Changes in Indian Agriculture after Independence: An Essay

After over 600 years of colonial rule, India got its freedom from the British domain on August 15, 1947. An enormous section of the populace, around three-fourths, was subject to agriculture for work and for the nourishment and fiber, devoured by cultivating families and proprietors. Agriculture in India was based chiefly on feudal land system where a greater part of the populace lived in rural areas, battled with low efficiency, and had just crude innovation. The new popularity-based government had a colossal errand when endeavoring to incorporate the nation and give adequate work just as nourishment and fiber to the ravenous populace. The legislature of India structured five-year intends to handle enormous issues identified with all segments of the economy.

The history of agriculture in India dates back to Indus Valley Civilization and even before that in certain parts of South India. India ranks second worldwide in farming sector yields. According to 2018, agribusiness utilized half of the Indian work power and contributed 17–18% to nation's GDP. In 2016, agriculture and partnered divisions like animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries accounted for 15.4% of the GDP with about 31% of the workforce in 2014. India positions first on the planet with most noteworthy net cropped territory followed by US and China. The financial commitment of agriculture to India's GDP is consistently declining with the nation's wide based monetary development. In any case, farming is demographically the broadest monetary area and assumes a huge job in the social and economic fabric of India. India traded $38 billion worth of agrarian items in 2013, making it the seventh biggest agricultural exporter worldwide and the 6th biggest net exporter. The greater part of its farming fares serves developing and least developed countries. Indian agriculture/horticulture and processed foods are sent out to in excess of 120 nations, principally to the Japan, Southeast Asia, SAARC countries, European Union and the United States.

Regardless of the staggering business sector size, agrarian segment keeps on slacking in different segments. One of the significant parts is that the yields per hectare of harvests in India are commonly low contrasted with worldwide benchmarks. Most of the agricultural land in India is monsoon dependent. In the event that there is a decent monsoon, the whole farming division is upbeat. Be that as it may, if the monsoon comes up short, entire agricultural sector is influenced by a decline in the productivity and profits. Specialists in the field of agribusiness have called attention to that ill-advised administration of water is the essential purpose behind this fall in efficiency. Irrigation which consumes more than 80 percent of the absolute water use in the nation isn't appropriately updated. Over utilization of water and unplanned water management methods has ruined the irrigation system in numerous parts of the nation, if precise water management procedures are followed, the nation can improve agrarian yield significantly.

One of the essential explanations behind fall in agricultural productivity is the absence of actualizing advanced farming innovations. Additionally, poor farming networks in the nation, do not have the comprehension of present-day agriculture techniques to improve profitability. For instance, excessive use of fertilizer just does not make the plants reliant on fertilizers but additionally disintegrates the regular nature of the land, making ground water table toxic in many cases, it also contaminates the close by water bodies, when there is substantial downpour or flooding. Planting crops that need more water, like rice, on the basis of irrigation facilities is spreading in areas where there is not enough water. The issue is that the water insufficient zone devours more water than required. In addition, excessive evaporation causes common salt to accumulate and accumulate in fields, causing the land to rapidly lose its fertility.

Alongside these issues, most of the farmers, need legitimate marketing channels and mediums to sell their produce. Such issues make them exploited people in the hands of middlemen who diminish their incomes. An insufficient storage facilities and inappropriate marketing channels, drives wastage and results in poor agrarian exports because of issues in keeping up quality in many cases. It ought to be noticed that farm produce wastage is running into a large number of crores of rupees consistently. In 2012, the National Crime Records Bureau of India revealed 13,754 farmers suicides. Farmer suicides represent 11.2% of all suicides in India. Activists and researchers have offered various clashing purposes behind farmer suicides, for example, monsoon disappointment, high debt burdens, genetically modified crops, weak government policies, public mental health, personal issues and family issues.

The necessary degree of venture for the advancement of advertising, stockpiling and cold stockpiling infrastructure is evaluated to be colossal. The administration has not had the option to actualize schemes to bring investment up in promoting framework effectively. Among these schemes are 'Construction of Rural Godowns', 'Market Research and Information Network', and 'Development/Strengthening of Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure, Grading and Standardization'.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), established in 1929, was answerable for the pursuit prompting the 'Indian Green Revolution' of the 1970s. The ICAR is the apex body in agriculture and related allied fields, including research and education. The Union Minister of Agriculture is the president of the ICAR. The Green Revolution in India refers to a period when Indian agriculture was changed over into an industrial system because of the adoption of modern-day techniques and innovation, for example, the utilization of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, tractors, irrigation facilities, pesticides, and fertilizers. It was for the most part found by M.S. Swami Nathan. This was a piece of the larger Green Revolution endeavor started by Norman Borlaug, which utilized agrarian research and innovation to increment agricultural profitability in the developing world. The Green Revolution within India commenced in 1958 that prompted an expansion in food grain generation, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Significant achievements in this endeavor were the advancement of high-yielding variety of wheat, and rust resistant strains of wheat. The White Revolution and the Blue Revolution likewise assumed a significant job in expanding the farming yield of India while supporting and accompanying development accomplished by the Green Revolution.

