UNIT - 2 SECTORAL COMPOSITION OF INDIAN ECONOMY

Issues in Agriculture sector in India,

Land reforms
Green Revolution
Agriculture policies of India,

Role of Agriculture in India

● Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of Indian economy. It is the
supplier of food and raw materials in the country. At the time of independence
more than 70 per cent of India’s population depended on agriculture to earn
livelihood. Accordingly the share of agriculture in the national product/income
was as high as 56.6 per cent in 1950-51.
● However with development of industries and service sector during the plan
periods, the percentage of population depending on agriculture as well as the
share of agriculture in the national product has come down. In 1960, the
percentage of labour force engaged in agricultural activities was 74 which
gradually came down over the years to 51 per cent in 2012.
● In 1960 the share of labour force in industry and service sectors stood at 11 and
15 percent respectively. But in 2012 these shares increased to 22.4 and 26.5
percent respectively. It has been observed in most of the economies that along
with economic development shift in labour force from agriculture to industry and
service sector takes place.
● Agriculture is the source of food supply. The production of food grains has
increased from nearly 55 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 259 million tones in 2012-
13. Because of the growth in food grain production,
● India’s dependence on import of food grains has declined and almost become
nil. Keeping in view the rapid growth in India’s population, increase in food grain
was a necessity which the country achieved significantly. Except for pulses,
increase in food grains has been mode possible by increase in cereals and
various cash crops.
 ● Agriculture is also a major source of foreign exchange earning through export.
The share of agriculture in India’s export in the year 2011-12 was 12.3 percent.
The major items of export include tea, sugar, tobacco, spices, cotton, rice, fruits
and vegetables etc.

Land reforms undertaken

The process of land reform after independence basically occurred in two broad
phases.

● The first phase also called the phase of institutional reforms started soon
after independence and continued till the early 1960s focussed on the following
features:
● Abolition of intermediaries like zamindars, jagirdars, etc.
● Tenancy reforms involving providing security of tenure to the tenants,
decrease in rents and conferment of ownership rights to tenants
● Ceilings on size of landholdings

The second phase beginning around the mid- or late 1960s saw the gradual
ushering in of the so-called Green Revolution and has been seen as the phase of
technological reforms.

● Digitisation of land records:

○ Making land records available to all, to contain/check property frauds,
became one of the objectives of the government of India in the late 1980s.
○ To address the same, the Digital India Land Records Modernisation
Programme (DILRMP) was launched by the government of India in
August 2008

Impact of land reforms

Agricultural Productivity

● Earlier large tracts of wasteland belonging to zamindars/ big farmers remained

uncultivated. These lands were given to landless labourers as a result of which
there is increase in area under cultivation leading to food security.
● Equal distribution of land will encourage intensive cultivation resulting in
increased agricultural production leading to higher production levels.
 ● Some farm management studies conducted in India testified that small farms
yielded more production per hectare. It is so because family members
themselves cultivate small farms.
● Consolidation of landholdings ensures that small bits of land belonging to the
same small landowner but situated at some distance from one another could be
consolidated into a single holding to boost viability and productivity.

Problems in implementation of land reforms

Weaknesses with the zamindari abolition

The absence of adequate land records made implementation of these acts difficult.

Zamindars refused to hand over the land records in their possession, forcing the
government to go through the lengthy procedure of reconstructing the records.

Weaknesses of tenancy reforms

● Most tenancies were oral and informal andwere not recorded.

● Providing security of tenure to all tenants, met with only limited success.
● The Green Revolution which started in some parts of India in the late 1960s
aggravated the problems, with land values and rentals rising further.
● The acquisition of ownership rights by tenants was achieved only partially.
● Even today 5% farmers hold 32% of land holdings.

Digitization of land records failed

● Insufficient data: Lack of clear and sufficient data and mismanagement

between the various agencies handling land records, the data registered at
various government levels is not identical.

Weaknesses of consolidation of land holdings

● The programme failed to achieve its desired objective because the farmers are
reluctant to exchange their lands for the new one.
● The arguments given by the farmers is that their existing land is much more
fertile and productive than the new land provided under land consolidation.

Failure of cooperative farming:

● Attachment with Land: The farmers are not willing to surrender the rights of
land in favour of the society because they have too much attachment with it.
 ● Lack of Cooperative Spirit: The spirit of cooperation and love is lacking
among farmers. They are divided in various sections on caste basis.
● Illiteracy: some of them are using the old methods of cultivation.

