Session Name: Inequality and the Urban-Rural Divide: Lessons from East and Southeast Asia
Political Autonomy and Economic Growth: An analysis of Himachal Pradesh's Agriculture Sector, 1951-1991
Monday, July 29, 2024
14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)
Paper Abstract: Scholarship on twentieth-century Asia suggests that political autonomy is a necessary condition for economic growth, allowing regions to tailor and implement policies to their contextual needs. This study will look empirically at the agriculture sector of the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh in India. Himachal Pradesh achieved full statehood on January 25, 1971, evolving from a Union Territory administered by the central government of India. It consistently outperforms other Indian states in economic and human development indices such as poverty alleviation, sanitation, and income per capita. The study will draw on agricultural data collected from two sub-regions, Shimla and Kullu, spanning from 1951 to 1991. It will comparatively look at the two decades preceding the transition to statehood (1951-1971) against data from 1971-1991, the two decades following the transition, to explore whether this juncture in political standing played a role in driving the change in the agriculture sector in the region. Variables such as farm prices of crops, agricultural wages, area under different food crops, use of machinery, yield of crops, and area under irrigation will be included in the assessment.
Presenter(s)
KA
Kriti Agrawal
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India
Co-Author(s)
AA
Aniket Alam
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India
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