Urbanisation is a global trend rapidly transforming the biophysical and socioeconomic structures of metropolitan areas. To better understand (and perhaps control) these processes, more interdisciplinary research must be dedicated to the rural-urban interface. This also calls for a common reference system describing intermediate stages along a rural-urban gradient. The present paper constructs a simple index of urbanisation for villages in the Greater Bangalore Area, using GIS analysis of satellite images, and combining basic measures of building density and distance. The correlation of the two parameters and discontinuities in the frequency distribution of the combined index indicate highly dynamic stages of transformation, spatially clustered in the rural-urban interface. This analysis is substantiated by a qualitative assessment of village morphologies. The index presented here serves as a starting point in a large, coordinated study of rural-urban transitions. It was used to stratify villages for random sampling in order to perform a representative socioeconomic household survey, along with agricultural experiments and environmental assessments in various subsamples. Later on, it will also provide a matrix against which the results can be aligned and evaluated. In this process, the measures and classification systems themselves can be further refined and elaborated.

Microcredit through self-help groups (SHGs) has emerged as a springboard to reach the rural poor. In India, it is being practised in different ways and monitored in three different arrangements based on the SHGs linkage with the supporting organizations. They are: Model-I: Bank-promoted, Model-II: Government-promoted, and Model-III: NGO-promoted. The paper has examined differences in the collective performance and the pattern of relationship of the individual characters, group variables and economic variables among the three micro-credit delivery models. The analysis is based on the data from 90 members from nine SHGs operating in three taluks in the Davanagere district of Karnataka state. The categorical regression has revealed that cooperation, consensus among members, knowledge on SHGs linkages and transparency in activities significantly influence the collective performance. It has also been found that SHGs can improve their performance by creating awareness in its members on the SHG purpose and by giving regular updates of information. The paper has recommended that, while dealing with the SHGs and its delivery models, context-specific difficulties and ground realities need to be taken care essentially.

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Rice and wheat production in the intensive, irrigated farming systems of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is associated with significant negative environmental and health externalities. Conservation Agriculture (CA) has the potential to curb some of these externalities while enhancing farm income. However, farmer adoption of CA remains modest in the Indian IGP. The present study focuses on the constraints to adopting the major CA component, zero tillage (ZT). We examine whether ZT wheat is feasible for smallholders and the potential of technology targeting to realize faster and wider diffusion. Econometric models and machine learning algorithms were used to analyze remote sensing data and farm household data collected from the Indian states of Punjab and Bihar, two contrasting agrarian economies of the IGP. While farmer adoption was low among smallholders (owning <2 ha of land), the on-farm effects of ZT on variable cost reduction and yield and profit enhancement for smallholders are comparable to large farmers. We estimate the economic potential of technology targeting using an equilibrium displacement model. In the relatively developed state of Punjab, technology targeting based on landholding size does not appear to add substantive economic benefits. In Bihar, a less prosperous state with a dominance of smallholders in the population, technology targeting could markedly enhance economic surplus and reduce rural poverty.

The effect of emission tax has been examined as a mitigation policy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rice production in India. The cost of methane emissions has been internalized in the production process by taxing these emissions with carbon prices. Further, an iso-elastic supply function has been used to estimate the shift in supply of rice due to price internalization. A negative shift in the production has been observed both with market and shadow prices of carbon, which were considered as the tax levels. Although with the introduction of emission tax, the demand price increases, the higher costs and low efficiency of current mitigation measures make carbon taxation an unattractive proposition from economic and social welfare perspective. Small landholders, because of emission tax led increase in cost of production might shift from rice to other crops. This induced change in land-use would have consequence that could overpower the direct effects of emission tax. Successful implementation of emission taxation as a GHG mitigation strategy would depend on the development of cost-effective mitigation at farm level, and the instruments that can offset welfare losses for smallholders.