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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
We are grateful to Mr Rajesh Jha for providing us with an opportunity to do a project upon
Impact of Political Dominance on Agriculture. This project has greatly enhanced our
learning and deepened our understanding of Economic Reforms in India by giving us an
insight into the practical aspects of this field.
We are deeply indebted to our seniors and colleagues, whom we approached during the
course of our project, without whose valuable guidance and constant encouragement the
project could not have been accomplished. We would also like to acknowledge all the
farmers we surveyed, who readily provided their whole-hearted support and gave us the
information required.
Last, but not the least, we would like to thank PEC University of Technology, for including
such an interesting yet essential course in our syllabus and for providing us the basic
infrastructure required to do the project.
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Table of Contents:
Acknowledgement
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Research Methodology
4. Historical Background
5. Literature Review
6. Analysis and Survey Findings
7. Limitations and Challenges Faced
8. References
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INTRODUCTION:
India lives in villages and agriculture is the soul of the Indian Economy
-M.K. Gandhi
Since time immemorial, agriculture has been the backbone of Indian Economy. Even today,
when industrialization has transformed India to a great extent and urbanisation is picking up
speed, more than 58% of the Indian population depends on agriculture for livelihood,
although its contribution to the national GDP has reduced to 14.2% [1]. Agriculture holds a
prime position in India, not only due to employment, but also due to the fact that food
security in a country like India which has a gigantic population of 1.24 billion [2], is a huge
challenge. Thus, agriculture has been a sector of priority in the Five Year Plans.
It is not surprising that agriculture is so widespread in India. India lies in the temperate zone,
with a favourable climate to grow a diversity of crops. The cultivable land in India today is
182.39 million hectares [3]. Despite the fact that the cultivable land is continually decreasing
and the climatic fluctuations are more prevalent, the agricultural productivity (of Kharif food
grains) as of 2012 were estimated to be around 118.86 million tonnes [4]. Today, India
stands second worldwide in farm output. The increase in agricultural productivity can be
attributed to the advent of Green Revolution and the various government policies and
programmes introduced.
The Green Revolution started in India in late 1960s. Within a decade, it changed Indias
status from a food deficit country to one of the leading agricultural nation. Green revolution
took place in two waves: First wave, which aimed at making India a self-sufficient nation and
the Second Wave, which started in the 1980s, focused on increasing the rural income and
alleviating poverty. The first wave was largely confined to the production of wheat and was
limited to the northern region because of which it did not contribute much to the increase of
nation GDP. Second Wave, on the other hand, involved almost all the crops and covered the
entire nation. Green Revolution successfully introduced the HYV (high yield variety) seeds
and fertilisers into the Indian Agriculture. Also, it brought a major portion of the cultivable
land under irrigation. Green Revolution thus proved to be a major breakthrough in the history
of Indias economic development.
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Though there was a major turnaround in 1980s, in 1990s the agricultural growth slowed due
to which government introduced policies that sought to sustain progress by increasing
producer support and improving the targeting of food subsidies on low income consumers.
From then on, a lot of policies and national programmes have been introduced by government
to favour both agriculture and the farmers. However, there have been a lot of cases recently
where partisan politics hampered their growth. Farmers have been troubled by the erratic
regulations of the ruling government and the barriers imposed by them on different things.
Ruthless land acquisitions by the government have emerged as a major concern. Sometimes,
it was the clashes between the ruling and the opposition parties that harmed the farmers and
their livelihood.
In this project we aim to study both- the favourable impact of government policies, beginning
from the green revolution to the policies introduced till date, on the agricultural production
and plight of farmers and the declining growth of agriculture sector in the selected area if
study due to partisan politics.
We have narrowed down our area of study to two states- Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.
Punjab, the state which emerged as heartland of Indias green revolution, has been a leader in
agriculture. Not only it has achieved irrigation coverage of 95 per cent of the net sown area, it
also has a cropping intensity of 185 per cent and 98 per cent HYV coverage. The state's
agricultural production sector is highly capital-intensive and mechanised. It has 7.44 lakh
energised tube wells, 3.87 lakh tractors and 66,000 combine harvesters. It also has the highest
consumption of electricity, fertilisers and the highest number of tractors (28) per unit of land
(1,000 acres) in the country [5].
However, farmers are not much benefitted from this. Even though the food prices are rising
in the market, farmers hardly see any increase in income. In fact, in cases of delayedmonsoons, government does little to help the farmers. Elections fill them with hope, but the
hope is short-lived because the words remain words and little action is seen. The debts keep
on rising and consequently, farmers suicide. The production is not planned. In absence of
good warehousing and cold-storage facilities, much of the produce rots.
Madhya Pradesh, is another leader when it comes to agricultural production. It has 5 crop
zones, 11 agro climatic zones to suit production of almost any crop. The favourable
combination of soil type, rainfall, sun, light and temperature suits the production any new
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crops. The cropping intensity is 135% and 28.5 % of the net sown area is under irrigation. It
is also progressing in sections like animal husbandry and agri-food processing [6]. But here
as well, farmers are the sufferers, the problem of land acquisition is very prevalent and the
government has done little to address that.
Further in the report we will take up the policies and programmes by government in detail,
after throwing some light on the Green Revolution. The negative impact of politics has been
brought up through a series of case studies. Also, we will present a brief on how the crop
prices are determined.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The research for this project was carried out in two segments:
1. Primary Research2. Secondary Research
The research was carried out to fulfil the objectives of the project, which are listed below.
