. Moreover, what is heart­
ening for me is to know that he proposes
an expansive political society for setting
up the lexical order of (s): the State must
undertake the project of involving (im­
plying dialogue and participation) reli­
gious and non-religious communities in
arriving at a secular social compact.
There are still a few finer points where
his thesis could be appreciated.
Lexical Ordering: Conjectural?
But I have the following difficulties with
his thesis. First, his lexical ordering is
conjectural rather than process-oriented.
His blind opposition to the redefinition
of secularism offered by Taylor leads
him into a trap of opposition to any
redefinition. However, the lexical order­
ing of (s), desirable as it may be, cannot
be conceived as a one-time event. It
needs to be seen as part of historical
process, continuously reordering the lex­
ical of (s) by learning from what Gramsci
calls “ religious common sense/religion
of people/intellectual”or what Charles
Taylor calls “ social imaginary”and also,
from the strength of (s)’ s enemies in reli­
gious fundamentalism. I have written on
this subject in e p w (“ Theological Marx­
ism” , 22 October 2011). I would not bela­
bour the point here. Therefore, his oppo­
sition to any redefinition of secularism
including the one offered by Taylor
makes his exercise vulnerable. His lexical
ordering of (s) needs a dynamic concep­
tion of reordering as well.
Un-dialectical Understanding
Let us get back to what I call his blind,
rather than dialectical, reflection on Tay­
lor’s redefinition and his neutrality thesis
of secularism. I call his opposition blind
as he fails to see any merit in Taylor’ s re­
definition, even though he appreciates
Taylor’ s moral and political concerns in
articulating a neutralist position. It is pos­
sible for us to think through Taylor’re­
definition of secularism as a doctrine of
77
DISCUSSION

in plural religious context and yet agree “intrinsic faith”of a religion or “ internal its house from time to time. Otherwise, it
with Bilgrami’ s position on the State beliefs”of the irreligious, while seeking would be in a perpetual crisis as in India
intervention to reform religions without intervention in their “ extrinsic faith” , that today. By offering a normative and static
leading to any suppression of religion, is in domains of intra-religious and inter­ conception of (s), he misses out that
per se. These positions are not necessar­ religious domination or even domination secularism needs politics to make itself as
ily antagonistic. of reason/law over faith. (s). He misses the point that it is a cease­
If Bilgrami has reflected on Rajeev Political secularism must restrain all less process.
Bhargava’ s works on this subject over forms of domination, while it must facil­
the last 25 years, he would have been itate dialogues across faiths including Gandhi’
s Synthesis
able to articulate such a synthesising the non-religious, without choosing sides. Let us now see how Bilgrami fails to ex­
position on (s). In a long footnote (n 7), First, it cannot side with a form of domi­ amine such a position (as stated above)
Bilgrami correctly states that Indian sec­ nation associated with a majority or in Gandhi’ s secularism. He promises to
ularism is not the same as a “ state neu­ minority religion. Second, as the State is develop a paper on Gandhi’ s interven­
tralist ideal”presupposes (s) to be. How­ a principle agent of political secularism, tion later. But in the present paper, he
ever, he simply rejects such an ideal as the State cannot be a dialogue agent on offers a rudimentary conception of
relevant for India. But this is where he behalf of this or that religious or non­ Gandhi. I have serious difficulties with
creates problems in his lexical ordering religious group. The job of the State is to his position. I agree with him that the
of (s). It may be argued al la Bhargava facilitate such dialogues and to ensure State secularism may adopt something
that the State neutralist ideal is at least that no body dominates the secular show. from syncretic religious cultures in west
partly valid in the Indian story of (s). There are two kinds of dialogue possi­ Asia or Africa or south Asia. I also agree
ble between the State and religion/non- with him that there are principles of toler­
Bhargava’ s Political Secularism religion: critic and facilitator. Therefore, ation, inter-religious peace, coexistence,
Rajeev Bhargava’ s (2010) idea of political the doctrine of equidistance from many mutual learning and non-interference in
secularism maintaining “ principled dis­ forms of religious domination and facili­ non-western world of syncretic cultures,
tance”from religion presupposes such a tating dialogues as neutral facilitator of anathema to religious fundamentalism.
dialectical play between (secular) politics religious and non-religious groups is dou­ A lexical ordering of (s) must recognise
and faith-based communities. Bhargava bly relevant for the State to construct (s) such non-modern, non-secular worlds.
argues for a framework of “ autonomy” in a multi-religious context. As Bilgrami Having said that he goes one step fur­
and “ intervention” mediating between misses a notion of process in the making ther to claim that Gandhi rejected the
politics and religion following a value of (s), he does not realise the significance idea of secular state. He belongs to the
perspective. Expanding on his ideas fur­ of Taylor’ s doctrine of equidistance for his non-modern non-secular world of the
ther, it may be argued that secular politics own (s). For political secularism must syncretic cultures. I beg to differ with
(not to be confused with atheistic poli­ confront the processes of domination and this. Like Bilgrami, Gandhi also recog­
tics) must recognise the autonomy of must be prepared to redefine or reorder nises the relevance of synthesising

Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
REVIEW OF WOMEN'S STUDIES
October 22,2011

Subverting Policy, Surviving Poverty: Women and the SGSY in Rural Tamil Nadu - K Kalpana
Small Loans, Big Dreams: Women and Microcredit in a Globalising Economy - Kum ud Sharma
Women and Pro-Poor Policies in Rural Tamil Nadu: An Examination of Practices and Responses -J J e y a ra n ja n
Informed by Gender? Public Policy in Kerala - Seema Bhaskaran
Addressing Paid Domestic Work: A Public Policy Concern - Nimushakavi Vasanthi
Reproductive Rights and Exclusionary Wrongs: Maternity Benefits - Lakshmi Lingam, Vaidehi Yelamanchili
Reinventing Reproduction, Re-conceiving Challenges:
An Examination of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India - Vrinda Marwah, Sarojini N

For copies write to:

Circulation Manager,
Economic and Political Weekly,
320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013.
email: circulation@epw.in

