Articles by N Krishnaji

Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and China going the capitalist way, there is a need to study and debate the Kerala experiment in the "peaceful transition to socialism", in which the communists have played a vital role in the promotion of a democratic society that protects the poor and endows them with a dignity unique in India. This article examines land and labour relations in Kerala since the early 1950s. It also looks closely at the strategic responses of the Left to the changing conditions in agriculture and rural industry and to the "gap" between social development and the growth of the material sectors.

Even as the debate continues on the magnitudes of female foeticide and infanticide, it is necessary to note that the marginal improvements in the sex ratio recorded towards the end of the last century are the outcome of a narrowing gap in gender differentials in adult mortality. This paper looks at the trends and variations in this gap.

Commenting on my review article (EPW, April 1), K Srinivasan (EPW, August 5) resurrects the female undercount hypothesis to explain the decline in sex ratio during the 1980s.

Malevolence of Affluence N Krishnaji writes:
THE focus of the Human Development Report 1998 is on inequalities in consumption across nations and between the rich and the poor everywhere. These inequalities are glaring and all too visible to the naked eye: in terms of the range of goods and services the rich command and the lack of adequate food, clothing and shelter among the poor. Making international comparisons of income and consumption is conceptually difficult, but thanks to the work behind the Human Development Reports and efforts by independent scholars, the usual GDP statistics can now be adjusted to yield meaningful comparisons of living standards. In addition, data on private consumption of items ranging from food to automobiles are readily available. HDR 1998 makes a presentation of the inequalities in much graphic detail.

This note reviews the construction of the Human Poverty Index (HPI) presented in the Human Development Report 1997. Like all such indices, the HPl summarises information but, it is argued here, as a summary measure it has no obvious merit, especially in relation to simpler, more easily understood indices such as the simple mean. Do we need an Index at all? The answer is no.