essay on indian agriculture in post independence era

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History of Agriculture in India (1950-1990): Policies in Post-Independence Era

Policies and Transformations in Post-Independent India

History of Agriculture in India: Post-independent India was facing agricultural backwardness due to exploitative colonial policies. To counter many ill effects of colonial rule, policymakers implemented various policies like land reforms, promotion of the use of High Yield Variety (HYV) seeds etc. 

Land Reforms and the Pursuit of Equity in Post-Independence Agriculture

• They were merely rent collectors and did not invest in land which led to problems like low productivity in agriculture, deterioration of livelihoods of farmers etc. 
• To solve this problem, equity in agriculture was implemented through Land reforms. 
• Tillers were made the owners of the land.
• Ownership of land would incentivise tillers to invest in making improvements if sufficient capital was made available to them
• The purpose of the land ceiling was to reduce the concentration of land in a few hands.  

Land Reforms and Agricultural Growth in the History of Agriculture in India

• Growth in Agriculture:  Some 200 lakh tenants came into direct contact with the government which led to growth in agriculture 
• Land Reform Initiatives: Unlike other states, Kerala and West Bengal, where governments were committed to the policy of land to the tiller, could successfully implement land reforms.This transformative chapter in the history of agriculture in India reflects the positive outcomes of strategic policy interventions aimed at fostering equity and sustainable growth.

Failures of Land Reforms: Pitfalls and Legal Challenges History of  Agriculture in India

• Legal Loopholes: In some areas, zamindars used legal loopholes to continue to own large areas of land. 
• Eviction of Tenants: In some areas, tenants were evicted, but landowners claimed the ownership of land. 
• Big landlords delayed the implementation of land ceiling laws by challenging it in courts and used this delay to register their lands in the name of close relatives, thereby escaping from the legislation.

Green Revolution for Agricultural Transformation in India

• However, the productivity of agriculture was very low due to the use of outdated machinery and over-dependence on unpredictable monsoons.
• This stagnation was broken by the green revolution which aimed at increasing the production of food grains by the use of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, especially for wheat and rice.
• So farmers who could benefit from HYV seeds required reliable irrigation facilities as well as the financial resources to purchase fertiliser and pesticide. 
• In initial stages (the mid-1960s to mid-1970s), the use of HYV seeds was restricted to more affluent states like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and it benefitted the wheat-growing regions only.
• During the second phase (mid-1970s to mid-1980s ), it spread to more states and benefitted more variety of crops.
• Self-sufficiency: Thus, the Green Revolution enabled self-sufficiency in food grains in India.

Exploring Additional Gains from the Green Revolution in the History of Agriculture in India

• Market Engagement of Farmers: A good proportion of the rice and wheat produced during the Green Revolution period ( marketed surplus ) was sold by the farmers in the market. 
• Decline in Food Grain Prices: This led to a decline in food grain prices relative to other items of consumption . 
• Buffer Stock: Furthermore, the Green Revolution played a pivotal role in establishing buffer stocks, enabling the government to accumulate sufficient food grains for use during periods of food shortage in the history of agriculture in India.

Concerns raised during the Green Revolution in the History of Agriculture in India

• HYV crops were also more prone to attack by pests.
• However, in the history of agriculture in India, the government took steps like low-interest rate loans, and subsidized fertilizers helped small farmers to tackle these issues. 

The Debate Over Subsidies in the History of Agriculture in India

• Generally, subsidies are needed to encourage the use of new technology, because the use of any new technology will be looked upon as being risky by farmers.
• One perspective on subsidies is that once the technology is found profitable, subsidies must be phased out because of its burden on government finances.  
• Another perspective contends that since most farmers in the history of agriculture in India are economically disadvantaged, subsidies are crucial to assist them in acquiring the necessary inputs

Revealing the Paradoxes of the History of Agriculture in India (1950-1990)

• By the late 1960s, we achieved self-sufficiency in food grains, but around 65% of the population heavily depended on the agriculture sector till the 1990s. 
• Economists have highlighted that as a nation becomes prosperous , the contribution of agriculture to GDP and the population working in this sector reduces considerably.  
• However, in India, during the 1950s – 1990s, the proportion of GDP contributed by agriculture declined significantly but not the population. 
• This disparity was because the industrial sector and the service sector did not absorb the people working in the agricultural sector, which was a major policy failure during the History of Agriculture in India (1950-1990).