78 m arch 24, 2012 v o l x l v ii n o 12 BRKB Economic & Political weekly

This content dow nloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 N ov 2018 11:01:22 U TC

A ll use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

non-secular world with the secular state.
Gandhi’ s attempt can be seen as one
synthesising religion of the popular, reli­
gion of the intellectual and the secular
state. The idea of secular State is not blind­
ly placed by Gandhi against religion of
the people or religion of the intellectual.
He refuses to dominate and condemn
idol worshipping Hindu religion in
which he never believed: religion of
people is recognised with empathy, so
typical of him. He does not believe in
Ram temple and thinks that his Ram is
locked up in mind and heart. Yet, he
refuses to condemn rationalistically any
popular belief in Ram temple. He does
not intend to dominate the intellectual’
Ram over the common Hindu’ s belief in
the Ram of the idol. May be it is still an
integral part of the non-modern non­
secular world. I cannot pass judgment
at this stage.
However, in 1947, immediately after
India’ s independence, he clearly recog­
nised that the new nation state was a
secular state and issued warnings that if
the secular state also behaved like the
missionary British state, there would be
a danger to secularism. He refers here to
certain forms of inter-religious domina­
tion that might arise due to missionary
activities. But he condemns the church’
conversion, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh’ s Suddhi (reconversion) and the
Muslim’ s Tabligh, and argues that all
forms of inter-religious domination
needs to be curbed by India’ s secular
state after Independence. That is how
the secular state would survive.
There is a warning that secularists
must learn in Gandhi’ s warning: the
secular state must maintain equidis­
tance from forms of inter-religious dom­
ination, remain neutral in umpiring re­
ligions and discourage them equally in
declaring some of their activities (the
tendency to dominate) unacceptable for
a secular state. The survival of a secular
state is a very modern concern. Gandhi
never gave up modern secular concerns.
Unlike, a typical liberal modernist, he
looks at its lexical ordering differently.
Probably, he would have agreed with
Bilgram i’ s lexical ordering of (s) but
would have instructed him to be more
vigilant of inter-religious domination so
Economic & Political w e e k ly B3S9 m a r c h 24, 2012
This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:22 UTC
DISCUSSION
that his lexical ordering might need blasphemer feeds into religious funda­
a redefinition. mentalism. Yet, Bilgrami proposes the
State intervention in religion but does
Learning from the Enemy not propose intervention in blasphem­
This brings me to my last but not the er’s life. When the secular state is thus
least reservation about Bilgrami. He seen synonymous with blasphem er’ s free­
constructs (more accurately hints at) riding speech, the State would let reli­
religious fundamentalism as the other of gion behave irresponsibly. No one-sided
secularism. He thereby falls into the trap intervention would work. Eventually the
of a typical secular ideology which fails secular state would fail to mediate be­
to recognise the strength of its enemies tween irresponsible religion and irre­
and ends up addressing the weakness of sponsible blasphemer. So, the State in­
the religious fundamentalism. Readers tervention needs to be an equidistance
would notice that I am making a Gram- intervention in multi-religious societies.
scian distinction between ideological No lexical reordering for blasphem er’ s
criticism and political criticism. The tendency to dominate religion in the
s former explores the strength of enemy name of her fundamental rights?
whereas the latter addresses its limits. Bilgrami has not felt that his lexical
In the making of (s), Bilgrami does not ordering of (s) has collapsed under the
tell us if the lexical ordering of (s) is possi­ weight of his silence. For he too thinks
ble without dialoguing with fundamental­ that secularism is an instrumental rath­
ism. Faced with fundamentalism, how er than intrinsic value just as the blas­
would he like to reorder the lexical of (s)? phemer thinks free speech is a licence
No lexical ordering of free speech for blas­ for her to say anything against religion.
phemers? Are blasphemers for free speech That calls for some sorts of the lexical re­
or freeriding speech? When free speech ordering of (s) by an expansive political
and secularism become instruments for the society in which, as stated before,
blasphemer, the lexical ordering of (s) may Bilgrami himself believes.
have been breached. What does the secular
state do in such a case? I am afraid, Bilgra­ R EF ER EN CES____________________________________
mi does not say anything on the responsi­ Bhargava, R (2010): The Promise o f India’
s Secular
s bility of (s) in such cases. In his lexical or­ Democracy (New Delhi: Oxford University
dering, the burden of responsibility shifts Press), pp 63-108.
Gandhi, M K (1999): The Collected Works of Mahat­
to religion rather than the secular state.
ma Gandhi (e-book), Vols 24, 38, 96 (New
Taylor in his personal letter to him tries Delhi: Publication Division, Government of
to draw his attention that an irresponsible India), pp 374-75,16-17,238-39, respectively.
Economic&PoliticalwEEKLY
PERSPECTIVES ON CASH TRANSFERS
May 21,2011
A Case for Reframing the Cash Transfer Debate in India - Sudha Narayanan
Mexico's Targeted and Conditional Transfers: Between Oportunidades and Rights - Pablo Yanes
Brazil's Bolsa Famflia: A Review - Fabio Veras Soares
Conditional Cash Transfers as a Tool of Social Policy - Francesca Bastagli
Cash Transfers as the Silver Bullet for Poverty Reduction: A Sceptical Note - Jayati Ghosh
PDS Forever? - Ashok Kotwal, Milind Murugkar,
Bharat Ramaswami
Impact of Biometric Identification-Based Transfers - Arka Roy Chaudhuri,
E Somanathan
The Shift to Cash Transfers: Running Better But on the Wrong Road? - Devesh Kapur
For copies write to: Circulation Manager,
Economic and Political Weekly,
320-321, A to Z Industrial Estate, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400 013.
email: circulation@epw.in______________________
v o l x l v i i n o 12 79
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 C U R R E N T S T A T IS T IC S EPW Research Foundation

The top 50 banking centres accounted for 63.7% of deposits and 72.9% of credit at the all-india level as on June 2011. While the credit deposit ratiofCDR) at the all-India level increased from 70.3% in June 2009
to 75.2% in June 2011, for the top 50 centres, the CDR jumped from 80.0% to 86.1% showing a significant diversion of deposit resources to the top 50 centres, for credit deployment. As on June 2011, the CDR was
higher than 130% in Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Coimbatore and in Ludhiana it was as high as 203.5%.

