This article examines whether poverty reduction across the regions of Uttar Pradesh during the 2000s has been pro-poor and explores why there are disparities in poverty reduction between regions. Using unit-level data from the National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) for the 61st (2004–2005) and 68th (2011–2012) rounds, the study estimates poverty and pro-poor indices for both rural and urban areas. Poverty changes between these two periods are decomposed into growth and distribution effects to assess pro-poorness across the NSS regions of Uttar Pradesh. The findings reveal that, during the 2000s, the growth effect in poverty reduction outweighed the inequality effect, leading to overall poverty reduction in the state. The southern and northern Upper Ganga Plains experienced faster, pro-poor poverty reduction, while the central region saw an increase in poverty, indicating that growth was anti-poor in this area. The study shows that regions with more skewed land distribution, such as the eastern and central regions, are having high poverty ratio, and the poverty reduction is faster in the regions having less skewed distribution of land holding as the southern and northern Upper Ganga Plain regions. The study also highlights the need for region-specific and area-targeted schemes to reduce poverty effectively across Uttar Pradesh.
The article analyses current challenges to property rights in India, focusing on land acquisition, property disputes, encroachment, eviction and issues related to awareness and access to legal resources. It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of existing legal and policy interventions in protecting property rights, especially for marginalised communities. The article employs a comprehensive review of relevant legislation, case law and scholarly literature. It examines key issues through case studies and analysis of judicial interventions, providing an interdisciplinary perspective on property rights in India. It also reveals significant challenges in India’s property rights system, including inadequate compensation for land acquisition, protracted legal disputes, widespread encroachment and forced evictions affecting marginalised communities. It highlights the lack of awareness and limited access to legal resources as major impediments to protecting property rights. The article also finds that while recent legislative efforts have attempted to address these issues, improper implementation remains a problem. This article offers a holistic examination of property rights challenges in contemporary India, synthesising legal, social and economic perspectives. It provides original insights into the interplay between formal legal structures and informal property ownership, and proposes innovative solutions to enhance awareness and access to legal resources. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on balancing development needs with the protection of individual and community property rights in India.
A dam stands as a monument to progress, touted as a lifeline for the thirsty in any state. This article discusses the socio-economic impacts of land acquisition for dam construction on tribal communities’ ancestral lands, which lay drowned by the dam construction. The insights of this article are based on a field survey from the Akole Tehsil and data from the population census of India, 2011. This field survey includes in-depth interviews, case studies and personal narratives of affected tribal communities. The findings of the study indicate that over 60 per cent of the affected tribal households live below the poverty line, with notable disparities in compensation and a lack of secure land tenure. Education levels also remain critically low, with significant gender disparities, particularly in technical education. The study highlights that despite the rise in nominal income, the actual purchasing power of tribal households has declined significantly. The challenges posed by unemployment and the loss of traditional means of livelihood due to displacement have deeply impacted these communities. The study highlights that proper compensation and rehabilitation policies, when effectively implemented, can potentially alleviate some of these socio-economic struggles faced by the affected tribal communities, ensuring access to basic amenities in resettlement sites in Akole Tehsil. The findings indicate that securing clear land titles is crucial for protecting the rights, livelihoods and cultural heritage of tribal communities, as it shields them from exploitation and ensures fair resettlement.
This article examines the impact of education on the changing dynamics of rural areas, with a particular focus on Ladakh. While previous research has explored the economic and social changes in rural areas, the role of education in these transformations remains underexplored. Using an ethnographic approach, the study investigates real-life experiences in Ladakh’s rural communities to understand how education contributes to migration, cultural dislocation and ecological challenges. Drawing on Bourdieu’s ‘Cultural Capital’ theory and the ‘Critical Theory of Education’, the study argues that education generates skills and knowledge that can elevate social status, pushing rural residents towards urban centres for better opportunities. However, this migration results in the depopulation of villages, diminishing local cultural and environmental knowledge. Key findings reveal that climate change, depletion of water sources and inadequate rural education further exacerbate this migration trend. Despite existing structures like Village Education Committees, there is a gap between policy intentions and on-the-ground realities. The study underscores the need for community involvement, experiential learning and region-specific curricula to mitigate rural depopulation and environmental degradation in the isolated villages of Ladakh.
