Structural adjustment programme

This book attempts to look at the impact of the struc tural adjustment measures in India upon food security and through the food security question, the impact of Structural Adjustment (SAP) Programme on environ ment. Food security has been looked at from both the conventional perspective and from the perspective of Sen's entitlement and deprivation thesis, with an at tempted extension of the theory.

The historical roots and the theoretical underpinnings of SAP have been briefly analysed, and the elements of the Structural Adjustment Programme generally but with the conditions in South Asian countries in the background, have been pin-pointed. A resume of the currently held views on the issues under consideration has been provided. The Structural Adjustment Programme, in India in relation to the food security question is then analysed, noting that, Structural Ad justment Programme has a whole spectrum of compo nent parts which make the "Greek Tragedy", though the focus here is primarily on cuts in subsidy to food and to inputs for food production, cut in government expenditure on investments in agriculture, reduction in the provisions of credit for the farm sector and the increases in food procurement prices, and to a more modest extent on, devalution and procurement prices. A brief reference has been made to inequity in access to land assets and its effect on food security in the context of the Structural Adjustment Programme.

Following from this discussion, the nexus between food security and environment, and the issue of in creased producer's price margin and environmental measures in the context of agriculture, have been briefly examined. The experiences of other countries which have been through a programme of structural adjustment designed by the World Bank - IMF, with special reference to food security have been set forth. Finally brief conclusions have been drawn and policy implications indicated.