Current State of Indian Agriculture
Over the past five to six years, India’s agricultural development, better known as the Green Revolution, has been celebrated around the world and many developing countries are starting to look to India as a model. Initially, India remained a food-scarce country for nearly two decades after its independence.
But the Green Revolution not only enabled India to become self-sufficient in food crops, but in January 2002 she accumulated a huge food surplus of 5 million to 8 million tons. The agricultural situation has changed since the mid-1960s with the introduction of high-yielding varieties (HYV) of crops and the development of agricultural infrastructure for irrigation, credit and other input supply, storage and marketing. His HYV, which is highly productive and responsive to inputs, has motivated Indian farmers to adopt improved and modern technology.
The government devised minimum support prices (MSPs) and agricultural sourcing to expand the storage, marketing and distribution of food grains nationwide. The most important factors in the overall success of agriculture are: Increasing the net sowing area, expanding the irrigation system, land reform, and especially land consolidation – this was the first stage of agricultural development since independence (1947-65).
Development and introduction of high-yielding seeds, extensive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and improved crop production techniques – this was the second stage (1965-85) of development in the agricultural sector. Pricing policies based on MSP and sourcing operations, storage/cold storage infrastructure, and increased investment – this can broadly be described as the third phase of agricultural development in India.
Despite impressive achievements, various constraints and worrying trends have consistently hampered the necessary growth of the agricultural sector.
( i ) Agriculture, still a gamble in the monsoons – Despite nearly 60 years of planning, agriculture in India remained a gamble during the monsoons. Country.
It seems that the Planning Commission should have put more attention and resources into controlling the whims of the monsoons. His first decade of planning (1951-1961) was focused on expanding irrigation, and even in subsequent decades, the cumulative increase in irrigated area was emphasized. However, none of the plans achieved their irrigation targets. Additionally, the irrigation potential created during planning was underutilized for a variety of reasons.
(ii) Limited Use of New Agricultural Techniques – After 1961, the focus shifted to the use of seed-fertilizer-water techniques known as the New Agricultural Strategy. However, the new strategy was only successful with wheat and marginally with rice. Other food and non-food crops showed no measurable improvement in production. Dryland management was completely unaffected by new agricultural strategies.
(iii) Declining investment in agriculture – we generally understand that government investment has helped stimulate agricultural growth. Moreover, the government’s role was not only to stimulate investment but also to stimulate private investment in agriculture. The figures released by the government in the economic survey are very clear.
The early stages of technological innovation and the Green Revolution saw some improvement in private investment in agricultural assets such as irrigation pumps, wells and tractors. After that, private investment declined. However, in 1980-81 private investment in agriculture rose from 70% to 82%. The upward trend in private investment may reflect improving incentives for agriculture and favourable changes in trade policies.
Worryingly, private investment in agriculture is almost entirely concentrated in the northern regions, especially Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and almost completely absent elsewhere in the country.
Public investment, on the other hand, is a big disappointment. After the upward trend of the 1970s, real public investment (that is, 1980-81 prices) generally declined. This is probably due to the diversion of resources from investment to current spending in the form of higher inputs and input subsidies.
Agricultural investment as a percentage of GDP has hovered around 2.7% to 3.3% in the post-reform period, a worrying phenomenon.
(iv) Failure of Land Reform – By the mid-1970s, the government hoped to introduce land reform, particularly property rights laws and land tenure caps. The government failed to implement land reform measures, redistributing land in favour of small farmers and landless workers, and doing little to protect tenant farmers from exploitation and displacement.
The government reconciled its failure to advance progressive land reforms and shifted its focus to technological change. For example, land reform has not been mentioned since the 7th Plan. The violent conflict between landowners and landless people in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and other states – the rapid spread of the Naxalite movement – is the result of failed land reforms.
(v) Increased exploitation by tenant farmers – From the outset, the growth prospects for agriculture in India depended on the development of irrigation, drainage, flood control, land formation and consolidation, soil erosion and salinity control, and extensive research and advice networks. development and provision of rural electrification and institutional credit. But technological change does not replace institutional change in agriculture.
Only a blend of technological and institutional changes can optimize agricultural growth processes in terms of maximizing production and distributional justice. However, this merger has not yet taken place.
Technological progress in the agricultural sector is therefore accompanied by widening inequalities. The rapid growth of agriculture has resulted in higher wages for agricultural workers in the Green Revolution regions of Punjab and Haryana. It has also been observed that land is treated as a highly valuable commodity by wealthy farmers. Exploitation by peasants has not diminished, and as a result, the fruits of agricultural progress are being pocketed by wealthy farmers.