Macroeconomic Indicators____________________________________________________________ _________ __ _______ __ _____________

Variation (%): Point-to-Point
Index Numbers of Wholesale Prices*
Weights January Over Over 12 Months Fiscal Year So Far Full Financial Year
(Base Year: 2004-05 = 100 )A
2012 Month 2011 2010 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07
All Commodities 100.0 157.7 0.5 6.6 9.5 5.5 8.6 9.7 10.4 1.6 7.7 6.7
Primary Articles 20.1 199.7 0.9 2.3 18.4 6.1 17.7 13.4 22.2 5.4 9.6 12.8

Food Articles 14.3 191.4 0.3 -0.5 16.7 6.9 17.6 9.4 20.6 8.0 5.6 13.2
Non-Food Articles 4.3 182.8 2.4 0.6 26.6 -4.5 21.0 27.3 20.4 0.6 16.3 10.6

Minerals 1.5 324.5 1.9 24.8 16.1 21.6 12.3 15.2 37.9 -2.8 28.2 13.8
Fuel & Power 14.9 172.8 0.1 14.2 11.4 9.6 8.0 12.5 13.8 -3.4 7.4 1.1

Manufactured Products 65.0 141.2 0.4 6.5 5.3 4.1 5.1 7.4 5.3 1.7 7.1 6.3
Food Products 10.0 153.4 0.3 5.6 - 0.1 5.7 2.5 2.4 15.1 6.3 8.4 4.3
Food index (computed) 24.3 175.8 0.3 1.6" 10.3 6.5 11.9 6.8 18.5 7.3 6.7 9.6
All Commodities (Monthly average basts) 100.0 155.2 - 9.2 9.6 9.1 9.6 9.6 3.8 8.1 4.7 6.6

a The date of first release of data based on 2004-05 series wef 14 September 2010.
* Consequent upon the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) held on 24 January 2012, weekly release of Wholesale Price Index (WPI) for the commodities/items under the Groups "Primary Articles" and
"Fuel and Power" isdiscontinued with immediate effect. WPI shall, henceforth, be released on a monthly basis only. The last Weekly WPI for the week ending 14 January 2012._________________________________________
Variation (%): Point-to-Point
Cost of Living Indices Latest Over Over 12 Months Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year
Month 2012 Month 2011 2010 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06
Industrial Wbrkers(IW) (2001=100) 1981 0.5 5.3 93 7.0 10.6 8.8 14.9 8.0 7.9 6.7 5.3
Agricultural Labourers (AL) (1986-87=100) 6181 - 0.0 4.9 8.7 5.6 9.9 9.1 15.8 9.5 7.9 9.5 53

