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India is a sub-continent with different physiography, climate, and agro-ecology. This variability supports changes in rainfall and water resources across the country. Due to various developmental activities such as agriculture, industry, and services, the ever-increasing demand for surface water and groundwater resources is declining at an alarming rate. However, in India, water management and conservation projects occur in a clustered and irrational manner, often at the discretion of individuals or democratic organizations. This has prompted the country to re-examine and reevaluate the National Water Policy strategies and adopt artificial recharge of aquifers elongated with natural solutions. Given this background, this paper accentuates the necessity for a rigorous and integrated effort to decentralize water conservation and management activities by reestablishing the antiquity of conservation practices for natural resources in India. In addition, the present paper attempts to understand how changes in behavioral practices related to water have affected water availability through making synergies between surface water, groundwater, and energy to achieve water efficiency and accessibility in the long run. Specific policies, planning, and program level interventions in different water conservation practices are discussed to address the study's objective. Also, the role of climate variability on the spatio-temporal deviations in input (water) management of agriculture and domestic use in light of the existing discord between technology and policy is reviewed.

The paper examines how mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in India after initiation of reforms in 1991 have affected firms’ financial performance. Using panel data and applying the method of difference GMM, it is found that neither market concentration nor M&As affected firms’ financial performance because of the multidirectional structure-conduct-performance relationships. Instead, interindustry differences in performance have been caused by capital intensity, efforts relating to marketing and distribution, and foreign technology. The findings suggest for a relook at the competition policies and laws, international trade, investment and technology development as they influence financial performance through market structure along with firms’ business strategies, efficiency and competitiveness.

With economic reforms increasing market competition, greater efficiency and productivity of factors of production, particularly of the workforce, have become important prerequisites for firms' growth and survival. Consequently, designing appropriate strategies to motivate the workforce in this direction appears as a critical aspect of human resource management. However, an important issue is if increase in wages, salaries, and other benefits can necessarily result in the desired outcomes. This chapter will examine this aspect. Estimating long-term trends in share of wages, salaries, and total emoluments in major industries, it is found that while the share of wages, salaries, and total emoluments has increased in recent years, such changes are not reflected in higher productivity. It is, therefore, suggested that, in addition to higher wages, salaries, and other benefits, enhancing efficiency and productivity of human resources requires adequate emphasis on human aspects as well.

While access to assured irrigation is a prerequisite for sustainable agricultural intensification, increasing use of groundwater for the same and decreasing areas under surface irrigation are expected to cause considerable hydro-ecological imbalance and hence serious concerns for sustainability. Importantly, the extent, nature, efficiency and impact of irrigation vary across regions depending on the geophysical and agro-climatic conditions, farming practices and socioeconomic setup. Nevertheless, it is suggested that appropriate crop diversification coupled with necessary policy and institutional supports can potentially reduce pressure on groundwater and make intensification in agriculture sustainable. Given this backdrop, this paper examines impact of irrigation and crop diversification on agricultural intensification and its implications for future groundwater dynamics in major Indian states. Using secondary data and applying panel data regression techniques for the period 1990–1991 to 2014–2015, the paper finds that both greater irrigation facilities and diversified crop basket increase cropping intensity. Similarly, use of more chemical fertilizers and higher yield also influence cropping intensity positively. However, rainfall variations and share of GSDP in agriculture have no significant impact. Based on the literature review and the above findings as well as using the insights from the informal interactions and random discussion carried out with the farmers and others stakeholders (e.g., researchers, community workers, extension service providers, NGO, etc.), the fuzzy cognitive models show that future policies and institutions should focus on improvement in agricultural systems and promoting surface irrigation. Besides, conservation and harvesting of rainwater, efficient functioning of the user groups, judicious use of chemical fertilizers and emphasis on cultivation of less water-intensive crops would also be crucial in this regard.

