We are delighted to host the inaugural Dvara Research Blog Competition 2019 for students currently pursuing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in India. The competition is on the theme of “Suitable Finance for Agricultural Households“ and is aimed towards encouraging students to conduct analyses on the Agricultural sector in India, and how suitable finance can serve as a lever for lower-income agrarian households to improve their social as well as financial capital.
Through this competition, we hope to encourage and invite thinking on ways of applying suitable finance to the issues faced by agricultural households. Students are encouraged to submit their original analysis/insights as part of this competition which would be reviewed by an eminent jury and the top three entries will be featured on our blog and will also be monetarily rewarded. The resources section at the bottom has links that may help you get a rounded view of the theme, and we will keep updating this page with additional information during the course of this competition. In case of any queries or if you seek further clarity, please feel free to reach out to us at blog.research@dvara.com.
The ill-effects of unsuitable finance tend to be felt more by workers in the unorganised sector, amongst which are those engaged in agriculture. Agricultural workers are unique among other unorganised workers in their livelihoods are dependant on circumstances that are highly unpredictable. This, as well as the cropping cycle usually means that they do not have a regular source of income. As a result, regular finance, with its calculations made based on monthly averages, falls short of being able to address the issues faced by agricultural households.
At Dvara Research, the Household Finance Research Initiative aims to rigorously understand the financial choices and decisions of low-income or excluded individuals and households, and their relation to achieving households’ objectives. We realise that one cannot look at the financial well-being of households without ensuring that they are protected from being prescribed unsuitable methods by which to achieve it. We believe that financial service providers must ensure that the customers’ interests are adequately and effectively protected as a matter of business process.
First Place: N. Ramachandran & Dipesh Mangwani – IIFT, Delhi
Second Place: Rajni Vidhani – IRMA, Anand
Third Place: Shreya Mary Abraham – MSE, Chennai
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Ankur Capital
Associate Professor, IGIDR