Note: Superscript numeral denotes month to which figure relates, e q, superscript 1 stands for January.
Variation
Moneyand Banking (Rs crore) 24 February Over Month Over Year Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year
2012 2011 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09
Money Supply (M,) 7226270 66800(0.9) 859550(13.5) 726780(11.2) 764020(13.6) 896817(16.0) 807920(16.8) 776930093)
Currency with Public 1015980 19330(1.9) 110630(12.2) 101780(11.1) 137860(18.0) 146704(19.1) 102043(153) 97040(17.1)
Deposits Money with Banks 6209220 49080(0.8) 751440(13.8) 627590(11.2) 626380(13.0) 750239(15.5) 707606(17.2) 683375(19.9)
of which: Demand Deposits 667340 2800(0.4) -11500(-1.7) -50320(-7.0) -39130(-5.5) -310 (-0.0) 129281 (22 .0) 10316(1.8)
Time Deposits 5541880 46280(0.8) 762940(16.0) 677910(13.9) 665510(16.2) 750549(18.2) 578325(16.4) 673059(23.5)
Net Bank Credit to Government 2326600" 25590(1.1) 453640(24.2) 343830(17.3) 203770(12.2) 313584(18.8) 391853(30.7) 377815(42.0)
Bank Credit to Commercial Sector 4726820 57500(1.2) 622990(15.2) 491410(11.6) 612420(17.5) 743997(213) 476516(15.8) 435904(16.9)
Net Foreign Exchange Assets 1461960 -19310(-1.3) 81480(5.9) 68620(4.9) 99010(7.7) 111858(8.7) 367718 (-5.2) 57053(4.4)
Banking Sector's Net Non-Monetary Liabilities 1302830 -3020(-0.2) 299690(29.9) 178070(15.8) 152510(17.9) 274078(32.2) -9050 (-1.1) 94672(12.4)
of which: RBI 537570 -12040(-2.2) 166020(44.7) 169220(45.9) 69900(23.2) 66660(22.1) -86316 (-223) 177709(84.5)
Reserve Money (2 March 2012) 1441000 32940(2.3) 150730(11.7) 64180(4.7) 134620(11.6) 221170(19.1) 167652(17.0) 59696(6.4)
Net RBI Credit to Centre 543640 44130(-) 236100H 149600W 95950H 182460 149819 176397
Scheduled Commercial Banks (24 February 2012)
Aggregate Deposits 5815470 47370(0.8) 727470(143) 607500(11.7) 595170(13.2) 71514305.9) 658716(17.2) 637170(19.9)
Demand 596440 2510(0.4) -7610H3) -45260(-7.1) -41560{-6.4) -3905 (-0.6) 122525(23.4) -1224 (-0.2)
Time 5219020 44860(0.9) 735080(16.4) 652760(14.3) 636730(16.6) 719048(18.7) 536191 (16.2) 638395(23.9)
Investments (for SLR purposes) 1744930 54910(3.2) 258260(17.4) 243310(16.2) 101920(7.4) 116867(8.4) 218342(18.7) 194694(20.0)
Bank Credit 4407520 56190(1.3) 594510(15.6) 465440(11.8) 568230(17.5) 697294(21.5) 469239(16.9) 413635(17.5)
Non-Food Credit 4324310 56070(13) 576590(15.4) 446510(11.5) 551430(173) 681500(213) 466961 (17.1) 411825 07.8)
Commercial Investments 175280 4070(2.4) 21230(13.8) 27679(18.8) 35979(30.5) 28872(24.5) 11654(11.0) 10911 (11.4)
Total Bank Assistance to Comml Sector 4499590 60140(1.4) 597820(15.3) 474189(11.8) 587409(17.7) 710372 (21.4) 478615 (16.9) 422736(17.5)
Note: Government Balances as on 31 March 2011 are after closure of accounts.
Index Numbers of Industrial Production January* Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year Averages
(Base 2004-05=100) Weights 2012 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07
General Index 100.00 187.9(6.8) 169.0(4.0) 162.5(83)I 165.4(8.2) 152.9(53) 145.2(2.5) 141.7(15.5) 122.6(12.9)
Mining 14.157 137.2-(2.7) 125.5-(2.6) 128.9(63)l 131.0(5.2) 124.5(7.9) 115.4(2.6) 112.5(4.6) 107.6(5.2)
Manufacturing 75.527 202.4(8.5) 179.9(4.5) 1723(8.9]1 175.6(8.9) 1613(4.8) 153.8(2.5) 150.1(18.4) 126.8(15.0)
Electricity 10316 151.1(3.2) 148.8(8.8) 136.8(53]1 138.0(5.6) 130.8(6.1) 1233(2.8) 120.0(6.4) 112.8(73)
* Indices for the month are Quick Estimates.
Fiscal Year So Far 2010-11 End of Fiscal Year
Capital Market
9 March 2012 Month Ago Year Ago Trough Peak Trough Peak 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09
BSE Sensitive Index (1978-79=100) 17503(-5.2) 17831 18470(8.3) 15175 19702 16022 21005 19445(10.9) 17528(80.5) 9709(-37.9)
BSE-100 (1983-84=100) 9232(-3.8) 9347 9598(5.7) 7805 10262 8540 11141 10096(8.6) 9300(88.2) 4943(-40.0)
BSE-200 (1989-90=100) 2170(-4.3) 2190 2268(5.3) 1824 2427 2034 2753 2379(8.1) 2200(92.9) 1140(-41.0)
S&P CNX Nifty (3 Nov 1995=1000) 5334(-3.6) 5412 5531(8.4) 4544 5912 4807 6312 5834(11.1) 5249(73.8) 3021 (-36.2)
Skindia GDR Index (2 Jan 1995=1000) 2404(-19.8) 2471 3000(15.2) 1875 3441 2477 3479 3151(9.3) 2883(134.2) 1153(-56.2)
Net Fll Investment in (US $ Mn Equities) - period end 109038(8.7) 105299 100285(34.4) - - - 101454(31.5) 77159(43.1) 51669H8.6)
January* Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year
ForeignTrade
2012 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07 2005-06 2004-05
Exports: Rs crore 130129 1153800(28.7) 896518(31.8) 1118823(32.3) 845534(0.6) 840754(28.2) 655863(14.7) 571779(25.3) 456418(21.6) 375340(27.9)
US$mn 25347 242792(23.5) 196633(37.8) 245868(37.5) 178751(-3.5) 185295(13.6) 163132(29.0) 126361(22.6) 103091(23.4) 83536(30.8)
Imports: Rs crore 205911 1859168(34.8) 1379478(24.5) 1596869(17.1) 1363736(-0.8) 1374434(35.8) 1012312(20.4) 840506(27.3) 660409(31.8) 501065(39.5)
USSmn 40108 391459(29.4) 302529(30.1) 350695(21.6) 288373(-5.0) 303696(20.7) 251654(35.5) 185749(24.5) 149166(33.8) 111517(42.7)
Non-POL USSmn 27783 273545(25.7) 217596(34.0) 249006(23.7) 201237(-4.2) 210029(22.2) 171940(33.5) 128790(22.4) 105233(37.1) 76772(33.2)
Balance of Trade: Rs crore -75782 -705369 -482959 -478047 -518202 -533680 356449 -268727 -203991 -125725
USSmn -14761 -148668 -105896 -104827 -109621 -118401 -88522 -59388 -46075 -27981
•Provisional figures.
Foreign Exchange Reserves (excluding Variation Over

gold but including revaluation effects) 2 March 4 March 31 Mar Fiscal Year So Far Full Fiscal Year
2012 2011 2011 Month Ago Year Ago 2011-12 2010-11 2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 2006-07
Rs crore 1303110 1251481 1245284 9130 51640 57830 79235 73038 57826 33975 359500 189270
USSmn 264053 278168 278899 -238 -14115 -14845 18477 19208 18264 -57821 107324 46816
Figures in brackets are percentage variations over the specified or over the comparable period of the previous year. (-) not relevant.
(Comprehensive current economic statistics with regular weekly updates, as also the thematic notes and Special Statistics series, are available on our website: http://www.epwrf.in].

