Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211057333
Laura M. Valencia
In response to the global climate emergency and biodiversity loss, environmental advocates promote ecological restoration of millions of hectares of the world’s degraded forest lands. Lands of high value to restoration are home to nearly 300 million people, including 12% of low- and middle-income country populations. In this article, I respond to calls for greater empirical investigation into the social impacts of forest landscape restoration. Through spatial and ethnographic analysis of forest restoration in Keonjhar, Odisha (India), I show that state-led afforestation efforts contradict a decade of forest tenure reform which sought to decentralize and decolonize forest governance. I explore how state-led efforts ignore (and inhibit) the continued protagonism of forest-dwelling communities in forest regeneration on their customary lands. Weaving accounts from 1992 onwards across six villages and 22 plantations, I characterize state strategies as an ‘uphill battle’: by systematically selecting shifting cultivation (podu) uplands for enclosure and tree plantation, forest agencies contribute to a lose-lose situation where neither forest restoration nor forest rights are realized. Investigating this process from colonial forest policy to the present, I leverage a critical political ecology perspective that supports calls for rights-based restoration.
{"title":"Uphill Battle: Forest Rights and Restoration on Podu Landscapes in Keonjhar, Odisha","authors":"Laura M. Valencia","doi":"10.1177/09731741211057333","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211057333","url":null,"abstract":"In response to the global climate emergency and biodiversity loss, environmental advocates promote ecological restoration of millions of hectares of the world’s degraded forest lands. Lands of high value to restoration are home to nearly 300 million people, including 12% of low- and middle-income country populations. In this article, I respond to calls for greater empirical investigation into the social impacts of forest landscape restoration. Through spatial and ethnographic analysis of forest restoration in Keonjhar, Odisha (India), I show that state-led afforestation efforts contradict a decade of forest tenure reform which sought to decentralize and decolonize forest governance. I explore how state-led efforts ignore (and inhibit) the continued protagonism of forest-dwelling communities in forest regeneration on their customary lands. Weaving accounts from 1992 onwards across six villages and 22 plantations, I characterize state strategies as an ‘uphill battle’: by systematically selecting shifting cultivation (podu) uplands for enclosure and tree plantation, forest agencies contribute to a lose-lose situation where neither forest restoration nor forest rights are realized. Investigating this process from colonial forest policy to the present, I leverage a critical political ecology perspective that supports calls for rights-based restoration.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"342 - 366"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43157863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211070043
S. Krithi
Third world environmental policies are increasingly moving towards market-based mechanisms for conservation of natural resources. In India, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, a key element of current policy on forest restoration, reflects this shift. While it has not been explicitly formulated as payment for ecosystem services, this policy relies on the use of market-based valuation techniques to finance equivalent afforestation for diverted forest land by the state. Using a mix of government reports, secondary data and primary survey, this article studies the manifestation of conservation in a hilly, forested and remote region within India and its implications on sustainability and equity for local resource users. The primary data shows the continuing process of encroachment of the commons, commodification and devaluation of natural resources at the local level. Simultaneously, a re-articulated notion of conservation is being used to bring the natural resource sector within the ambit of capital. This article examines the shift in forest policy in Himachal Pradesh, India, the changing relationship of state, local institutions and private investment, and how the articulation of conservation has interacted with policy and practice. As a beleaguered neoliberal capitalist system searches for avenues for profit, this article re-emphasizes the role of a democratic state and the inability of private capital to address social needs.
