Issues of Development: Agrarian Crisis, Human Resource Development & Skilled Unemployment.

The "Issues of Development: Agrarian Crisis, Human Resource Development & Skilled Unemployment" are significant concerns discussed within the sources, particularly in the context of India's development.

Agrarian Crisis

The agrarian crisis in India is a serious concern that adversely affects the livelihoods of people dependent on agriculture. It is characterised by the sluggish growth of the agricultural sector due to a decline in agricultural productivity and profitability.

Causes of the Agrarian Crisis:

• Faulty Implementation of the Green Revolution: The intensive use of chemicals, capital, and monoculture associated with the Green Revolution over 50 years, along with 26 years of corporate globalisation, have damaged India's indigenous agricultural system. This has led to increased debt for small and marginal farmers who had to purchase expensive inputs, degradation of agricultural lands due to excessive chemical use, and the destruction of seed diversity, increasing the risk of crop failure and pest resistance.

• Liberalisation of the Agricultural Sector: The reduction of trade barriers in the early 1990s and the removal of quantitative restrictions on imports and exports have exposed Indian farmers to price volatility shocks. This has led to shifts in cropping patterns, sometimes negatively impacting foodgrain production and per capita food absorption in rural India.

• Market Imperfections: Poor marketing infrastructure leads to distress sales of crops by farmers, who are unable to hold onto their produce to avail better prices. Price crashes occur due to increased supply during harvest seasons. The crisis is now due to market volatility rather than food scarcity, with falling prices for agricultural commodities due to global booms and the flooding of the Indian market with cheaper foreign goods, while input costs rise.

• Land Issues: Increasing population leads to the fragmentation of landholdings, reducing farm sizes. There is also increasing landlessness and inequality in landholdings in the post-reform period, with firms leasing or purchasing land for cash crops.

Manifestations of the Agrarian Crisis:

• Sluggish agricultural sector growth.

• Decline in agricultural productivity and profitability.

• Distress sale of crops due to poor market infrastructure.

• Farmer suicides, linked to factors like debt and market conditions.

• A decline in per capita absorption of food in rural India.

Potential Solutions:

• Increased public investment in the agricultural sector.

• Setting up seed saving banks and encouraging cooperative farming.

• Providing farmers with free training on efficient resource use.

• Improvement of infrastructural facilities to strengthen the agricultural sector.

• Ensuring farmers receive remunerative prices for their produce by providing information on market prices.

• Technological breakthroughs in value-added agricultural products to reduce post-harvest losses.

• Encouraging organic farming and subsidised neem-coated urea.

• Developing biodynamic agriculture technology for soil rejuvenation.

• Adopting micro-irrigation projects like drip and sprinkler irrigation.

• Legalising land leasing to provide landowners with ownership rights and access to formal credit.

• Government initiatives to resolve agrarian problems before adopting more liberal agricultural policies.

The "agrarian crisis" is also acknowledged in the context of globalisation, where India has experienced it since the mid-1990s due to the relative compression of rural development expenditures, the squeezing out of the agricultural sector in bank credit, and increased exposure to global price volatility.

Human Resource Development (HRD)

Human Resource Development (HRD) is a systematic and continuous process in an organisation focused on the development of human resources to acquire competencies and skills necessary to meet current and future job demands. It is a primary function under Human Resource Management (HRM), with HRM being a broader term focusing on the management of human resources. HRD focuses on the development of human resources and is one of the main functions under HRM.

Nature and Features of HRD:

• Systematic and Continuous Process: HRD is not a one-time event but an ongoing effort.

• Focus on Individual and Organisational Development: It aims to develop both the employees and the organisation as a whole.

• Development of Employee Competencies: HRD activities focus on enhancing the skills, knowledge, and expertise of employees.

• Positive Organisational Culture: HRD aims to foster a learning environment, positive interpersonal relationships, a sense of belonging, enhanced motivation, and improved quality of work life.

Functions of HRD:

• Training and Development: Modifying or enhancing the knowledge, attitude, and skills of employees through various programmes like orientation, induction, technical training, and behavioural skills training. Development has a long-term focus, enhancing competencies for present and future roles. Coaching, mentoring, and counselling also fall under this function.

• Organisational Development: Enhancing organisational effectiveness and the well-being of its members through intervention strategies based on behavioural science, focusing on both macro (organisational) and micro (individual, team) changes.

• Career Development: Promoting the progression of employees through various career stages by establishing career plans (career planning) and implementing those plans (career management), often involving supervisors and line managers.

• Strategic Management: Aligning HRD activities with the organisation's strategic goals and the external environment, involving collaboration with other managers in planning and evaluating HRD activities, and considering financial aspects.

Roles of HRD Professionals:

HRD professionals play various roles, including that of a planner, administrator, consultant, and professional specialist. They need personal, interpersonal, and business/management competencies to be effective. Some specific roles include individual development and career counsellor, performance consultant, and researcher. As business partners, they collaborate with other managers in the organisation to determine the implementation and evaluation of HRD activities.

HRD is crucial for organisations to thrive in a fast-changing and competitive environment, helping them become dynamic and counter challenges related to globalisation.

Skilled Unemployment

While the concept of "skilled unemployment" is not explicitly detailed as a standalone topic in the sources, the issue of employment and unemployment is discussed in the context of India's development and globalisation.

Indirect References to Skilled Unemployment:

• The slow employment growth in India post-liberalisation is a matter of concern, especially given the existing unemployment backlog. This suggests that even as the economy grows, it may not be generating enough jobs for the increasing labour force, potentially including those with skills.

• The rapid growth of the services sector, which accounts for over 55% of India's Net Domestic Product, employs only about a quarter of the workforce. This asymmetry between output and employment indicates that even rapidly growing sectors might not be absorbing a large number of workers, including skilled ones.