8o m arch 24, 2012 v o l x lv ii n o 12 DBS! Economic & Political w e e k ly

This content downloaded from 192.190 .180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:23 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 o
3
O
P e rfo rm a n ce o f S ch e d u le d C om m ercia l B anks in T op 50 Centres* (Rscrore)
B (arranged according to deposit mobilisation rank ason June 2011)_______________________________________________
n Deposit Mobilisation Gross Bank Credit Annual Growth C/D Ratio in Per Cent
2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011 Deposit Credit 2009 2010 2011
Rank Rscrore Rank Rscrore Rank Rscrore Rank Rscrore Rank Rscrore Rank Rs crore 2009 2010 2011 2009 2010 2011
Greater Mumbai 1 818415 1 927151 1 1116733 1 753007 1 851060 1 995262 25.1 13.3 20.4 6.1 13.0 16.9 92.0 91.8 89.1
3| Delhi 2 517146 2 558458 2 626989 2 326176 2 445286 2 540055 15.3 8.0 12.3 13.5 36.5 21.3 63.1 79.7 86.1
Bangalore 5 162532 3 188962 3 228385 4 126719 4 147458 5 166538 21.9 16.3 20.9 16.5 16.4 12.9 78.0 78.0 72.9
Kolkata 4 127191 4 145595 4 184014 6 104259 6 127376 6 151927 20.7 14.5 26.4 20.5 22.2 19.3 82.0 87.5 82.6
Chennai 5 115698 5 132651 5 158487 3 146859 3 177526 3 213200 15.8 14.7 19.5 18.5 20.9 20.1 126.9 133.8 134.5
Hyderabad 6 84852 6 100218 6 125749 5 105541 5 131707 4 167504 15.4 18.1 25.5 32.5 24.8 27.2 124.4 131.4 133.2
Ahmedabad 8 50425 7 61387 7 74444 7 48289 7 56770 7 71417 16.7 21.7 21.3 18.8 17.6 25.8 95.8 92.5 95.9
£
>3 47075 9 25.2 18.6 18.9 76.9 77.9 79.5
H Pune 7 50884 8 60461 8 71710 8 39142 8 57032
29751 27.2
18.8
16.7 21.4 - 1.1
20.3
30.3
21.2
37.8 40.6 45.3 51.4
Lucknow 9 40814 9 47647 9 57860 14 16563 13 21583 14
n
x Jaipur 11 24262 11 29490 10 34909 10 33577 9 45344 8 58652 23.1 21.5 18.4 37.5 35.0 29.3 138.4 153.8 168.0
to 5.6 35.6 25.8 138.6 148.2
Chandigarh 10 25852 10 30964 11 34876 9 34129 10 42925 10 51695 19.8 12.6 20.4 132.0
IO Gurgaon 15 21486 15 25400 12 34021 29 7090 28 9967 20 16398 30.0 18.2 33.9 19.2 40.6 64.5 33.0 39.2 48.2
O 36 32.8 16.8 14.9 23.3 23.3
Patna 14 22823 12 28741 13 33567 39 4976 36 6341 7818 25.9 27.4 21.8 22.1
o Noida 12 24109 13 27181 14 32555 24 9004 24 11228 24 14293 33.9 12.7 19.8 74.3 24.7 27.3 37.3 41.3 43.9
<
O Bhubaneswar 17 20256 17 24256 15 32001 17 11269 17 16633 17 21545 12.6 19.7 31.9 30.7 47.6 29.5 55.6 6 8.6 67.3

>2 Bhopal 19 18448 14 26257 16 31416 19 10185 18 14599 18 20273 17.5 42.3 19.6 35.9 43.3 38.9 55.2 55.6 64.5
Kanpur 21 17551 20 21507 17 30491 28 7732 29 8304 29 10040 26.0 22.5 41.8 12.7 7.4 20.9 44.1 38.6 32.9
Kochi " 18 19214 18 22551 18 29276 15 16208 15 20929 13 30541 2.6 17.4 29.8 24.0 29.1 45.9 84.4 92.8 104.3
z
:o o Vadodara 16 21092 16 24269 19 29165 13 17657 14 21144 15 25336 22.8 15.1 20.2 15.9 19.7 19.8 83.7 87.1 86.9

r>3i__ Nagpur 20 17661 19 21661 20 26042 18 10860 19 13502 19 18692 23.6 22.6 20.2 18.3 24.3 38.4 61.5 62.3 71.8
Guwahati 23 16181 21 19974 21 22802 37 5311 33 6541 33 8021 28.1 23.4 14.2 21.8 23.2 2 2.6 32.8 32.7 35.2
i \D
i-N> Thiruvananthapuram 22 17361 22 18750 22 22489 22 9713 23 11229 25 14254 25.8 8.0 19.9 8.8 15.6 26.9 55.9 59.9 63.4
Indore 24 15107 23 18518 23 20534 16 15228 16 18431 16 22945 21.0 22.6 10.9 17.6 21.0 24.5 100.8 99.5 111.7
Dehradun 13 23817 24 17429 24 20280 60 2997 60 3560 66 4029 39.7 -26.8 16.4 2.0 18.8 13.2 12.6 20.4 19.9
Surat 30 12793 28 15010 25 19415 20 9991 20 12187 21 15809 26.3 17.3 29.3 17.3 22.0 29.7 78.1 81.2 81.4
Coimbatore 27 13547 25 16338 26 18285 12 21510 12 26198 12 31891 14.7 20,6 11.9 9.6 21.8 21.7 158.8 160.4 174.4
Ludhiana 25 14158 26 16128 27 17635 11 23025 11 28067 11 35881 15.1 13.9 9.3 13.8 21.9 27.8 162.6 174.0 203.5
Jalandhar 28 13438 30 14341 28 16700 35 5500 40 6020 39 7126 9.9 6.7 16.4 22.3 9.5 18.4 40.9 42.0 42.7
Navi Mumbai 26 14006 31 13204 29 16146 51 3519 51 4428 44 5987 15.0 -5.7 22.3 21.5 25.8 35.2 25.1 33.5 37.1
Thane 33 10535 32 12631 30 14889 50 3555 48 4535 40 6765 32.1 19.9 17.9 -11.7 27.6 49.2 33.7 35.9 45.4
Visakhapatnam 29 13388 27 15317 31 14850 26 8372 26 10543 28 11576 -0.5 14.4 3.0 27.4 25.9 9.8 62.5 6 8 .8 78.0
Raipur 37 9086 33 12612 32 14836 23 9495 22 11447 23 14297 14.3 38.8 17.6 26.9 20,6 24.9 104.5 90.8 96.4
Ranchi 32 10555 34 12286 33 14678 58 3103 54 3913 54 4945 24.0 16.4 19.5 21.1 26.1 26.4 29.4 31.8 33.7
Ghaziabad 31 10697 36 11808 34 14107 30 6477 30 7808 38 7671 21.3 10.4 19.5 31.0 20.5 - 1.8 60.5 66.1 54.4
Varanasi 38 9069 37 10690 35 13299 74 2440 75 2835 69 3773 25.3 17.9 24.4 16.1 16.2 33.1 26.9 26.5 28.4
Amritsar 35 9208 39 10085 36 13267 43 4314 45 4929 51 5416 18.2 9.5 31.6 10.1 14.3 9.9 46.9 48.9 40.8
Faridabad 34 9234 35 12079 37 13018 34 5689 38 6267 37 7714 28.6 30.8 7.8 24.2 10.2 23.1 61.6 51.9 59.3
O
Mangalore 36 9134 38 10358 38 12526 40 4634 41 5165 43 6155 17.5 13.4 20.9 12.3 11.5 19.2 50.7 49.9 49.1
Panchkula Urban Estate 40 8525 29 14545 39 12159 27 7974 27 10307 26 13639 3.0 70.6 -16.4 63.4 29.3 32.3 93.5 70.9 112.2
Bidhan Nagar 39 8659 40 9938 40 11966 96 1799 92 2149 62 4214 9.2 14.8 20.4 61.6 19.5 96.1 20.8 21.6 35.2
H Allahabad 41 8372 41 9879 41 11659 88 1983 91 2239 90 2616 19.9 18.0 18.0 8.2 12.9 16.8 23,7 22.7 22.4
n Bilaspur 42 8215 44 8950 42 11297 133 1108 128 1310 120 1693 18.3 8.9 26.2 14.2 18.2 29.2 13.5 14.6 15.0
Agra 43 8086 42 9411 43 11254 45 4092 44 4937 47 5686 - 2.2 16.4 19.6 20.1 20.7 15.2 50.6 52.5 50.5
Rajkot 44 8081 43 9309 44 10606 38 5178 37 6318 34 7961 23.4 15.2 13.9 13.0 22.0 26.0 64.1 67.9 75.1
Jammu 45 7520 45 8590 45 10304 63 2808 70 2974 76 3261 18.5 14.2 2 0.0 8.2 5.9 9.7 37.3 34.6 31.6
Mysore 46 7498 46 8465 46 9894 42 4517 42 5111 42 6185 21.0 12.9 16.9 12.7 13.2 21.0 60.2 60.4 62.5
Srinagar 48 6763 50 7730 47 9821 33 5925 34 6433 63 4137 2.9 14.3 27.1 19.9 8.6 -35.7 87.6 83.2 42.1
Kalyan-Dombivli 50 6721 48 8002 48 9313 90 1938 97 2016 94 2531 26.9 19.1 16.4 26.5 4.0 25.5 28.8 25.2 27.2
Nashik 55 5874 54 7226 49 9192 54 3265 53 3940 52 5208 24.0 23.0 27.2 12.9 20.7 32.2 55.6 54.5 56.7