CONTEXT In northern West Bengal and southern Bangladesh, Rabi crops, sown in winter and harvested in the spring, are an important source of income and nutrition for the target communities. In the study areas, NGOs and extension services have been engaging with farming communities on selecting suitable crops for the upcoming season. This engagement took place in the absence of quantitative tools to discuss trade offs and what-if scenarios to support an informed discussion. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to design a crop-choice model to support extension agronomists in engaging with the farming communities more effectively using a quantitative analysis tool. In this process, we explored how agricultural system models can be inclusive and allow participation and eventual application by NGO and government extension agents, using a process of gender sensitive contribution. Methods The crop-choice model includes several constraints related to available resources, including land, labour, capital and technologies to calculate optimal crop areas within the Rabi season. The crop choices are determined considering gender specific community perceptions of risks, labour use, market, price-volatility, self-consumption, water use and cash flow. The model was used to explore the consequences of different crop choices on income, gender specific labour, use of inputs and markets, and to reveal the trade-offs of pursuing different crop choice pathways in the context of agricultural intensification. The initial model was demonstrated to the farmers and the extension agents, and based on their reflections, it was fine-tuned further to make the engagement process more effective. For better communication with the participating farmers, the model related questions and findings were translated in the local language (Bengali). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS We found that the modelling process can be made more inclusive from the outset by including farmers, NGO and extension agents as co-contributors of the model at each of the modelling steps and incorporating their reflections. Such an inclusive and reflective approach provides easy-to-use interfaces and enables translation of model results in ways that more effectively benefit farming communities. The process of engagement with farmers during tool development has been very valuable to farmers and researchers alike and the use of the tool has made the farmers informed about alternative scenarios and led to actual benefits for crop choice decision making. Inclusive farming systems models need to consider the gender dimension and its critical role in farm decision making and how this can be included in models to reflect the diversity of decision process. To maximise relevance of the model for next users and farmers, it was important that these key stakeholders were part of the model development from the beginning, this study has focused on the same throughout. SIGNIFICANCE This study demonstrated that appropriate design and development principles enabled bioeconomic farming systems models to be used by NGO and government extension agents to engage with farming communities as discussion support tools in farming decisions. Such an approach would make the engagement process more convincing and effective. Besides, it would also provide useful insights to the NGO and extension agents in revising their intervention strategies.

In the context of considerable change in the use of groundwater pattern, particularly with continuously increasing demand for groundwater due to growing population, expansion of area under irrigation and economic progress, the present paper makes an attempt to delineate groundwater potential zones using integrated remote sensing, geographic information system, and analytic hierarchy process techniques. Integration of geographic information system with analytic hierarchy process can exemplify as a process that transforms and harmonizes geographical data and weightage ranking to retrieve information for accurate decision-making. Accordingly, mapping and identification of groundwater potential zones are carried out in the Ganga Alluvial Plain of Hooghly district of India. Application of the same for Indo-Gangetic plain is made (new approach) to contribute the applicability Geographic Information System and Analytic Hierarchy Process for the delineation of groundwater potential zone. Predominant criteria (e.g., land use, land cover, soil type, geomorphology, geology, elevation, slope, rainfall, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, recharge rate, groundwater depth) were employed for computation of groundwater potential index. Overlay weighted sum method is applied to integrate all thematic criteria to generate groundwater potential zone map of the study area. The resulting groundwater potential index map has been classified into three groundwater potential zones, namely good, moderate and poor. Finally, groundwater potential zone map is validated using average groundwater level data from 32 wells scattered over the study area. The findings of the present paper have important implications for designing sustainable groundwater plan in the area.