The project aims to:
1. Analyse the impact of political factors on agricultural productivity.2. Study the effect of various government policies on Indian agriculture through case
studies.
3. Study how crop prices are determined.Primary research of the project was carried out to interact with the farmers and verify our
findings of our secondary research. Also, with the help of primary research we sought to
delve deeper into the topic and look for the real scenario engulfing the farmers. To carry out
the primary research, a survey questionnaire was created so as to define the scope of our
research. The questions were not too specific, so as to obtain the farmers viewpoints clearly.
The final survey questionnaire is attached below.
For survey, the cotton belt region of Punjab i.e. Malwa was selected. There were two reasons
of selecting this specific region: 1. the political crisis in agriculture is prevalent in this region
and 2. Feasibility of carrying out research. About ten farmers were surveyed.
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To understand the scenario completely, a secondary research was done. This helped us to
gain knowledge about the agricultural scenario in India through different aspects. For this
various reports by the state government and the Ministry of Agriculture was referred to study
the statistics. This gave us an insight into emerging problems and the possible causes.
Next, a detailed study of various policies and programmes regarding agriculture was done.
The policy drafts as well as related reports were studied. For this we referred the government
sites and complete policy reports. This helped to scrutinize the aims of the policies and the
drawbacks they posed. Since Green Revolution formed an integral part of Indian agriculture,
a study on how it shaped todays agriculture scenario was also carried out via various reports
and articles on the topic. Further, since our area of domain was limited to Punjab, Green
Revolution in context of Punjab was also thoroughly examined.
It was important that we gain a good backdrop of Punjab Crisis; hence the history of Punjab
agriculture was extensively referred. Books and journals related to this topic were studied to
get a grasp of the issues that were already prevalent and were possibly emerging due to the
existing politics.
Once the government policies were thoroughly examined and historical background
understood, attention was turned to the conditions of the farmers and how government
policies were affecting them. To study this, news items in the recent times were examined
related to states where agriculture is dominant. Articles referring to various farmer related
issues such as Ban of Exports on Basmati, The Potato Glut, Micro-Financing problems,
Maize trials and power crisis were studied. Not only that, the expert comments and related
articles were also studied to get a clear picture of it.
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Survey Sheet
Name: ____________________________________
Place: _____________________________________
Q1. How long have you been engaged in farming?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q2. What is the area of land you own?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q3. Do you receive any subsidy on crop seeds or fertilizers? If yes, then elaborate.
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q4. Do you get free electricity and tube well facilities? If yes, then elaborate.
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q5. Do you think introducing FDI is in favour of farmers?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q6. Do you think subsidies are any benefit to farmers?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
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Q7. What is the current market price of wheat, cotton and rice? Do you think the prices are
apt from a farmers perspective? If no, why and what do you think shall be the prices?
Ans.__________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___
___________________________________________________________________________
___
___________________________________________________________________________
__
Q8. Are all of your family members engaged in agriculture?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q9. What is the annual agricultural profit after all your expenses?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
Q10. Any other incidents/Comments you can relate to?
Ans._______________________________________________________________________
___
___________________________________________________________________________
___
___________________________________________________________________________
___
___________________________________________________________________________
___
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
Punjab was only one of the two provinces that were partitioned when the formation of
independent nation-states of India and Pakistan was announced by the colonial rulers in 1947.
Punjab thus became a border-state, located on the periphery on India. The state was
peripheral to India not only geographically but also socially and culturally. Notwithstanding
its peripheral location, Punjab has always been an important region in the political and
cultural imagination of the nation. As mentioned above, until recently Punjab was viewed as
the most dynamic and progressive state of the country, particularly for its successes in the
agrarian sector.
The Green Revolution was successful in other parts of India as well, but it was Punjab that it
primarily came to be identified with. The available statistics on various indicators of
agricultural growth speak for themselves. Of all the states of India, Punjabs growth rate was
the highest during 1960s to the middle of 1980s in agriculture. Annual rate of increase in
production of food grains during the period 1961-62 to 1985-86 for the state was more than
double of the figure for the country as a whole. The per centage of high yielding varieties
(HYV) of seed in the total area under food grains in Punjab was as high as 73 per cent in
1974-75 (all India 31 per cent) and 95 per cent in 1983-85 (all India 54 per cent). WhilePunjab had 17,459 tractors per hundred thousand holdings, the all India figure was only 714.
The same holds true for most other such indicators (x). These achievements have also been
very widely recognized. The opening lines of the recent World Bank report on the state, for
example, summarize Punjabs achievements quite well:
Punjab is Indias most prosperous and developed state with the lowest poverty
rate. At the end of the 1990s, more than 94 per cent of Punjabs citizens were above
the poverty line, 70 per cent were literate, 94 per cent of the six year olds were
enrolled in primary schools, 72 per cent of children under twelve months were
immunized, 99 per cent of households had access to safe drinking water, and the
average life expectancy of its citizen was 68 years. The remarkable development
record of Punjab can also be inferred from the fact that it has already achieved, or
is well on track to achieve, most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to Indias National Human Development Report (2001), Punjab was
ranked second only to Kerala in terms of the overall level of human development
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among the major Indian states. Most citizens of Punjab have thus already achieved
a level of socio-economic status that the majority of Indian citizens are unlikely to
experience in their lifetime (World Bank 2004: 3).
