After more than 600 years of colonial rule, India received its independence from the British Empire on August 15, 1947. A large section of the population, about three-fourths, was dependent on agriculture for employment and for the food and fibre consumed by farming families and landlords. Agriculture in India was based mainly on feudal land relations where a majority of the population lived in rural areas, contended with low productivity, and had the only primitive technology.
The new democratic government had a huge task when attempting to integrate the country and provide sufficient employment as well as food and fibre to the hungry population. The government of India designed five-year plans to tackle massive problems related to all sectors of the economy. The book Agricultural and Rural Development in India Since 1947 traces developments in Indian agriculture and the transformation of rural India since its independence.
The role of agriculture in the Indian economy. It provides a brief glimpse of pre-independence agrarian systems and a self-sufficient rural-based economy. The author provides information on cropping patterns, reasons for small holdings, farm size and productivity, and the distribution and use of land. Finally, the chapter provides information on policies enacted to develop wasteland, enactment of drought and desert area programs, and integrated wasteland development programs.
In all these cases, the author describes the problems related to Indian agriculture and the programs designed by policymakers to tackle the problem. The development of the five-year plans in agriculture, starting from the first five-year plan enacted in 1951 through to the tenth five-year plan enacted in 2002. In each of these plans, the author highlights: (1) the achievement of the previous five-year plan, (2) current problems faced by Indian farmers, and (3) strategies and initiatives designed by policymakers to alleviate projected problems in subsequent five-year plans.
Land reforms, such as the abolition of intermediaries such as the Zamindari system, where landlords facilitated rent collection for the British empire; tenancy reform; enactment of land ceiling laws; and consolidation of holdings, which was the driving force in increasing farm size. The chapter also provides special laws enacted in various five-year plans that were instrumental in land reform, especially the eighth through eleventh five-year plans. In chapters 4 and 5, the author discusses the problems and policies enacted in the agricultural input sector—seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, farm machinery, and farm labour.
What is unique about this book is that in each of the chapters, the author presents the role of information technology in Indian agriculture. For example, the author discusses the implementation and use of computerized land record systems. Credit constraint is rampant in developing economies and particularly in India. The need for credit and the role of cooperatives in providing credit to rural residents and farmers. The case for rural cooperatives is nicely presented in the text. The author also discusses the role of micro-finance in Indian agriculture. In the wake of suicides by farmers, the government of India enacted the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme in 2008, which enabled small and marginal farmers to restructure their loans and receive government subsidies.
The Green Revolution and how it led to food security. But the author outlines several problems associated with the Green Revolution as well, such as regional income inequalities, social costs, and neutrality to scale. Chapter 8 provides information on the nature and significance of agricultural markets. The author outlines the measures needed to improve agricultural marketing. In the absence of private markets—such as contracting, futures, and options—it seems that policymakers have introduced strategic marketing programs in the eleventh five-year plan. Of particular importance are minimum support price, MSP; market intervention schemes, MISs; and the creation of the Public Distribution System, the PDS.
The author lays out the objective and salient features of the newly established “Rural Godown Scheme” that was created to help small farmers. Finally, as with other chapters, the author brings in the connection of information technology and agriculture, and agricultural marketing in particular. In 2000, the government of India and the ministry of agriculture introduced the Agricultural Marketing Information Network (AGMARKNET). The AGMARKNET was introduced to connect important agricultural produce markets in India with state agricultural marketing boards and directorates.
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