Poverty, Growth and Rural Labour Markets in India

in India Kalpana Bardhan While growth is taking place in agricultural production, it is not using nearly as much labour as it could and should. The result is massive landless poverty and a significant constraint on non-agricultural growth. This is the contradiction which has emerged in the course of nearly three decades of agricultural growth in India which underscores the urgency of renewing or stepping up the efforts along three fronts: the redistribution of land and non-land assets to the rural land poor for more self-employment; the organisation of the mostly casual wage- labourers in the sizeable informal sectors, in direct alliance with the 'exploitation-neutral' agents among students, intellectuals, social workers, school teachers and administrators; and stronger commitment to the provision of education, skill training and placement targeted for members of the landless labour families.