Apart from the prosperity that the success of Green Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s
brought to the people of Punjab, it also played a very important role in solving the gargantuan
problem of food scarcity of the country. The state rightly came to be known as the food
basket of India. The official website of the state government proudly claims that Punjab
produces 22 percent of the countrys wheat (12.7 million tons), 9 percent of rice (6.8 million
tons) and 24 per cent of cotton (0.3 million tons). It contributes 60 to 70 per cent of wheat
and 40 to 50 per cent of rice to the central pool.
The decade of 1980s was a critical period in contemporary Indian history. Punjab witnessed a
powerful ethnic movement during the 1980s. The movement for Khalistan, a separate Sikh
nation, generated a sense of crisis, which was felt much beyond Punjab. Though Sikh
militancy declined during the early 1990s, it had far reaching consequences for the society
and economy of Punjab.
While the 1980s was, in a sense, a creative period for Indian society when many fundamental
assumptions around which the post-colonial Indian nation was being built were questioned,
for Punjab and for the Sikhs it was a traumatic phase. Fifteen long years of militancy and the
manner in which the Indian State handled the Punjab crisis not only caused bloodshed and
sufferings, it also quite fundamentally altered the popular image of the region. From a region
known for its economic vibrancy and progress, Punjab began to be seen as a crisis ridden
state, a region with serious problems of law and order and political unrest and therefore not
suitable for safe investments.
Interestingly despite all problems, even during the 1980s the agrarian economy of Punjab
continued to progress. The income of the primary sector of the state economy grew at an
average of 5 per cent per annum while the corresponding figure for India as a whole was
around 3 per cent. The real implications of the crisis were to be felt in the following decade,
during the 1990s, when the economic priorities at the national level witnessed a major shift.
GLOBALISATION AND INDIAN AGRICULTURE:
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It was perhaps for the first time in the post-independence period that there had been criticisms
of the policies and programmes that the first democratic government of independent India
had initiated under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru earlier also, but they emanated
mostly from conflicting ideological positions of different leaders or political formations. The
strikingly new feature of the 1980s was that unlike before, the challenge this time came from
below, from those who were supposed to benefit from development, or whom the
independent Indian State had promised a better life.
The most obvious issue in this category is the marginalization of the rural people in general
and of those dependent on agriculture in particular. It is not only ideologically that agriculture
experienced marginalization in the popular imaginations of the Indian people over the last
two decades; its share in the national income has also declined considerably. Though a large
majority of Indians continue to live in the countryside, the share of agriculture to the national
income has come down to less than a quarter. The growth rates in agricultural sector have
also been much slower than other sectors of the economy.
Declining significance of agriculture, one would think, is quite natural, and perhaps a
desirable process. With development of industry and modern servicing sectors, it has
happened everywhere in the world. However, there is something quite unique about the
Indian experience. Unlike other regions of the world, marginalization of agriculture in the
Indian economy is not being accompanied by a similar degree of shift of population to non-
agricultural employment. Given that India is a democratic country such a reality becomes
even more challenging. Though liberalization and globalization were important turning points
in the recent economic history of India, the crisis of Punjab agriculture, as mentioned
above, was already evident by early 1980s, and had become a political issue in the state.
Acknowledging that all was not well with the state of affairs in Punjab agriculture, the stategovernment in 1985 appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Professor S.S. Johl, an
agronomist, to look into the problems of the agrarian sector.
In the report submitted in 1986, the Johl committee expressed concern about stagnating
productivity levels and deteriorating environment due to the cropping pattern dominated by
paddy-wheat rotation. The committee recommended that if agriculture in Punjab was to be
made sustainable, the farmers will have to be encouraged to diversify cropping pattern,
switching over from high-volume and low-value crops to low-volume and high-value crops.
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However, given the overall political atmosphere in the state at that time, no concrete steps
could be taken to implement the report.
The available official data on employment patterns in Punjab has begun to reflect the process
of shift from agriculture very clearly. As shown in figure below the proportion of cultivators
in the total number of main workers in Punjab declined from 46.56 in 1971 to 31.44 in 1991,
and further to 22.60 by 2001. While the share of cultivators has been consistently falling, that
of the agricultural labourers had been rising until the 1991 Census. However, over the last
decade, viz. from 1991 to 2001, even their proportion declined significantly, from 23.82 to
16.30. In other words, though nearly 70 per cent of Punjabs population still lives in rural
areas, only around 39 per cent of the main workers in the state were directly employed in
agriculture.
Introduction of liberalization and globalization during the early 1990s further increased
pressure of the agrarian economy. The new economic policy advocated withdrawal of the
state from economic sphere, leaving it to the logic of market forces. While it might be a good
thing for the industry to be allowed to freely import the latest technology from abroad or have
a competitive atmosphere, leaving the agricultural sector to vagaries of free market could
prove disastrous. Small landholders cultivate most of the land in India and they often have to
borrow from various sources for investments in the cultivation of cash crops. The cycle of
agricultural production is such that virtually the entire farm yield comes to the market
42.56
35.86
31.44
22.620.11
22.1623.82
16.3
1971 1981 1991 2001
Proportion of main workers engaged in agriculture in
Punjab
Cultivators Agri. Labourers
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in public parks. The farmers were obviously depressed and angry, perhaps more depressed
than angry! As a newspaper report states:
Though the farmers anger is coming to a boil, his attitude towards the government
officials is, surprisingly, the very reverse. With folded hands, he pleads with them to
lift his produce, at times virtually falling at their feet to grant him a remunerative
rate. A telling symbol of the vice-like grip that the market binds him in.
