Question

Suggest the initiative taken by the government to ensure the increase in agricultural production.

Answer 1

• As the Agriculture sector provided livelihood for more than 60 per cent of India’s population, there was a need for serious institutional and technical reforms.
• Thus after independence, priority was given to bring about institutional reforms in the country through various measures such as abolition of zamindari, consolidation of holdings, cooperation, collectivisation, etc.
• The main focus of our First Five Year Plan was ‘Land Reforms.’
• Consolidation of holdings was necessary as there was fragmentation of land holdings which was caused by the right of inheritance.
• Providing loan facilities to the farmers at lower rates of interest, banks, cooperative societies, and Grameen banks were established.
• Provisions were made to provide crop insurance against diseases affecting the crops, fires, cyclones, floods, droughts.
• The Government of India introduced different schemes for the benefit of the farmers: Personal Accident Insurance Scheme (PAIS), Kissan Credit Card (KCC).
• On the television and radio, special agricultural programmes and weather bulletins were introduced for the benefit of farmers.
• The White Revolution (Operation Flood), the Green Revolution based on the use of package technology and were some of the strategies initiated to improve the lot of Indian agriculture.
• However, development was concentrated in a few selected areas, despite Government of India efforts to introduce reforms in the agriculture sector, in the 1960s and 1970s.
• Therefore, in the 1980s and 1990s, including both technical and institutional reforms, there was initiation of a comprehensive programme for land development.
• To check the exploitation of farmers by middlemen, and speculators, the government even announced the procurement prices, remunerative, minimum support price for important crops.
• The Government of India made many efforts to modernise agriculture, considering the importance of agriculture.
• Government of India established agricultural universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was established, focused on development of horticulture, animal breeding centres, veterinary services.
• For improving Indian agriculture, priority was given to research and development in the field of weather forecast and meteorology.
• Lot of importance was also given to improve rural infrastructure like providing power, irrigation facilities, rural roads, markets and mechanisation of agriculture.