UPDATED :     

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Trend and performance of Indian agriculture in post-independence era: an analysis of determinants

2019, Indian Journal of Economics and Development

Objective: India was a heavily agriculture-dominant economy during the period of independence and experienced a long path of developmental processes till now. A number of factors of production lend a hand to escalate the situation of the sector since then. Therefore, this study focuses on the growth trend of agricultural production since independence and elaborates the effects of some of the important determinants implicit to the growth of the sector. Methods: The present study is based on secondary data to showcase the trend and pattern of some important determinants of Indian agriculture during the time span 1950-2013. The study takes into account six major tradable crops. To delineate the trend distinctively formula for percentage change is calculated from original data compiled from sources like Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture etc. and rendered by charts and line diagrams. Findings: In our present study, data show that since independence, production and yield per hectare of selected crops have been increasing at a decreasing rate. The agricultural growth rate is not satisfactory as it was at the time of independence. Factors affecting agricultural growth are analysed over the decades and found that till mid-sixties area expansion was the major driver of growth but after then productivity began to be the major driver of growth accompanied by better irrigation systems, fertiliser usage, credit facilities etc. Application: It is found that area expansion and irrigation are highly correlated with yield per hectare.

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The output of major crops grew by over 3½ % pa before the Green Revolution, and 3% pa after 1981. The cropping pattern did not contribute to this deceleration. However, changes in the cropping pattern in favour of high yielding crops seem to have contributed 1/5th of the trend growth of major crops. The remaining 80% of the trend in output may be attributed to changes in area and adjusted yield. Expansion in area sown under major crops accounted for 1/3rd of the annual trend of adjusted output before the green Revolution. After 1981, this fell to about 1/4th of the annual trend in adjusted output of major crops. Before the Green Revolution the trend in area was almost 1% pa, falling to 0.55% pa after 1981. Most of the deceleration in adjusted output (can be attributed to this slowdown in the growth of area under major crops. The yield of major crops, after freezing the cropping pattern, appears to trend at an average 1.9% pa. The green revolution has added nothing to this trend. The...

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Agriculture in India: The past, present, and future

Pani's bharat bhushan and deo datt singh trace the evolution of india's agriculture, and discuss its future in the context of climate change and water security..

Edited transcript of the episode: 00:54Sneha: Today I’m in conversation with Bharat Bhushan and Deo Datt Singh—two civil society leaders belonging to different generations—both of whom have witnessed India’s changing […]

Edited transcript of the episode:

00:54 Sneha: Today I’m in conversation with Bharat Bhushan and Deo Datt Singh—two civil society leaders belonging to different generations—both of whom have witnessed India’s changing agricultural landscape at different points in time.

Bharat Bhushan is the chief functionary and one of the founders of People’s Action for National Integration ( PANI ), a nonprofit working with marginalised communities in Uttar Pradesh. Bharatji has been actively involved in social change movements from a very young age and has vast experience in implementing integrated development programmes in rural India.

Deo Datt Singh is an agri-business expert. He is the director of operations at PANI, where he brings in several decades of experience in leading and managing development projects. Deoji’s areas of expertise include ecological farming, climate change, rural economic development, and agri-business development. Today, we’re going to be speaking about India’s ever-evolving relationship with agriculture. We know that agriculture plays a vital role in India’s development story, be it in terms of the livelihoods it supports, the food security that it ensures, or its contribution to trade and GDP.

