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.