Farmers were at the mercy of officials! It is blood and toil for six months and we
cannot afford to annoy the officials. The money we earn during these days will
provide for our family during the next six months as well as help us purchase
fertilisers for the forthcoming wheat crop, a farmer in the Khanna Mandi, Asias
biggest grain market, told Bajinder Pal Singh, a newspaper reporter.
However, not all of them could wait or bear the humiliation. There were several reports on
the front pages of local newspapers during the month of October 2000 of the small and
marginal farmers taking the extreme step of committing suicide out of frustration and
humiliation.
Marginalization of agriculture has had many far reaching implications for the farming
population of the region and elsewhere. There has been a general stagnation of agricultural
sector over the last decade or so. The available analyses show that by early 1990s, paddy and
wheat had already reached peak level of productivity in Punjab. According to the Economic
Survey of Punjab 2003-04, the primary sector of Punjab economy registered a negative
growth at the rate of minus 2.38 per cent over the preceding year (2002-03). The share of
agriculture sector to the gross state domestic product has also declined significantly from
33.06 per cent in 1993-94 to 22.43 per cent in 2002-03.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Green Revolution:
Let us first look at briefly the overall economic development process of the country since
independence in 1947 until the present day. India suffered a relatively low economic growth
rates around 3.5 per cent per annum until the late 1970s, with a large fluctuations due to the
influence of the agricultural sector growth which largely depended on the monsoon situation.
Indian economy then experienced some improvement in the 1980s because of the
governments liberalization policies (but not in a full-scale) under the Rajiv Gandhi regime
and a relatively high growth rate attained by the agricultural sector in the decade. And finally,
after the full-scale economic liberalization in 1991 the economic growth rates in India
accelerated to a very high level (usually more than 6 percent, and 3even more than 8 percent
after the mid-2000s) until recently. It is notable at the same time that the agricultural sector
growth started to clearly lag behind the GDP growth since the 1990s, which indicates that
the Indian economy was plunged into a new developmental stage after the 1990s where
widening disparity between agricultural and non-agricultural (or between rural and urban)
sectors is one of the major problems for the economy. Now let us look into the agricultural
sector development in India by dividing the whole period from the independence to the
present time into several periods.
1. Until the mid-1960s
It is well known that the agricultural sector of British colonial India, especially the crop
sector, was totally stagnant or even a negative growth was recorded in the entire first half of
the 20th century. This pattern, however, was reversed at the independence in 1947. The food
grains (which is defined in India as cereals plus pulses) production registered a high growth
in India at 4.13 per cent during 1951-52 to 1960-61 on average. Both the sown area
expansion and the crop yield increase were contributed to the growth. However, the growth
rate of the agricultural sector was decelerated during the period. The priority of the
governments agricultural policy was primarily given to institutional reforms such as the land
reform and the promotion of farmers cooperatives. As a socialist nation India strongly
promoted a heavy industrialization, especially after the second Five Year Plan (1956-57 to
1960-61), leaving the agricultural sector relatively neglected.
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Severe two years consecutive droughts attacked India in the mid-1960s. Agriculture recorded
a large negative growth and India faced a serious food problem. Since the share of the
agricultural sector in GDP was still very high at about 50 per cent, the slump of agriculture
hit the economy as a whole and even the political regime itself. India was obliged to import
as much as 10 million tons of food (mainly wheat) for the two years.
2. From the mid-1960s to the end of the 1970s
The serious economic and political crisis which India faced in the mid-1960s triggered the
big conversion of agricultural policy of the government; i.e. it emphasized technological
innovation and started to introduce new agricultural technologies from abroad. And it was a
fortunate coincidence for India that the mid-1960s was the time when new seed-fertilizer
technologies started to diffuse in the tropical developing world. In particular, it was luckily
found that the wheat HYVs (Mexican semi-dwarf wheat varieties) developed in CIMMYT
in Mexico were quite suitable for the climate conditions in the northern India such as Punjab.
And the most important factor which promoted the dissemination of the new technologies
was the diffusion of private tube-wells which exploit groundwater.
Thus the new seed-fertilizer technologies, especially for the wheat crop, started to
disseminate very rapidly in northern India and within a decade or so India attained food self-
sufficiency except for some drought years. It can be called the first wave of the Green
Revolution in India. However, Indian economy as a whole had to experience a bitter lost
decade during the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s mainly due to the shortage of foreign
exchange for the import-substituting industrial sectors (Ohno, 1999). It was because India
had to continue to import a large amount of food for several years and it also had to import
chemical fertilizers (and agricultural machineries) for the development of agriculture. In sum,
India had to pay a huge cost for the sake of the negligence of agriculture at the time until themid-1960s, which is considered to be a typical case of the Ricardian Trap in economic
development.
The first wave of the Green Revolution in India had another limitation from the viewpoint of
overall economic development in the country. Because the diffusion of the Green Revolution
was confined to wheat crop and in northern India such as Punjab, Haryana and the western
part of Uttar Pradesh, it could not raise rural income and alleviate rural poverty in a wider
area. Rural India continued to be poor except some particular spots.
