Research & Publications Office to host seminar on ‘Political Economy of Structural Transformation in India’ on 17th February
The talk will be delivered by Prof. Kalaiyarasan A, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai
9 February, 2023, Bengaluru: The Office of Research and Publications (R&P) at IIM Bangalore will host a seminar titled: ‘Political Economy of Structural Transformation in India’, at 4:00 pm on 17th February 2023 (Friday), at Classroom K21. The talk will be delivered by Prof. Kalaiyarasan A, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, from the Public Policy area.
Abstract: Historically, Indian peasantry was seen as a successful group that could influence economic policy in getting the state’s resources transferred to its favor. By the logic of structural transformation, it is assumed that industrialization weakens the farm sector in its early phase and the sector receives its power back when industrialization matures. The Indian experience presents itself as a contrasting case – the rural sector relatively gained power in its early phase and weakened in the later phase. The paper documents how and why such power enjoyed by the peasantry in the 1970s and 1980s was lost during post-1990s. While studies that foreground the role of caste in Indian politics do not take into account the underlying political economy, those that take up the latter do not give adequate importance to caste as a significant variable in explaining the changing realities of political economy in contemporary India. By tracking the peasant castes’ mobilization - the Marathas of Maharashtra, the Patels of Gujarat, the Jats of Haryana and the Kapus of Andhra and Telangana, the paper fills that gap.
About the speaker: Dr. Kalaiyarasan A is an Assistant Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. He was previously a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University and was a research faculty at the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development, a research wing of NITI Aayog (Planning Commission), Government of India. His academic interest lies in regional political economy, structural inequalities and comparative political economy in global south. His recent publications are ‘The Dravidian Model: Interpreting the Political Economy of Tamil Nadu’ (Cambridge University Press, 2021, co-authored) and ‘Rethinking Social Justice’ (Orient Blackswan, 2020, co-editor).
Webpage link: https://watson.brown.edu/southasia/people/kalaiyarasan-a
Research & Publications Office to host seminar on ‘Political Economy of Structural Transformation in India’ on 17th February
The talk will be delivered by Prof. Kalaiyarasan A, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai
9 February, 2023, Bengaluru: The Office of Research and Publications (R&P) at IIM Bangalore will host a seminar titled: ‘Political Economy of Structural Transformation in India’, at 4:00 pm on 17th February 2023 (Friday), at Classroom K21. The talk will be delivered by Prof. Kalaiyarasan A, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, from the Public Policy area.
Abstract: Historically, Indian peasantry was seen as a successful group that could influence economic policy in getting the state’s resources transferred to its favor. By the logic of structural transformation, it is assumed that industrialization weakens the farm sector in its early phase and the sector receives its power back when industrialization matures. The Indian experience presents itself as a contrasting case – the rural sector relatively gained power in its early phase and weakened in the later phase. The paper documents how and why such power enjoyed by the peasantry in the 1970s and 1980s was lost during post-1990s. While studies that foreground the role of caste in Indian politics do not take into account the underlying political economy, those that take up the latter do not give adequate importance to caste as a significant variable in explaining the changing realities of political economy in contemporary India. By tracking the peasant castes’ mobilization - the Marathas of Maharashtra, the Patels of Gujarat, the Jats of Haryana and the Kapus of Andhra and Telangana, the paper fills that gap.
About the speaker: Dr. Kalaiyarasan A is an Assistant Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. He was previously a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University and was a research faculty at the National Institute of Labour Economics Research and Development, a research wing of NITI Aayog (Planning Commission), Government of India. His academic interest lies in regional political economy, structural inequalities and comparative political economy in global south. His recent publications are ‘The Dravidian Model: Interpreting the Political Economy of Tamil Nadu’ (Cambridge University Press, 2021, co-authored) and ‘Rethinking Social Justice’ (Orient Blackswan, 2020, co-editor).
Webpage link: https://watson.brown.edu/southasia/people/kalaiyarasan-a