In this episode, Bharatji and Deoji will dip into the past, tell us how we got to where we are today, and also discuss the future of farming—particularly in light of the current threats of climate change, water security, and a generation of young people who no longer aspire to be farmers.

02:39 Sneha: Bharatji, you’ve been deeply involved in rural development for several decades—be it through your participation in social movements or your work at PANI. You’ve also worked closely with farmers and advocated for their rights. And so we could say that you’ve witnessed how agriculture has evolved in our country. Could you tell us about the evolution of agriculture in India?

Bharat : Agriculture has a longstanding history [in India]. It has evolved over a span of 1,100 years. Our scriptures also mention it—we have always been a farmer-based or an agrarian country. However, most of our agriculture was monsoon-dependent during that time. Our production was contingent on the monsoon, without which we would have no harvest and would suffer calamities. This dependence resulted in a huge famine in Bengal in 1943 —I’m referring to the pre-Independence era. More than 10 lakh people were affected by the famine.

03:41 Sneha: So we’ve been an agrarian country for centuries. But prior to Independence, we weren’t producing enough to meet our needs. What changed post Independence?

Bharat : Realising the severity of the problem, the government that came into power immediately after Independence decided to prioritise and encourage agriculture first. In order to boost agriculture, they adopted the idea of a green revolution. It was worked upon intensively from the first Five-Year Plan itself, and it progressed slowly. In hindsight, we can infer that India was in a period of starvation till 1950. From 1950–70, we had a shortage of food grains. And we became food sufficient from 1970–2000. We experienced this shift because of the Green Revolution. 

We’ve been food secure post 2000. Today, our situation is such that we can export and distribute grains to others. Perhaps this is the reason we’re called an agriculture-based country; no other nation is called a primarily agricultural country, because this is our history. This has been the state of our agriculture in the pre- and post-Independence era. 

05:04 Sneha: Thank you, Bharatji, for tracing the evolution of agriculture in India. From a state of near starvation to now being a food-secure nation that exports grains to other countries, we’ve come a long way. And, of course, the policies that the government adopted post Independence have played an important role in this. The Green Revolution in particular was a turning point. And a lot has changed since it was introduced. Deoji, coming to you, since the Green Revolution was initiated in the ‘60s, how has agriculture changed?

Deo Datt : Agriculture has gone through a lot of changes in the past three to four decades. For instance, after the Green Revolution, our [food grain] production increased, making us food sufficient. But this had other consequences and problems as well. We were unable to conserve our environmental resources, especially land and water, in the race to improve our yield. The unrestrained use of chemicals and pesticides damaged our lands. If we look at the statistics with the awareness of the damage caused, they paint a very bleak picture. Our chemical usage per acre of land might be low compared to Japan and the US, but we still have chemical and pesticide residue, posing a substantial concern for us.

The progress of the past four decades compels us to appreciate ourselves, but at the same time, it asks us to re-evaluate our mistakes to avoid repeating them. 

Our country and our agriculture could have developed, but perhaps it couldn’t happen to that scale, which I must say is quite unfortunate.

07:10 Sneha : So while the Green Revolution successfully increased the output of our land, it also had other repercussions, and we’re still dealing with them. There is a study , for example, that explores how food grain production in India rose from 82 million tonnes in the late 1960s to 264 million tonnes in 2013–14. That’s a lot. But along with this switch to high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat during the Green Revolution, farmers were also encouraged to use chemicals fertilisers and pesticides to increase their yield. And the persistent use of chemicals over time has led to the degradation of our soil and water.

Agriculture has always played an important role; it is the sole catalyst that can bring a balance to our current population.

Shifting gears slightly, Bharatji, if we talk about the rural economy today, how would you describe the role of agriculture in India’s rural economy?

