The Indian Economy @ 75 Successes and Challenges

This book focuses on the economic challenges India has been facing since its independence in 1947. It traces the country?s journey of economic transition and critically analyzes themes such as the political economy of development, agriculture, macroeconomy, industry and labor, money and finance, trade liberalization, gender, welfare, energy, and the environment. The volume also addresses the issues of increasing income inequality, mass unemployment, and environmental degradation and suggests policies for efficient and desirable outcomes in socio-economic development.

This is an important and timely contribution that it will be of interest to scholars and researchers in economics, development studies, political economy, management studies, public policy, and political studies. It will also be useful to policymakers.

Section I: Political Economy of Development Chapter 1: Towards a “broad” and “long” view of the Political Economy of India’s economic development Chapter 2: Class and Capitalism in India’s Economic Transition Chapter 3: Development Management: A Macro Political Economy Perspective Section II: Macroeconomic Perspectives Chapter 4: Indian Economy - A Story of Faltering Investment Chapter 5: Fiscal Policy in India: Overview of Some Major Issues Chapter 6: Inflation Expectations of Households Chapter 7: India’s Foreign Trade: Prospects and Challenges in the Globalized World Section III: Agriculture, Industry and Labour Chapter 8: The Structure of Indian Agriculture: Production, Distribution and Trade Chapter 9: Indian Manufacturing: The Journey since Independence Chapter 10: Unemployment, Labor Force Participation and Post-Independence India Chapter 11: An Analysis of India’s Informal Sector Section IV: Money and Finance Chapter 12: Is India ready for digital currency? Chapter 13: Twists and Turns of Monetary Policy in India Chapter 14: Productivity, Efficiency and Profitability of Mergers in Indian Banking Chapter 15: On the Debate of Privatisation of Banks in India: An Exposition in a Historical and Global Perspective Chapter 16: Evolution of Stock Market in India: Historical perspectives with Empirical Evaluations Section V: Inequality, Gender and Welfare Chapter 17: Trends in economic well-being of Indian households: A categorical distribution approach Chapter 18: The Glory of Motherhood Shackles Economic Development: An Indian Experience Section VI: Energy and Environment Chapter 19: Entropy Law, Economic Processes and the Current Existential Crisis in India: Policy Implications for Sustainability Chapter 20: India’s Energy Sector: An Assessment

Biswajit Chatterjee retired as Professor of Economics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India, where he also served as Head of the Department, Dean Faculty Council of Arts, and Planning Commission Chair Professor in Planning and Development. He also taught at Presidency College, Calcutta, and Kalyani University before joining Jadavpur University in 1984. He was also visiting faculty at the Department of Economics, University of Calcutta, Rabindra Bharati University, and Visiting Professor DCRRID, Chandigarh, from June 2010 to June 2014. The major areas of his teaching and research include macroeconomics, international trade, development economics, and Indian economy. He has published in national and international journals of repute, contributed and edited volumes, and has published 8 books and edited 15 books on different branches of development economics. He also delivered lectures at various conferences in India and abroad. He was a consultant to the World Bank, UNDP, and the Planning Commission.

Joydeb Sasmal is former Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics at Vidyasagar University, Midnapore (West), West Bengal, India. He obtained his MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees in economics from the University of Calcutta. Before joining Vidyasagar University, he taught economics at K. K. Das College in Kolkata under the University of Calcutta. His research areas are natural resources and agriculture, sustainable growth, public economics, economic growth, industry and trade, and child labor. He is the author of Resources, Technology and Sustainability: An Analytical Perspective on Indian Agriculture (2016) and has published nearly 50 research papers in international and national journals and in edited and conference volumes. He is the editor of Inclusive Growth and Backward Region Development, jointly with Sebak Kumar Jana. He has supervised PhD students in different fields of economics at Vidyasagar Unive