A.    UGC sponsored Special Assistance Programme ( SAP) : DRS and DSA

After successfully completing the DRS -Phase I (2007-2012) the Department of Economics, CU was granted DSA – Phase I in 2014.

Thrust area under DRS: Economics of Globalization and Sustainable Development

Thrust area under DSA: Economics of Globalization and Regional Development

DSA Thrust Area

Globalization and Regional Development

In the last two decades, India’s economic integration with the global economy has widened and deepened. The process of integration has been a gradualist rather than a big bang, which is indicative of a cautious approach on the part of policy makers. Events such as the current global economic crisis has made the India state careful in reform though it has, from time to time, taken recourse to bouts of policies that emphasize and confirm India’s integration into the global economy. In that regard, the all-encompassing reforms in the industrial, financial, trade and retail sectors, gradual privatization and disinvestment of state enterprises, partial reforms in agriculture, education, health sectors, adoption of public-private partnership, the conservative approach to fiscal and monetary policy, the impending reforms in banking, insurance and labour laws, are converging in ushering in a global competitive market economy. In short, the influence and impact of globalization on the transition of Indian economy is undeniable.

Globalization (as a process, as a set of institution and as an economic order) is said to have delivered a windfall, by way of scaling up India’s growth rate to a historically new high. After the usual structural adjustment and transition cost in the initial period of reforms (1990s), the first decade of this millennium saw unprecedentedly high economic growth rate and, despite controversies over measures, a fall in absolute income poverty. This increase in prosperity is seen as direct fallout of the effect of globalization process on Indian economy. Questions however remain about the pace of poverty reduction and, accepting that challenge. Moreover, it must also be pointed out that though the ongoing global economic crisis for the last five years has put the growth rate under stress and its decline since 2008 is a cause of concern; this is also said to have complicated the pace of poverty reduction. The effect of the global economic crisis on Indian economy has been one that affirmed the claim of India’s integration into the global economy and has simultaneously raised doubts on the sustainability of its growth rate and prosperity. It is ironical that, after the initial period of attempts to stabilize the Indian economy, the response of policy makers to this crisis points to an expansion and not a reduction of reforms towards global integration, as indicated by the recent bout of adopted and proposed reforms measures. In short, the effect of global economic crisis must be counteracted with deeper globalization of Indian economy. Moreover, another facet of this new Indian economic structure embedded in a global economy stands out as a matter of concern. It entails the fact that, following India’s transition process, only 7% of the total workforce is in organized sector and the rest in unorganized sector. Evidences show that the high growth rate regime in India has been capital-intensive and high skilled rather than labour intensive and labour absorbing. In comparison to 19991-92, both in sectoral share of GDP and share of employment, the service sector grew very rapidly but overwhelmingly absorbing employment in informal sector; the share of manufacturing in turn has been stagnating which belies the faith in the stages of industrialization. This has raised questions regarding the type of economic structure that has evolved followed India’s integration into the global economy and has set the stage for a debate about its future movement. There is no doubt that the route of India’s transition process will remain a major axis of debate in the immediate future.

Overall, the evolution of globalization in India’s context itself raises various issues and concerns that need to be debated. These include an interrogation of the process and institutions of globalization as such, of past and present reforms to gauge their effectiveness, the pattern, type and possible impact of impending reforms especially in financial, infrastructure, retail and agricultural sectors, the fallout from the global economic crisis and its effect on macro-management, the complication these bring to the classical growth-poverty relation and the problems arising from the type of structural transformation. These are only some of the many aspects that need to be seriously inquired upon. One of the objectives of our program will be to put the idea, process and outcomes of globalization under the scanner and set up a detailed engagement with reference to the mentioned issues and problems that the Indian economy is presently confronting.

On the other, it is also readily acknowledged now that while economic growth is helping to reduce poverty, the problems of income inequality and social equities have persisted and indeed in some instances sharpened across social groups and regions. Data on Gini coefficient, literacy rate, underweight children and under 5 mortality, malnutrition  etc., point to a growing divide between the rich and poor, between rural and urban India, between various social groups with the Dalits, Adivasis, religious Minorities, woman and children on the receiving end. This has raised concern that the trickle down from high economic growth may not be working satisfactorily, and that income, resources and opportunities opened up by India’s integration into a global economy may be accruing to a section of population and region. In short, if we broaden the idea of development beyond (but not excluding) economic growth by including other economic and social indicators concerning distribution, health, etc., then we can say that the prosperity of Indian economy has been accompanied by sharp contrasts in terms of distribution of that prosperity. In so far as we accept the dominant view that the transformative force of globalization has been partly responsible for this prosperity then we must also accept that globalization has been accompanied by, and in some instances perhaps a cause of, this economic and societal contrast.

One way to visualize this contrast is through regional differences in development. There are many ways to distil the category of regional development. For one, from growth rate to above mentioned non-growth indicators, we can observe disparities across regional states. Indeed, India represents a remarkable contrast of this kind of regional disparity that presents a vexed problem for development. To take an extreme case, while Gujarat has been in the forefront of growth rate, it has lagged between the other states in other indicators, say, that of health. Why are some states doing well in certain aspects while relatively failing in others? To take another instance, regional disparity may be seen in terms of a palpable rural-urban divide concerning almost all the indicators pointing to not only a structural problem but a problem of transition. Thus, disparity could exist between regions within a state as well. In other words, various kinds of regional disparities and lacunas persist within and across states that present the problem of uneven and differentiated nature of development raising questions about inclusion, balance and sustainability of the transition process of Indian economy. To put it another way, disparities in indicators of well-being and that of regional development seem to converge and they in turn point to a potent economic problem of distribution and utilization of wealth, resources and opportunities. In this backdrop, there is an urgent need to identify these regional disparities, analyze their sources, characters, effects and if possible forward solutions to mitigate them in order to make development inclusive, balanced and sustainable. This is again a point emphasized by the 12^th five year plan document.

Lastly, there is no need to think of globalization and regional development as delinked. Rather, as globalization has reshaped the map of Indian economy through the creation and expansion of a competitive market economy, it has been also associated with the above mentioned problems of disparities. It is our contention that the link between globalization and regional development has not been sufficiently dissected, even though the discussed disparities and contrasts make this task increasingly indispensable and urgent.

In this program, we propose under ‘Globalization and Regional Development’ to broadly focus on (i) globalization, (ii) regional development and (iii) the relation between globalization and regional development. All the three broad areas are important in themselves and in relation to one another. It is our conjecture that the interrogation of globalization and regional development on their own will enlighten us about their specific processes, effects, and limits which could then be brought into play and combined in thoroughly examining the relation between the two.

While by no means restricted to West Bengal economy, we intend to focus a great deal on the problems of disparities of West Bengal in relation to other states and of districts/regions within it. It is also our objective to unpack, wherever possible, the transformative effect of globalization in West Bengal and the possible relation with the mentioned problems of regional development. In other words, along with other aspects, there is a felt need to discuss the areas and issues under ‘globalization and regional development’ in relation to the West Bengal economy and see how it is faring and if so why. This focus has acquired additional validity because evidences tend to show case West Bengal as a case of faltering regional economy in almost all indicators that we discussed earlier. An additional utility of this special focus is to build, through the medium of research, training, conferences/workshops, working papers and books, the capacities of analysts, experts and practitioners of development in this region so that they can contribute productively in the future of the development of West Bengal economy. Whether addressing the topic at a broad level or at the level of West Bengal, we believe that our program would make it possible, to unpack new insights, modes of analysis and forward unique policy prescriptions so as to productively contribute on the transition analysis and process of Indian economy in general and West Bengal economy in particular.