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As a result of the rapid production growth of wheat, which was a minor crop in India at the
time of independence, however, the production of wheat exceeded that of the coarse cereals
(such as jowar, bajra, ragi and maize) by the end of the 1970s in India (Figure 3, Figure 4).
3. During the 1980s
The decade of the 1980s witnessed a very favorable growth rates in the agricultural sector,
including almost all the regions of the country and almost all the important crop sectors. The
rapid increase of rice production during the 1980s, which is an important staple food in
eastern and southern India, was especially essential for the development of hitherto
poverty-struck rural areas in India.
The most important factor behind the overall rapid growth of the agricultural sector in
India was a widespread diffusion of private tube-wells (especially small-scale shallow tube-
wells). The diffusion of tube-wells in formerly rain-fed areas (or unreliably irrigated areas by
government canals) enabled to grow HYV wheat instead of rabi crops such as pulses in the
dry season (rabi season), and in the monsoon season (kharif season) the yield of rice was
increased substantially by switching the varieties from traditional to modern types (HYVs).
Thus the highly productive rice-wheat cropping pattern was established in a wide area of
rural India, especially in the Gangetic Basin. Furthermore, in some places with a plenty of
rainfall such as West Bengal, double cropping of HYV rice was widely disseminated.
There had been a controversy in India among economists regarding the reason why new
agricultural technologies were not accepted for long in eastern India, in sharp contrast with
northern and some other parts of India. It was argued by some Marxist economists that the
semi-feudal mode of production system in eastern India (represented by agrarian structure
with small numbers of big landlord and large numbers of indebted poor sharecroppers) was
ultimately attributed to it.
However, if we investigate the factors which critically determine the diffusion of the new
seed-fertilizer technologies, it is evident that one of the key factors was the diffusion of
private tube-wells. Therefore the key question is why especially in the eastern India the
introduction of private tube-wells was delayed until the 1980s. One of the answers may be the
shortage of capital in the hand of farmers to purchase private tube-wells, because in eastern
India there were in general only small-scale poor farmers. In other words, it can be
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hypothesized that after the 1980s the real price of tube-wells declined so that even the
relatively poor farmers in eastern India could purchase tube-wells. Another factor may be the
delay of rural electrification in eastern India, because irrigation cost is much cheaper by
electric tube-wells than diesel-driven tube-wells
On the other hand, extreme land fragmentation in eastern India with a lack of successful land
consolidation program was often attributed to the delay of the diffusion of tube-wells.
However, the experiences in eastern India in the 1980s suggested that this hypothesis was
totally wrong; i.e. tube-wells did rapidly diffuse even under the extreme land fragmentation.
And under the land fragmentation the water sales market (groundwater market) for irrigation
was widely emerged and developed.
In sum, rural India witnessed a widespread agricultural development in the 1980s due mainly
to the diffusion of private tube-wells. Especially the most important thing was that rice
production, which was the main staple food in eastern and southern India, increased rapidly
and contributed to raising rural income and alleviating poverty. The real wages of agricultural
labourers in India had started to rise and also rural poverty started to decline for the first time
in the long history of the country.
Lastly, it should be noted that in India not only rice and wheat increased their yield levels
dramatically during the period of the Green Revolution, but also coarse cereals accomplished
a continuous and substantial increase of their yield (Figure 8). According to Figure 8, the
average yield of coarse cereals increased from less than 500 kg/ha in the 1950s to more than
1000 kg/ha in recent years, although sown area experienced a rapid decrease from the
beginning of the 1970s due to the continuous decline of demand for human consumption. At
present, as indicated in Figure 9, although demand for coarse cereals for human consumption
became minimal except some spots (rural and urban Karnataka, rural Maharashtra, ruralGujarat and rural Rajasthan), demand for animal feed is increasing, especially in the case of
maize and jowar (sorghum).
4. After the 1990s
Indian economy was plunged into a new developmental stage after the 1990s. First, the
critical period for the preparation of full-scale non-agricultural sector development was over
until the end of the 1980s, when broad-based agricultural development based on the secondGreen Revolution was happened. Second, however, since India turned to the stage when per
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Government Policies:
The Ninth and Tenth year plans saw an agricultural growth rate of 2.44 per cent and 2.30 per
cent compared to 4.72 per cent in Eighth Five Year Plans. So that the agricultural growth
were back on the track, as agriculture was an important sector in India, with the respect to
both food security and livelihood, new policies catering to this sector were introduced by the
government. Some of them are explained below:
National Agriculture Policy:
National agricultural policy was introduced on July 28th, 2000. The National Policy on
Agriculture seeks to actualise the vast untapped growth potential of Indian agriculture,
strengthen rural infrastructure to support faster agricultural development, promote value
addition, accelerate the growth of agro business, create employment in rural areas, secure a
fair standard of living for the farmers and agricultural workers and their families, discourage
migration to urban areas and face the challenges arising out of economic liberalization and
globalisation. Over the next two decades, it aims to attain:
Features of NAP 2000:
1. A growth rate in excess of 4 per cent per annum in the agriculture sector;
2. Growth that is based on efficient use of resources and conserves our soil, water
and bio-diversity;
3. Growth with equity, i.e., growth which is widespread across regions and
farmers;
4. Growth that is demand driven and caters to domestic markets and maximises
benefits from exports of agricultural products in the face of the challenges
arising from economic liberalization and globalisation;
5. Growth that is sustainable technologically, environmentally and economically.
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National agricultural policy encouraged private participation- which included contract
farming. This encouraged the capital and technology inflow into the sector. Further,
through liberalisation, the competitiveness increased and that led to quality
production. It also led to tax reforms. Instead of subsidies, tax concessions were
given. Due to capital inflow, there was a subsequent improvement in the infrastructure
and transportation facilities. National agricultural policy also aimed to protect the
multinational patents rights and plans to evolve the National Livestock Breeding
Agency.
