State of India’s Livelihoods 2014 Sankar Datta, Ashok Sircar, Suryamani Roul, Srinivasan, Manas Ratha, Vijay Mahajan

Overview Workforce shifting away from agriculture NREGS and construction create more jobs – but of low quality Economic growth seems “jobless” Per capita income increases – so does disparity Climate change challenges – high impact on poor New hopes from national skills programme

Policies and Programmes Policy paralysis to haste? Several bills passed quickly – two pending (Mining, biosecurity) The new Budget continued several past programmes Silent on key issues affecting livelihoods of about 500 million people Apprentice Act, youth policy - focus on youth New poverty line – who is below is the larger question – not how to lift them up Labour law changes mooted Changes to NREGS in the offing NRLM – org aspects require strengthening Revamp of POP required

Livelihood finance 50 million farms and 35 million MSMEs have no access to banks Farm credit flow skewed in favour of south and north Gaps in products offered – not aligned to livelihoods Banks lose in small loans – borrower costs are still high Affordability of credit costs in farming is a question – but are subsidies in credit the answer? Subsidies and waivers distort markets and livelihoods – erode viability of financial institutions Some isolated successes in providing livelihood finance Financial inclusion has to go a long way before impacting livelihoods Fixing real sector – key to viable livelihood finance

Corporate Social Responsibility Potential funding of Rs to crore Livelihoods is a focus area for CSR spends Companies can focus on Developing skills and capacities in people Create/support livelihood institutions Asset creation to facilitate livelihoods Productivity enhancement Risk management Market access facilitation What benefits people, What benefits the company - and the area of overlap best suited for CSR spend

Farmer Producer Organisations Practitioners View Farmer loyalty to PO diminishes as price gains decline over time Tensions in mixed membership – large and tiny farmers POs to be built on cooperatives / groups rather than on primary individual membership Patience with sustained work for org maturity Risk capital and patient capital needed Legal changes needed

Farmer producer organisation Legal space created for true livelihood organisations – but changes needed Leveraging farmers’ equity to build large business with market access for members – POs are in to first few links of value chains – Management deficit a critical constraint – Risk capital and bank loans hard to come by despite several schemes by government, NABARD, etc. Comprehensive early stage funding required Capital and capability have to work together in harmony in building up FPOs

THANKS