India believed in self sufficiency. For that agriculture to be in the forefront is imperative. The green revolution of 60s helped India to maintain self sufficiency in agriculture. I agree with Rajeev that our policies are languishing & we have far more scope for improvement. Acknowledging it is a first step
Agriculture is still disorganized and the population explosion makes farm land smaller and smaller as their family splits. Removing the land dividers will free up more arable land. Capitalism and privatization as many point would diminish farmers, robbing the rich genetic diversity preserved by them and leading to large monoculture farm lands. We do not need large corporates with genetically engineered products eager to impose standards & techniques benefiting their bottom-line.
What we need is a Comprehensive policy on Seeds, fertilizers, Marketing, Patenting, Insurance, & reducing food decay. One should aim for a collective/co-operative society where a farmer has its own stake, for sustainable development of their community based on ages old Indian farming methodology. We would be better off using our strengths, our population rather than copying western models.
I entirely agree with Rajeev on the importance of agriculture to Indian economy! But the sad part is, with current prices, the economics of agriculture is too much against the farmers, forcing heavy debt burden on them, even forcing them to commit suicides!
Two reasons for this: Heavy subsidies by the governments in developed countries! To put in perspective, the total aid granted by G8 countries in the recently touted summit to Africa, till 2010, amounts to less than 10% of the total agricultural subsidies given by these countries annually!!!
Second, the lack of land reforms and huge resistance for corporate sector to get into agriculture!! This leads to heavy diseconomies of scale and low productivity, adding to the problem of low prices!
I hope more people like Mr. MS Swaminathan and Dr. Cherian take active interest in developing agriculture as a profession to end our farmers' woes!
RS has a regular problem with Nehruvian economics and in more than one article he had spouted spurious figures to proclaim his point. Other than the second 5 year plan when the emphasis was not primarily on agriculture unlike all other plans which had maximum focus on agriculture. In fact because of the
Nehruvian theory of getting the basics right and a platform in place we had to open our economy much later at the right time under the stewardship of the present Prime Minister who was then the Finance Minister. How do you reckon that we turned into a self sufficient food producer and exporter too of food grains if were not for Nehru's focus on the rural India? It also becomes fashionable to spout standard lines like subsidies to farmers etc. I do not think there is a situation yet where these subsidies have been withdrawn so what exactly is new that you are talking about?
If you now have a change of perception and believe that the Nehruvian concept of supporting agriculture all along at the cost of delaying the launch of India as a global power and the fact that the base set then has been good for the country then it is Nirvana to you.
Indian Govt(AP for eg)also promises (impossible)subsidies to its farmers! BTW i think India lacks the lobbying power in WTO to counter the unfair farm subsidies of EU and US.There is already a hue and cry about the reform in Sugar production.As u say India needs to invest a lot in the Food Processing.Infact,India needs more graduated in the area of Agricultural Sciences ,Food Processing...etc.We also must learn to properly market our IDLIS and DOSAS like the whoppers and burger.
I liked your article very much, infact i had thougts about this subject few weeks back, i would like to read more articles relating to agricultre development,the article should show ways and means to implement agricultre as a profit Venture.
I would also like to read articles regarding benefits and implementating of equal distribution of water resources to the entire nation so that basic resources for agricultre is met.
A Human being just cannot ignore the basic requirement of food, and water for survival.
Mr Srinivasan's article is a gentle reminder of the obvious: We need to eat to live. But I dont think the Indian government has neglected the sector as much it seems in the article. Out of necessity to feed a hungry billion or through foresight we embarked on the green revolution. True there had been mistakes . But overall agriculture still drives the nation's economy. Even stockbrokers, the most capitalist of them all know about the effect of failing monsoons.
Nevertheless I welcome the article as a spur to invest more judiciously and more importantly, more creatively in the sector. Creativity is important.E-choupal started as a great idea in this respect.Dunno how far it was successful but the greatest misery the indian farmer faces is market uncertainty-manifested in middlemen cartels and information assymetry which exists due to lack of means of communication. We need more future contracts and insurance schemes to minimise an mitigate the financial risks faced by our agriculturists and for all this we need to encourage the private sector to come forth. Otherwise this all this talk will at most produce another dysfunctional scheme from the govt. feeding corrupt officials only
Rajeev, I totally agree with you, albeit in a tangential way. Agriculture has been a backbone of the Indian Economy across centuries. Great empires of the past were prosperous and supported huge armies (Mauryas, Gupta, Ashoka, Akbar etc) through Land Revenue. We have read in numerous history books that \"Land Revenue was the primary source of taxation. The rate of taxation was 25% of the total produce of the land\". Today, the agriculture sector enjoys zero taxation and \'Free water and electricity\' (Though these are available for hardly a few minutes a day is a different matter). I believe that as long as the agriculture sector keeps ducking from taxation and other payables, it will continue to be treated badly by the planners and economists of the country. Just like in everything else, the agricultural sector will have to contribute to the revenue of the land to be counted. I believe once this basic aspect begins, no one will dare to deny the pund of flesh in terms of infrastructure and visibility to this sector also just like the other sunrise sectors of the economy. I feel that that even if the agricultural produce is taxed at 10-15%, it would be HUGE boost to the economy too.
RE:Case for agriculture sector to be taxed.
by prakash chandra on Sep 27, 2005 02:37 PM Permalink
sir, i m a student of m.sc(agri eco.)N.D.R.I.,KARNAL. in my view how we can conclude that agi sector be taxed progressively particularly in developing countries like india.if a farmer is gainig prosperity with agriclture, automatically he will make his further investment in agriculture only by adopting newly launched tecnelogies thus reduing on the part of govt. it's a good debatable topic, i want some more infomation on this, please send.
I remember attending one of the lectures arranged by Hyderabad Management association (may be five -six years ago) and the Lecturer was Montek Singh Aluwalia the Finance secretary ....believe me he gave a 2 hour lecture on Indian economy ......but not even a single word on Agriculture ....when it was pointed to him..... how can he ignore Indian agricuture sector which is 70% of Indian Economy...no concrete anwer from him........
so you can Imagine what the so called high educated economists or all those who are at the helm of planning and Shaping Indain EConomy......just forget to tell their own people what they planning for Agriculture Sector. this article didn't surprise me....
I remerber I and my husband left Fuming from that lecture!
