Comments on: India Fact of the Day

By: Anuja

Anuja — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 16:17:33 +0000

db - I was sort of addressing the issue of people not being able to afford to buy food in my post. Check out Post #30.

Infrastructure is vital. But there are more fundamental issues that need to be addressed before we build Walmarts all over India.

By: db

db — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:47:02 +0000

the green revolution was basically about increased use of pesticides…that translated to stunted crops but more quantity. there is a trend in punjab to go back toward organic farming as effects of many years of pesticide use are being seen. increase in diseases, polluted water et al.

By: db

db — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:43:11 +0000

i’d say i haven’t seen the comment of people actually being able to afford the food being brought up yet.

By: HM

HM — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:45:09 +0000

Good roads are essential, but most critical infrastructural bottleneck in my opinion is power/energy, especially for perishable produce. Refrigeration requires energy, both from petro-fuels and electricity, and India doesn't have enough of either. A refrigerated truck can travel on bad roads, but you need a referigerated truck in the first place. Recently Reliance started a program for buying fresh produce from punjab and selling it in Europe. Biggest problems they faced were refrigeration at the airport and bureaucracy. Roads as I said in an earlier comment are relatively better in Punjab.

For walmart like operations Energy/Power might again be the biggest hurdle. In small towns and villages 6-8 hours of power is a norm (Atleast in Punjab). A big box like walmart will have to generate its own electric power for 16-18 hrs a day to run AC, lights and "produce coolers". I assume the walmarts already know this and have done there analysis, or they are hoping India would generate enough power in 5-10 yrs from now.

By: badmash

badmash — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:14:46 +0000

HM - thanks. I didn't realize that there was a distinction between GM crops and the older HYVs. My bad!

Funny isn't it that the GR obviously benefited the country as a whole a great deal and yet there is a significant portion of those who believe that for farmers in Punjab itself it might not have been entirely a good thing. It's the same sort of local vs. global argument that is used by some anti-globalization apologists today.

By: A N N A

A N N A — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 19:09:21 +0000

SP is about attitude. You are diluting the good stuff with some of your new entrants.

Actually, Vinod–the mutineer who wrote this post– has been a part of “SP” since day ONE. He is neither a new nor an entrant. Discuss. Tawk amongst yourselves.

By: HM

HM — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 18:52:48 +0000

Badmash Green Revolution was not the result of GM crops but Genetically improved crops through breeding. India has recently allowed research and even cultivation of certain GM crops like cotton. Punjab was like all other states before the green revolution, but heavy subsidies and a focussed program helped it reach where it is now. as a side note one of the major achievement of that focussed programs was road connectivity in rural areas for market access alongwith the availability of high yielding varities.

By: badmash

badmash — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 18:06:34 +0000

Anuja – I wouldn’t reduce their argument purely to class analysis. After all Sen-Dreze look at a variety of factors (food/labour markets, political responsiveness etc) that contribute to the problem. But I see your point about the role of power and influence — and this is why speaking of a purely market solution to the problem is misguided because some of the deeper systemic problems will remain until they are directly addressed.

By: brown_fob

brown_fob — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 17:36:32 +0000

Hello bloggers at SP:

I guess you meant "SM" old fella.

By: Justanobody

Justanobody — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 17:28:12 +0000

Hello bloggers at SP: SP is about attitude. You are diluting the good stuff with some of your new entrants.