{"title":"State, Labour and Emerging Natural Resource Regimes: A Case Study of Forest- Based Livelihoods in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh","authors":"S. Krithi","doi":"10.1177/09731741211070043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211070043","url":null,"abstract":"Third world environmental policies are increasingly moving towards market-based mechanisms for conservation of natural resources. In India, the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, a key element of current policy on forest restoration, reflects this shift. While it has not been explicitly formulated as payment for ecosystem services, this policy relies on the use of market-based valuation techniques to finance equivalent afforestation for diverted forest land by the state. Using a mix of government reports, secondary data and primary survey, this article studies the manifestation of conservation in a hilly, forested and remote region within India and its implications on sustainability and equity for local resource users. The primary data shows the continuing process of encroachment of the commons, commodification and devaluation of natural resources at the local level. Simultaneously, a re-articulated notion of conservation is being used to bring the natural resource sector within the ambit of capital. This article examines the shift in forest policy in Himachal Pradesh, India, the changing relationship of state, local institutions and private investment, and how the articulation of conservation has interacted with policy and practice. As a beleaguered neoliberal capitalist system searches for avenues for profit, this article re-emphasizes the role of a democratic state and the inability of private capital to address social needs.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"433 - 454"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41381887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-25DOI: 10.1177/09731741211059052
Sarah Benabou
In the north-eastern hills of Meghalaya, the Khasi Hills project, self-advertised as ‘one of the first Redd+ initiatives in Asia to be developed and managed by indigenous governments on communal lands’, is often presented as one of the rare success stories of India’s recent experimentation with market instruments as part of its forest governance. This article uses this example to extend existing discussions on the neoliberalization of forest governance, and its intersections with the cultural politics of resource control. Unlike mainstream forestry projects criticized for being too concentrated in the hands of the Forest Department, this project explicitly taps into the particularities of a region located on the margin of the Indian nation-state, where, crucially, ownership and control of the land lie formally with the people rather than with the state. The article explores the politics of this curious marriage of (formal) indigenous sovereignty with market environmentalism, showing, first, the centrality of these assumed cultural and ecological specificities within the regime of justification of such market project; second, how the aspirations of project proponents for community engagement unravelled in practice; and, third, the limits of their endeavours due to larger structural social inequalities and the requirements of such market projects. I conclude with the idea that far from being anecdotal, this case brings interesting perspectives in the context of the struggle for the recognition of forest rights in the rest of India.
{"title":"Carbon Forests at the Margins of the State: The Politics of Indigenous Sovereignty and Market Environmentalism in the North-eastern Hills of India","authors":"Sarah Benabou","doi":"10.1177/09731741211059052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211059052","url":null,"abstract":"In the north-eastern hills of Meghalaya, the Khasi Hills project, self-advertised as ‘one of the first Redd+ initiatives in Asia to be developed and managed by indigenous governments on communal lands’, is often presented as one of the rare success stories of India’s recent experimentation with market instruments as part of its forest governance. This article uses this example to extend existing discussions on the neoliberalization of forest governance, and its intersections with the cultural politics of resource control. Unlike mainstream forestry projects criticized for being too concentrated in the hands of the Forest Department, this project explicitly taps into the particularities of a region located on the margin of the Indian nation-state, where, crucially, ownership and control of the land lie formally with the people rather than with the state. The article explores the politics of this curious marriage of (formal) indigenous sovereignty with market environmentalism, showing, first, the centrality of these assumed cultural and ecological specificities within the regime of justification of such market project; second, how the aspirations of project proponents for community engagement unravelled in practice; and, third, the limits of their endeavours due to larger structural social inequalities and the requirements of such market projects. I conclude with the idea that far from being anecdotal, this case brings interesting perspectives in the context of the struggle for the recognition of forest rights in the rest of India.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"387 - 413"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47627177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-13DOI: 10.1177/09731741211053785
Arne Harms
Irrespective of controversies and frustrated efforts, carbon forestry—the sequestering of greenhouse gases in forests—remains a key element of climate change mitigation. Carbon forestry drives regularly rely on a market-based conservation framework, where forest dwellers are remunerated for their service of maintaining forests through dedicated financial instruments routing global funds. In this article, I turn to India’s first large-scale carbon forestry project, situated in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, and trace how carbon forestry plots are subjected to different temporal trajectories on different levels. I show that the marketing of emission reduction certificates (CER), underpinning carbon forestry, posits emergent forests as permanent sinks. The administrative procedures of this Indian carbon forestry project, however, aim at providing for these forests for sixty years. Finally, I show that villagers perceive a sense of closure, suspending dedicated care and governance routines as the project appears to dismantle and future payments become uncertain. I argue that these different temporal registers not only reveal contradictions within carbon forestry approaches but they also highlight the fragility of attempts to economize forests through supposedly green financial instruments and, therefore, the limited impact of what might appear as neoliberal agendas, in time.
