This paper tries to explore the extent and dimension of the rising phenomenon of feminisation in Indian agriculture using unit level NSSO data (70th round) and Agriculture Census for 2005-06, 2010-11. The paper revolves around the trend of women participation in agriculture, determinant factors behind increased incidence of feminisation on farms, low recognition and symbiotic association between property rights, productivity and poverty. As per NSSO estimates, 49.79 per cent females in the working age (15-49) operated land during 2013 while their share has grown marginally i.e., 1.08 per cent from 2005 to 2011. This rising trend of feminisation in terms of operated holders has been predominant only in few States, viz. Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Uttarakhand, and has been more significant in case of small/marginal landholdings. The data analysis further concluded that majority of the females who operated land served merely as unpaid family worker (28.27 per cent), depicting that their contribution is significant but they are not being acknowledged accordingly. Lack of recognition, ownership rights, socio-economic set-up and certain other factors restrict them in achieving high productivity at farm level. The study confirms that assuring property rights to women farmers would aid in increasing productivity and reduce poverty level. Considering policy recommendations, it suggests for asset control to women and promoting cooperative farming which may improvise socio-economic conditions and generate higher farming returns.

Watershed development programmes are being implemented with a broad objective to improve socio-economic conditions of the resource-poor and disadvantaged sections of rural population through conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all natural resources, keeping in view of rural development. So, this study assesses the impact of watershed development programmes on agricultural production, yield, cropping pattern and cropping intensity, livestock population, milk production and feed and fodder. For this, two districts were selected from two watershed development programmes on the basis of maximum completed projects and maximum covered area. Two micro watersheds were randomly selected from each district. 30 beneficiary and 30 non-beneficiary households were selected through random sampling from each micro watershed. Average and percentage methods were used for analysing the results. The study found that impact of DDP and IWDP watershed development programmes had been positive on agricultural yield, cropping pattern and benefit-cost ratios in watershed area (WSA), while impact had been weak on cropping intensity. The study also found that watershed development programmes had positive impact on the population of livestock in WSA of Bhiwani and Rohtak districts, but it had weak impact in Hisar and Kaithal districts. The impact of DDP on total milk production and green fodder was positive in both of Bhiwani and Hisar districts but weak impact on IWDP programme. Both programmes had positive impact on employment generated in per acre mandays from agriculture. DDP had positive impact on employment generated from livestock.

Watershed development programmes are being implemented with a broad objective to improve socio-economic conditions of the resource-poor and disadvantaged sections of rural population through conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all natural resources, keeping in view of rural development. So, this study assesses the impact of watershed development programmes on agricultural production, yield, cropping pattern and cropping intensity, livestock population, milk production and feed and fodder. For this, two districts were selected from two watershed development programmes on the basis of maximum completed projects and maximum covered area. Two micro watersheds were randomly selected from each district. 30 beneficiary and 30 non-beneficiary households were selected through random sampling from each micro watershed. Average and percentage methods were used for analysing the results. The study found that impact of DDP and IWDP watershed development programmes had been positive on agricultural yield, cropping pattern and benefit-cost ratios in watershed area (WSA), while impact had been weak on cropping intensity. The study also found that watershed development programmes had positive impact on the population of livestock in WSA of Bhiwani and Rohtak districts, but it had weak impact in Hisar and Kaithal districts. The impact of DDP on total milk production and green fodder was positive in both of Bhiwani and Hisar districts but weak impact on IWDP programme. Both programmes had positive impact on employment generated in per acre mandays from agriculture. DDP had positive impact on employment generated from livestock.

Studying inequalities of income and consumption is a prerequisite for developing framework for narrowing them and achieving equitable and sustainable growth. In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the inequality of cereal consumption which persists in the major States between different consumption segments. Per capita consumption of cereals as a whole, as well as rice, wheat and coarse grain has been studied, separately making use of unit level data of the latest consumer expenditure survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office, Government of India during the year 2011-2012. The ratios of per capita consumption of the richest households (top 10 per cent) with households belonging to the ‘poorest’ (10 per cent), the ‘poor’ (30 per cent) and the ‘less advantaged half’ (50 per cent) have been taken as a measure of consumption inequality. The study reveals that inequality, in terms of consumption of rice and wheat, exists in almost all major States in rural areas. The extent of inequality decreases as the base of the bottom population increases. The urban areas have either low levels of inequality or even reverse inequality of cereal consumption. Most of rural India has not been able to achieve equality of cereal consumption, despite focused nutrition intervention of targeted PDS.

Poverty in rural areas of Indonesia is still a persistent problem. This paper analyses a virtuous circular causal relation among microcredit, agronomic technology and rural prosperity, and to determine factors affecting farmers to access microcredit and adopt technology in Indonesia. Data for this study were compiled from a survey that interviewed 220 of farm households. Samples of the study were randomly selected from chilli farming community in three regions of Java during 2013-2014. This paper employed a structural equation modelling, which enables to estimate a model of circular causal-interrelations. Microcredit provided positive direct and indirect impacts on rural prosperity. Indirect impact of microcredit was due to mediation of technology adoption. Farmers’ decision to access microcredit and adopt technology was determined by farmers’ characteristics and agribusiness environment via both exogenous and endogenous manners. Microcredit and technology have been able to secure a virtuous circle of enhancing farmers’ wellbeing. The virtuous circle was to augment farmers’ business in terms of larger farming size. Policy makers should introduce more advanced technology and provide credit facility at the same time to ensure sustained economic development in rural areas.

