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The Hindu
4 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Access to non-farm business and irrigation significantly reduces climate change-induced rural migration, says IIT Madras study
Researchers from the Statistical Department of IIT Madras have studied data from the India Human Development Survey (IDHS) and found that access to non-farm business and irrigation significantly reduces rural migration that is caused by drought, which in turn is climate change induced. The IDHS study is a nationally representative, multi-topic panel survey of thousands of households in urban and rural areas across the country. The findings of the study led by Sabuj Kumar Mandal, Professor of Economics, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, and Gauri Sreekumar, Researcher, IIT Madras, were published in the Indian Economic Review. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Mandal said that they used data from Round I (2004-2005) and Round II (2011-2012) data of the IHDS for nearly 2 years and studied 80,000 households. 'The impact of drought on the migration among rural farm households was estimated using the Difference-in-differences method, a statistical technique used in economics and quantitative research to study the differential effect of a treatment group versus a control group in an experiment.' 'We have used climate data from the India Meteorological Department for drought and rainfall information. People migrate from one state to another, like from West Bengal and Odisha to Tamil Nadu. Erratic rainfall, which is less than the long-term average, leads to crop failure and then very volatile agricultural income causes such migration,' he explained. Ms. Sreekumar said that to reduce the risk imposed by drought, families turn to non-farm activities to reduce the dependence of households' income on crop yields. This income is used to purchase crop and livestock inputs, improve skills and production technologies, thus increasing agricultural productivity. In turn, the income helps to prepare for disasters and compensate for any income loss. The study also found that households' participation in agriculture/milk/other cooperatives, non-government organisations, credit/savings groups, self-help groups, and other such associations could check migration. Farmer-based organisations and more agricultural extension services could be established by the Government. The team has suggested that alternative livelihoods like unskilled jobs be created near their villages. In the next stage, the researchers plan to study the behaviour and psychological farmers that drive farmers to migrate and reasons of those who do not.
Indian Express
27-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Income survey will help map changes in Indian economy
In the past few years, the government has taken several steps to plug gaps in data availability. Recently, after considerable delay, it announced the dates for carrying out the Census. This week, it took another step towards making information robust — a household income survey has been tentatively scheduled for 2026. An expert committee has been formed to guide the statistics office in this endeavour. This is a welcome development. The government has attempted to collect household income data in the past as well. But these exercises have not yielded the desired results. For instance, data on household receipts and disbursements was collected as part of the Integrated Household Surveys during July 1964-June 1965 and July 1969-June 1970. But 'the estimates of income were lower than the estimates of consumption and savings put together'. Such underestimation is not confined to survey estimates of household income. The household consumption expenditure surveys have also been criticised for underestimating consumption when compared to the expenditure estimates in the National Accounts. Some other surveys do collect information on income, but their scope is limited. For instance, the periodic labour force surveys collect data on wages and salaries of casual labour and regular wage/salaried employment. The Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households also provides estimates of income, though only for a segment of the population. The 2019 survey collected information on income from wages, from leasing out land, from crop production (net), farming of animals, and from non-farm business. In the absence of an official all-India survey of household incomes, expenditure data from the consumption surveys tends to be used as a proxy. This data is used to estimate both poverty and inequality. However, independent surveys such as the India Human Development Survey show that inequality based on household income is higher than that based on consumption. There will be several issues to contend with. Households may not accurately report their incomes, with some preferring not to disclose all their avenues of income. Some jobs — and thus the incomes that accrue — are seasonal in nature. Respondent recall may not be accurate. The extent of underestimation could be greater among households at the higher end of the distribution. However, granular data on incomes in society, collected regularly over a period of time, will not only provide a wealth of information about households, but also greatly assist in understanding changes in the economy and society. For example, the University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which began in 1968 with a sample of 18,000 individuals over 5,000 families, has collected information on these individuals and their descendants across several parameters such as income, expenditure, health and education. This allows for an exploration of various facets of the US economy and society across generations. Such surveys can greatly aid policymaking.
The Hindu
01-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Gender Agenda newsletter: Late to the plate
During my first week in Mumbai three years ago, my cook walked into the house asking, 'Aaj kya banau (What shall I make today)?' As I rummaged through the vegetables in the fridge, she made up her mind herself, declaring, 'Aloo banati hoon; Bhaiyya ko bahut pasand hai (I'll make potatoes; Bhaiyya loves it).' This continued for days, and my husband and I ended up eating several kilos of aloo and paneer — his favourites. One day, when I could no longer take it, I snapped. 'Ek baar tho pooch lo ki mujhe kya pasand hai (Ask me at least once what I'd like),' I said to her. She laughed. In Kiran Rao's Laapataa Ladies (2023), when Jaya asks Yashoda why she stopped making the lotus stem stir-fry that she loved eating at her parents' house, Yashoda says it is because her husband and son don't touch it. 'You like it. Make it for yourself,' Jaya says. Yashoda laughs, much in the way my cook did. 'Since when do women make what they like eating,' she asks. It is not uncommon for Indian women to believe that men's dietary preferences should be considered foremost. It is also well-documented that many women are accustomed to eating leftovers because of the dictates of patriarchy. According to the 2011 India Human Development Survey, in about a quarter of Indian households, women are expected to have their meals after men have finished eating. This means that they end up with cold rotis, little dal, and no leafy veggies. This can be true even of relatively progressive households. As the novelist, Shashi Deshpande, wrote in an essay titled Women, Food and Cooking (2022): '...My mother, protesting that she had had enough, possibly deprived herself when something was insufficient. Not just this; the burnt chapati was hers, the broken jowar roti was hers, the cracked cup was hers, the dented and smallest plate was hers.' For many women, while preparing food is a duty, responsibility, or a labour of love, the ritual of eating is considered a waste of time. You may find few women licking their fingers, burping, or scraping tasty titbits off the pan. Being late to the plate has serious implications for women's physical and mental health. Early this year, Maharashtra's Health Department found that women are more likely to be susceptible to malnourishment and nutritional deficiencies than men. As this piece pointed out last week, not just women's health but maternal health too is seen solely from the lens of pregnancy and childbirth. 'In India's long battle against malnutrition, women and girls remain the most overlooked section,' said this piece, ahead of World Nutrition Day (May 28). Various efforts have been made to change this trend. In 2015, the Rajasthan Nutrition Project ventured on a mission to encourage families to eat their meals together in two districts. Despite finding stiff resistance, they managed to make a difference. In 2017, Punita Chowbey found in her study of 84 South Asian women living in Britain, India, and Pakistan that women sometimes took matters into their own hands. Whenever they were upset with their husbands, they would alter the order in which they served food, or simply serve smaller portions (though they would give the extra portions to their sons). This week, women were invited to attend an international film festival in the scenic village of Kadamakudy, Kerala, and served lunch and dinner. Fr Augustine Vattoli, the parish priest in the locality and the joint convenor of the festival, said in this piece, 'We knew that it was not enough just to tell the women to come and attend the film fest. We knew they would ask us who would cook food then. But then we had the answer ready...' It was a thoughtful gesture: entire families, and not just men, enjoyed the festival together. As for my cook, after being chided a few times, she sometimes walks in now announcing, 'Aaj pulao banati hoon. Mujhe pata hai ki aapko pasand hai (Let me make pulao today, I know you like it).' I smile and tell her I cannot wait to dig in. Toolkit Bengaluru-based writers and teachers Nikhita Thomas and Pranav V.S. have embarked on a project to map places where women hung out in Bangalore's Cantonment area between 1984 and 1994. They tell Preeti Zachariah that they chose this period because waves of liberalisation took place then, and more and more women could be seen on the streets of the city on the Kinetic Honda — a phenomenon that the historian, Janaki Nair, terms 'kineticization'. Supported by the India Foundation for the Arts under its Neighbourhood Engagements of Project 560, this project 'seeks to explore the spatial relationships women have with the cities and neighbourhoods they call home'. The stories of the women will come together in an art essay book and will be showcased at 1 Shanthi Road Gallery/Studio in Bengaluru on June 14 and 15. Wordsworth Reactionary feminism: Advocated by British writer Mary Harrington, this 'begins from the truth that sex differences are real, irreducible and politically important.' Harrington in her work questions the very assumptions of modern feminism, which, she believes, has benefited only a small class of well-off, white-collar women. In this interview, Harrington, the author of the book Feminism Against Progress (2023), says to be a reactionary feminist is to 'ground the way you live in recognition both of what makes us human together — and also in the distinct embodied capabilities and vulnerabilities of women, understood as powers and not merely as a problem to be solved with technology.' Ouch! Our sisters who lost their husbands in the (Pahalgam) attack did not have the warrior spirit or the resolve and vigour to fight back. Therefore, they became victims. Rajya Sabha MP Ram Chander Jangra People we met Dr. V. Shubhalaxmi, an entomologist and educationist, is popularly known as the 'Moth Lady'. The name stuck decades ago when she was working with the Bombay Natural History Society. 'This was in 1993,' she says. 'I belong to a generation that didn't question its teachers much. My guide asked me whether I could study moths instead of butterflies since the field was largely unexplored and I said, why not? I would venture into fields and forests to set up the light sheet and spend the whole night studying moths. There were challenges of logistics and safety, but I had a vehicle, a driver, and an assistant.' In 2003, she finished her PhD and began studying more species of moths. This resulted in the book, Field Guide to Indian Moths, published in 2018, a pioneering resource in entomology. Dr. Shubhalaxmi is now working on the second volume of the book, while also working on an insect encyclopaedia for children. 'Back in the day, I was the only woman in the field. But now there are many women studying moths,' she says.