Bengaluru against numerous entities/individuals in connection with their involvement in extortion and public harassment, where at least 18 FIRs had obtained small amounts of credit through mobile apps operated by accused entities/individuals. Filed by the Police Cyber Crime Bureau. ED said it had filed a money laundering suit based on this.
Razorpay and Cashfree said they are working with federal agencies, but Paytm declined to comment.
Cashfree’s statement reads:
A smartphone-based Chinese instant loan app has been scanned by an Indian agency following multiple allegations.
Just last month, Delhi police blew up his network of more than 100 such apps and arrested 22 people on suspicion of extorting money under the guise of offering instant loans through the apps. They have been accused of data theft and money fraud from lenders.
Chinese mobile operators such as Oppo, Xiaomi and One Plus are also under scrutiny for alleged fraud, including tax evasion.
About a year ago, a search for the Chinese government-controlled telecom operator ZTE found “huge losses over the years”, even though the company made 30% of its profit on sales of imported goods. It was revealed that the books had been tampered with to show that
Enforcement agencies have raided the facilities of online payment gateways such as Razorpay, Paytm and Cashfree in Bangalore as part of an ongoing investigation into “illegal” smartphone-based instant loans “controlled” by Chinese individuals. did.
A search began on Friday at his six facilities in the capital Karnataka, a statement Saturday said. Search operations are ongoing, according to the ED.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it seized funds worth 1.7 billion rupees held in “dealer ID cards and bank accounts of these Chinese controlled companies” during the raids.
Similarly, breakthroughs in dry farming could boost sorghum, legume and oilseed production and help correct crop imbalances. They are the ones that dominate and naturally benefit the most from watershed programs and national pulse and oilseed development programs.
The various weaknesses in the agriculture sector listed above represent the main concerns and drivers of the successive five-year plans.
The Planning Commission has written an overview of the agricultural development strategy during the 7th Plan: B. Irrigation, drainage, roads, markets, financial institutions, dissemination of new technologies in underdeveloped areas, especially breakthroughs in afforestation in drylands, afforestation, and rational crop pricing and procurement policies will contribute to the growth of agricultural production. Essential for accelerating and cutting years.
Correct for year-to-year variations in production and differences between regions, cultures, and classes. Such growth patterns can also provide the necessary impetus for rural development by decentralizing agribusiness. In this way, agriculture can contribute more to achieving national goals of self-reliance, poverty eradication, productivity enhancement and environmental protection. “
Imminent agricultural crisis
The planning commission and the Indian government were aware of the slowdown in agricultural growth in the 1990s but were not concerned. The overall growth rate of crop production fell from 3.7% to 2.3% per annum and productivity fell from almost 3% to 1.2%. per cent. The slowdown in food grain growth is much steeper. However, the NDA government was concerned about the large stockpile of food grains in government factories and the heavy burden associated with it. Much of the inventory was illegally sold to grain mills.
Over 10 million tons of grain were exported. Buffer stocks of food grains carefully built up over the years are gone. As recently as June 2005, he claimed India was “self-sufficient in wheat”. But the reality is that despite starvation deaths in Orissa and Rajasthan, up to 60 million tonnes of buffer stocks have been depleted in three years.
Poor agricultural production over the past two years has sparked producer suicides across the country and created a sense of panic in the country. Unprecedented hoarding of grains and legumes by traders and huge price increases for basic commodities have forced the Indian government to rely on wheat imports for the first time in almost 30 years. Up to 5 million tons of wheat will be imported this year. This trend of high wheat imports will continue for the next few years.
But officials at the Ministry of Agriculture cannot explain why grain stocks have suddenly run out. Four dangerous things are happening in India right now.
(a) decrease in agricultural production;
(b) Small and marginal peasants, who usually borrow from moneylenders at a rate of 36% per annum, commit suicide in large numbers across the country. This is a clear failure of public sector banks and the Treasury Department that runs them.
(c) Across India, prime agricultural land has been converted by the government and given to leading construction companies under the guise of ‘development’ to build highways, theme parks, IT parks, skyscrapers, etc.
(d) Rural poverty is generally increasing, creating despair and anger among the rural poor. India is now in a dangerous position. On the one hand, India “shines”. That means growth in manufacturing and services and booming financial markets.
On the other hand, there is India in distress and the darkening of the agricultural sector is deepening. A second Green Revolution was coming, and it was coming soon. The widening income and prosperity gap between towns and the countryside must be narrowed rapidly.
Otherwise, growing rural poverty, misery and consequent anger will surely destroy Bright City India. The Soviet Union collapsed in the 1990s not because of America’s CIA, but because of the continued failure of Russian agriculture.
Indian planners must remember that his third of India is already with Naxalite. This area is expanding day by day and will never shrink. This could be the biggest threat to India’s development.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
