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Rethinking the Formation of Public Distribution System: A Class-Focused Approach

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  • Soumik Sarkar
  • Anjan Chakrabarti

Abstract

Using the methodology of overdetermination, class process of surplus labor as the entry point and socially determined need of food security, we deliver an alternative class-focused rendition of the public distribution system (PDS) in India. We first surmise our theoretical framework to infer that the overdetermined and contradictory relation of class and social needs matter for PDS. Beyond the reasoning of being pro-poor, fair, or wasteful, we deploy this framework to reinterpret the formation of Indian PDS in the 1960s. Its demonstration requires revisiting the historical condition that shaped capital’s passive revolution through the post-independence Indian state and its subsequent crisis arising out of the contradictions and conflicts in the class-need space. We argue that PDS signals a case of success and not failure of capitalism. JEL Classification: B41, B51, N45

Suggested Citation

  • Soumik Sarkar & Anjan Chakrabarti, 2022. "Rethinking the Formation of Public Distribution System: A Class-Focused Approach," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 26-43, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:54:y:2022:i:1:p:26-43
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134211034947
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. H. R. C. Wright, 1954. "Some Aspects Of The Permanent Settlement In Bengal," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 7(2), pages 204-215, December.
    5. Pursell, Garry & Gulati, Ashok, 1993. "Liberalizing Indian agriculture : an agenda for reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1172, The World Bank.
    6. Kaushik Basu & Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2016. "Inequality and Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24983, December.
    7. Kaushik Basu & Joseph E. Stiglitz (ed.), 2016. "Inequality and Growth: Patterns and Policy," International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-55459-8, December.
    8. Eswaran, Mukesh & Kotwal, Ashok, 1994. "Why Poverty Persists in India: A Framework for Understanding the Indian Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195632385.
    9. Anjan Chakrabarti & Anup Dhar, 2013. "Social Funds, poverty management and subjectification: beyond the World Bank approach," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(5), pages 1035-1055.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marxist economics; economic development; social surplus;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East

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