{"title":"Three Ways of Seeing a Forest: On the Social Life of Economization in Indian Carbon Forestry","authors":"Arne Harms","doi":"10.1177/09731741211053785","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211053785","url":null,"abstract":"Irrespective of controversies and frustrated efforts, carbon forestry—the sequestering of greenhouse gases in forests—remains a key element of climate change mitigation. Carbon forestry drives regularly rely on a market-based conservation framework, where forest dwellers are remunerated for their service of maintaining forests through dedicated financial instruments routing global funds. In this article, I turn to India’s first large-scale carbon forestry project, situated in the hills of Himachal Pradesh, and trace how carbon forestry plots are subjected to different temporal trajectories on different levels. I show that the marketing of emission reduction certificates (CER), underpinning carbon forestry, posits emergent forests as permanent sinks. The administrative procedures of this Indian carbon forestry project, however, aim at providing for these forests for sixty years. Finally, I show that villagers perceive a sense of closure, suspending dedicated care and governance routines as the project appears to dismantle and future payments become uncertain. I argue that these different temporal registers not only reveal contradictions within carbon forestry approaches but they also highlight the fragility of attempts to economize forests through supposedly green financial instruments and, therefore, the limited impact of what might appear as neoliberal agendas, in time.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"367 - 386"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48203626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-11-13DOI: 10.1177/09731741211057821
Mijo Luke
This article contributes to the study of globalization and social change in rural Kerala by examining the historical trajectories of educational, occupational and spatial mobility among three communities—Syrian Christians, Ezhavas and Pulayas—in the village of Kavakad, Kerala. It addresses the involvement of each community in transnational migration and related mobilities away from the village. The article is based on quantitative data collected through an intergenerational family survey and semi-structured interviews conducted in Kavakad. The research reveals that while the dominant Syrian Christian community gained most from transnational migration, all three communities benefited from forms of upward mobility. However, our findings also confirm that, despite various forms of mobility, longstanding social inequalities between Syrian Christians, Ezhavas and Pulayas in the village persist. The article highlights the ways in which spatial mobility is a key factor in shaping the relative social mobility of each community. As such, it contributes to our understanding of the reproduction of inequality in contemporary Kerala and, in particular, of the ways in which historically accumulated resources and community networks enabled Syrian Christians to turn transnational migration into lasting forms of upward mobility. It also suggests a need for alternative development interventions at the local level to support the spatial mobility of marginalized rural communities.
{"title":"Globalization and the Changing Geography of Social Life in Rural Kerala","authors":"Mijo Luke","doi":"10.1177/09731741211057821","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211057821","url":null,"abstract":"This article contributes to the study of globalization and social change in rural Kerala by examining the historical trajectories of educational, occupational and spatial mobility among three communities—Syrian Christians, Ezhavas and Pulayas—in the village of Kavakad, Kerala. It addresses the involvement of each community in transnational migration and related mobilities away from the village. The article is based on quantitative data collected through an intergenerational family survey and semi-structured interviews conducted in Kavakad. The research reveals that while the dominant Syrian Christian community gained most from transnational migration, all three communities benefited from forms of upward mobility. However, our findings also confirm that, despite various forms of mobility, longstanding social inequalities between Syrian Christians, Ezhavas and Pulayas in the village persist. The article highlights the ways in which spatial mobility is a key factor in shaping the relative social mobility of each community. As such, it contributes to our understanding of the reproduction of inequality in contemporary Kerala and, in particular, of the ways in which historically accumulated resources and community networks enabled Syrian Christians to turn transnational migration into lasting forms of upward mobility. It also suggests a need for alternative development interventions at the local level to support the spatial mobility of marginalized rural communities.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"17 1","pages":"7 - 31"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44835990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211034018
A. Abbasi
This article critically analyses Pakistan’s development project since its independence in 1947 up till Vision 2025 of 2014. Vision 2025 aspires to ‘inclusive growth’ through the expansion of the market as the basis for a ‘people-centric’ approach to development. Based on a critical evaluation of Pakistan’s development trajectory, I argue that a reliance on economic growth via liberal capitalism to address poverty has failed in Pakistan. Post-independence aspirations of decent livelihoods became disrupted by the development project, which evolved through Cold War politics. Premised upon the privileging of liberal capitalism, this modernization project was executed by authoritarian regimes that initiated new processes of dispossession and accentuated existent inequalities. Moreover, a critical analysis of Pakistan’s development crises must consider how poverty intersects with social inequality justified through zat or caste to reproduce entrenched positions of privilege and disadvantage. Mainstream Pakistani society comprises an efficacious trope of inequality normalized through the ‘othering’ of poor families, resistance to which is misrepresented as a lack of character and industry. Impoverished communities bear disproportionate costs of development, which compel them to find shelter in segregated communities in slums and earn a living as servants, vendors and through begging, including children on the streets. In the wake of neo-liberal policy reforms, the Benazir Income Support Programme provides temporary monetary relief to some but leaves intact the underlying causes of worsening inequality. A critical discussion of Pakistan’s development trajectory challenges the ideological premises of Vision 2025 and its promise of universal wellbeing.
