Complexities of India's food value chains, the "portfolio of dangers" faced by women, Indian bureaucracy's favourite trick, and how Covid-19 will affect children and learning. Also an Indian Matchmaking meme that perfectly fits the theme of this blog.
There isn't enough food. But it’s not that simple: Sudha Narayan outlines the many complexities of India's food value chains in a blog based on her new study.
There is no one way in which India's lockdown impacted its food markets.
For instance, even as prices faced by the producers (farmers, wholesalers) declined during the lockdown (closure of restaurants, catering businesses, and the migrant exodus), thanks to increased frictions in the supply chain (limited labour availability, higher transport costs and uncertain logistics), consumer food prices in most urban areas increased.
Different products were also impacted differently. If you were a farmer growing wheat you received a higher price as the government stepped up procurement for the PDS, but if you grew perishables such as fruits and vegetables you faced widely fluctuating prices and greater logistical challenges. At the retail end, the neighbourhood kirana shops (mom and pop stores) navigated challenges most successfully, embracing technology and tying up with private aggregators.
All in all, the study concludes that India's food supply chains have proven themselves to be resilient. But also that food insecurity remains a problem. If you're a non-economist, the linked piece may be a bit of a heavy read but the logic is spelled out clearly and is easy to follow.
I can’t watch another webinar: As I miss yet another webinar with speakers I did want to listen to, I am grateful for pieces like this and this where someone takes the trouble to summarise the highlights of what the experts said. With views from Yale economist Rohini Pande, former-NIPFP/ now ODI Rathin Roy, IGC’s Pronab Sen and others, both the linked pieces are a great read on what the experts say Indian economic policy needs to prioritise. Rathin Roy is quoted by both but then that's hardly a surprise!
Our men continue to shine: New NBER working paper here by Sarvana Ravindran and Manisha Shah on the impact of India’s lockdown on violence against women. The numbers are there for you to see - our men have not disappointed.
An important takeaway from this research is that not all violence against women is the same. The paper also shows that attitudes towards domestic violence are important because they have real implications for the actual incidence and reporting of this violence.
Women face a “portfolio of dangers” and there is no one-policy that will address them all.
Domestic violence and cybercrime increased during the lockdown, most where the lockdowns were the strictest (red vs green zones).
Rape and sexual assault complaints decreased during the lockdown as there were fewer women in public places/ transport/ workplaces. Obviously this doesn't take into account marital rape because (1) no data and (2) not a crime in India so obviously no data.
Finally, where more husbands viewed domestic violence as “justified”, there were larger increases in domestic violence complaints.
The paper also led me to the most recent NFHS (National Family Health Survey) report (2015-16) that found that wife-beating isn't quite as unacceptable as we'd like it to be.
52% of women and 42% of men in India believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife.
If you’d like to read something more positive, see this for results from a survey carried out earlier this year that point to signs of young, educated women challenging the status quo around marriage, parenting, work, friendship, and politics.
That is NOT how you do it: Construction workers have not received the cash benefits they were supposed to and Government of India is not happy.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are yet to transfer any cash to their construction workers, and only about 16% of the cess collected for the purpose has been utilised so far. Blaming this on inadequate data and poor records, GoI is considering issuing migration certificates to construction workers, ostensibly to enable better delivery/ targeting of welfare schemes. It has directed states to double the number of registered construction workers within the next 3 months.
Adding to the paperwork may be the bureaucracy's favourite trick, but this is not how you do it.
There are at least two problems with this approach:
Not another certificate: You don’t need yet another way of tasking an overstretched and inefficient state machinery to use micro-discretions to hand out papers that will then decide who gets what. Aadhar solved less corruption than the exclusion it created.
No more centralisation: States don't need any more directives from the centre, they need flexibility, autonomy and discretion. Only decentralisation can enable the quick decision making, and responsiveness that is essential for solving these problems. Read this very good piece outlining this and other challenges of bureaucratic governance in India.
While on this theme, if you want an example of how not to report on India’s migrants crisis, ToI has a piece titled “migrants are returning in style” as airplanes are organised to bring them back to complete pending construction projects. It truly had me bringing this Obama GIF to life.
What about the kids?: An excellent CGDev blog here on ways in which Covid-19 will shape the future of education. There will be a lot less money available for education– both under domestic budgets and via aid. When budgets contract, trade-offs are inevitable and it is unlikely that education will beat other choices. Millions of children will not return to school, and learning losses will worsen inequalities. Not all countries have effectively transferred learning programmes to online channels or others such as TV and radio. EdTech will not be the equaliser many imagine it to be. In fact, investments in edtech are likely to increase learning inequalities and further disadvantage the poorest children.
Finally, high-stake exams remain unfair, and disruptions in private sector education markets will lead to greater strain on government funded schools.
If you’re interested in or work in education policy, this is a very good piece to read. Lots to chew on and all the evidence you’ll need.
Podcast recommendation: The good folks at Planet Money have launched a new podcast series on learning economics. The Planet Money Summer School is a series of short podcasts on the first principles of economics, applied to the real world in an engaging and insightful way. The first episode uses examples from the reporter’s dating life to understand concepts like opportunity cost, sunk cost fallacy, and market equilibrium. Three episodes are out and they plan to release one every Wednesday.
So if you’ve ever wanted to throw terms like “opportunity cost”, “at the margin” and “externalities” in a conversation (why wouldn't you?) and don’t know how to, you're welcome.
Finally, are you watching Indian Matchmaking on Netflix? Please do – it is like a car crash, once you see it you can’t look away. See below for an excellent meme on the mismatch between expectations and reality – true for both governments and (arranged/ all) marriages.
