Articles by K N Harilal

The people's planning programme in Kerala is under threat of a bureaucratic capture with government orders and guidelines from above subduing the process of participatory planning. This paper proposes overhauling the methodology of planning from below to put the experiment back on track. This will involve demystifying and debureaucratising the planning process and strengthening participatory spaces. However, the enthusiasm for maximising participation should not ben at the expense of the right to be critical. People's participation is not a substitute for expertise in development planning. Participatory planning has to make maximum use of the expertise within the government and outside it without compromising on accountability and responsiveness to the people.

The existing literature treats the migration-remittances phenomenon as something which has tended to moderate the influence of the crisis in the Kerala economy since mid-1970s. In sharp contrast, the present paper is an attempt to bringing in the question of migration and remittances to its rightful place within the structure of the regional economy. The study attributes the stagnation in the commodity producing sectors since the mid-1970s to the 'resource movement effect' and 'spending effect' associated with the migration-remittances boom.

The policy initiatives taken to develop the information technology sector in India have yielded rich dividends in terms of exports and established the country's credibility in international IT markets. However, the focus has mainly been to promote IT as a foreign exchange earner. This paper looks at India's performance in software exports, the implications of this boom on the availability of skilled manpower in other competing sectors, and the possible threats to the sustained growth of software exports. To combat some of the negative offshoots of the current export-centric IT scenario, the authors say a proper incentive structure needs to be looked at, and the supply of technically skilled personnel enhanced. Most important of all, the diffusion of IT into other areas of the economy should be accelerated to help in the sustained growth of the sector.

K N Harilal K J Joseph THE rubber plantation industry in India is caught in perhaps the worst crisis that it has encountered since independence. The crisis has many dimensions; the record fall in the price of natural rubber being the most striking. The market price of natural rubber recently touched the lowest level recorded during the last five years and is about half of what prevailed two years ago. With input prices and cost of living maintaining their upward trend, the plight of about nine lakh natural rubber growers and four lakh workers engaged in rubber cultivation needs no elaboration. According to a conservative estimate the accumulated loss suffered by the growers during the last one year would be around Rs 800 crore. Most of this loss would have been borne by the small holders (with an average holding size of less than 0.50 hectares) who account for nearly 85 per cent of the area as well as production.