{"title":"Politics of Development in Pakistan: From the Post-Independence Modernization Project to ‘Vision 2025’","authors":"A. Abbasi","doi":"10.1177/09731741211034018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211034018","url":null,"abstract":"This article critically analyses Pakistan’s development project since its independence in 1947 up till Vision 2025 of 2014. Vision 2025 aspires to ‘inclusive growth’ through the expansion of the market as the basis for a ‘people-centric’ approach to development. Based on a critical evaluation of Pakistan’s development trajectory, I argue that a reliance on economic growth via liberal capitalism to address poverty has failed in Pakistan. Post-independence aspirations of decent livelihoods became disrupted by the development project, which evolved through Cold War politics. Premised upon the privileging of liberal capitalism, this modernization project was executed by authoritarian regimes that initiated new processes of dispossession and accentuated existent inequalities. Moreover, a critical analysis of Pakistan’s development crises must consider how poverty intersects with social inequality justified through zat or caste to reproduce entrenched positions of privilege and disadvantage. Mainstream Pakistani society comprises an efficacious trope of inequality normalized through the ‘othering’ of poor families, resistance to which is misrepresented as a lack of character and industry. Impoverished communities bear disproportionate costs of development, which compel them to find shelter in segregated communities in slums and earn a living as servants, vendors and through begging, including children on the streets. In the wake of neo-liberal policy reforms, the Benazir Income Support Programme provides temporary monetary relief to some but leaves intact the underlying causes of worsening inequality. A critical discussion of Pakistan’s development trajectory challenges the ideological premises of Vision 2025 and its promise of universal wellbeing.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"220 - 243"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44597362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211025377
Andrew V. Sanchez
Tom Barnes. 2018. Making Cars in the New India: Industry, Precarity and Informality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 261pp., £31.99. ISBN: 9781108433792.
{"title":"Book review: Tom Barnes. 2018. Making Cars in the New India: Industry, Precarity and Informality","authors":"Andrew V. Sanchez","doi":"10.1177/09731741211025377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211025377","url":null,"abstract":"Tom Barnes. 2018. Making Cars in the New India: Industry, Precarity and Informality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 261pp., £31.99. ISBN: 9781108433792.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"313 - 315"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47745243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211024870
Md. Iqbal Bhuyan, Keun-Yeob Oh
In this study, we investigate the effects of textile and garment (T&G) exports on income inequality in Bangladesh. Focusing on T&G exports alone, which contribute more than 90% of the country’s total exports, we hypothesize that the export sector of a country being concentrated on a single industry widens income inequality. Based on time series data over the period 1991–2015, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the variables. It seems that exports from the T&G sector have a statistically significant effect on income inequality in the long run, such that the high concentration of T&G exports contributes to widening income inequality in Bangladesh. This result implies that policies oriented toward export diversification are necessary so that people working in other sectors can also engage in income generating activities from exports. Our results also demonstrate that income inequality rises in the initial stages of economic growth. Then, after reaching a threshold level of growth, income inequality falls. This result confirms the validity of the Kuznets hypothesis in the case of Bangladesh.
{"title":"Exports and Inequality: Evidence from the Highly Concentrated Textile and Garment Sector of Bangladesh","authors":"Md. Iqbal Bhuyan, Keun-Yeob Oh","doi":"10.1177/09731741211024870","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211024870","url":null,"abstract":"In this study, we investigate the effects of textile and garment (T&G) exports on income inequality in Bangladesh. Focusing on T&G exports alone, which contribute more than 90% of the country’s total exports, we hypothesize that the export sector of a country being concentrated on a single industry widens income inequality. Based on time series data over the period 1991–2015, the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the variables. It seems that exports from the T&G sector have a statistically significant effect on income inequality in the long run, such that the high concentration of T&G exports contributes to widening income inequality in Bangladesh. This result implies that policies oriented toward export diversification are necessary so that people working in other sectors can also engage in income generating activities from exports. Our results also demonstrate that income inequality rises in the initial stages of economic growth. Then, after reaching a threshold level of growth, income inequality falls. This result confirms the validity of the Kuznets hypothesis in the case of Bangladesh.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"293 - 309"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/09731741211024870","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41794645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211039049
Katsuhiko Masaki, Jit Tshering
Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) is often dismissed by its critics as being an instrument for policy elites to address ‘national security concerns’ that started to threaten their grasp on the state around the turn of the millennium. This study problematizes this line of criticism that relegates GNH to an ‘invented tradition’ of recent origin. For this purpose, this study draws on Roy Wagner’s notion of ‘invention’ that draws attention to how various sets of meanings are brought together. A historical analysis of the country’s development plans points to several origins of GNH, including ‘Buddhism and Bhutan’s traditional socio-economic system’ and ‘outside concepts’ holding sway in international debates on development. GNH has undergone a long and gradual process of elaboration in view of Buddhist mores and development discourses, while also taking into account national security concerns. This study concludes by warning against the reductionistic stance of GNH critics, in favour of a more balanced perspective that captures the multiplicity of the origins of GNH.
