Uttar Pradesh with the advantage of its larger size contributed 18.9 per cent of cereals, 8.65 per cent of pulses, 3.65 per cent of oilseeds and 46.56 per cent of sugarcane to the country during 2017-18. This study has been conducted to explore the trends, patterns and spatial variations of agricultural growth in Uttar Pradesh. Furthermore, the study builds the phases of agricultural growth and clustering of districts. It has been well established from the analysis that the western part is more developed in terms of agriculture than other parts of Uttar Pradesh. Results of Bai and Parron test established four break points (1999-00, 2006-07, 2011-12 and 2016-17) in agricultural productivity of the state. The growth pattern of agriculture of the state was found to be cyclical. Moreover, the averages values of development indicators were estimated to be different. Consequently, level of agriculture also varied across regions in Uttar Pradesh. To reduce the gap between levels of development, it is necessary that less developed regions should catch up the average level of the developed regions. State should make different region specific policies instead of state as a whole.

Keywords: Agriculture, Inter-regional Disparity, Structural change, Agricultural Productivity.

Reliable and effective infrastructure remains a major challenge in the villages. The scenario is still more grim for Island villages which often remain isolated from the mainland. Lack of infrastructure and favourable improvement escalates and create many hardships affecting the productive life of the villagers. This paper highlights the infrastructural needs of the Island village and how lack of infrastructure, specifically, adequate and timely transport facility, adversely affect the villagers.

Unorganized sectors are made up of small privately-owned companies that are engaged in production and service. They provide large-scale employment to unskilled and semi-skilled laborers standing next to agriculture. This study was done to understand the difficulties faced by the unorganized business owners of foodservice and transport operators in Tamil Nadu during and after the Covid-19 Pandemic outbreak. This is a Qualitative study done across four districts of Tamil Nadu which have a high domestic and international tourist movement which are the base for this business. The findings of the study suggest how these industries rebound back to their business sticking to the newly imposed guidelines for the prevention of pandemic and the business owners’ willingness in adopting these ideas.

Keywords: Unorganised sector, Service sector, Covid-19, Financial sources, Pandemic guidelines.

This paper analyses the household choice of public and private health facilities for inpatient and outpatient care and child delivery in India using the 71st round NSSO data applying the binary logit and multinomial logistic regression estimation methods. The estimated results reveal that private healthcare services dominate inpatient and outpatient healthcare in India. The availability of government or employer financial support or insurance is the major factors that influence the choice of public healthcare services. As public hospitals are the only viable health facility in rural and remote areas, for people belonging to low-income and deprived communities and in rural areas, public healthcare is the main source not only for healthcare but also for child delivery. Education improves the behaviour of people in seeking the services of healthcare providers. The availability of ANMs in public health facilities decreases the odds of child delivery at home and increases the probability of institutional child delivery. Improving the quantity and quality as well as accessibility and affordability of public healthcare services and providing health insurance cover is important for the healthcare choice of people and a healthy India.

JEL classification: B23, C25, D91, I12, J13

Keywords: Healthcare, child delivery, service providers, choice, logit estimation

Poverty is a wise spread evil in the world, particularly in Asia and Africa countries. It is greatest challenge to the mankind. A strange paradox exists in Indian society one the one hand there are millions of people who are not able to get minimum basic needs of life. Present study estimates household poverty of existing among socio-religious groups of Southern states of India based on 61st (2004-05) and 68th (2011-12) rounds of unit level household consumption expenditure data surveyed by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO). Methodology of the research work primarily uses state wise specific poverty line which is defined by Tendulkar (official) Methodology. The resulting estimates of the incidence of household poverty of Head Count Ratio is highest in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states as compare to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala for both 61st and 68th rounds. Study also estimates household poverty across social groups of southern states and its reveals that, among the social groups were Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) are comparatively poorer than OBC and Others. Meanwhile, among the religious groups Hindu households are comparatively poorer than Muslim Households of among the southern states for both 61st (2004-05) & 68th (2011-12) rounds.

Key Words: Poverty, Measurement, Socio-Religious Groups

JEL Classification: ‘I31’, ‘I32’, ‘I39’