This study shows the current scenario of sustainable livelihood security index of Allapur S Rurban cluster, located in the newly born Telengana State. Calculating economic efficiency index, ecological security index and social equity index and eventually Sustainable Livelihood Security index (SLSI) were carried out at the village levels using spatial and non-spatial data. Normalisation of the selected indicators were first done and then calculated. Results from the study indicate that the study area possesses a very low SLSI with only Narayanpur and Odandapur village which cover 11.13 per cent of the total geographical area of the cluster as sustainable and secure villages. 59.58 per cent of the geographical area and 65.83 per cent of the population are moderately sustainable category. Whereas, eight villages which accounted for 27.37 per cent population of the total cluster are under less sustainable and very less sustainable category. There is an urgent need to reorient development programmers and carry out priority-wise development investments into these vulnerable villages to provide resources and opportunities to ameliorate their ecological security, economic efficiency and social equity which further sustainable livelihood security.

Physical-spatial expansion of human settlements, especially over the last few decades, thanks to technological advances, has been increasing in a higher speed; therefore, developing an optimum and sustainable model for physical-spatial expansion of human settlements (particularly in the developing world) has created an enormous challenge. To the extent that it has affected not only the policies of physical planning but also socio-economic, and environmental issues of many rural and urban areas. Efforts have been made to counter the negative effects of urban dispersion; the most significant one was "smart growth strategy". Present study aims to investigate the smart development in rural areas of Iran to present a framework for this strategy, including the principles and factors affecting its development using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), Accordingly, the relationships between objectives, indicators and sub-indicators and the process of determining the weights of indicators and subindicators, and the final score of indicators was examined using fuzzy hierarchical analysis model and experts' opinions. Results showed the indicator of 'creative rural economy' with a weight of 0.534 was the most significant indicator in smart rural development. The indicators of environmental factors and human capital weighting 0.214 and 0.148, respectively, were in the next order.

Rural-Urban and Rural-Rural migration has become one of the most common phenomena of population demographic changes. Several factors which contribute towards the improvement of the livelihood and opportunities to the migrated labourers have been studied. More than 69 per cent of the 1.21 billion people live in rural India (2011 Census) and agriculture is their main source of income. Agriculture contributes to 18 per cent to the GDP of India. Due to lack of adequate public irrigation facilities, most of these farmers are dependent heavily on monsoon as the main source of water for agriculture. Since a large percentage of these farmers are into subsistence farming, they lack the capital required to set up their own irrigation facilities. When the monsoon fails, or when there is excess rain, there is loss of crop and hence rural-to-urban migration results. There are many factors influencing rural to rural and rural to urban migration. One such important factor is agricultural distress. Agriculture being predominantly dependent on monsoon in India, there is an immediate need in accessing the relationship among agriculture, migration and rainfall. This paper analyses the role of quantum of rainfall in determining the rate of migration with empirical evidence from India and proposes a model to estimate the migration rate based on the quantum of rainfall.

Variation in the climate acts as an important factor in managing the natural resources in order to meet the needs of human life for present and future generations. Future projections of the climate data obtained from the climate models help in developing the policies for the sustainable use of natural resources. In the present study, changes in the climate variables were assessed both spatially and temporally using Regional Climate Models (RCM) database under Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) from Centre for Climate Change Research (CCCR), Pune, for Krishna river basin, India. Uncertainties in the climate variables were reduced by using Reliable Ensemble Averaging (REA) method. The results suggest that the ability of REA data performs well throughout the basin except in the upper region of the Krishna basin. First future period shows around 20 per cent decrease when compared to the historic period where the other two future periods show a less change in the precipitation.

Sagar Island, also known as 'Gangasagar' in commoners' parlance is one of the populous islands that falls under the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in the State of West Bengal. The Island articulates the faith and sentiments of teeming billions of this country in a transcendental and sublime manner since time immemorial. Despite the age-old religious and cultural connotations, the island's socio-economic growth was contained to a certain extent due to non-availability of grid electricity. Islanders had to depend primarily on energy supplied in an intermittent manner through solar photovoltaic cells, diesel generator sets, kerosene-fed implements used for illumination or otherwise along with fuelwood. Situation in Sagar Island had started changing dramatically from 2012 onwards with the rolling out of 100 per cent household electrification programme under 'Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project.' Resonance of grid electricity is palpable cutting across all geographic, social and economic heterogeneities in Sagar Island. The execution of the entire component did have a kaleidoscopic impact through spurting of multiple socio-economic activities in Sagar Island. The present paper deliberates on the impact of grid electricity vis-a-vis the improvements that have taken place with respect to healthcare services and facilities in Sagar Island. The study shows that the initiatives, that are propelled either due to distribution of grid electricity through government-owned healthcare centres or through private healthcare enterprises, are quite impressive. Quantitative and qualitative assessments of 17 units, instrumental in providing healthcare services and facilities of varied nature in Sagar Island, have proved beyond doubt that grid electricity is not only a demand-driven project initiative whence it was conceived but in real terms is a game-changer that accelerates the pace of sustainable development.