{"title":"Exploring the Origins of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness","authors":"Katsuhiko Masaki, Jit Tshering","doi":"10.1177/09731741211039049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211039049","url":null,"abstract":"Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) is often dismissed by its critics as being an instrument for policy elites to address ‘national security concerns’ that started to threaten their grasp on the state around the turn of the millennium. This study problematizes this line of criticism that relegates GNH to an ‘invented tradition’ of recent origin. For this purpose, this study draws on Roy Wagner’s notion of ‘invention’ that draws attention to how various sets of meanings are brought together. A historical analysis of the country’s development plans points to several origins of GNH, including ‘Buddhism and Bhutan’s traditional socio-economic system’ and ‘outside concepts’ holding sway in international debates on development. GNH has undergone a long and gradual process of elaboration in view of Buddhist mores and development discourses, while also taking into account national security concerns. This study concludes by warning against the reductionistic stance of GNH critics, in favour of a more balanced perspective that captures the multiplicity of the origins of GNH.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"273 - 292"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43683803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-08-01DOI: 10.1177/09731741211023636
T. Begho
Rice is the leading cereal crop in Nepal and an important source of calories and plant protein. Despite the importance of rice, there are reports of widespread cultivation of older varieties with considerably large adoption lags. This warrants further investigation into the factors that influence rice farmers’ adoption decisions. Risk attitude is reported to be an important determinant of farmers’ decisions. However, in Nepal, evidence of the effect of risk attitude on the adoption of improved crop varieties is limited because this important factor is not considered in adoption studies. This article, therefore, connects field experiment, theoretical understanding of farmers’ risk attitudes and empirical models with the aim of investigating determinants of farmers adoption of improved rice varieties in Nepal. The results show that majority of farmers currently grow old varieties. The top four varieties—Sona Mahsuri, Sarju-52, Samba Mahsuri and Radha-4—have an average varietal release age of 27 years. By estimating a binary response regression model, this article shows that risk attitude is a significant determinant of rice farmers’ adoption decision. Specifically, the results show that risk-tolerant farmers have the lowest propensity to adopt new improved rice varieties. This article, therefore, highlights the importance of promoting holistic benefits over making risk-reducing attributes salient when new crop varieties are developed and disseminated to farmers.
{"title":"Using Farmers’ Risk Tolerance to Explain Variations in Adoption of Improved Rice Varieties in Nepal","authors":"T. Begho","doi":"10.1177/09731741211023636","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09731741211023636","url":null,"abstract":"Rice is the leading cereal crop in Nepal and an important source of calories and plant protein. Despite the importance of rice, there are reports of widespread cultivation of older varieties with considerably large adoption lags. This warrants further investigation into the factors that influence rice farmers’ adoption decisions. Risk attitude is reported to be an important determinant of farmers’ decisions. However, in Nepal, evidence of the effect of risk attitude on the adoption of improved crop varieties is limited because this important factor is not considered in adoption studies. This article, therefore, connects field experiment, theoretical understanding of farmers’ risk attitudes and empirical models with the aim of investigating determinants of farmers adoption of improved rice varieties in Nepal. The results show that majority of farmers currently grow old varieties. The top four varieties—Sona Mahsuri, Sarju-52, Samba Mahsuri and Radha-4—have an average varietal release age of 27 years. By estimating a binary response regression model, this article shows that risk attitude is a significant determinant of rice farmers’ adoption decision. Specifically, the results show that risk-tolerant farmers have the lowest propensity to adopt new improved rice varieties. This article, therefore, highlights the importance of promoting holistic benefits over making risk-reducing attributes salient when new crop varieties are developed and disseminated to farmers.","PeriodicalId":44040,"journal":{"name":"Journal of South Asian Development","volume":"16 1","pages":"171 - 193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2021-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/09731741211023636","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46685957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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