This article has captured some important aspects of the dynamism of social tenure to land. It examines the critical role of equal benefits and a knowledge-sharing approach as basic tenets of extending social tenure for the marginal sections of the society. While acknowledging land as an important resource for human civilisations’ development, it briefly introduces the theoretical approaches, such as the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) and Elinor Ostrom’s works, defining the human’s relationship to land. Using case studies from India—the Sukhomajri Watershed Development Schemes, Aranya Farms and Sambhav—the study explores and models the extended social tenure rising from the principles of equal benefits and moral responsibilities within rural communities. Qualitative analysis is performed based on stakeholder interviews and existing literature. The research reveals that while landless and marginal farmers had limited rights during pre-initiative situation, the interventions made under the studied initiatives improved access to resources and knowledge sharing, thereby enhancing social tenure without necessitating formal ownership. Additionally, this literature review integrates the interconnected concepts of watershed management, social tenure and sustainable farming. It highlights how effectively watershed management, using local participation, combines biophysical and socio-economic factors to improve food security and resource sustainability. The review also underscores the importance of private land owners’ self-initiatives contributing towards the social and economic status enhancement of marginalised sections of the community, in their surroundings. Ultimately, the article advocates for more research studies to be conducted with similar examples around the world, to highlight the nature of social tenures, their influence zone, how they can be modelled and assess their true impacts on the society.
This study evaluates the revenue court case monitoring system (RCCMS) as a mechanism for improving judicial efficiency in Uttar Pradesh. Using official portal data from September 2024 to March 2025 and field-level insights from a district of Uttar Pradesh, it assesses whether digital dashboards embedded within supervisory frameworks can reduce long-standing pendency. The analysis finds that legacy cases older than 5 years declined by more than 80 per cent in a district of Uttar Pradesh following structured reviews by the District Magistrate and granular monitoring of Lekhpal and Revenue Inspector performance. Similar trends were observed in other high-performing districts, underscoring the link between digital oversight and administrative will. The findings suggest that RCCMS, when actively integrated into review mechanisms, can evolve from a data-entry platform into an instrument of performance governance. The study concludes that sustained reductions in pendency depend on aligning technology with procedural discipline, accountability measures and safeguards against circumvention.
The article focuses on the little explored benefits that follow from the ‘Community Managed Natural Farming’ (NF) propagated by the government of Andhra Pradesh (AP). It shows that the benefits of NF include the productive use of land, the surplus labour absorption, and the containment of the debt burden. It further shows that NF is helpful in arresting the degradation of soil, in safeguarding the standing crop from the vagaries of nature, in securing a healthy family, in begetting respect among peers, in reducing stress in farming, and all this while guaranteeing a higher net return per hectare compared to chemical farming (CF). The benefit of the higher net returns from NF does not, however, accrue uniformly to all agro-climatic zones of the states. And, NF is generally rewarding to the little-endowed marginal farmers.
Despite a history of alternative thinking in African agriculture, most agrarian futures remain vague. This article employs historical analysis and participatory mapping to examine alternative agrarian spatial thinking in the Ibadan rural hinterland of Southwest Nigeria. As successive waves of capitalist-oriented agricultural landscapes are experimented with and abandoned by the state, subaltern groups are reinterpreting some modernist settlement schemes within traditional spatial knowledge exemplified by the farm village practice. A visual complement to agrarian thought through maps and mapping reposition this thought-provoking process of community initiatives increasing the awareness of citizens and local organisations to embrace community-driven farm settlement schemes.