Bharat: Agriculture has always played an important role; it is the sole catalyst that can bring a balance to our current population. Animal husbandry, milk production, fish production, etc. are all connected to agriculture. There is a visible difference in the rural economy of states where these are worked upon together through an integrated approach. However, this attempt is being made at a very small scale. It has the potential to make a significant contribution to the economy if done in a planned manner by the government.

In rural India, our brothers and sisters who are farmers work together. But the value of their work, and I’m not referring to the monetary value… but the value in terms of the respect that they deserve from society is lacking. And this can be due to many reasons. But if their labour is given that respect, it will help them in creating their own identity and, as a result, enhance their self-respect. And from self-respect, they will be able to move towards self-reliance—to bridge the gap that exists. How this can be achieved in practice is a separate discussion. But if we’re able to do this—give the respect to agriculture that it deserves, then even today, no other industry can bring economic power to our country on the scale that agriculture can. If we weren’t an agricultural country, a country of villages, our situation would have been much worse during the corona period. It is because of agriculture that our government is able to distribute free grains today.

10:04 Sneha : Yes, Bharatji, as you said, during COVID-19, the country would have suffered far more than it did if weren’t for our farmers. And we need to recognise that contribution.

The other interesting thing you said was that the government needs to look at the rural economy as a whole. Now, what this means is that in addition to the focus on agricultural crops, it needs to look at other livelihoods such as animal husbandry, dairy farming, and fish production. An integrated approach to rural development that accounts for these livelihoods can significantly boost our rural economy.

Deoji, we’ve touched upon the role that the government can play. What do you think is the role of the private sector in relation to agriculture and the rural economy? 

Deo Datt: The private sector has a major role to play, and it has played it well till now; this cannot be dismissed. We don’t have authentic data but one source states that the number of government extension workers is so low in India that one extension worker has to assist 16,000 farmers. Farmers are able to learn about technologies and practices because of these extension workers. However, it isn’t possible for one worker to support 16,000 farmers. This is where private companies come in. They have reached remote places with their extension workers, and played a major role in the sale of their products—be it seed companies, fertiliser companies, pesticide companies. They have made a major contribution.

Currently, the government is promoting FPOs because they are innovating products. Private companies can play an important role in consolidating and arranging the buy-back of these products. They can help with storage and processing. Rough statistics state that approximately 26 percent of our horticulture products face post-harvest loss. If we can manage to save that 26 percent, our production will effectively be considered 26 percent more. The private sector can play a major role here.

12:35 Sneha: So the private sector has a significant role to play in taking new tools and technologies to farmers. It has also taken seeds, fertilisers, and pesticides to farmer groups.

Deoji, you also mentioned farmer producer organisations, or FPOs—these are groups of farmers that come together to leverage the advantages of collectivising. They pool their resources and therefore reduce their risks and increase incomes.

A major role the private sector can play in the future is in feeding the required research into the agriculture sector to help us tackle the climate change crisis.

What you’re saying is that the private sector can create markets for these farmer collectives and help them store and process agricultural products—something that small farmers typically don’t have the expertise and resources to do.

How else can the private sector help? Deo Datt : A major role the private sector can play in the future is in feeding the required research into the agriculture sector to help us tackle the climate change crisis. Many private companies innovate their own varieties, chemicals… They have a huge opportunity to invest in climate-change-resilient research. It can become a profitable business for them if they are able to market the research to their customer base.

I’m not saying that private companies should spend all their resources on the country. But they can utilise their resources to help develop agriculture, which can benefit them simultaneously. Such a situation can develop. 

15:04 Sneha: So, we’ve been speaking about a few different dimensions of agriculture in India. Is there anything you think our listeners will be surprised to learn when it comes to agriculture? Deoji, coming to you first.

Deo Datt: By 2050, we will have a population of 160 crore. Our current food grain production is 314 million tonnes. We have to grow by four times every year. Only then will we be able to fulfil our requirement of 400 million tonnes by 2050. I’m talking about just India.

