Using the latest National Sample Survey Office data on land distribution and use, questions of agrarian change in India are revisited. With reducing landholding size in general, the increasing unviability of such small plots, and increasing numbers of "effectively" landless households, the larger questions of employment and sectoral shifts are flagged. There is still no clear transition away from agriculture.

While the finance minister took care to express the commitment of his government to poor and vulnerable people while presenting the Union Budget for 2016–17, this stated commitment has not been backed by adequate increases in allocations to areas of critical interest to the poor. It is likely that resource constraints will continue to be a serious hindrance in important areas like nutrition, health and livelihood support. (Letter)

What impact has the award of the Fourteenth Finance Commission had on the resources and spending of state governments? Does it necessarily have to lead to a decline in outlays in the social sector? An illustrative and preliminary exercise for Bihar.

A close examination of Bihar's recent growth experience reveals several paradoxes. These are paradoxes only with reference to certain orthodox positions widely held in development economics. Resolving these paradoxes helps formulate a more incisive understanding of what bottlenecks lie in the way of eliminating poverty in Bihar and opens the way for working out solutions to the problem.