Efficient use of limited landholding in farming is the key to poverty reduction and inclusive growth in the agrarian economies like India that have a large number of land-constrained farmers. It is generally suggested that cultivation of horticultural crops in dry season can increase cropping intensity and help in better use of land leading to greater livelihood opportunities and higher farm income. However, limited scale of farming, market imperfections, lack of social and human capitals and failures of policies and institutions pose several constraints to optimum use of land and hence intensification in agriculture. This paper explores if collective farming and participation in value chains can potentially enhance scale of farming by the land-constrained farmers and strengthen their market linkages. The paper is based on experiences and insights gathered through repeated engagements and focus group discussions with land-constrained farmers and other stakeholders from two selected villages under the project Promoting Socially Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in West Bengal and Bangladesh (SIAGI) and their nearby markets of West Bengal, India. It is found that collectivization and development of diversified value chains along with off-farm activities can strengthen market linkages of land-constrained farmers. Apart from distance, market assurance and market acceptance also influence choice of markets by the land-constrained farmers. Further, given the limited scope and associated risks of collective marketing, particularly in the absence of enough aggregation opportunities, diversified crop baskets aligned with market demand appear to be more beneficial. However, the choice between crop diversification and cluster development still remains a critical issue and, therefore, requires further scrutiny.

Given persistent malnutrition, especially among children and women, promoting nutrition-sensitive farming practices among smallholder farmers is often suggested as a potential pathway. However, an important question is, do the smallholder farmers in developing countries like India consider nutritional value of crops while making their cropping decisions? This paper analyzes behaviour of such households’ towards nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) in West Bengal, India. Based on both primary and secondary data, it is found that households’ awareness about NSA depends on their landholding size. The land rich farmers are better aware about the nutritional values of crops, whereas decisions for self-consumption of nutritious vegetables by female members positively influence the awareness level. Besides, land-constrained farmers prefer to sell their produce for cash income rather than self-consumption. This can potentially undermine their nutritional status, particularly when large part of income is spent on non-food items. The findings provide important directions for intervention strategies to promote NSA through land-constrained farmers.

In the context of changing farming practices, particularly with increasing use of chemical fertilizers, the present paper attempts to statistically model the implications of such input intensification for growth of agricultural production and yield and crop diversification in Hooghly district of the Indian state of West Bengal. Understanding the issue is very important for sustainable growth of the sector in the long-run. The paper uses secondary data collected from the Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics of the Government of West Bengal for the period 1989–2010. The paper shows that greater use of chemical fertilizers has no strong correlation with growth of agricultural production and yield. It is also found that agricultural production has fluctuated during this period possibly due to improper use of N–P–K over the years exceeding the assimilative capacity of soil. Further, excessive use of chemical fertilizers has also resulted in over extraction of ground water in the area. It is, therefore, suggested that efforts should be made towards deeper understanding of inherent potentials as well as limitations of soil and designing the farming strategies accordingly. In addition, formation of farming groups and promotion of organic farming should be explored to facilitate sustainable growth of the sector. Decentralized participatory planning can play a crucial role in this regard.

In 2009, the Government of India announced a new set of guidelines for planning of works and preparation of labour budget under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This guideline made it mandatory for the states to ensure that at least 60% of MGNREGA related works undertaken in a district in terms of costs, is spent for creation of productive assets that are directly linked to agriculture and allied activities. This is very important considering that creation of productive assets is necessary not only for making ecological regeneration but also for ensuring sustainable growth of agriculture sector and creation of livelihood opportunities in a village economy. In this chapter, the authors analyze and document experience towards convergence of the MGNREGA work with other rural developmental schemes in the Odisha and West Bengal states of India. More specifically, the Chapter addresses the following issues: What are the different types of convergence models that have been initiated in Odisha and West Bengal? How have the joint efforts of various line departments contributed to conservation and management of natural resources? Are assets created under convergence initiatives sustainable in the long-run? How have these assets contributed to agriculture sector, particularly in respect of increase in production and yield, changes in cropping pattern, crop diversification, and multiple cropping? Can the existing institutions contribute to management and utilization of the assets created under convergence? If not, what institutional supports are necessary in this regard?

Several studies have explored the determinants of firms' innovative efforts, but a consensus on the conceptual underpinnings and empirical manifestations of these determinants is yet to emerge. This paper attempts to understand the role of several factors in determining inter-industry variations in research and development (R&D) efforts in Indian manufacturing sector. Using Arellano–Bond dynamic panel estimation technique and a panel data set of 34 manufacturing industries over the period from 2001–2002 to 2008–2009, the paper finds that firms in industries with greater R&D efforts in the past, larger participation of the multinational corporations (MNCs), higher capital intensity, and greater penetration in the international market through exports spend more on R&D. On the other hand, R&D efforts are less in industries with larger incidence of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and greater competition from imports. The degree of sellers' concentration in a market, size of the market, product differentiation,...