15:40 Sneha: So, we have to increase our food grain production fourfold each year for the next three decades to fulfil our requirement of 400 million tonnes by 2050. 

Deo Datt: Also, the youth of our nation is making a great contribution. However, they don’t consider agriculture a viable career. So our audience will be surprised to learn that agriculture can in fact be remunerative for young people. Several agriculture-based start-ups have been launched in India and are making great progress. This is a huge opportunity for young people to find employment in agriculture and reform the sector. If you’ve noticed, the government intends to double the [farmer] income. They wish to reduce the use of fertilisers by 20 percent; water use by 25 percent; and methane emission by 45 percent. However, if the youth does not enter this field, then neither the government nor the ageing farmer population is capable of achieving these targets on their own. Young people’s contribution is imperative. I think people might be surprised to learn that agriculture can offer opportunities to the youth.

17:18 Sneha: So there’s a huge opportunity for the youth of our country to find employment in agriculture. And this in turn will help reform the sector, which is crucial if we are to meet these production goals by 2050.

Bharatji, what are your thoughts on this? What will our listeners be surprised to learn about agriculture in India?

Bharat: As I said previously, despite being an agricultural country, the majority of our population does not know what farming is, what it entails, how villages function, and the kind of people that reside in the village and how they live their life. This would be new information for people, which is sad in itself. The point is that they should already be equipped with this knowledge as most of our population resides in villages—despite the widespread urbanisation, 73 percent of our population lives in villages. So everyone needs to know about this 73 percent. The government needs to make efforts towards this, similar to the efforts made for other important issues. For 73 percent of this population, everything is connected to agriculture. If the government tries to make people understand, then they will learn about how important our land is, where we were born, and where we live. People are unaware because the younger generation has no connection with the villages. So when we meet young people, they ask us how villages work. This is shocking for us since we have many universities for agriculture education, but people are still unaware. So this needs to be focused on. I think if this is surprising for me then it’s possible that it will be surprising for others as well. 

19:07 Sneha: Yes, it’s surprising that even though we’re an agrarian country with a huge rural population, many of us, especially those who live in cities, don’t know very much about our rural economy.

Keeping all of this in mind, if we think about the future of agriculture through the lenses of food security, water security, and climate change, what needs to change or shift?

Deo Datt: Moving forward, Snehaji, we’ll have to change how we practise agriculture to combat the shifts being brought about by climate change. The government has made a lot of announcements—on organic farming, millet farming, including millets on our plate—all these steps are admirable and the need of the hour. However, we can’t rely on organic farming and use of millets alone to solve for climate change. We need consolidated policies, and we need to figure out their implementation to face this emerging challenge. Various stakeholders need to work together for implementation, be it research institutions, educational institutions, or extension institutions. Because it is important for the farmers and the young generation to possess knowledge of new research through the extension system. That is the first important thing—to make a chain [of knowledge sharing] in order to meet this challenge. Moving forward, we’ll have to focus on our soil health, conserve water, choose less water-intensive crops, and plan our farming as per water availability.

20:55 Sneha: So you’re saying that while organic farming and the focus on millets are important steps towards climate action, they aren’t enough. We need consolidated policies, and various stakeholders have to come together to solve the challenges that confront us.

We also need to think about the health of our soil and how we can conserve water in agricultural processes. Moving forward, farmers will need to choose crops that require less water.

Deo Datt : If I may add—this may sound philosophical—but we need to change our lifestyle. Unless we change our lifestyle… Sitting in North India, why do we want to consume broccoli in the summers? Why do we want to eat cauliflower? Why are we importing fruits from foreign countries? Why are we contributing to carbon emissions? We need to change our lifestyle. We need to turn to agriculture and make it a lifestyle again. Otherwise, if we keep thinking about agriculture as only a profitable venture, we will continue to make the same mistakes we made after the Green Revolution. We need to explore practising agriculture as a lifestyle once again. We can only have a sustainable future and keep our planet secure if we modify our lifestyle. Otherwise, we have a tough road ahead of us.

