Why does data about increasing rural consumption shock us? Urban imagination sees the rural as a static, timeless domain where people are bare-minimalists lacking in ambition, agency or entrepreneurship. However, even if agriculture is declining, the rural isn’t. The rural is getting reconstituted amidst this confusion with ambivalent trends.

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)

Indian agriculture is once again in a slowdown. After the spurt of 2004–05—2011–12 when growth accelerated and the variability of production declined, in recent years growth has slowed and volatility has risen. Given weak world economic prospects and looming climate change, the main objectives of agricultural policy should now be to (i) enhance effi ciency of production and natural resource use, and (ii) devise appropriate safety nets to cope with risks whether from markets or climate.

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.