National Policy for Farmers:
National policy for farmers was introduced to help in rejuvenating the farm sector
and bringing lasting improvement in the economic condition of the farmers. The needfor policy orientation was seen because more than 60 % of the population was
dependent on agriculture for livelihood, resulting in low per capita income in the farm
sector. Consequently, there is a large disparity between the per capita income in the
farm sector and the non-farm sector. Therefore, it was essential to deal with those
issues which impact the income levels of farmers.
Background:
The Government had constituted National Commission on Farmers in 2004 under the
chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The terms of reference of the Commission
included, inter alia, methods of enhancing productivity, profitability and sustainability
of the major farming systems in different agro-climatic regions of the country and
suggesting measures to attract and retain educated youth in farming and working out a
comprehensive medium term strategy for food and nutrition security.
Main provisions:Important provisions and features incorporated in the National Policy for Farmers,
2007include the following:
(a) Human Dimension: Focus to be on the economic well-being of the farmers than
just on production and productivity and this is to be the principal determinant of
Farmers policy.
(b) Definition of Farmers: Expanded to include all categories of persons engaged in
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the sector so that they can be extended the benefits of the Policy.
(c) Asset Reforms: To ensure that every man and woman, particularly the poor, in
villages either possesses or have access to a productive asset.
(d) Income Per Unit of Water: The concept of maximizing yield and income per unit
of water would be adopted in all crop production programmes, stress on awareness
and efficiency of water use.
(e) Drought Code, Flood Code and Good Weather Code: To be introduced in drought
prone areas, flood prone areas and in arid areas respectively so as to maximize the
benefits of monsoon and to be prepared for likely contingencies.
(f) Use of Technology: New technologies which can help enhance productivity per
unit of land and water are needed. Biotechnology, information and communication
technology (ICT), renewable energy technology, space applications and nano-
technology to provide opportunities for launching an "Evergreen Revolution" capable
of improving productivity in perpetuity without harming the ecology.
(g) National Agricultural Bio-security System: To be set up to organize a coordinated
agricultural bio-security programme.
(h) Inputs and services-Soil Health: Good quality seeds, disease free planting
material, including in-vitro cultured propagules and Soil health enhancement hold the
key to raising small farm productivity. Every farm family to be issued with a Soil
Health Passbook.
(i) Support Services for women: When women work in fields and forests the whole
day, they need appropriate support services like crches, child care centers and
adequate nutrition.
(j) Credit & Insurance: Credit counseling centers to be established where severely
indebted farmers can be provided a debt rescue package to help them out of debt trap.
Need for both credit and insurance literacy in villages, Gyan Chaupals to help in the
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task.
(k) Setting up of Farm Schools in the fields of outstanding farmers to promote farmer
to farmer learning and to strengthen extension services.
(l) Gyan Chaupals to be established in as many villages as possible to harness the help
of Information and Communication Technology.
(m) A comprehensive National Social Security Scheme for the farmers for ensuring
livelihood security by taking care of insurance needs on account of illness, old age,
etc.
(n) Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanisms to be implemented effectively across
the country so as to ensure remunerative prices for agricultural produce.
(o) Market Intervention Scheme to be strengthened to respond speedily to exigencies,
specific crops to be identified.
(p) Community Foodgrain Banks: To be promoted to help in the marketing of
unutilized crops.
(q) Single National Market: To develop a Single National Market by relaxing internal
restrictions and controls.
(r) Expanding Food Security Basket to include nutritious crops like bajra, jowar, ragi
and millets mostly grown in dryland farming areas.
(s) Farmers of the future: Farmers may adopt cooperative farming, create service
cooperatives, undertake group farming through self-help groups, establish small
holders' estates, adopt contract farming and create farmers' companies. This is
expected to increase productivity, efficiency of small farmers and would create
multiple livelihood opportunities through crop livestock integrated farming systems as
well as agro processing.
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4% annual growth in agriculture through development of Agriculture and its allied sectors (as
defined by the Planning Commission (India)) during the period under the 11th Five Year Plan
(200711).
The scheme is essentially a State Plan Scheme that seeks to provide the States and Territories
of India with the autonomy to draw up plans for increased public investment in Agriculture
by incorporating information on local requirements,geographical/climatic conditions,
available natural resources/ technology and cropping patterns in their districts so as to
significantly increase the productivity of Agriculture and its allied sectors and eventually
maximize the returns of farmers in agriculture and its allied sectors.
A State is eligible for funding under the RKVY if it maintains or increases the percentage of
its expenditure on Agriculture and its Allied Sectors with respect to the total State Plan
Expenditure, where the Base Line (which will move every year) for this expenditure is the
average of the percentage of expenditure incurred by a State Government for the previous
three years on Agriculture and its Allied Sectors minus any funds related to Agriculture and
its allied sectors that it may already have received in that time under its State Plan.