22:30 Sneha: So, Deoji, you’re saying that we should move beyond thinking about agriculture as a profitable venture or we’ll continue to make the same mistakes we made after the Green Revolution.

Bharatji, what do you think we should be doing moving forward?

Bharat:  If you think about it, land distribution is such a small part [of the discussion]. We have land, but it is not distributed equally. We saw the Bhoodan Movement and participated in it—based on the idea Vinobaji had that everyone should possess land. So one important element is how land ownership can become a reality for all. If we wish to change farming, then we need to include small farmers too, not just those who farm on a large scale. Change won’t be possible unless we include everyone.

23:25 Sneha: To give our listeners some context, Vinoba Bhave, a social reformer and freedom fighter, started the Bhoodan Movement in a village in Telangana in 1951. He went from village to village and convinced the landlords to voluntarily donate their land to farmers. He also convinced the government to turn it into a law and distribute land equally, or as per people’s requirement.

Bharat : So the Bhoodan Movement was huge in the country; I was 12 or 13 when I witnessed it myself. My mother and father were part of it. It was a significant programme—not just a programme, it was a movement. The Bhoodan land is available even today, which has been distributed to some, and not to others. So there is still an imbalance. The aim should be to strike a balance and distribute land to all. As Deoji mentioned, we’re focusing on millet and organic farming—even those won’t be accepted unless practised by everyone. Nothing will change if only a few incorporate these. There is a need to adopt an integrated approach. 

24:42 Sneha: This has been such an eye-opening conversation. Like you both have said, farming and agriculture in India have come a long way. But there is also an urgent need to reassess where and how we go from here, especially as we deal with the climate crisis.

Short-term thinking can have no place in our plans for agriculture in India. We need to invest in the health of our soil, conserve water and use it efficiently, keep farmers at the forefront of our agrarian policies, and build a future in which young people want to be part of India’s agricultural economy.

Thank you, Bharatji and Deoji, for a wonderful conversation.

• India: Issues and priorities for agriculture
• How agricultural evolution is giving rise to a new futuristic model of farming
• The future of Indian agriculture
• Climate change and Indian agriculture
• Organic farming in India: A vision toward a healthy nation
• Sustainable agriculture: Bringing Indian farmers on board
• Making agriculture viable for small and marginal farmers

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Trajectory of 75 years of Indian Agriculture after Independence

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Highlights the evolution of Indian agriculture over the past 75 years of independence

Offers a road map for the self-reliance for new India agriculture systems

Addresses the Indian Agri-system’s preparedness to meet sustainable development goals

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About this book

This edited book focus on highlighting the evolution of Indian agriculture over the past 75 years of independence, covering every sector,  viz . crop science, horticulture, management of biotic & abiotic stress, post-harvest quality management, livestock, fisheries, mechanization, marketing and human resource development. The book has 30 chapters from most experienced researchers and academicians who are actively engaged in research work on the subject area of the book.  The book is in line with the strategy for new India @ 75’ brought out by NITI Ayog. It highlights India’s success stories in innovation, technology, enterprise and efficient management together to achieve overall growth while making available food, required nutrition and others ecological services. It also asses the India’s preparedness in terms of commitment toward sustainable development goal SDG). The book is a relevant reading material for both students and researchers and policy makers.

• Indian Agriculture evolution
• Agricultural Growth
• Impact of green revolution
• Food security
• Innovations in various sector

Table of contents (30 chapters)

Front matter, transformation of indian agriculture, trends and trajectory of indian agriculture.

