Krishna Bharadwaj. Accumulation, Exchange, and Development: Essays on the Indian Economy.
Haque, Ziaul
Krishna Bharadwaj. Accumulation, Exchange, and Development: Essays
on the Indian Economy. New Delhi: Sage Publications. 1994. 395 pages and
Index. Hardbound. Indian Rs 350.00. Paperback. Indian Rs 195.00
Before her death in 1992, Professor Krishna Bharadwaj had reached
the prime of her intellectual growth so that her mature thought on
classical political economy and her ideas on development paradigms had
begun to coalesce into a single whole. As the title of the book under
review implies, this work of the late Indian economist comprises a study
of the general problems of economic growth, accumulation, exchange,
distribution, and development based on the theory of surplus, including
its generation, appropriation, and distribution in society. The author
applies classical theory to the complex development process in the
developing economies, and to the specific problems of the Indian economy
in the industrial, agricultural, and commercial sectors.
The book consists of eleven essays, which have been published
before in journals and books on different occasions-a reason why the
book is repetitive. However, these reiterations do make for clarity,
cogency, even brilliance, of the author's approach and argument.
These essays on the political economy of India are divided into three
interlinked sections: (1) The Accumulation View, (2) Processes of
Production and Exchange in the Agrarian Economy, and (3) The Course of
Development.
In the first section the author emphasises that the accumulation
(of surplus) approach of classical economy is more appropriate and
realistic than the neoclassical approach of the demand-and-supply market
equilibrium in understanding the development problems of the Indian
economy. In the Eighties, she says, the Indian economy was integrated
into the world economy, and that international trade has attracted more
attention since then, although the main economic problem of India has
been neglected, viz., "generating a pattern of development that
diverts a part of the population wholly engaged in agriculture into
other activities that provide, in first place, a dependable livelihood
and, secondly, evolve a progressive structure of economic activities
that sustain productive employment" (p. 23). Her focus on the
poverty and unemployment of agrarian populations of South Asia is the
main thrust of these essays.
In the essay on production and exchange in the theories of price
formation and economic transition from the pre-capitalist to the
capitalist economy, the author concludes that one of the internal
contradictions of capitalism is its tendency towards concentration and
centralisation of capital. She thinks that emphasis must be put on the
class-differentiation of Indian peasantry.
Another essay of the first section delineates, from an historical
perspective, the crucial relations between agriculture and industry as
they develop from the precapitalist to the capitalist period. According
to her, the typical problems of the agriculture-industry relationship
emerge in the context of the process of accumulation. In the analysis of
developing economies, therefore, the concern must shift to the creation
and mobilisation of resources. Efficient allocation of the given
resources, as emphasised by neoclassical economists, is a secondary
problem.
Analysing the various paradigms in theories of development
(classical-Marxian, Keynesian, and neoclassical) in another important
essay, the author suggests that it is possible, under the peculiar
conditions of the Indian economy where the majority of the population
depends on agriculture as a means of making a living, to derive from the
classical and Marxian theories an alternative paradigm which objectively
and realistically analyses the problems of accumulation in a much more
open framework--with institutional variations, such as contractual
strategies (p. 90).
The second section of the book examines the structure of
India's agrarian economy and develops the notion of
"interlinked markets". The topics covered here are farm size
and productivity, the so-called technical relations in agriculture,
tenurial conditions and the mode of exploitation in some Villages of
Orissa, commercialisation in Indian agriculture, and a macroeconomic framework for the Indian economy.
The last section deals with the contradictions in the Indian
development process. She critically examines agricultural price policies
and the structures of employment and takes an exception to the viability
of a development strategy that puts more stress on commodities and
technologies and tends to deprive labour, in both agriculture and other
organised sectors, of the benefits of development and growth.
In the last three essays, which deal with agricultural price
policy, the formation of labour market, and the "labour"
approach as a strategy of development, the author points out that
neoclassical strategies of development have failed in South Asia. Two
critical issues are raised. First, as regards the employment and
progress of labour, there has been very little change, as a large part
of the population (about 70 percent) has a precarious livelihood based
in agriculture. The transfer of labour from the agrarian sector to
industry, the first condition of industrialisation, has proceeded very
tardily. Second, broad aggregates, such as labour participation,
employment, per capita consumption of basic goods, concentration
coefficients for land distribution, and the large number of households
under the poverty line, all indicate that no viable social change has
occurred. There are also growing inter-regional and intersectoral
disparities and inequalities, as well as widening wage differentials (p.
355).
The author says in conclusion that "neither the
'trickle-down' view on development nor the
'welfarist' perspective on poverty alleviation appears to be
viable as long-term strategies [sic]. Creating small entrepreneurs and
petty private-sector activities on the basis of incentives provided in
specific markets (subsidies for credit, assets or raw materials) have
not introduced substantial changes. What is needed, it would seem, is a
restructuring of the processes of income generation and demand
management, to allow diversification of livelihood for those who are
currently precariously dependent on agriculture" (pp. 381-382).
"Such a restructuring", she concludes, "would demand
institutional innovations for establishing cooperation and coordination
within the small-scale activities" (pp. 381-382).
As India and Pakistan share many economic problems, particularly in
the areas of agriculture, industrialisation, employment, and
development, this important book by Professor Bharadwaj will also help
understand the complex problems faced by the Pakistani economy. It will
be useful to development economists, anthropologists, policy planners,
theoreticians, and economic historians.
It may also be mentioned that another important work by Professor
Krishna Bharadwaj, Perspectives on Capitalism (edited jointly with
Sudipta Kaviraj), was earlier reviewed in this journal by the present
writer (The Pakistan Development Review, 29:2, pp. 175-183).
Ziaul Haque
Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.