STATISTICS
Jabalpur 54 6033 51 7668 50 9157 85 2240 86 2473 87 2953 18.2 27.1 19.4 5.9 10.4 19.4 37.1 32.3 32.2
Selected 50 centres 2522372 2872078 3419068 2016942 2441067 2942308 20.4 13.9 19.0 13.8 21.0 20.5 80.0 85.0 86.1
All-India 3965322 4540130 5370669 2788351 3356757 4038310 21.1 14.5 18.3 14.3 20.4 20.3 70.3 73.9 75.2
Percentage of selected centres 63.6 63.3 63.7 72.3 72.7 72.9
* Centres selected are the top 50 centres in deposit mobilisation in June 2011 which also find place in thetop 200 in credit disbursement.
00
Source: RBI (2011), Q u a r te r ly S ta tis tic s o n D e p o s its a n d C re d it o f S c h e d u le d C o m m e r c ia l B a n k s , June and relevant earlier issues.
 S e c o n d a r y M ark et T ra n sa ctio n s in G o v e rn m e n t S e cu ritie s a n d t h e F o rex M ark et - F eb ru a ry 2012

STATISTICS
00
N>

1 Settlement Voiume of Government Securities Transactions (Amount in Rs crore)_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 Netting Factor (Rscrore) 3 Instrument-wise Break-up of Securities Transactions (Rs crore)
Outright Repo Daily Average (Outright) DailyAverage (Repo) a Securities b Funds a Outright Trades b Repo
Number Volume Number Volume Number Volume Number Volume Gross Net Netting Gross Net Netting Central Govt Treasury State Central Govt Treasury State
ofTrades ofTrades ofTrades ofTrades Factor(%) Factor (%) Dated Bills Govts Dated Bills Govts
Feb-2012 39452 341994 2784 279898 2076 18000 121 12169 898674 298301 66.81 924294 152697 83.48 314511 22974 4510 182261 95700 1937
Feb-2011 21110 154623 2051 289418 1111 8138 93 13155 731011" 316482 56.71 735412 189931 74.17 137760 13755 3109 224261 64610 547
2011 - 12 * 386319 3258857 27191 3484499 1772 14949 102 13100 10218493 3833828 62.48 10192123 2018226 80.20 314688 2043312 1421543 19643
2905767 38402
2 0 1 0 - 11* 304269 2667708 24920 3705800 1352 11856 93 13828 10075686 4429732 56.04 10222510 2312786 77.38 2376103 252891 38715 2930843 762900 12058