Newspaper Clippings In lieu of Farmers Plight:
Although, as can be seen above, the government has done much to achieve accelerated
growth in agriculture, little has been done to improve the conditions of the farmers, in spite of
a national policy for farmers. The Clippings have been explained in the subsequent pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_Commission_(India)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_Territories_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_Territories_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_Territories_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_Territories_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_Commission_(India)7/28/2019 Impact of Political Dominance on Agriculture
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1.BAN ON EXPORTS OF NON BASMATIThe decision of government to exercise a ban on exports of wheat and nonbasmati
remained for a long time of 4 years when it was recently lifted in September, 2011.
This ban added to the plight of farmers and they remained at the mercy of markets.
Price of rice fell; farmers started selling their lands and fled to foreign countries
hoping for a better life there. Such decisions of government hit farmers very badly
whose only source of income is their crop [7].
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2.POTATO GLUT : LOOKING BEYOND THE MARKETSIn December 2011, newspapers were full of reports of the massive potato glut that
forced the farmers to dump the harvested crop on roads. Saddled with 2.5 lakh tones
of unsold harvest from
the previous season,
and in anticipation of a
bumper crop next
fortnight, the market
slumped. Against Rs
800 per quintal lastyear, farmers were able
to realize merely Rs
100-150
this year
[Reference].Such steep
fall in prices brought
gloom in the potato
belt.
There have been
suggestions in the
newspaper editorials to
solve this glut like
provide additional cold
storage space; encourage public/private investment for processing potatoes into chips
and French fries; and finally some setting up plants for manufacturing vodka.
Analyzing these suggestions will help one understand that none of them is efficient.
For example, large retail giants prefer importing frozen potato fries than manufacture
them here. A vodka manufacturing plant would not require any big quantity that can
make a significant difference to the production [8].
Times Of India dated Dec 16, 2011 by I.P Singh
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There is an urgent need for government to understand market and take decisions
intelligently. A map shall be made to understand the nations requirements for a
particular crop. Production area shall be regularly monitored and an alarm shall be
sounded as soon as the production exceeds the requirement. To achieve all this, there
is an urgent need to educate farmers. Multiple cropping shall be encouraged to reduce
dependence on one crop and reduce risk. Moreover, government should have
facilitated export of potatoes in such a state of crisis.
3.WHY WOULD MONSANTO UPROOT ITS OWN BTMAIZE TRIAL IN BIHAR?
This brings us to the a major scandal in the name of science, and involving the
multinational seed giant Monsanto, India's apex regulatory authority -- Genetic
Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) and the umbrella farm educational and
research organization --
Indian Council for
Agricultural Research
(ICAR). Indian science
is riddled with massive
corruption.
In a letter addressed to
the Environment &
Forest
Minister Jairam
Ramesh,Nitish Kumar
has accused the
multinational seed
corporation Monsanto,
the GEAC and ICAR of
conniving to begin
trials of GM maize in
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his State even before it had got clearance from the environment ministry and without
informing the state government either, reports Times of India (Mar 15. 2011).
Interestingly, this is not the only scandal that has come up. For a long time,thousands
of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar and
Jharkhand have been left in the lurch. They had planted urd and til crops in a large
acreage, and to their dismay no grain formation took place in the standing crop.
Unable to bear the economic loss, at least four farmers have reportedly committed
suicide. Thousands of farmers have been pushed deeper into economic distress. They
had also expressed their indignation by holding demonstration and protests at a
number of small towns but havent got anything more than an official promise to
provide them adequate compensation.
What India needs right now is a Seed bill replacing the non-efficient existing one,
which must provide for a minimum economic liability that the seed companies must
undertake in event of a crop failure [9].
4.MICROFINANCE CRISIS
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There is no denying that micro-finance proved as a killer to the farmers in Andhra
Pradesh. It looks very attractive to give small credit at a cheaper rate to build the
capacity of the poor and thereby alleviate poverty. In reality, it does the opposite.
How can this be of any benefit to farmers when they are being given small loans up to
Rs 10,000 on an exorbitant annual interest rate of 24%?
In the cities, we can buy a car on a loan at an interest averaging 6-7%. House loans up
to Rs 20 lakh are available at 8 % interest. Why should then the poorest of the poor be
charged 24 % for a small amount? This is nothing but crime.
It is very difficult to pay back with such a high interest rate for a normal person. So,
one can imagine the plight of a poor farmer [10].
5.POWER CRISIS, HIKE IN DIESEL PRICES, BUT MOREOR LESS SAME CROP PRICE WOES FARMERS
In the midst of power
crisis in Punjab,
Farming is the most
affected sector
because of load
shedding, as paddy
growers are
complaining of not
getting promised eight
hours of power supply
for crop sowing in
kharif season. Due to
lack of electricity,
farmers use generators
and with the hike in
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diesel prices, it would add to the production cost of the farmer.
Over 70 per cent farmland in Punjab depends on artificial irrigation. Most of the
farmers in the state use tractors to plough their field and generators run on diesel for
irrigation. Farmers say the hike will increase the input costs up to 2000 rupees per
acre on an average. For an average farmer with few acres of land who finds it difficult
to feed his family, it becomes so difficult to cope up with these situations.
Due to problems like water and power crisis, farmers suffer from increase in
production costs while the market prices of the crop remain more or less the same.
This keeps them at loss when already they are in very poor condition[11].
