1. Agriculture sector has been the back bone of India since ages which is being fractured and requires immediate care. Team Details: Name: V4INDIA Members- K.Vijay Sai Nandhini.j Saakshi Naidu Billa Manvith Reddy Madhusudhanan.B Sowing Prosperity: Boosting Agricultural Productivity

2. Agricultural infrastructure 60 percent of agriculture depends on rainfall. Most of the rain water is not stored properly. A lot of river water is flushed into the sea which is unused. Small &medium scale irrigation projects must be developed on a broader spectrum to reduce time, effort ,money and also address the environmental concerns. Construction of wells and tanks for rain water harvesting and increasing the water table level which may substitute in times of water shortage Adopting periodic and scientific maintenance methods of all the existing irrigation projects and utilising them fully 3. SCIENTIFIC REFORMS AND AWARENESS Unscientific methods adopted . Unscrupulous usage of fertilizers & pesticides . Lack of awareness. Encouraging farmers towards scientific methods like drip irrigation, crop rotation etc. by creating awareness and providing incentives and faster approvals to adopt those procedures Spreading agricultural innovations like precision farming Spreading awareness regarding government policies Making costly scientific equipments available on a subsidised rental basis Creating awareness among small farmers regarding the documentation of title deeds to avoid illegal encroachments. 4. CHANGE IN FINANCIAL AIDING SYSTEM In the year of 2008. the Indian government has announced a crop loan waiver of 60,000 crores In other 2 years the loan waiver bill rose to 72,000 crores yet there is no substantial decrease in losses The financial aid should be in the form of subsidies and incentives and not direct cash Providing crop insurance which assures the farmer of minimum returns in case of crop failure The fund allocation and aiding should not be generalised and be decentralised to match up with the local factors Encouraging private investment and making farmers stake holders in the partnership and the government being a regulatory authority which reduces the burden on government exchequer 5. SUGGESTIONS MODIFYING GOVERNMENT SCHEMES Rural employment generation schemes Such schemes have become a bane to the Agriculture sector People involved as agricultural labourers are now tending towards other works Local Bodies should coordinate with farmers who require human force Allocate agriculture work to the people employed for the scheme Of the total wage fixed, part of it is given by the farmer who employed the work force and the rest by the government This provides work force to the farmer at reasonable cost , it reduces the financial burden on the government without affecting the minimum fixed wage of the people enrolled Its a win-win-win situation for farmers, government and employees. Policy Implementation Quicker clearances and approvals for new technology implementation Faster and fair refund of the subsidy amount Eg- Drip Irrigation. Traditional techniques with modern Scientific Methods Building of traditional Khuls modern Drip irrigation. Using a mixture traditional water holding manure such as cock feather with salt in combination with high yield NPK fertilizer. Land Rezoning Highly productive land should be excluded from rezoning completely and should be strictly reserved for agriculture only except for basic infrastructure projects like roads, railways etc The land deemed to be unfit for agriculture should be used for industrial activities. 6. CHALLENGES Equitable distribution of funds Heavy investment into services and sidelining the agriculture sector by both government and private parties Bringing the private parties into agriculture as part of corporate social responsibility Social Stigma Belief of unprofitability Feeling of lack of dignity towards agriculture by urban and educated class Urban dreams The ultra modern facilities available in urban areas are driving youth to cities Providing such facilities in rural areas and keeping the youth to villages is a challenge Preference of Engineering and other Sciences over Agriculture among youth. Infrastructure and Transportation Recent Supreme court comment on the rotting of wheat due to lack of storage facility is an example of lack of proper storage facilities Transportation to different areas of requirement is a challenge. 7. Impacts Projected agriculture growth rate greater than 4% Improved working and living conditions of farmers Effective investments Better Land and Water utilisation Impact of improvised agriculture on the Indian economy Stabilising the economy Bringing Parity to demand and supply problem Utilising the foreign demand and exporting the agriculture produce which results in decreasing of the Current Account Deficit. 8. Appendix Colour Coding Problems-Red Solution-Green Challenges-Blue Impact-Red and Voilet 9. References www.dst.gov.in Water harvesting methods-www.water harvesting.org www.savills.co.uk Worldbank.org Reuters- Article by Raghuram rajan Sustainable development in india-abstract by ashok sengupta