Agriculture is the primary source and support of many rural communities. By safeguarding farmers’ income and livelihoods, crop insurance supports rural development and improves the overall standard of living in village areas. Indemnity settlements are essential for mitigating financial risks and encouraging risk-balancing behaviours. However, the execution of crop insurance in India is needed, and it faces challenges such as low awareness, eligibility issues and inefficiencies in the settlement process. To address these challenges, technological solutions are proposed, such as core banking solutions, public–private partnerships, insurance based on meteorological indices, geographic information system technology and blockchain technology. This study focuses on the effects of premium payments and indemnity settlement on farmers’ enrolment in crop insurance and the need for technological developments to enhance schemes. The article referred to secondary data, through a comprehensive literature review the researcher analysed the implemented schemes and farmers’ enrolment. The study used Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Weather-Based Crop Insurance Scheme website data from 2018 to 2022 for analysis. Only 31.6 per cent of enrolled farmers benefited from crop insurance during the last 4 years, and many loanee farmers are participating in crop insurance. The study suggests that government-supporting agencies and insurance companies should explore ways to make premium payments more affordable and flexible for farmers. Agents’ efforts should be made to increase awareness among farmers through training programmes and digital campaigns.
Notwithstanding the globally significant progress in reducing poverty over the last two decades, many people still live in poverty. Consequently, social protection remains key to welfare sustainability. In this article, we used longitudinal data from Malawi to examine the impacts of farm input subsidies on poverty convergence. Convergence is coined here as the reduction in the persistence of poverty over time. We specifically estimated the response of poverty convergence in a current period to farm input subsidies that were provided in a prior period to understand if the programmes build sustainable welfare resilience among poor households. We analyse the convergence in two opposing land rights regimes: matrilocal settlements, where only women hold rights to land, and patrilocal settlements, where only men hold rights to land. Matrilocal and patrilocal settlements offer varying incentives to household heads, who are often men, of investing in familial land. We find that farm input subsidies lead to poverty convergence only in settlements where men hold rights to land and receive the subsidies on behalf of their households. Poverty convergence is non-responsive to the subsidies in settlements where men receive the subsidies on behalf of their households, while women, together with their extended families, hold rights to the land. We further find that the impact of farm input subsidies on poverty convergence is significant in a year when Malawi faced drought, suggesting that the subsidies built sustainable resilience against an unanticipated climatic shock in poor households. The article calls for anti-poverty policies to target poor people while paying attention to their landholding traditions if shared prosperity is to be achieved.
The present study was done to understand the land administration system and its importance in developing planned urban spaces. This article presents the results of research based on primary and secondary surveys to analyse the problems faced in developing planned urban areas in a historically established land record management system in India. The study is an attempt to qualify the variables of the land record management system affecting the planned development. The present study can be termed empirical since it is based on the collection and analysis of data through quantitative as well as qualitative methods. A literature study was conducted to understand land record management and to identify the variables. These variables were further validated by conducting a survey based on the questionnaire. Approximately 104 responses were collected from the respondents and analysed using statistical tools like the relative important index (RII) and structural equation model to identify and establish relationships amongst the critical issues. Further, a framework was prepared to remove the bottlenecks and to establish a transparent and efficient land administration system. The study indicates that the improvement in land administration in terms of technology is important, yet the most important parameter which requires attention is policy-level interventions in the entire system. The ranking analysis revealed the top variables that make the system inefficient are policy-level and administrative-level improvements. The article aims to identify the variables of the land administration system affecting planned urban development through exploratory research.
Drip irrigation method (DMI) is a water-saving technology introduced during the 1990s to reduce water consumption in crop cultivation in India. Because of various promotional schemes with heavy capital subsidies, the area under the DMI has increased from 70,589 hectares in 1991–1992 to about 5.96 million hectares in 2019–2020 in India. Though studies are available on the benefits of DMI, not many studies have attempted to find out the financial viability of DMI in water-intensive sugarcane crop cultivation using the discounted cash flow technique. In this study, therefore, we attempt to empirically examine the financial viability of DMI using field survey data collected from 300 sample farmers in Tamil Nadu, a large state in South India. The study shows that while saving the cultivation cost by about 19 per cent, water consumption by about 48 per cent and electricity use by about 728 kWh/acre (1 acre = 4,047 m 2 ), the adoption of DMI helps increase the productivity of sugarcane by about 38 per cent over the same crop cultivated under flood method of irrigation (FMI). The net present worth and benefit-cost ratio estimated at different discount rates using discounted cash flow technique confirm that the investment in DMI is financially viable for farmers.