Mechanization can possibly change numerous agricultural yield difficulties as it will prompt higher productivity and financial commitment. However, it has been out of reach to farmers for long to a great extent because of financial reasons. With little land possession and steady fragmentation, small and marginalized farmers discover it practically difficult to claim a tractor. To make agribusiness monetarily suitable ICAR began numerous activities. ICAR is moving in the direction of developing need-based and region-specific engineering technologies and is locked in, in planning, co-ordination and observing of R&D programs in a national and worldwide level. It has created many improved apparatuses such as laser and leveler, self-propelled sprayers, precision seeders and planters, harvesters for cereals and sugarcane etc. It has introduced gender cordial tools for decrease in the drudgery for women farm workers. The ‘Lab to Land’ program as of late set up of modern mechanized farm units.

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Around 600 million individuals are reliant on agriculture, with about 98% of Indian farmers being on low pay or asset poor and for the most part occupied with subsistence cultivating, under such conditions farm subsidies in form of financial support to farmers are an indispensable piece of the government budget. Subsidies assume an essential job in a welfare state, yet a totally free supply of consumer goods and inputs prompts extensive wastage, and abuse as pilferage in the supply channels, as food and different subsidies in India experience the ill effects of an inefficient distributive system, and not over 42% of subsidized food arrives at the focused-on recipients. Farm subsidies in India can be sorted under 2 heads: direct farm subsidy and indirect farm subsidy.

Direct farm subsidy is directly provided to the farmers, generally paid as immediate money appropriation. In this way, direct-subsidies assume indispensable job in expanding the purchasing capacity of farmers and raising the standard of living of country rural area. Direct farm subsidy is extremely normal in a large portion of the developed nations like the US and Europe, yet India gives direct subsidies in an exceptionally constrained structure like food subsidy, MSP-based procurement and so forth.

Indirect farm subsidies are not in type of money however given as irrigation subsidy, power subsidy, fertilizer subsidy, seed subsidy, credit subsidy, farm advance waivers, investments in agrarian research, environmental help and farmer training, and so forth. India burns through roughly 2% of the GDP in indirect subsidies. Power is required to draw the groundwater subsequently the government gives a subsidy which is equivalent to the contrast between the value paid by the farmer for the use of power and the genuine expense of creating the power.

For sustained agricultural development and to promote balanced nutrients application, it is imperative that fertilizer is made accessible to farmers at moderate costs (subsidy is given to the business) and with this objective, urea being the main controlled fertilizer, is sold at statutory advised uniform sale cost, and decontrolled phosphate and potassic fertilizes are sold at indicative maximum retail prices (MRPs). In FY 2018-19, subsidy on fertilizers has been increased to about Rs 70,000 crore (about Rs 45,000 crore for urea) from Rs 65,000 crore in 2017-18.

Accessibility of credit is a significant issue for poor farmers as they are destitute and can't move toward the credit advertise on the grounds that they do not have the security required for loans and in this manner to carry out production exercises they approach the nearby cash moneylenders, which prompts their abuse. Credit subsidy is the distinction between interest charged from the farmers and genuine expense of giving credit, some model incorporate government giving interest subsidies on momentary harvest loans, cost on discounting terrible loans and so on. The government has expanded the focus of agriculture credit for FY 2019 to Rs 11 lakh crore, but 30-40% of provincial credit is leaking out of the system as farmers get loans at 3-4% interest and then make fixed deposits in full. Transportation facilities, storage facilities, power, information about the market, and so forth are significant for production and sale operations, singular endeavors to build such essential foundation are not suitable because of long incubation time of framework ventures, subsequently cost of such public good is dealt with by the government.

The current government has taken significant initiatives and detailed different approaches to enable the farmers to build up their agricultural productivity keeping the sustainable development cause in the mind. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, National Agriculture Market, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana, Pradhan Manthri Fasal Bima Yojana are some significant schemes by the Government of India. With specific schemes the government is additionally making farmers mindful of the advantages of miniaturized scale irrigation such as the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (2006), National Mission on Micro-Water System (2010), National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (2014) and the ongoing Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana. The most recent scheme PMKSY Per Drop More Crop is a significant micro-irrigation scheme that focuses on the district level implementation of the plan making locale officers straightforwardly responsible. This plan has been continually advanced on all types of media and is additionally being educated at different Kisan Melas. It turns into even more significant to use micro-irrigation and save water in all circles of life when 54% of India faces high water stress. The administration has thought of a Rs. 6,000-crore World Bank-aided Atal Bhujal Yojana with community participation to guarantee sustained groundwater management in overexploited and ground water-stressed territories in several States. This shows the means of the current government to keep sustainability in their brain while defining plans and strategies.

India has defined objective of accomplishing a yearning objective of multiplying farmers salary by 2022. It also plans to increase the typical salary of a farmer's family from current costs to 219,724 rupees ($3,420) by 2022-23 from Rs. 96,703 ($1,505) in 2015-16.

With expanded investments in farming infrastructure, for example, irrigation facilities, warehousing and cold storage the agriculture sector in India is required to produce better yield and development in the following years. Agribusiness specialists say that India is expected to be self-sufficient in agribusiness in the coming decades. This is fundamentally because of extraordinary hard work of researchers to get early-maturing varieties of pulses upheld by the expansion in minimum support price.