This paper summarises the key findings of a number of studies that were prepared for two international conferences devoted to comparing the rural development and agricultural reform experiences of China (the dragon) and India (the elephant) over the last several decades.

The main objective of this study is to assess the overall debt position of the farmers in Punjab and identify the factors affecting their indebtedness.

This paper estimates and compares the paid-out cost of cultivation of wheat in India, the most state-protected crop, during the input subsidy regime of the 1970s and 1980s and after its abolition in the 1990s, when economic reforms were initiated. The study uses the valuable time series information collected as part of the "comprehensive scheme' of the ministry of agriculture.

This paper discusses the various factors that have been identified as responsible for the current global crisis in the availability of food and for the rise in prices of cereals. It argues that the crisis is different from the ones in the 1960s and 1970s in that there is now likely to be a permanent upward shift in real prices. It is important that developing countries place renewed emphasis on selfsufficiency to ensure food security, since they are unlikely to be able to afford expensive food imports.

The inflation in food prices of the early 1970s that arose out of excess demand for cereals disappeared in later years not because of any significant supply augmentation, but because it was substituted by an income deflation on the working people, including the peasantry, over large tracts of the world. This income deflation, brought about by the imposition of neoliberal policies, compressed demand and kept food and other commodity prices in check. But over the longer term, income deflation has undermined the very viability of peasant agriculture, adversely affecting supply.

The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Programme in the Philippines has made substantial progress in dealing with land reform. Much more remains to be done and Filipino society is actively engaged in critically discussing the past and the future of CARP. There are lessons here for India where policymaking circles remain obsessed with growth and have forgotten land reform.

This paper attempts to analyse the current global crisis in the availability and prices of rice by drawing upon the long-term developments in the rice market. The instability and thinness in the world rice markets are shown to be mainly due to the predominantly precautionary export policies of major exporting countries, which in turn are a result of domestic food security considerations. Some possible policy options are also discussed.

Authors of a report (April 19) on post-tsunami shelter and settlement strategy of the Tamil Nadu government respond to a rejoinder by C V Sankar (May 17), officer on special duty for relief and rehabilitation.

Demographic factors have reappeared in the economic development debate with the emergence of the concept of the "demographic dividend'. With many developing countries experiencing a rapid decline in fertility, there has been overwhelming optimism that a demographic bonus will take these countries to greater economic heights. At the same time, there are pessimists doubting the ability of these countries to take advantage of the demographic dividend. This paper looks at the concept critically in the context of India.

The mid-day meal programme was initiated as a means of achieving universal primary education of satisfactory quality for all schoolchildren below the age of 14 by increasing enrolment, improving attendance and retention, and simultaneously improving nutritional status. This paper attempts to investigate some of these aspects based on primary data collected from Khurda district of Orissa. Data was collected from schools as well as from a sample of households of schoolchildren.