Purpose: The study examines the transformative trends in agriculture by analysing the adoption patterns of high-density plantations (HDP) among small-scale apple farmers in Kashmir. It explores the factors shaping the adoption process and the role played by extension services in fostering this adoption. Design: Employing a mixed-method approach, this study investigates how extension services influence the adoption of high-density farming and farm entrepreneurship. Utilising cross-sectional data from 160 small-scale farmer households, the research employs a recursive bivariate probit regression model to unveil the relationship between extension services and the adoption of high-density farming. Findings: The findings reveal a crucial link between small-scale farmers’ adoption decisions and their access to agricultural extension services. Land size, credit, and subsidies play key roles in influencing both HDP adoption and extension service accessibility, highlighting the interconnectedness of financial support in promoting sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, early adopters showcase innovative behaviour driven by production advantages and sustainability concerns. Practical implications: It underscores the need for targeted interventions to promote sustainable agricultural practices and enhance extension service accessibility. Recognising the positive impact of credit and subsidy availability on both HDP adoption and access to extension services emphasises the interconnected role of financial support in driving sustainable practices. Theoretical implications: The paper integrates theoretical frameworks from agricultural adoption, extension and entrepreneurship while contributing a more comprehensive understanding of sustainable and transformed food systems. Originality: This study develops a crucial framework that underscores the significance of public extension services for small-scale farmers in the Himalayan regions. Additionally, it enhances understanding of the potential benefits of high-density farming and farm entrepreneurship for sustainable agriculture and transforming food systems for rural development globally.

This paper examines the significant agrarian transformations in India’s Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is witnessing a rapid transition into commercial farming and, simultaneously, an increasing trend of deagrarianisation. The study uses a mixed-method approach to investigate why farmers adopt commercial farming in this region and how the processes of deagrarianisation, reconfiguration of land use, and deepening commodification have become inevitable for many small and medium-scale farmers as a result of this process. In the analysis, our empirically tested theoretical model confirms that institutional factors in terms of state support work as a significant driver toward commercialisation. We then argue that combined with the stimulus of the state, a vigorous process of neo-extractivism is being promoted, which renders the substantive changes in agrarian transitions by displacing the subsistence sector. The study highlights that this contemporary commercialisation is altering the social and physical landscape and driving broader forms of dispossession and consolidation of farmlands at micro-levels. Furthermore, it raises questions about the fundamental role of the Indian state’s neo-extractivist policies in a politically contested region.

Research on agrarian extractivism has rapidly expanded, encompassing diverse empirical investigations and conceptual frameworks. This paper centers its examination on agrarian commercialization in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, analyzing the intricacies of this theoretical framework. We explore agrarian extractivism through an empirical lens, investigating its relation to smallholder farming development and the role of the state within Kashmir's unique conflict setting, which influences both agricultural practices and the livelihoods of farmers. We argue that the rise of agricultural commercialization, driven by export-oriented apple monoculture and resource-intensive practices, presents a set of multifaceted challenges. Our empirical model uses a regression with an endogenous treatment effect to evaluate the impact of state-promoted extension services on smallholder farm incomes. Our findings reveal that while agro-extractivism increases land use and value extraction, it does not lead to substantial income growth for smallholders. Instead, it contributes to their marginalization and displacement in the region. Furthermore, we argue that the state strategically promotes agrarian extractivism to consolidate power and sovereignty while seeking to maintain legitimacy. Thus, creating an effective agrarian transition necessitates addressing the participation and rights of smallholder farmers rather than merely facilitating the extractivist tendencies of the dominant neoliberal agricultural development models.

This paper tries to explore the existence of a long-run relationship between foreign aid and economic growth by using the data from the two highest foreign aid recipient countries. Using the annual time series data from 1965 to 2017 this study uses several econometric models such as Johansen and Juselius cointegration, Granger causality and vector autoregression to establish the long and short-run relationships among foreign aid inflows and economic growth while also considering the rate of growth in financial development and trade openness from both the countries. The empirical results suggest that there is no long-run relationship exists among foreign aid inflows and economic growth for both the countries. However, unidirectional causality running from foreign aid to economic growth is indicative in both countries. Therefore, the findings in this paper support the adequate need for foreign aid for effective economic growth amid an upright policy environment, related issues of conditionality and political stability. Our results are robust to independent, and control variables and estimation techniques are also on par with robustness.

The intrapersonal inequalities faced by migrant workers or the farmers’ who committed suicides were cases of what had already occurred. But the possibility of ethically unacceptable experiences over time brings aspirations for a future without these intrapersonal inequalities. This chapter explores aspirations for a future with fewer intrapersonal inequalities. It distinguishes between aspirations of emancipation and aspirations of dominance. Building on the aspirations of emancipation typically involves presenting a case of being a victim. As victimhood becomes an effective narrative in the negotiations of democracy, multiple groups begin to claim this condition. In the resultant environment of competitive victimhood, it could even be used as an instrument of dominance. The chapter develops two indicators to capture these processes, one of the victimhood of dominance and the other of the victimhood of emancipation. The data from the National Institute of Advanced Studies survey shows that across the four forms of rural transformation, the victimhood of dominance is far greater than the victimhood of emancipation. This contributes to a politics where the effort is to climb up an extremely unequal hierarchy, rather than challenge that inequality itself.

In last six decades political analysts, scholars and statesmen have mainly analyzed and focused on the political dimensions of the Kashmir problem. However, unfortunately much important economic dimensions of the problem have received less attention or have been somewhat deliberately neglected. Intra-Kashmir Trade or cross-LoC trade explores such economic dimensions and address the lack of economic content in thinking on Kashmir. This article reviews the historical significance, potential sectors and routes of trade through an extensive review of secondary evidence. It also explores the potential for, and obstacles to, Intra-Kashmir Trade and makes an attempt to analyze its economic and political logic for state, its augmented potential of growth. Furthermore, the amplified gravity model aiming to analyze Intra-Kashmir Trade empirically is also used. Given the analysis of trade data and other figures it is likely that Intra-Kashmir Trade would have a significant effect on political and economic aspects and will be beneficial for both sides of the region.