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Mention four features of Indian agriculture on the eve of Independence
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Dear student,
Four features of Indian agriculture on the eve of Independence-
1. Stagnancy- One cannot deny the fact that despite employing a large section of population, agriculture as an occupation remained stagnant. The farmers mainly cultivated for self consumption and hardly anything was left as market surplus. Thus, the Indian farmers were mainly producing rice, wheat, which satisfied their self consumption needs. The main factor responsible for this was Zamindari System. The zamindars(landlords) collected huge revenue from the peasants and cultivators but never did anything to improve the productivity of land. In other words, there was large scale exploitation of poor peasants at the hands of zamindars. Moreover, despite low productivity, the farmers stuck to agriculture as an occupation due to lack of alternative means of occupation.
2. Heavy dependence on monsoon- Production in the agricultural sector was subject to vagaries of monsoon. The production was deprived of irrigational facilities like wells and canals. Thus, a good monsoon implied good agricultural production while a bad monsoon implied poor production. As a result, the production and productivity suffered. Lack of facilities such as flood control, drainage, etc made agriculture more vulnerable.
3. Gap between owners of a land and the cultivators of a land- During the colonial rule, the gap between the owners or zamindars and the cultivators of land was massive. The agriculture system was such that while zamindars never participated in the actual production process they could extract a large share of output from the actual cultivators or farmers. The poor peasants were forced to pay a huge revenue or lagan to zamindars in form of money as well as food grains. They never did anything to improve the condition of the production and productivity. The high revenue reduced their value to landless labours. The main aim of zamindars was to maximise their own gains while they never contributed to the output. This implied that while the peasants and cultivators remained impoverished and in a state of absolute poverty, the owners prospered. Even during the British era, peasants were forced to grow the cash crops in order to feed the British industries. This not only increased the burden of high revenues on the poor peasants but also made India vulnerable to face famines due to shortage of food grains.
4. No organised market structure- The agriculture sector suffered from the lack of organised markets. The farmers produced mainly for self consumption and whatever surplus was there, it was sold through the channel of middlemen. This resulted in exploitation of peasants and cultivators. Middlemen used to purchase the crop in low price and sell it on a very high rate. The peasants never got the actual price for their crops.
The above mentioned characteristics point towards the meagre growth, stagnation and backwardness of Indian agriculture.
Regards
Four features of Indian agriculture on the eve of Independence-
1. Stagnancy- One cannot deny the fact that despite employing a large section of population, agriculture as an occupation remained stagnant. The farmers mainly cultivated for self consumption and hardly anything was left as market surplus. Thus, the Indian farmers were mainly producing rice, wheat, which satisfied their self consumption needs. The main factor responsible for this was Zamindari System. The zamindars(landlords) collected huge revenue from the peasants and cultivators but never did anything to improve the productivity of land. In other words, there was large scale exploitation of poor peasants at the hands of zamindars. Moreover, despite low productivity, the farmers stuck to agriculture as an occupation due to lack of alternative means of occupation.
2. Heavy dependence on monsoon- Production in the agricultural sector was subject to vagaries of monsoon. The production was deprived of irrigational facilities like wells and canals. Thus, a good monsoon implied good agricultural production while a bad monsoon implied poor production. As a result, the production and productivity suffered. Lack of facilities such as flood control, drainage, etc made agriculture more vulnerable.
3. Gap between owners of a land and the cultivators of a land- During the colonial rule, the gap between the owners or zamindars and the cultivators of land was massive. The agriculture system was such that while zamindars never participated in the actual production process they could extract a large share of output from the actual cultivators or farmers. The poor peasants were forced to pay a huge revenue or lagan to zamindars in form of money as well as food grains. They never did anything to improve the condition of the production and productivity. The high revenue reduced their value to landless labours. The main aim of zamindars was to maximise their own gains while they never contributed to the output. This implied that while the peasants and cultivators remained impoverished and in a state of absolute poverty, the owners prospered. Even during the British era, peasants were forced to grow the cash crops in order to feed the British industries. This not only increased the burden of high revenues on the poor peasants but also made India vulnerable to face famines due to shortage of food grains.
4. No organised market structure- The agriculture sector suffered from the lack of organised markets. The farmers produced mainly for self consumption and whatever surplus was there, it was sold through the channel of middlemen. This resulted in exploitation of peasants and cultivators. Middlemen used to purchase the crop in low price and sell it on a very high rate. The peasants never got the actual price for their crops.
The above mentioned characteristics point towards the meagre growth, stagnation and backwardness of Indian agriculture.
Regards
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