Current Science

Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati ¹

Affiliations
1 Gujarat Institute of Development Research, Ahmedabad 380 060, IN

Abstract

Most of the districts in Odisha, India are prone to both cyclones and floods. However, the existing studies have assessed vulnerability mainly for the coastal districts, and are largely focused on the biophysical components. Therefore, a comprehensive vulnerability assessment will help unravel the scale of vulnerability across the districts of Odisha, and provide a better understanding of the adaptive capacity of households towards these extreme events. An 'integrated approach' was adopted to assess vulnerability which is viewed as a function of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. A number of proxy indicators were considered to represent these components, and a normalization procedure was adopted in order to aggregate them into a single value. Three key observations emerged. First, components like sensitivity and adaptive capacity were found to act as the major determinants of vulnerability. Secondly, eight districts were found to have a higher vulnerability score, and surprisingly, some of the districts are non-coastal. Thirdly, factors like demography, agriculture and economic capacity emerged as the major cause for increasing vulnerability. These results have policy implications in the context of prioritizing limited resources among the vulnerable districts and determinants through the disaster risk management programme at state and district levels.

Keywords

Cyclone and Flood, District-Wise, Integrated Approach, Ohisha, Vulnerability.

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Unmesh Patnaik ¹, Prasun Kumar Das ², Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati ³, Onkar Nath Tripathi ⁴

Affiliations
1 Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 400 088, IN
2 Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association, Bangkok, TH
3 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Tirupati 517 506, IN
4 Utkal University, Bhubaneswar 751 004, IN

Abstract

Vulnerability is a multidimensional concept incorporating notions of risk and poverty. While it has been established that higher incidence of poverty in developing countries exacerbates vulnerability, the role of risk requires closer inspection. Developmental interventions in these countries target poverty reduction, which in turn, could reduce vulnerability. However, a key question is whether developmental interventions reduce the vulnerability and risks faced by households. To answer this, the present study empirically examines the impact of developmental interventions on the vulnerability of households in a rural Indian setting. The major advantage hence is that it not only looks into the impact on aggregate vulnerability but also its different components such as poverty, covariate, idiosyncratic and unexplained risks. Empirical analysis is based on a survey of 800 households in the drought-prone villages of western Odisha, India, where a key developmental intervention, Western Orissa Rural Livelihood Project was implemented during the last decade. Adopting ‘vulnerability as expected utility’ approach, this study reveals three major findings. First, both aggregate risk and poverty are the dominant sources of vulnerability, with the former accounting for a sizable share. Second, the households that benefited from livelihood interventions are found less vulnerable. Third, the other major determinants of vulnerability are education, access to social network, family size and crop-diversification. From a policy perspective, results support continuation of these programmes, but realigning these also target risk reduction.

Keywords

Covariate, Developmental Interventions, Idiosyncratic Risk, Rural Setting, Vulnerability.

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Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Tirupati 517 506, IN

Abstract

Drought, recognized as one of the major disasters, negatively affects India’s agrarian economy, and in turn, farmers’ well-being. Households incur both economic and non-economic loss and damage. The latter is most often unnoticed and unaddressed although it is expected to be quite significant in developing nations. Understanding and assessing loss and damage are the prime objectives of the Warsaw International Mechanism. While numerous studies have emerged to estimate the impact on crop production, income, on-farm employment and financial status, there are only limited studies with respect to assessing loss and damage to intangible resources and the total cost of a drought in particular. By interviewing droughtaffected farmers in the Kutch district of Gujarat state, this study aims to understand the perception of farmers and to estimate total economic value and noneconomic loss and damage. A contingent valuation method was employed. In sum, two major findings emerged: (i) intensity of economic loss and damage is perceived as relatively high as compared to noneconomic loss and damage, although the reverse was expected, and (ii) the average total economic value of a drought was INR 8303, and the mean value of noneconomic loss and damage was INR 4831. This study reveals that households give lower value to intangible losses that occurs over a period than the immediate tangible loss and damage which directly affect their total wealth. Given this, community-level adaptations to minimize non-economic loss and damage are less likely to be formulated. From the policy perspective, this study strongly advocates the evaluation of intangible costs, so that upcoming state action plans, disaster management plans and ex-post assessment reports could be tailored accordingly for minimizing these risks.

Keywords

Agrarian Economy, Drought, Non-Economic Loss And Damage, Rural Areas.

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Chandra Sekhar Bahinipati ¹, Aparajay Kumar Singh ², Unmesh Patnaik ³

Affiliations
1 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Yerpedu 517 619, IN
2 Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai 600 020, IN
3 Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, School of Habitat Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai 400 088, IN

Abstract

Available empirical evidence for the association between soil-based interventions and economic returns in India reveals the following. First, integrated nutrient management (INM) is superior to balanced nutrient management (BNM) in terms of yield and economic profit for the cultivation of maize and soybean. Second, incentivizing the usage of INM rather than BNM is likely to provide a better yield and higher income to rice, wheat and potato farmers. Third, more studies on various crops are required to scientifically compare and reach a definite conclusion on the yield and economic returns from different types of fertilizer applications – INM, BNM and organic or biofertilizers. These findings have policy implications in India since the Soil Health Card scheme was centralized in 2015.

Keywords

Community-Based Farming, Crop Yield, Economic Returns, Fertilizers, Soil Interventions.

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