Articles by Banikanta Mishra

People's movements in the various tribal districts of Odisha have been opposing plans for mineral extraction and industries that will deprive them of their land and livelihoods. However, the political and state machinery seems to have enthusiastically climbed aboard the development bandwagon, especially in the mining sector, and is little inclined to heed the voices of the poor, marginalised people. Money and greed being powerful motivators, the rapidity with which Odisha has been ceding rights to exploit its mineral wealth is alarming.

The liberalisation process that started in India in the early 1990s has made Orissa potentially the most attractive destination for large capital-intensive projects by private-sector firms - typically mineral-based ones. These projects are facing opposition from the people, especially those likely to be displaced and those who will be indirectly affected. At the same time, the state's woes - poverty and unemployment - remain to be addressed. Against this backdrop, this article examines - both analytically and empirically - the path taken by the three important sectors of the state: agriculture, industry, and mining. Based on an inter-district and inter-state panel analysis, the paper highlights the serious decline in the Orissa's agricultural sector - still the only significant determinant of per capita income in the state - while the mining sector, be it in production or exports, has flourished.

Corporate governance is generally defined as an area that seeks to create a structure to make managers accountable to stakeholders and to generate incentive-compatibility for 'proper' decisions to be taken by managers in a transparent manner. But even here it is not clear what 'proper' is and who the stakeholders are, as they can be viewed narrowly or broadly. Since the objectives of corporate governance are not clear in all cases, it can easily create second level agency problems such as those between a company and society at large.