4 Tenor-wise Settlement Volume of Central Government

Dated Securities (Rs crore) 5 Intercategory Member Turnover Activity for NDS Reported Outright Trades of Central Government Securities: February 2012
Year Feb-2012 Feb-2011 2011-12* 2010-11* Buy Sid* o f the Private Foreign Primary Public Ins Cos Mutual Others Coop FIs Total Market Share (%)
2010 0 0 0 (0 .0 0 ) 15050 (0.63) Transactions (%) Sector Banks Banks Dealers Sector Banks Funds Banks Feb 2012 Feb 2011
2011 0 837 4592 (0.16) 28003 (1.18) Private Sector Banks 16.69 50.57 21.00 6.98 3.17 0.32 0.58 0.70 0 .0 0 100.00 34.52 12.00
2012 1544 1390 20495 (0.71) 58356 (2.46)
Foreign Banks 58.01 16.19 11.52 9.47 1.81 2.64 0.05 0.32 0 .0 0 100.00 33.58 39.65
2013 260 841 3576 (0.12) 32226 (1.36)
Primary Dealers 55.50 23.95 5.06 10.37 0.70 2.62 0.0 0 1.80 0 .0 0 1 00.00 13.33 16.99
2014 105 377 3118(0.11) 20843 (0.88)
2015 481 13952 12788 (0.44) 200349 (8.43) Public Sector Banks 29.94 35.92 20.69 7.89 0.76 4.03 0.24 0.54 0.0 0 1 00.00 10.63 18.83
2016 1720 129 24244 (0.83) 130714 (5.50) ins Cos 29.90 31.70 33.50 1.85 0.33 1.32 0.09 1.32 0.0 0 1 00.00 3.02 4.22
2017 802 12521 31042 (1.07) 162301 (6.83)
Mutual Funds 22.97 36.82 27.17 12.49 0 .0 0 0.0 0 0 .0 0 0.55 0 .0 0 100.00 2 .0 0 2.27
2018 17743 62 195990 (6.74) 899 (0.04)
Others 23.65 1.11 60.58 0.16 10.38 1.11 0.2 0 2.80 0 .0 0 100.00 1.80 4.24
2019 18 65 409 (0.01) 2314 (0.10)
202 0 12473 4762 43379 (1.49) 830607 (34.96) Cooperative Banks 33.42 1.76 34.11 2.84 3.10 0 .0 0 0.18 24.61 0 .0 0 100.00 1.13 1.79
2021 150953 17 1519763 (52.30) 622 (0.03) FIs 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0.0 0
2022 579 93502 428467 (14.75) 773886 (32.57) Sell Side of the Private Foreign Primary Public Ins Cos Mutual Coop Others FIs Total Market Share (%)
2023 1 17 2277 (0.08) 2048 (0.09) Transactions (%) Sector Banks Banks Dealers Sector Banks Funds Banks Feb 2012 Feb 2011
2024 116116 151 507841 (17.48) 4639 (0.20)
Private Sector Banks 15.17 51.28 19.47 8.38 2.38 1.21 1.00 1.12 0 .0 0 100.00 37.98 12.45
2025 0 0 178 (0.01) 93 (0.00)
Foreign Banks 55.18 17.18 10.09 12.07 3.03 2.32 0.06 0.06 0 .0 0 100.00 31.64 46.19
2026 292 220 4144 (0.14) 9071 (0.38)
2027 2125 7229 39545 (1.36) 67023 (2.82) Primary Dealers 42.59 22.73 3.96 12.92 5.95 3.19 2.27 6.40 0 .0 0 1 00.00 17.02 22.17
2028 1 5 46 (0.00) 155 (0.01) Public Sector Banks 29.56 39.01 16.96 10.30 0.6 8 3.06 0.39 0.03 0.0 0 1 00.00 8.15 11.12
2029 0 0 T T O 0 (0 .00 )
£ Ins Cos 51.88 28.86 4.45 3.82 0.47 0 .0 0 1.66 8 .8 6 0.0 0 100.00 2.11 2.61
> 2030 6607 0 27387 (0.94) 0 (0 .0 0 )
5.98 48.37 19.02 23.37 2.17 1.09 2.17
Mutual Funds 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 .0 0 1 00.00 1.83
2031 0 0 1 (0 .0 0 ) 0 (0 .00 )
2032 444 54 8351 (0.29) 17915 (0.75) Cooperative Banks 23.46 10.42 23.43 5.57 3.90 1.07 27.22 4.93 0 .0 0 1 00.00 1.02 2.18
Nt
2033 0 0 1 (0 .0 0 ) 0 (0 .0 0 ) Others 80.18 6.26 0 .0 0 10.20 1.10 0.0 0 0.80 1.46 0.0 0 1 00.00 0.25 1.11
N> 2034 33 (0.00)
O 2 2
IQ
750 (0.03)
FIs 0.00 0.00 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0.0 0 0 .0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 .0 0 0.0 0
2035 0 lo 130 (0 .0 0 ) 135 (0.01)
iw w n i e m e n t v o lu m e ro re x seg m e n t
< 2036 3 1 24 (0.00) 509 (0.02) 7 MarkotShareof Top Five (Category-wise) (%) o t

o
r 2037 0 0 rm 0 (0 .00 ) Categories Coop Foreigni Public Private Mutual Primary Segment Total Settlement Volume DailyAverage
X 2038 0 0 H O T 0 (0 .00 ) Banks Banks Sector Banks Sector Banks Funds Dealers Number Volume Volume NumbeiF Volume Volume
r
< 2039 4 0 19(0.00) 72 (0.00) Feb-2012 62.73 78.00 48.90 78.16 72.61 80.10 ofTrades (US$mn) (RsCrore) ofTrades (US$mn) (RsCrore)
2040 420 1608 18623 (0.64) 17521 (0.74)
c Z 2011-12* 61.13 75.74 51.86 73.46 68.34 82.67 Feb-2012 101814 390382 1922101 5091 19519 96105
H o 2041 1818 0 9302 (0.32) 0(0.00) m m
n Total 314511 137760 2905767 (100.00) 2376103 (100.00) a Mantel snare o t io d n memoers % Feb-2011 85090 313742 1432915 4727 79606

Top 5 Top 10 TopIS Top 20 2011 - 12 * 1174136 4217711 20076470 5591 95602
6 Type-wise Settlement Volume of Government Securities Transactions 60.11 68.52
2 01 0 - 11* 1054361 3801572 ‘17397319 4837 17438 79804
Feb-2012 30.24 47.58
fti it-rlnl'il'
Repo
Feb-2011 31.15 47.69 57.69 65.34 11 Settlement Volume of Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligations (CBLO)
r iv p u c ia i y Constituent Proprietary Constituent Term
Number Volume Number Volume Number Volume Number Volume Feb-2010 33.89 50.54 60.13 66.48 Segment UVCI tHLfl H Total
ofTrades (FaceValue ofTrades (Face Value ofTrades (Face Value ofTrades (FaceValue Number Volume Number Volume Number Volume
in RsCrore) in RsCrore) in RsCrore) inRsCrore) 9 Market Share of Top V Securities (%) ofTrades (RsCrore) ofTrades (RsCrore) ofTrades (RsCrore)
Feb-2012 35823 301652 3629 40342 2316 244206 468 35692 Top5 Top 10 TopIS Top 20 Feb-2012 9659 631760 2199 130042 11858 761801
Feb-2011 18620 138002 2490 16621 1691 256528 360 32890 Feb-2012 95.13 97.66 98.83 99.46 Feb-2011 8913 828932 1331 101486 10244 930417

B. 2011 - 12 * 352181 2876955 34138 381902 22087 3087412 5104 397088 Feb-2011 88.71 97.40 98.82 99.40 2011 - 12 * 107204 8704645 22444 1501228 129648 10205872

a
*m
2 01 0 - 11* 273295 2405384 30974

Figures in brackets are percentages to total. * Data pertains to April-February.