Challenges of Indian Agriculture

● Instability: Agriculture in India is largely depends on monsoon. As a result,
production of food-grains fluctuates year after year. A year of abun­dant output
of cereals is often followed by a year of acute shortage.
● Cropping Pattern: The crops that are grown in India are divided into two broad
catego­ries: food crops and non-food crops. While the former comprise
food-grains, sugarcane and other beverages, the latter includes different kinds
of fibres and oilseeds.
● Land Ownership: Although the owner­ship of agricultural land in India is fairly
widely distributed, there is some degree of concentration of land holding.
Inequality in land distribution is also due to the fact that there are frequent
changes in land ownership in India. It is believed that large parcels of land in
India are owned by a- relatively small section of the rich farmers, landlords and
money-lenders, while the vast majority of farmers own very little amount of land,
or no land at all.
● Sub-Division and Fragmentation of Hold­ing: Due to the growth of population
and break­down of the joint family system, there has occurred continuous
sub-division of agricultural land into smaller and smaller plots. At times small
farmers are forced to sell a portion of their land to repay their debt. This creates
further sub-division of land.
● Land Tenure: The land tenure system of India is also far from perfect. In the
pre-independence period, most tenants suffered from insecurity of tenancy.
They could be evicted any time. How­ever, various steps have been taken after
Independ­ence to provide security of tenancy.
● Conditions of Agricultural Labourers: The conditions of most agricultural
labourers in India are far from satisfactory. There is also the problem of surplus
labour or disguised unemploy­ment. This pushes the wage rates below the
sub­sistence levels.
● Manures, Fertilizers and Biocides: Indian soils have been used for growing
crops over thousands of years without caring much for replenishing. This has
led to depletion and exhaustion of soils resulting in their low productivity. The
average yields of almost all the crops are among t e lowest in the world. This is
a serious problem which can be solved by using more manures and fertilizers.
 ● Irrigation: Although India is the second largest irrigated country of the world
after China, only one-third of the cropped area is under irrigation. Irrigation is
the most important agricultural input in a tropical monsoon country like India
where rainfall is uncertain, unreliable and erratic India cannot achieve sustained
progress in agriculture unless and until more than half of the cropped area is
brought under assured irrigation.
● Lack of mechanisation: In spite of the large-scale mechanisation of agriculture
in some parts of the country, most of the agricultural operations in larger parts
are carried on by human hand using simple and conventional tools and
implements like wooden plough, sickle, etc. Little or no use of machines is
made in ploughing, sowing, irrigating, thinning and pruning, weeding, harvesting
threshing and transporting the crops.
● Agricultural Marketing: Agricultural marketing still continues to be in a bad
shape in rural India. In the absence of sound marketing facilities, the farmers
have to depend upon local traders and middlemen for the disposal of their farm
produce which is sold at throw-away price.
● Inadequate transport: One of the main handicaps with Indian agriculture is the
lack of cheap and efficient means of transportation. Even at present there are
lakhs of villages which are not well connected with main roads or with market
centres.

Programmes and policies introduced in India in

recent times to address the issues
E-NAM:

National Agriculture Market (eNAM) is a Pan-India electronic trading portal which

networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural
commodities.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA):

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for
enhancing agricultural productivity especially in rain fed areas focusing on integrated
farming, water use efficiency, soil health management and synergizing resource
conservation.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY):

Government of India is committed to accord high priority to water conservation and its
management. To this effect Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) has
been formulated with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation ‘Har Khet ko
pani’ and improving water use efficiency ‘More crop per drop’ in a focused manner.

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY):

The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), an initiative to promote organic

farming in the country, was launched by the NDA government in 2015.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY):

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is the government sponsored crop
insurance scheme that integrates multiple stakeholders on a single platform.

Livestock insurance Scheme:

This scheme aims to provide protection mechanism to the farmers and cattle rearers
against any eventual loss of their animals due to death and to demonstrate the
benefit of the insurance of livestock to the people and popularize it with the ultimate
goal of attaining qualitative improvement in livestock and their products.

Scheme on Fisheries Training and Extension:

It was launched to provide training for fishery sector so as to assist in undertaking

fisheries extension programmes effectively.