Himachal Pradesh, established on 15 April 1948, by merging 30 princely states, holds Special Category State status due to its hilly terrain, low population density and financial challenges. Renowned for its scenic beauty, the state has become a sought-after destination for land purchases. However, this demand led to exploitation, with outsiders persuading local farmers to sell land at undervalued prices, leaving many landless. To protect local interests, the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, particularly Section 118, prohibits non-agriculturists from acquiring agricultural land in the state. While effective in safeguarding local farmers, the provision has faced criticism for being overly restrictive, allegedly hindering fundamental rights, business opportunities and development. Its inclusion in the Ninth Schedule further shields it from judicial scrutiny, fuelling debate. This article examines the Act’s implications, challenges to economic activity and procedural hurdles, offering a balanced perspective on its necessity and limitations.
The rubber industry has long been important to small landholders’ livelihoods, notably in Southeast Asian countries where the bulk of the world’s rubber is produced. Rubber tree farming is a profitable activity that may offer farmers a substantial income. Tripura, a northeastern Indian state, has an agricultural economy. Rubber plantation employs over 0.1 million farmers in the state, contributing considerably to their monthly revenue. As a result, the purpose of this research is to better understand the socio-economic condition of rubber plantation farmers and their dependency on rubber plantations. The study uses 355 respondents from face-to-face surveys conducted with randomly chosen families in two rubber plantation districts, Sepahijala and Gomati. The data analysis was done by using a generalised logistic regression method. It is found that roughly 98 per cent of the tested population is economically dependent on rubber plantations. According to the survey, land size (average 2.57 acres), land ownership (80 per cent of respondents own property) and the number of labourers employed in rubber plantations (average 1.67) are all positively associated with rubber production. Furthermore, household dependency on rubber plantations is positively associated with respondents’ age (average 45.5) and adversely related to respondents’ occupation. This is due to the findings that revenue from rubber plantations is somewhat unstable due to various factors in the supply chain of rubber. The study’s findings aid in understanding the socio-economic effect of the rubber-based system and will allow policymakers to adopt intervention strategies to benefit smallholder rubber growers.
Land use is changing in favour of agriculture as the population is growing and dietary preferences are changing. In the agriculture system, crop diversification is a crucial risk management strategy. This article traces Rajasthan’s changing land use pattern from 1966–1967 to 2016–2017, along with changing cropping patterns and intensity. The crop combination regions were also identified in the state using Rafiullah’s ‘Maximum Positive Deviation Method’. Further, this article delves into crop diversification in the state and examines the determinants of diversification through the ‘Generalised Least Square (GLS) technique’. This article shows that in these 50 years, the net cropped area in the state is expanding at the expense of barren and uncultivated land and cultivable wasteland due to the proliferation in groundwater irrigation. The net cropped area increased from 14.5 million hectare (ha) to 18 million hectare (ha)in these 50 years, while the gross cropped area almost doubled in this period. The cropping intensity in the state increased from 100 per cent to nearly 140 per cent. The share of cereals declined in the cropped area, while oilseeds increased by almost four times. The crop combination in the districts is becoming more complex. Interestingly, agricultural diversification is increasing in the districts of Rajasthan. As per the results of GLS, the significant determinants of diversification in the state are landholding size, irrigation and fertiliser consumption.
Jharkhand has the highest number of witchcraft-related crimes in India. Research suggests that a number of these are rooted in land disputes. In this article, we assess the various threads which connect or disconnect tribal women with land in Jharkhand and expose them to violence. We spoke with the women and listened to the people around them—men from their communities, tribal leaders, government officials, development leaders, advocates and others—to know their perspectives. We also analyse the constitutional and legal contexts of women’s access to and ownership of land. We examine the complex web of factors—including legal, administrative, social and cultural—that contribute to the unequal treatment of tribal women. We then suggest some strategic changes that require a long-term vision, and some immediate steps that might reduce the vulnerability and suffering of tribal women in Jharkhand.