262325 20021 3315368 4899 390432 Feb-2010 86.73 94.16 96.98 98.32 2 01 0 - 11* 111187 9560110 21848 1576419 133035 11136530

S Source: Clearing Corporation of India Limited (CCIL).

 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION
(Declared by the GOI under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956)
17-B Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016
Web: www.nuepa.org

ADMISSION NOTICE 2012-13

(i) M.Phil. Programme
(ii) Ph.D. Programme
(iii) Part-time Ph.D. Programme

The National University of Educational Planning and
Administration (NUEPA), is engaged in capacity building and
research in educational policy, planning and administration.
NUEPA, which is fully funded by the Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Government of India, offers M.Phil.,
Ph.D. and Part-time Ph.D. programmes in educational policy,
planning and administration from a broader inter-disciplinary
social science perspective. The research programmes of
NUEPA cover all levels and types of education from both
national and international development perspectives. NUEPA
invites applications from eligible candidates for admission
to its M.Phil., Ph.D. and Part-time Ph.D. programmes for
the year 2012-13. While selecting the candidates for admission,
NUEPA will follow all mandatory provisions in the reservation
policy of the Government of India. Admissions to M.Phil.,
Ph.D. and Part-time Ph.D. programmes will be made purely
on the basis of merit following the prescribed criteria of the
University.
Fellowships
Selected candidates for the M.Phil. shall be offered stipend
and those selected for Ph.D. shall be offered a fellowship
at par with UGC rates. The NET qualified candidates,
who have been awarded Junior Research Fellowship by
the UGC and who fulfil the required qualifications, are
encouraged to apply.
Eligibility Criteria
Full-time Programmes
(a) A candidate seeking admission to the M.Phil. and Ph.D.
programmes shall have a minimum of 55% marks (50%
marks for SC/ST candidates and Persons with Disabilities)
or its equivalent grade in Master’s Degree in social sciences
and allied disciplines from a recognized university. Candidates
possessing Master’s degree in other areas may also be
considered if he/she has teaching experience or experience
of working in the area of educational policy, planning and
administration, (b) A candidate seeking admission to Ph.D.
programme shall have an M.Phil. degree in an area closely
related to educational planning and administration and/or
exceptionally brilliant academic record coupled with publications
of high quality, (c) M.Phil. graduates of NUEPA will be
eligible for admission to the Ph.D. Programme after due
scrutiny by a Selection/Admission Committee, if they obtain
a FGPA of 6 or above on the ten point scale.
the educational qualifications as mentioned in Para (a) above;
(ii) Currently, should be in full-time employment; (iii) Should
be a senior level educational functionary with a minimum of
five years work experience in teaching, educational planning
and administration.
Mode of Selection
The University reserves the right to decide the number of
seats to be filled in the year 2012-13; the criteria for screening
of applications; and the selection procedure of candidates
for admission to its M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes. The
mode of selection of candidates will be as under:
Initial short-listing of applications will be carried out on the
basis of relevance and quality of the brief write-up (in the
prescribed format) in the proposed area of research to be
submitted along with the application form. Short-listed
candidates will be required to appear in a written test and
those qualifying in written test will be subjected to personal
interviews to assess their motivation and potential leading
to final short-listing and preparation of panel of selected
candidates, in order of merit.
How to Apply
Candidates may apply in the prescribed form for admission
to M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes of the University along
with three copies of the brief write-up (in the prescribed
format) on the proposed research topic of a contemporary
issue within the broad framework of educational policy,
planning and administration. For further details, please refer
to the M.Phil.-Ph.D. Prospectus, 2012-13 of the University.
The application form and the Prospectus can be obtained
from NUEPA by remitting a sum of Rs.200/- ( Rs.100/- for
SC/ST candidates) by demand draft in favour of Registrar,
NUEPA, payable at New Delhi if required by Post or purchased
in person. The Prospectus can also be downloaded from
our website: www.nuepa.org and demand draft of Rs.200/-
(Rs.100/- for SC/ST candidates) should be attached with
the application at the time of submission to NUEPA.
Last Date of Applications
Application should reach the Registrar, NUEPA, 17-B,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016 on or before
18 May 2012. For further details, please visit our website
www.nuepa.org

Part-time Programme
A candidate seeking admission to Part-time Ph.D. programme
is required to meet the following criteria: (i) Should possess Registrar

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on T u e ,06 Nov 2018 11:01:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
March 24, 2012 Regd No MH/MR/West-238/2012-14
Posted at Patrika Channel Sorting Office, Mumbai 400 001 on every Monday-Tliesday. Registered with the RNI Under No 14089/66

Being a reliable partner committed to a lifetime of sharing has been a tradition for
India's No. 1 energy brand. A belief backed by a passion to make a difference to
society. To step in at times of natural calamities and emergencies... maintaining the
energy lifeline to a nation of over a billion people. Providing grants to restore
historic heritage sites, for healthcare ambulance networks in rural areas,
primary healthcare centres, roads in remote regions, child nutrition initiatives
and drinking water facilities. Making a difference through academic scholarships
for underprivileged children and awards to young talented sportspersons.
Behind this is the commitment of a dedicated band of 34,000
IndianOilPeop/e. The actual force behind a company widely
acknowledged as the Energy of India. A force that would choose to be
the energy that transforms. In d ia n O il

Petroleum Refining and Marketing •Pipeline Transportation •Research & Development •Technology Solutions
•Petrochemicals * Gas Marketing * Exploration & Production * Alternative Energy

84

This content downloaded from 192.190.180.53 on Tue, 06 Nov 2018 11:01:25 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms