Indian Economic Development Vocabulary Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical events, policy definitions, and concepts across Indian economic development from colonial rule through post-1991 reforms and comparative neighbor studies.

Malmal (Daccai Muslin)

The finest variety of muslin, an exquisite type of cotton textile originating in and around Dhaka, Bengal, referred to by foreign travellers as malmal shahi or malmal khas to imply it was fit for royalty.

Commercialisation of Agriculture

The deliberate policy during British rule of shifting agricultural production from food crops for self-consumption to cash crops (such as cotton, jute, sugarcane, and groundnuts) for sale to satisfy British industrial demands.

Year of Great Divide

The year 1921, which marks the division between the first stage of demographic transition (high birth and death rates) and the second stage characterized by higher population growth in India.

Capital Goods Industry

Industries that produce machine tools which are, in turn, used for producing articles for current consumption.

Suez Canal Opening (1869)

The 1869 opening of an artificial waterway across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt connecting Port Said with the Gulf of Suez, which reduced transportation costs between Britain and India by up to $50\%$ and intensified British trade monopoly.

Mixed Economy

An economic system adopted by post-independence India combining features of capitalism and socialism, where a strong public sector coexists with private enterprise and democracy.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country during a given year.

Land Ceiling

An institutional land reform policy that fixed the maximum size of agricultural land that could be owned by an individual in order to reduce land ownership concentration.

Marketed Surplus

The portion of total agricultural produce that is sold in the market by farmers after meeting their own consumption needs.

Karve Committee (1955)

Also known as the Village and Small-Scale Industries Committee, noted in 1955 the possibility of utilizing small-scale industries to promote rural development.

Import Substitution

An inward-looking trade strategy aimed at replacing imported goods with domestic production through tariffs and quotas to protect indigenous industries and save foreign exchange.

Liberalisation

The economic policy introduced in 1991 focused on putting an end to government restrictions, licensing requirements, and regulations to deregulate various sectors of the economy.

Disinvestment

The process of privatising public sector enterprises by selling off a portion of government equity to the private sector or general public.

Devaluation of Currency

An intentional reduction in the value of a nation's currency relative to foreign currencies, undertaken by India in 1991 to resolve the balance of payments crisis by encouraging foreign exchange inflow.

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

A unified, single indirect destination-based tax on the supply of goods and services operational from July 1, 2017, imposed on the value addition at each stage of the supply chain.

Demonetisation (2016)

An economic initiative launched on November 8, 2016, withdrawing ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes from legal tender status to curb corruption, black money, terrorism, and fake currency circulation.

Human Capital

The stock of knowledge, skills, ability, and physical capacity possessed by people at a point in time, which enhances their productive capacity and earning potential.

Tapas Majumdar Committee (1999)

A committee appointed by the Indian government in 1999 that estimated an expenditure of around ₹1.37 lakh crore over 10 years (1998–99 to 2006–07) to bring all children aged 6–14 under school education.

NABARD

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, established in 1982 as an apex institution to coordinate the functioning of all financial institutions involved in the rural credit system.

Kudumbashree

A women-oriented community-based poverty reduction programme launched in Kerala in 1995 that operates a large informal thrift and credit banking system for poor women.

Operation Flood

A successful milk cooperative initiative (spearheaded in Gujarat) where farmers pool milk graded by quality for processing and marketing to urban centers, triggering the White Revolution.

Golden Revolution

The period spanning 1991 to 2003 in India that focused on dramatically increasing the production of horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, and honey.

Organic Farming

A whole system of farming that restores, maintains, and enhances ecological balance by replacing synthetic chemical fertilisers and pesticides with locally produced organic inputs.

Worker-Population Ratio

An indicator of employment participation defined mathematically as $\frac{\text{Workforce}}{\text{Total Population}} \times 100$.

Jobless Growth

A situation in an economy where overall GDP growth rate accelerates without a corresponding expansion in employment opportunities.

Casualisation of Workforce

The process over time whereby the proportion of workers moving away from self-employment and regular salaried employment toward casual wage labor increases.

Formal Sector Establishments

All public sector enterprises and private sector establishments that employ 10 or more hired workers, providing regular wages and social security benefits.

Disguised Unemployment

A form of unemployment common in agricultural farms where more workers are engaged than required, resulting in zero marginal productivity for surplus workers.

Great Leap Forward (GLF) Campaign

A campaign launched in China in 1958 aimed at large-scale industrialisation by encouraging citizens to set up backyard industries and organizing rural populations into communes.

Commune System

A collective farming system introduced in China during the 1958 Great Leap Forward where land was cultivated jointly; by 1958, 26,000 communes covered nearly the entire farm population.

Dual Pricing

A Chinese economic reform technique where input and output prices were set in two ways: fixed government prices for specified target quotas, and market-determined prices for the remainder.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

Geographic regions designated in China (and later implemented globally) with special economic and tax incentives to attract foreign investors and promote export-oriented industries.

Liberty Indicators

Development indicators that measure democratic participation and the extent of constitutional protections given to citizens' rights, independence of the judiciary, and the rule of law.