Monday 18 November 2013

About the Department

The Department of Development Economics was established at Government College Mananthavady in 1998 as an undergraduate programme. This college is located in a hillock in Nallurnad village, Mananthavady Taluk, Wayanad District, just 200 meters away from Mananthavady-Kalpetta highway. The nearest airport is at Kozhikode and the nearest railway stations are at Thalassery and Kozhikode. The college is located nearby the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.


The Department offers BA in Development Economics with15 core courses, 4 complementary courses, 2 Open courses, 8 common courses and 4 courses in additional language with a total of 31 courses and 120 credits. Micro Economic Analysis, Macro Economic Analysis, Methodology of Social Science with special reference to Economics, International Economics, Basic tools for Economic Analysis, Economics of Financial Markets, Modern banking, Informatics in Economics are the core courses. Among the core courses one is Project work, which enables the students to approach socio economic issues in a theoretical perspective. Complementary courses are Population studies, Mathematical Economics and Econometrics. With this programme 2 Open courses are provided, viz; Kerala economy and Entrepreneurial Economics. This programme focuses to enable the students to contribute to economic policy making, researches, and socio-economic- and environmental endeavors in global and local level and for other competitive fields.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
 Government College Mananthavady, Wayanad
&
Institute of Parliamentary Affairs
Government of Kerala

ONE DAY NATIONAL SEMINAR
ON

   AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PROGRAMMES FOR TRIBAL EMPOWERMENT
 IN INDIAN DEMOCRACY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT




 DATE:         06TH DECEMBER 2013

VENUE:        COLLEGE AUDITORIUM


THEME PAPER


After independence,  India  adopted  a  federal  parliamentary  democracy  based  on  adult franchise  and  socialist  planning,  and  enacted  protective  discrimination  in  favor  of  the  scheduled castes  and  tribes. These policies and programs have benefited the oppressed communities by improving their living conditions and socioeconomic status.  Over the years the parliament has been becoming a more effective instrument for expressing public opinion and voicing public grievances regarding the plight of these marginalized people, but inequalities persist, manifesting at various  levels  in  myriad  forms  both  in  urban  and  rural  areas  of  the  country.
The initial euphoria generated on the eve of Indian independence in the August of 1947, and the hopes for democracy ushered in by the adoption of the Indian Constitution in 1950, do not resonate today  in  the  face  of  a  severe  governance  and  developmental  crisis faced by them. The deep-rooted  inequality  in  power  relations,  as well  as  the  oppressive  and  exploitative forms  of  production  and  feudalization  found  in  rural  India are the main reasons behind the ineffectiveness of the parliament in addressing the problems and alienation of tribal people from that of their mainstream counterparts.  Tribal local governments are often ignored in developmental plans and the benefits of any actual development rarely percolate down to the local tribes. The Continuous Erosion of Tribal Rights in land, forest and water Resources is the most important challenge they are facing today. Any realistic and unbiased analysis of the present situation of the Indian tribes must inevitably droves certain concerns regarding the working of parliamentary democracy for addressing the prolonged neglect of these communities. 
In India, tribal communities, which comprise nearly 100 million citizens of India’s total population, live mostly in neglected, inaccessible areas and are among the most disadvantaged social groups in the country. They have a long history of subordination, both economically and politically to outsiders and have gradually lost control over community resources such as forests to both settlers and the State. Multinational corporations  are gaining control over  the  natural resources which  constituted  the  life-support  systems  of the  tribal  communities.  The two main regions of tribal settlement are the country’s north-eastern states bordering China and Burma, and the highlands and plains of its central and southern regions. The latter is  home to  more than  80 per  cent  of the  tribes, which  differ  from  the  northeastern  tribes  in   ethnicity  and  in  having experienced greater coexistence with the Indian mainstream living.
Human rights scenario of the indigenous and tribal people in India remain grim, its future bleak. Since independence indigenous people were rightly seen as victims of development and encroachments by non-tribals. The pauperisation of the tribals continued unabated and unchecked. The affirmative action programmes could not simply keep the pace with the marginalization of the indigenous and tribal people. The non-tribals have also illegally occupied hundreds of thousands of acres of land belonging to tribals by force, allurement and acquiring tribal lands in the name of tribal wives after marrying them. The tribal and indigenous people have been the disproportionate victims of displacement due to so called development projects such as setting up of industrial projects, construction of dams, mining, etc. Indigenous/tribal people who constituted 8% of the total population of India at 1991 census also constituted 55.1% of the total development project-induced displace d persons up to 1990 on account of mega developmental projects like dams, mining, industries and conservation of nature etc. And they were seldom rehabilitated. As India’s booming economy requires more resources, indigenous/tribal people face more displacement. Forcible land acquisition has been an ongoing irritant in the Indian government’s relations with village communities, leading to often-violent clashes in which villagers are killed by the police, who act almost as private agents for companies.  
The prolonged neglect of development in areas populated by tribal communities, coupled  with  their  forcible  displacement  from  native  forest  lands  due  to  mass  deforestation, industrialization  and  feudalistic  landholding  practices,  is  being  harnessed  by  ideological  political groups to mobilize these communities into an armed, violent struggle in many parts of the country. Presently, the situation of the tribals fits into a classical left wing extremism represented by the revolutionary stream of Indian Marxism which did not believe that parliamentary democracy would lead to the requisite systemic change and argued for armed struggle instead. According to the figures of the Ministry of Home Affairs 21 out of 28 States  are afflicted by armed conflict and majority of these States are afflicted by the Naxalite conflicts, the extreme left wing armed opposition groups. The Naxals (Maoists) are active mainly in the tribal belts in mainland India. Neither the Naxal movement is led by the tribals, nor do the demands of the Naxalites relate to the tribals.  The tribal simply fit into their class-war of the Naxalites. They are victims as well as perpetrators, and the pawns of the conflict. This  in  turn  has  resulted  in  widespread,  state led  counter insurgency  operations  involving  large-scale violations of human rights.
Thus the issue of denial of opportunities to tribal and indigenous population invites special attention especially in the context of federal form of governance with laudable autonomy of the state governments, within the framework of parliamentary democracy. Considering the above mentioned issues, the Department of Development Economics, Government College Mananthavady intends to conduct two days a one day National Seminar on “Affirmative Action Programmes for Tribal Empowerment in Indian Democracy with Special Reference to Economic Development”. The broad area under discussion will also include following sub themes.
  • ·         Democratic Governance and the impairment of Tribal rights
  • ·         Political Economy of left wing extremism in the country with special reference to economic development and its lessons to Parliamentary democracy.
  • ·         Parliamentary responses to tribal militancy – A critical analysis
  • ·         Identity politics and social exclusion of Tribal population
  • ·         Armed conflicts, Human right violations and Tribals.

 We intend to extend our invitation to serious minded teachers, research scholars, students, legislators, social and political activists and policy makers. We also intend to conduct a special session on the recent spurt in Maoist insurgency in the country with special reference to economic development and its lessons to Parliamentary democracy by inviting leading activists at the national level.