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Analysis
After going through the secondary as well as the primary research we have reached the
following conclusions:
1. India has become self-sufficient but after the globalisation the growth of agriculturehas been declining. The policies look after the productivity but has merely managed to
stabilise the growth rate
2. Even though schemes and policies have introduced for the farmers, their conditionsare not good. They dont get good prices for their crops, due to which most of the
families are not able to meet the basic necessities of life.
3.
Government keeps introducing erratic policies based on poor market speculation likeban on exports which hinder the growth of the farmer. In fact, government should
properly analyse the agricultural land and draw out a crop map to specifically know
the nationwide requirement of a articular crop.
Survey Findings
Q1. How long have you been engaged in farming?
Ans. All the farmers have been engaged in farming whole their life.
Q2. What is the area of land you own?
80%
15%
5%
Area of Land owned by Farmer
Farmers having 4 - 5 acres of land Farmers having 10-15 acres of land
Farmers having more than 25 acres of land
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No farmer was satisfied with the current prices of the crops. When asked the reason, farmers
gave a very apt comparison. Wheat price has increased from Rs. 600 to Rs. 1200 in 3 4
years. The price of cotton in 1993 - 94 was 8001000 per quintal and in 10 years, it has just
increased to 4000 per quintal. If one compare this increase in cost of crop to that of increase
in products like cloth, bread it is huge. Whatever may be the international price of crop, not
much difference is seen in the price that we get.
The apt prices of three crops according to farmers were:
Wheat2000 per quintal
Cotton7000 - 8000 per quintal
Rice1700 - 1800 per quintal
Q8. Are all of your family members engaged in agriculture?
Ans. 80-85% of the families has agriculture as their sole source of income. The rest of them
have sent their wards for higher studies. Some of them are also looking to sell their lands and
shift to other modes of income.
Q9. What is the annual agricultural profit after all your expenses?
Ans. Farmer with 4 -5 acres of land make an annual profit of around 2 lakhs sadly on a
property worth Rs. 1 crore. This is a very poor condition and most of the farmers of Punjab
are in this condition. They cant afford the basic necessities of life.
A farmer with 10 12 acres of land can fulfill the basic necessities of life and the families
with more than 25 acres of land are in good condition. However, there number is very less.
Q10. Any other incidents/Comments you can relate to?
Ans. One incident which the farmers of village Khedi near Muktsar mentioned was when
government reached out to farmers 5 years back for buying their lands to build a thermal
plant there. Company quoted the price of land at 25 lakhs which was quite good price for land
at that point. It turned out that company delayed the buying of land and no contractor was
ready to take up those farms for cultivation under the fear of company confiscating the land at
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any point leading to loss of crop. This bothered the farmers for a long time since they had no
source of income.
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References:
1. Annual Report 2010-2011, Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry ofAgriculture, Government of India.
http://agricoop.nic.in/Annual%20report2010-11/AR.pdf
2. Source: World Bank3. Cultivable Land in India Shrinking, March 2012, The Hindu Business Line
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article1576256.ece
4. India 2012 Kharif food production estimate at 5-year high: Agriculture Ministry, Sep 2012,Commodity Online
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-2012-kharif-food-production-estimate-at-5-
year-high-agriculture-ministry-50493-3-50494.html
5. Crisis in Punjab Agriculture, Sukhpal Singh, Economic and Political Weekly.6. Sector Profile: Agriculture and Food Processing, TRIFAC, Madhya Pradesh
http://www.mptrifac.org/PotSector/Agriculture&FoodProcessing.pdf7. SME Business Services Limited8. Farmers Carpet Jalandher roads with potatoes, Times of India [2011]9. Withdraw Nods for Field Trials for BT Maize By GARGI PARSAI from The Hindu dated March
9, 2011
10.Small loans add upto Lethal Debts, Erika Keintz, Hindu (2012)11.Why Diesel Prices Hike has Punjab Farmers Worried, Sabyasachi Dasgupta dated September
14, 2012 from NDTV
http://agricoop.nic.in/Annual%20report2010-11/AR.pdfhttp://agricoop.nic.in/Annual%20report2010-11/AR.pdfhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article1576256.ecehttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article1576256.ecehttp://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-2012-kharif-food-production-estimate-at-5-year-high-agriculture-ministry-50493-3-50494.htmlhttp://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-2012-kharif-food-production-estimate-at-5-year-high-agriculture-ministry-50493-3-50494.htmlhttp://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-2012-kharif-food-production-estimate-at-5-year-high-agriculture-ministry-50493-3-50494.htmlhttp://www.mptrifac.org/PotSector/Agriculture&FoodProcessing.pdfhttp://www.mptrifac.org/PotSector/Agriculture&FoodProcessing.pdfhttp://www.ndtv.com/search?q=Sabyasachi+Dasguptahttp://www.ndtv.com/search?q=Sabyasachi+Dasguptahttp://www.mptrifac.org/PotSector/Agriculture&FoodProcessing.pdfhttp://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-2012-kharif-food-production-estimate-at-5-year-high-agriculture-ministry-50493-3-50494.htmlhttp://www.commodityonline.com/news/india-2012-kharif-food-production-estimate-at-5-year-high-agriculture-ministry-50493-3-50494.htmlhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/economy/article1576256.ecehttp://agricoop.nic.in/Annual%20report2010-11/AR.pdf7/28/2019 Impact of Political Dominance on Agriculture
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