1.Discuss why enacting appropriate land leasing laws should be given priority in India.
Approach:
Introduce by giving a brief background on the objectives of land reform in India.
Mention the fallouts in terms of meeting these objectives.
Discuss the benefits of an appropriate land leasing framework.
On the basis of aforementioned points, make a brief conclusion.
Answer:
Land reforms in India had aimed to eliminate all forms of exploitation and social injustice
within the agrarian system; to provide security for the tiller and remove impediments to
agricultural production. However, the land reforms have only been partially successful in achieving
these objectives.
One of the major weak links has been restrictive land leasing laws that forced tenancy to be
informal, insecure and inefficient. With the rising levels of income, the prices of agricultural lands
are going up and, therefore, landless agri-labourers and small/marginal farmers cannot buy land.
This has adversely impacted the growth of agriculture in India.
There is a need for appropriate land leasing laws which would help in the following ways:
Security of tenure to tenant: It would incentivize tenant cultivators to invest in and conserve
agricultural land resources, which in turn, leads to increased land productivity and profitability.
Benefits of different schemes to the tenants: Legal documents can facilitate access to
institutional credit. Besides, it makes it possible to extend the benefits of various schemes such
as DBT for fertilizer subsidy, crop insurance, disaster relief etc. to the real cultivators.
Security to the land-owner: Legal backing provides a greater sense of security to the owner. It
will also help contain the problem of fallow land due to fear of losing ownership rights.
Dispute Resolution: A legal framework would provide owners as well as tenants with a safe
legal route for conflict resolution.
Land consolidation: It will open doors for the consolidation of the operational land holdings
which is essential to exploit scale economies and increase farm incomes.
Attract private investment in agriculture: Long-term leasing can facilitate contract farming
and lead to crop diversification; introduction new farming techniques and technologies;
investment in post-harvest management and processing etc.
Therefore, appropriate land leasing laws are much needed for agricultural efficiency, equity and
occupational diversification. In this context, a model land leasing law has also been proposed by
NITI Aayog.
2.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country can not be taken as an index of the welfare of the
people of that country. Analyse.
Approach:
Explain the concept of GDP.
Discuss the view that GDP is not an index of welfare in a country.
Conclude briefly by using examples of some other indicators used to depict the level of social
well-being in a country.
Answer:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all finished goods and
services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of
overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of the country’s economic
health.
It is a good indicator to depict the living conditions of people in a country, as it includes a number of
factors such as consumption and investment. However, it can not be taken as an index of the welfare
of the people of a country. The reasons include:
It doesn’t measure equity in income distribution: If the GDP of a country is rising, its social
indicators may not rise as a consequence. This is because rise in GDP may be concentrated in
the hands of a few individuals or firms. For the rest, the income may, in fact, have fallen.
Non-monetary exchanges: Many activities in an economy are not evaluated in monetary
terms. For example, the domestic services that women perform at home are not paid for. Since
there is no transaction of money, their contribution is generally not counted in the GDP, leading
to underestimation of GDP.
Externalities: Externalities refer to the benefits (or harms) a firm or an individual causes to
another for which they are not paid (or penalised). For instance, while calculating GDP,
pollution caused by industries is not accounted for. Therefore, if we take GDP as a measure of
welfare of the economy, we will overestimate the actual welfare. In cases of positive
externalities, GDP will underestimate the actual welfare of the economy.
Type of goods produced: GDP does not describe the kinds of goods that are being produced.
Since GDP measures the value of all finished goods and services within an economy, it also
includes products that may have negative effects on social welfare. For example, tobacco,
armaments etc. sold and used within the country, would adversely impact the overall social
welfare.
In view of the shortcomings mentioned above, there have been various attempts to develop more
accurate and reliable indicators in order to measure social well-being. Among others, these
alternative approaches include the Human Development Index (HDI), the Gross National Happiness
Index (GNH), and the Social Progress Index (SPI).
