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This article is an attempt to examine the trends of industrial R&D expenditure by the private sector and public sector during pre-reform (1980–1992) and post-reform period (1993–2010). The agenda of economic reform is to liberalise the industrial sector and make it more competitive in the global scenario. The analysis indicates that in the post-reform period, the percentage share of R&D expenditure drastically shifted from public sector to private sector. The major share of R&D expenditure remained in capital goods manufacturing sector. R&D expenditure is highly concentrated in the capital goods sector by public and private sectors. Second, preferential sector in terms of share of R&D expenditure has been intermediate sector by the public sector and consumer non-durables by the private sector overtime. Consumer durables sector is a completely ignored sector across the board. R&D intensity has been in the range of low and medium across industry groups and time. It may be argued that industries might not be enabling to realise spillovers from the transfer of technology and also would be fragile to enhance its ability to make product and process innovations of its own. The changing pattern of R&D expenditure by the industrial sector confirms the supremacy and autonomy of the market. These are the areas where R&D expenditure is required to gain technological capabilities and absorptive capacity for a low R&D intensity country like India. The article argues that technological and industrial policies should be taken into consideration with respect to the demand and production processes. Especially since the Indian economy is a low-income country with a massive agrarian and rural labour force, it needs to transform technological capabilities and organisation of industrialisation according to the indigenous and categorised necessities by both the public and the private sectors.

Sukhpal Singh, Agricultural Machinery Industry in India: Growth, Structure, Marketing and Buyer Behaviour, 2010, Allied Publishers, New Delhi

Sucha Singh Gill, Sukhwinder Singh and Jaswinder Singh Brar; Globalization and Indian State – Education, Health and Agricultural Extension Services in Punjab Aakar Books, New Delhi, 2010, 135 pp. ISBN: 978-93-5002-034-0

This book looks at the policy challenges confronting India and other developing countries in creating a robust, sustainable and industrialized economy. It investigates different facets of the nature, structure, growth and impact of innovation in industries, education and within institutions to foster greater productivity and growth. The volume examines systems adopted to boost innovation and diffusion of technology in different economies while also mapping their success and failures. It offers suggestions for the future for long-term growth, sustainability and inclusiveness amidst dynamic, fast-changing technological frontiers using examples and case studies from India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, among others. The chapters in the book, written to honour the academic work of Professor Lakhwinder Singh in the field of development economics and innovation economics, highlight the importance of adopting and adapting new technologies and development models to local contexts and small industries. An important contribution to research on innovation economics, this interdisciplinary book will be of interest to students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers working in industrial economics, international economics, political economy, innovation economics, institutional economics, industrial organization and international trade.

The farmers' protest at the outskirts of Delhi has completed one year and still continuing. It was triggered after the Government of India enacted three farm Acts in September 2020 (now repealed) that strive to initiate sweeping reforms in agricultural produce selling, procurement, and storage and public distribution of essential commodities. In this context, an attempt has been made in this article to examine the claim of both the government and the farmers' unions leading the protest movement. The contribution of this study is manifold: in terms of tracing the evolution of the current farmers' protest movement, farmer unions' negotiations with the government, loss of human lives, and outcomes. It is found that farm Acts are structurally flawed and risk the food security of the country besides preparing ground for eviction of smallholders from agriculture altogether. The analysis of the field survey based on characteristics of 460 deceased farmers during the participation in the protest reveals that they belonged to the lowest rung of the farmers. The support to the family members left behind has come from various quarters but is inadequate. The article argues that the state autonomy to take policy decisions regarding farm Acts should be protected. The union government should develop institutional mechanism to take along all stakeholders for resolving the international and inter-state issues concerning agriculture sector.

This research project explores the level of education among various economic and social groups by examining the literacy rate, enrollment rate and the attainment of education in Sekha village located in Ludhiana district of Punjab. Wide levels of disparity were seen among groups and classes in accessing education, right from the primary level to the higher level. Differences were evident in the expenditure on education incurred by parents, in the average year of schooling, expected years of schooling and even in the Human Development Index of the area. It has been argued that structural inequalities inherent in a village further perpetuate inequalities in education. More than 70 years after Independence, the village surveyed showed that not only did inequalities remain in a village's class, caste and gender structures but they manifested themselves in education, too. Nation-wide the literacy rate has improved in India, but inequalities spanning generations have remained.