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) play a significant role in meeting the needs of tribal communities, particularly in the areas of health care, eradicating poverty and enhancing the standard of living. The primary occupation of Tripura’s tribes has been collecting NTFPs for many years. Given the significance of NTFPs, the current study focuses on analysing the constraints encountered by the indigenous people in the activity of NTFPs. The four districts of Tripura state were the location of the current study. A sample of 400 tribal households has been taken for the study. The primary survey was conducted through a structured questionnaire during 2022–2023. To measure the respondents opinions on different constraints in NTFP utilisation, a Likert scale was used for scaling the attitudes of the tribal respondents, and principal component analysis was used for identifying the determining constraints in NTFPs, which helps to investigate the underlying structure in the pattern of correlation between several variables. There are 28 constraints observed in the study, and out of those, seven major factor components were found; these are the constraints related to government regulation and intervention, market infrastructure, awareness of NTFP user guidance and technique, awareness of the value of NTFP products, lack of marketing functions, inadequate financial assistance, the application of the act and government support. The issue had an impact on the amount of NTFPs collected, the involvement of young people as NTFP collectors and the income of tribe members.
We investigate how land measurements vary across three distinct land measurement techniques—farmers’ self-reported data, Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements, and Google estimates from remotely sensed satellite data—in Bhutan. The findings reveal a lack of significant differences between GPS and Google measurements across five key paddy-growing districts. However, the study identifies a noteworthy bias in farmers’ self-reported data relative to GPS measures. This bias is evident in both the levels and logarithmic representations of land area, with farmers tending to over-report for smaller-sized plots and underreport for larger-sized plots.
This research article explores the socio-economic status and challenges faced by tribal women in the Khunti district of Jharkhand, a part of the Chota Nagpur region. Using a holistic lens, the study investigates various aspects, such as education, employment and access to resources, to understand the issues of tribal women in this region. The research methodology involves a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, including primary surveys as well as secondary data. Data collection techniques such as purposive sampling and structured questionnaires are employed to gather information from tribal women, community leaders and other stakeholders. For primary results, a sample of 350 tribal women is selected as the population of the study. The findings reveal several significant trends and patterns. Despite government initiatives aimed at promoting women’s empowerment and development, tribal women in Khunti continue to face multiple challenges, including limited access to education, low participation in the formal workforce and sociocultural barriers. Furthermore, the study highlights the intersectionality of gender with other axes of marginalisation, such as caste, class and ethnicity, which exacerbate the vulnerability of tribal women. Issues such as drought and lack of land ownership rights further compound their socio-economic disadvantages. The article concludes with recommendations for policy interventions and grassroots initiatives to address the systemic inequalities faced by tribal women in Khunti. At large, the research underscores the urgent need for a multidimensional approach to empower tribal women in Khunti and ensure their full participation in the socio-economic development of the region. By addressing the root causes of gender disparities and promoting gender-sensitive policies, stakeholders can contribute to building a more inclusive and equitable society for tribal women.
Gender inequalities in access and control over productive resources, land inclusive, have been and continue to be of grave concern globally. In many Sub-Saharan African countries, the problem has much to do with women’s access and control over agricultural land, which underlies their unemployment and underemployment, as well as the ensuing consequences in the rural areas. In Sierra Leone, the National Land Policy (2015) provides for women’s access and control over land. The reality could be otherwise, especially in the rural agrarian areas held under customary land governance. A mixed-method case study involving the use of questionnaires, key informant interviews, community interface and focus group discussions was conducted in the Tambakha Simibungie Chiefdom in Sierra Leone to explore the nature of the phenomenon in context. This study looked at customary land governance and rural women’s access and control over land in the area. It was established that the allocation of land within extended families was arrogated to male heads of the family in line with other male family members, and the final approval of any land issue rested ultimately with the paramount chief, the supreme traditional authority in the chiefdom. In Tambakha Simibungie Chiefdom, men were invariably the family heads and occupied key positions as local authorities. Women were not allowed to take part in any land-related decision-making process, a situation that sealed their subordination to men and tightly limited women’s empowerment. The good intentions of the National Land Policy had no trickle-down effect on customary land governance. This led to the conclusion that women’s access and control over land was tagged to their relationships with male counterparts, who stood out as ripely unbridled in this chiefdom.