National Scheme on Welfare of Fishermen:

This scheme was launched to provide financial assistance to fishers for construction
of house, community hall for recreation and common working place. It also aims to
install tube-wells for drinking water and assistance during lean period through saving
cum relief component.

Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF):

The government approved a dedicated Rs5,000 crore fund to bring more land area
under micro-irrigation as part of its objective to boost agriculture production and
farmer’s income.

GREEN REVOLUTION
The Green Revolution in India was initiated in the 1960s by introducing high-yielding
varieties of rice and wheat to increase food production in order to alleviate hunger
and poverty post -independence.

● The Green Revolutionwas a period that began in the 1960s during which
agriculture in India was converted into a modern industrial system by the
adoption of technology, such as the use of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds,
mechanised farm tools, irrigation facilities, pesticides and fertilizers.
● Mainly led by agricultural scientist M. S. Swaminathan in India, this period was
part of the larger Green Revolution endeavor initiated by Norman E Borlaug,
which leveraged agricultural research and technology to increase agricultural
productivity in the developing world.
● Under premiership of leader Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Green Revolution within
India commenced in 1968, leading to an increase in food grain production,
especially in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
● Major milestones in this undertaking were the development of high-yielding
varieties of wheat and rust resistant strains of wheat. However, the long-term
effects of green revolution have been analysed by environmental activists like
Vandana Shiva who are of the opinion that it caused greater environmental,
financial and sociological problems for the country like droughts, rural
indebtedness and farmer suicides.
● Reports have shown soil deterioration from the use of chemicals bringing ruin to
farmers, the land, food and water supply. This caused a collapse of agricultural
systems in many regions.

Positive Impact of green revolution:

● Increase in Agricultural Production and productivity: The production and

productivity of wheat, rice, maize and bajra has substantially increased.
● Less Dependence on Imports: After the green revolution, India was finally on its
way to self-sufficiency. There was now enough production for the population
and to build a stock in case of emergencies. In fact, India was able to start
exporting its agricultural produce.
● A Benefit to the Farmers: The Green Revolution has increased the income of
farmers and landless labourers. It enabled them to shift to commercial farming
from only sustenance farming.
● Dispersal of Rice and Wheat cultivation to non-traditional areas: Green
Revolution spread the Rice cultivation to the semi-arid areas of Punjab,
Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, and the wheat cultivation has spread to
 the areas of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and some
parts of Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal.

Negatives

● Food-grains centric: Although all food-grains including wheat, rice, jowar, bajra
and maize have gained from the revolution, other crops such as coarse cereals,
pulses and oilseeds were left out of the ambit of the revolution.
● Monocropping: Major commercial crops like cotton, jute, tea and sugarcane
were also left almost untouched by the Green Revolution. This ultimately led to
the dangerous trend of Monocropping.
● Displacement of small farmers: The Green Revolution has displaced the
agricultural labourers, leading to rural unemployment. The mechanical
innovations like tractors have displaced agricultural labourers.
● Land Degradation: The overuse of chemical fertilizers to get high yield causes
physical and chemical degradation of the soil by altering the natural microflora
and increasing the alkalinity and salinity of the soil
● Led to Regional Disparities: It led to growing disparities in economic
development at inter and intra-regional levels. Only 40 percent of the total
cropped area benefitted while the rest was left untouched by it. The most
benefitted areas are Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh in the north
and Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the south.

Constraints on the spread of High Yielding Varieties

● High Yielding Variety Programme (HYVP) was restricted to only five crops:
Wheat, Rice, Jowar, Bajra and Maize.
● Therefore, non-food grains were excluded from the ambit of the new strategy.
● The HYV seeds in the non-food crops were either not developed so far or they
were not good enough for farmers to risk their adoption.
● The benefits of Green Revolution were primarily reaped by the rich farmers as
they had large land area, high amount of funds to invest in buying fertilizers,
machines, HYV seeds etc.
● Majority of farmers on the other hand had small land holdings, with less funds to
invest; hence they could not be benefited much from Green Revolution. In this
way, GR further widened the gap between the rich and the poor farmers.
● The high yield crops require more water and fertilizers as compared to the
normal varieties of crops. This constrained it to resource rich states and arid
states could not benefit. Moreover, high input usage also led to decrease in its
reach throughout India.