Retention is a biggest challenge as compare to hiring best talents and fairly described by the level of employee commitment and employee satisfaction. Both of these factors are very important for organizational success and share a favorable association however, it does not invariably signify that a satisfied employee is always being committed and thereby retain in the organization. The purpose of this research is aimed to provide a focus on the link between employee satisfaction on overall employee commitment in a Pharmaceutical Contact Research Organization based at Bangalore, India. In this study, employee commitment is viewed as the overall level of commitment including commitment to organization as well as to work and employee satisfaction is functioned by two broad constructs- organizational factors and personal characteristics, which further subdivided into nine predictors including organizational polices & support, supervisor support, job characteristics, reward & recognition, teamwork & cooperation, feedback, maximizing potential and retention intension The study adopts a multiple regression model and results suggest that out of these nine predictors, only organizational support and reward & recognition are significantly related to the organizational aspect of employee commitment (organization commitment), whereas the predictors like job characteristics and feedback have higher influence on work aspect of employee commitment (work commitment). Maximizing potential is only predictor which has significance on the overall level of employee commitment. On contrary, retention intension has an inverse relationship with the overall employee commitment indicating that the workforce is dominated by career oriented professionals having a tendency for opting better extrinsic opportunities thereby leading to organizational knowledge drain. The study tries to draw management attention on restructuring its existing strategies for maximizing the withholding capacity of talent pool which is absolutely vital for its

In the context of initiation of economic reforms in general and changes in policies and regulations of the banking sector in particular, the present paper attempts to examine the structure-conduct-performance relationships in Indian banking sector. It is observed that there have been changes in the market structure of Indian banking sector, conducts of the banks and their performance in the post-reform era, especially during the last decade, though the changes have not been significant in every aspect. Using a panel dataset of 59 banks operating in India during 1999-2000 to 2008-2009 and applying the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method of estimation, the paper finds that there exist strong inter-linkages amongst structure of the market, banks’ conduct and their financial performance. While market share of a bank depends directly on its market size, asset base, selling efforts, and past financial performance, its selling efforts vary directly with market share, asset base, and past financial performance. On the other hand, returns on assets of a bank vary directly with its market share, but inversely with its asset base and selling efforts. The regression results essentially suggest for multidirectional and dynamic SCP relationships in Indian banking sector. It is also found that the nature of ownership has significant influence on market share, selling efforts and financial performance of the banks. As compared to the nationalised banks, market share of the private banks (both domestic and foreign) is found to be lower. But private banks make greater selling efforts and have better financial performance vis-à-vis their public sector counterparts

R&D Efforts by Indian Pharmaceutical Firms in the New Patent RegimeIn the context of recent amendments to the Indian Patent Act and introduction of the product patent, the present paper attempts to examine the innovative efforts of Indian pharmaceutical companies in the new patent regime. The paper finds that although R&D expenditure has increased significantly in the current decade, the increasing R&D efforts are not widespread across the firms and more than half of the Indian pharmaceutical companies do not spend at all on in-house R&D. This means that protection of intellectual property alone is not enough to encourage the firms towards innovation. Instead, it is observed that R&D expenditure varies directly the with market size of the firms, their capital intensity, exports orientation and past profitability, but inversely with their market share, selling efforts and import intensity. However, a firm's involvement in mergers and acquisition or sourcing of technology from foreign sources or variability in financial performance does not have any significant impact on its R&D efforts. Hence, the policy measures should be directed towards restricting the monopoly power of firms, encouraging exports, liberalizing imports of necessary machinery and equipment, and motivating the firms towards innovation, especially in life-saving drugs, an through appropriate incentive/disincentive structure.