Scaling up and Sustainability: the experience of rural India

by Seema Purushothaman & Rosa Abraham

From its genesis as a primarily ecological concept, the notion of sustainability has come a long way to encompass multiple dimensions, including cultural, social and economic. The modern-day emphasis on efficiency, profits and scaling up has posed threats to the multiple realms of sustainability. This paper provides insights into the conflicts between scaling up and sustainability in the agricultural sector in India. Using a graphical representation of sustainability, the paper illustrates the conflicts that are created when there is scaling up of one dimension. This graphical tool is used to illustrate the consequence of scaling up on overall sustainability in the context of rural India. It suggests alternative and more sustainable approaches to secure the livelihoods of the rural poor.

Purushothaman, S and Abraham R (2011). Scaling up and Sustainability: the experience from rural India. Sustainability in Debate. 2(2): 21-42.

Basic References & Data Sources on Sustainable Development

this issue of the The PelicanWeb's Journal of Sustainable Development journal is an attempt to provide a directory of links to the best online knowledge and data sources (both quantitative and qualitative) on sustainable development and related issues. It is a selective compilation of links previously used in this journal, plus some links recently gathered to be current as of January 2010.

The stillness of the Little Rann of Kutch was interrupted in early-December 2008 by a fleet of heavy vehicles, earthmovers, tractors and trucks, their movement causing clouds of dust to rise in the air. Dust can wreak havoc with the salt pans, making the salt yellowish and reducing its price. “The salt workers were initially worried about the impact of the movement of heavy vehicles on the quality of salt, but soon realised the bigger threat,” Sukhdev Patel, founder-president of the Agariya Hit Rakshak Manch or Salt Workers\' Welfare Forum, said. He was referring to a mud wall being constructed across several kilometers inside the Little Rann to demarcate a recent sub-lease of land by Hindustan Salts Limited (HSL) to a private firm.
Bleak future for traditional salt
by Anosh Malekar, Infochange India, 01 March, 2009
Currently the level of agriculture production and overall availability of foodgrains is satisfactory which is testified by the fact that the foodgrains stock available with Government are about 42.25 million tonnes while the required level for country\'s Public Distribution System (PDS) is only 24.30 million tonnes.
Sectoral Development: Agriculture and Allied Sector
by Ramanja, , 01 January, 1999
In 2005, one in three of the people in the world who consumed less than $ 1.25 a day (at 2005 purchasing power parity) lived in India – more than any other country. They accounted for about 40 per cent of India’s population. Twenty-five years earlier, 60 per cent of India’s population lived below the same real line. While this is clear progress, India’s long-term pace of poverty reduction by this measure is no more than average for the developing world, excluding China.
A Global Perspective on Poverty in India
by Martin Ravallion, Economic & Political Weekly, 25 October, 2008 
A Documentary on IITs
CBS  60 mins
 
Indian engineers dominate the fields of science and technology in the USA and in many nations around the planet. Nehru's vision was to convert an agrarian society to a more modern one little realizing that his vision would spawn the world's best engineers.
 development - expertise - certification - modernisation
 
A model for rest of the 24 village panchayats of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union, it is a preferred local body of State government officials and representatives when it comes to showcasing development. They direct delegates from other States and countries only to Mudichur to have a look at welfare schemes bringing about a visible change in the lives of people in rural and semi-urban pockets. Formed as a village panchayat in 1958, Mudichur is spread over 16 sq. km, bigger than even some of the urban local bodies in the southern suburbs of Chennai. With an estimated population of about 15,000 (6,516 as per 2001 Census), its low population density levels has helped in more ways than one. Mudichur village panchayat shot into limelight when its former president Nirmala Bhaskar received an award in 1999 from Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee for being the best administered rural local body in Tamil Nadu.
A model village panchayat zone in
by K.Manikandan, Hindu, 27 March, 2009
Is Gandhi alive in our times? This requires an understanding of the prevalent social reality in India. There are two distinctive forces that enable us to make sense of this reality. First, it is the neo-liberal agenda of progress that seems to have become the most dominant ideology. It abhors the principles of communitarian socialism; it knows no other logic except that of the expansionist market; it loathes the ethos of self-restraint; it seeks consumption, stimulates desire, and liberates the cultural space from all historical memories relating to colonialism, capitalism, nationalism and socialism.
Centenary of Hind Swaraj: The relevance of Gandhi
by Avijit Pathak, The Deccan Herald, 25 February, 2009
Sociologists and anthropologists often use the village as an object of research because it is the lowest level of administrative, political and social unit India lives in its villages. Though this romantic notion has not changed much, with rural India still accounting for roughly three-fourths of the country\'s population, the village itself has changed much over the years.
Global crisis: looking at villages differently
by Himanshu, Mint, 31 December, 2008
For once the Centre has been presented with a plan that can go a long way towards decongesting our cities, improving urban air quality and meeting the challenge of climate change. The question is will the Centre accept the recommendations made under the National Action Plan on Climate Change and move fast to implement them.
Wheeling, dealing Reform Of Urban Transport Essential But Utopian
by Suhit Sen, The Statesman, 19 December, 2008
Kuttanad in Kerala, hailed as a unique man-made wetland ecosystem, stands out as both a rice granary and a tourist paradise. With plenty of water and a fertile landscape, the region is an ideal place for paddy cultivation. \"But vast stretches of land, particularly over the years, have become barren, with loss of essential nutrients in the soil due to mindless dumping of excessive chemical fertilizers and pesticides,\" says Mr. R. Hali, Director of Agriculture (Retd), Thiruvananthapuram
Organic prawn rearing: no looking back once success is achieved
by M.J.Prabu, The Hindu, 08 January, 2009
The principle of Monitor what You want to Manage has implications at two critical levels: one, that each monitoring system should be customized to the needs of the project; and second, the monitoring system should be robust and have the flexibility to adapt to changing capacities of the project over a period of time. Monitoring Evaluation and Learning System (MEAL) seeks to retain the basic principles of project management yet allow the project to identify, develop and evolve their own monitoring and review systems. The traditional monitoring system focuses more on the input-output aspects of project management. The monitoring of processes is often overlooked or not given due emphasis. MEAL stresses project processes as an integral part of project management and develops process milestones that are regularly monitored throughout the period of project implementation.
Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEAL)
by , Responsenet.org, 10 December, 2008

Subcategories

develp-backgrounder Article Count:  1

develp-documents Article Count:  4

develp-news & events Article Count:  7