The article provides empirical evidence on the pattern and magnitude of subcontracting in micro and small manufacturing enterprises sector and across its different industry groups and analyses whether there are any sector-specific features in functions and linkages. It illustrates types, nature...

This study is based on a primary survey conducted over two consecutive years in two villages in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. West Bengal has the unique feature of being under a single coalition government for the last 30 years. In this context, we examine the effect of...

The article attempts to examine the marketing efficiency of potato markets in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. The analysis was made at three levels, namely wholesale markets, retail markets and the village market. The analysis using the Johansen and Juselius (1990) cointegration test...

In a detailed case study of traditional wholesale markets for vegetables in India (in the state of Uttarakhand), we find several important governance problems at horticulture wholesale markets: marketing regulations are ineffective, widespread confusion of roles exists between brokers and...

In a globalised world, recessions strike formal sectors more swiftly, which when adopting cost-cutting measures retrench regular workers with higher non-negotiable wages. An economywide computable general equilibrium (CGE) model with different labour market closures has been used to study the...

Is the informal sector in India a means of exploitation or a means of accumulation? One view takes the informal sector to be a site for primitive capital accumulation, with underpaid workers working in abysmal conditions. Another view takes the informal sector to be the venue for economic...

In August 2001 there was widespread protest in Kerala, a state otherwise known for its remarkable achievements in ‘human’ development, at the starvation deaths that had occurred in a number of adivasi colonies. This prompted a continuing debate on the meaning of the Kerala...