D. Murali
Chennai: The major outputs of a multi-purpose dam and reservoir project include hydropower, irrigated agriculture, water supply, fishing, flood control, drought prevention, and the value of recreational activities and tourism revenues. But there are also many negative direct impacts such as costs of resettlement, value of lost ecosystem, submerged cultural heritage, and reduction in fish output upstream, reminds a new book: ‘Indirect Economic Impacts of Dams: Case Studies from India, Egypt and Brazil’ edited by Ramesh Bhatia, Rita Cestti, Monica Scatasta and R.P.S. Malik (www.academicfoundation.com).
They group, under the indirect economic impacts, the inter-industry linkages (backward and forward, resulting in an increase in the demand for outputs for other sectors), and consumption-induced impacts arising from additional incomes generated by the dam project. The authors argue that accounting for these impacts is necessary for facilitating more informed decisions relating to the funding of the project and also its subsequent evaluation.
Indirect effects can be measured through estimation of multipliers, the book explains. For example, a multiplier of 1.75 shows that for every one rupee of value-add generated directly by a project at maturity, another 75 paise are generated in the form of indirect effects.
Reservoir of findings!
Agriculture, a growth engine
There are a few States in India where the procurement of agricultural products at minimum support price (MSP) is undertaken even when the market prices are higher than the MSP, while at the same time there are States where the farmers are not able to sell their produce to the procurement agencies with market prices collapsing below MSP.
How paradoxical, observes R.S. Deshpande in one of the essays included in ‘Reforming Indian Agriculture: Towards Employment Generation and Poverty Reduction,’ edited by Sankar Kumar Bhaumik (www.sagepublications.com).
The author describes three models of grain procurement. “The first model is that of Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, where the procurement agencies are well set and the procurement of grains is a regular activity.” In these places, distress caused to farmers is minimum; and the farmers’ political lobby keeps the MSP moving up, says Deshpande.
“The second model is the bureaucratic circuitous route of procurement existing in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and West Bengal.” Here, the time lag between the price collapse and actual procurement goes through a lot of circuitous procedures; so much so, the policy becomes redundant and ineffective, the author bemoans.
The third model, according to him, is what Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh follow, by selectively effecting procurement to a few regions, crops, and groups of farmers.
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