aDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore-560 065, Karnataka
bDepartment of Agricultural Statistics, Bidhan Chand Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Nadia-741 252, West Bengal
cDepartment of Agricultural Economics, University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga-577 204, Karnataka
The study has identified important dimensions of growth in Karnataka's economy in past-liberalization period using factor analysis. The district-wise data for the base period (1997–2001) as well as terminal period (2002–2006) were collected for 60 variables pertaining to agriculture, manufacturing and services sectors from various published sources. The major dimensions identified in the base period were technology-led irrigated agriculture, services and manufacturing, farm management and savings and market potential. In the terminal period, the dimensions extracted were technology-led rainfed agriculture, services and manufacturing, marginalized agriculture and irrigated agriculture. A significant change in the dimensions has been observed within the decade. The dimensions probably changed because of incidence of drought during 2001–2004, hence rainfed agriculture assumed more importance than irrigated agriculture in shaping the Karnataka's economy and agriculture became marginalized. Even though the contribution of agriculture has depicted a falling trend, it continues to be the driving force of growth in Karnataka.
Growth dimensions, economic liberalization, technology-led agriculture, rainfed agriculture