• Employment growth has been particularly poor in the more rapidly growing segments of the economy. While the organised sector's share in output increased, its employment initially grew slowly and then fell after the late 1990s. This decline in organised sector employment, which often requires a certain level of skill, contributes to unemployment.

• Despite economic growth after liberalisation, this growth has not positively impacted the lives of the majority of Indians, with limited impact on general well-being and inadequate opportunities for employment and rising incomes for many. This suggests that skilled individuals may also be facing challenges in finding suitable employment that leads to improved economic conditions.

The inclusion of "Skilled Unemployment" alongside "Human Resource Development" as an "Issue of Development" implies a connection. HRD aims to develop skills, but if there is a lack of employment opportunities for skilled individuals, it poses a significant challenge to development. This could be due to a mismatch between the skills developed and the skills demanded by the economy, or simply a lack of job creation in sectors that require those skills. The sources highlight that while some segments of the white-collar organised sector workforce have enjoyed high salaries post-liberalisation, this is not the case for everyone in that sector, and real wages for even organised sector industrial workers have tended to stagnate.

In summary, the sources identify the agrarian crisis as a multifaceted problem rooted in historical agricultural policies, economic liberalisation, market deficiencies, and land-related issues, significantly impacting rural livelihoods. Human Resource Development is presented as a crucial function for enhancing individual and organisational capabilities to meet the demands of a changing world. The issue of skilled unemployment, while not explicitly detailed, is implied in the broader discussions on slow employment growth and the limitations of economic growth in creating sufficient and well-compensated jobs, suggesting a potential disconnect between skill development and economic opportunities. These three issues together represent significant challenges within the landscape of development in India.

Here are detailed and clean notes on the Issues of Development: Agrarian Crisis, Human Resource Development & Skilled Unemployment, drawing on the information from the sources:

Issues of Development: Agrarian Crisis

• The agrarian crisis in India is a significant concern that negatively impacts the livelihoods of those dependent on agriculture.

• It is characterised by sluggish growth in the agricultural sector due to a decline in agricultural productivity and profitability.

• Several factors contribute to agrarian distress:

  • Faulty implementation of agricultural policies.

  • Excessive use of chemicals that degrade agricultural lands.

  • Price volatility shocks faced by farmers due to reduced trade barriers on agricultural commodities.

  • Distress sale of crops due to poor market infrastructure.

  • The rise of fragmented landholdings, leading to uneconomic cultivation.

• The agrarian crisis encompasses two main aspects:

  • Livelihood crisis: This threatens the survival of small and marginal farmers, as well as agricultural labourers, due to declining productivity and profitability.

  • Agricultural development crisis: This refers to the stagnant growth of the agricultural sector resulting from the misallocation of resources and the poor implementation of agricultural programmes.

• The manifestations of agrarian distress are not limited to backward areas but are also evident in prosperous agricultural zones with a high degree of commercialisation.

• The agrarian sector in India is often at the root of numerous other socio-economic crises. Prominent examples include:

  • Struggles over resources by social groups dependent on farming.

  • Inter-state water disputes.

• Ground water depletion has become an especially critical area of concern in Indian agriculture.

• Food crisis can arise due to the use of chemicals and fertilisers, which deteriorate the quality of food.

• Socio-economic dimensions of the agrarian crisis include the rise of agitations by social groups dependent on farming.

• Development initiatives, including infrastructure, technological interventions, farmer-friendly policies, and institutional mechanisms, can increase agricultural growth and farmers' income.

• Technology can help to reduce 'yield gaps' and thus improve productivity.

• Water-use efficiency can be improved significantly with better use of technologies such as drip irrigation.

• To resolve agrarian issues, necessary initiatives could include:

  • Setting up seed saving banks.

  • Encouraging cooperative farming.

  • Entitling farmers to free training programmes regarding efficient resource use.

  • Improvement of infrastructural facilities to strengthen the agricultural sector.

• Public investment in the agricultural sector should be increased.

Issues of Development: Human Resource Development & Skilled Unemployment

• Human Resource Development (HRD) focuses on the development of human resources and mainly concentrates on how individuals can acquire competencies and skills that can help achieve organisational objectives and goals effectively.

• HRD is a function of Human Resource Management (HRM) and is often mentioned under training and development.

• The focus of HRD is on the development of human resources.

• The key functions of HRD include:

  • Training and development.

  • Organisational development.

  • Career development.

  • Strategic management.

• HRD professionals need to work with other managers and personnel in the organisation to determine the implementation and evaluation of HRD activities.

• The journey of economic and social development in India is intertwined with the role of skilling.

• This paper on unemployment in India takes the informality of the Indian economy as the context in which the process of skilling is being undertaken through skill development schemes to meet the demand of the economy.

• The paper discusses the relationship between economic growth and job creation in India, evaluates the success of India’s skill development programmes, and gauges their ability to face the changing reality of jobs in the context of automation.

• There are significant wage differences in the formal and informal sectors in India, making it crucial to increase labour absorption in the formal sector.

• The problem of unemployment is not limited to the number of jobs available; it is also about the quality of work, remuneration, social security benefits, and other incentives, which are clearly better in the formal sector.

• Skill development schemes come into the picture to address this issue.

• The paper "UNEMPLOYMENT IN INDIA: SKILLING, AUTOMATION AND THE FUTURE OF JOBS" discusses these interconnected issues.

• Skilling is being undertaken through skill development schemes to meet the demand of the economy.

• The significant wage differences between formal and informal sectors highlight the importance of increasing labour absorption in the formal sector due to better job quality and benefits.

• Skill development schemes are intended to address this challenge.