• Raka Saxena, Sonia Chauhan, Dilip K. Ghosh, Rohit Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Anup Das

Food Supply and Security

• Anugu Amarender Reddy, Suresh Babu, Parmod Kumar, Soora Naresh Kumar

Changing Structure of Rural Employment

• S. K. Srivastava, Jaspal Singh, Raka Saxena

Agricultural Technologies

• Anup Das, Saurav Saha, Jayanta Layek, Subhash Babu, R. Saxena, G. I. Ramkrushna

Indian Seed Sector

• D. Vijay, H. P. Vijayakumar, C. T. Manjunath Prasad, P. R. Choudhury

Food, Nutritional and Income Security: Role of Priority Crops and Allied Sectors

• Somnath Roy, N. P. Mandal, M. S. Anantha, B. C. Verma, Amrita Banerjee, C. Gireesh et al.
• S. K. Singh, Satish Kumar, P. L. Kashyap, R. Sendhil, O. P. Gupta

Maize and Millets

• Sujay Rakshit, Prabhakar, Pardeep Kumar
• K. K. Hazra, Partha Sarathi Basu

Oilseeds and Oil Palm

• R. K. Mathur, M. Sujatha, S. K. Bera, P. K. Rai, B. Kalayana Babu, K. Suresh et al.

Horticultural Crops

Livestock sector.

• S. K. Mahanta, Shilpi Kerketta

Fisheries and Aquaculture

• Lopamudra Sahoo, Bijay Kumar Behera, Debabrata Panda, Janmejay Parhi, Chandan Debnath, Sumanta K. Mallik et al.

Commercial Crops (Jute, Cotton and Sugarcane)

• Gouranga Kar, D. Blaise, T. K. Srivastava, Chandan Sourav Kar, P. Verma, A. R. Reddy et al.

Natural Resource Management to Attain Food and Environment Security

Soil and plant nutrition.

• T. J. Purakayastha, Debarati Bhaduri, Dhiraj Kumar, Rajendra Yadav, Ankita Trivedi

Gouranga Kar

Editors and Affiliations

P. K. Ghosh

Raka Saxena

Kaushik Banerjee

Central Research Institute on Jute & Allied Fibre, Barrackpore, India

About the editors, bibliographic information.

Book Title : Trajectory of 75 years of Indian Agriculture after Independence

Editors : P. K. Ghosh, Anup Das, Raka Saxena, Kaushik Banerjee, Gouranga Kar, D. Vijay

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7997-2

Publisher : Springer Singapore

eBook Packages : Biomedical and Life Sciences , Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023

Hardcover ISBN : 978-981-19-7996-5 Published: 29 August 2023

Softcover ISBN : 978-981-19-7999-6 Due: 12 September 2024

eBook ISBN : 978-981-19-7997-2 Published: 28 August 2023

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XV, 790

Number of Illustrations : 1 b/w illustrations

Topics : Agriculture , Agriculture , Agriculture , Agriculture

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The developments of indian agriculture after independence.

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Read this article to learn about the developments of Indian agriculture after independence!

When India became independent in 1947, the agricultural productivity was very low (about 50 million tonnes). The agriculture was mainly rained and was being done as a subsistence farming using mainly animate sources of farm power and traditional tools and equipment’s. More than 80% of the population living in rural areas was dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.

Image Courtesy : www1.chinaculture.org/library/images/images/attachement/jpg/site1/c103.jpg

The Royal Commission on Agriculture in its report in 1928 had laid stress on harnessing science to develop and spread new agricultural technologies for the irrigated, arid and semi-arid areas. However, the quantum of efforts generated in agricultural engineering research and education till 1947 was microscopic in relation to the magnitude and diversity of the problems awaiting solutions.

The manpower for agricultural engineering research in the ICAR system was inadequate, both, qualitatively and quantitatively for facing successfully the numerous problems of developing equipment and technologies for mechanization of agriculture for maximizing efficiency of costly inputs like seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, plant protection chemicals, and energy sources to increase higher production and productivity, reduction of drudgery; post-harvest technology and value addition, water, Plant Protection chemicals, and energy sources to increase higher production and productivity, reduction of drudgery; post-harvest technology and value addition, waste utilization, and generating income and employment in rural areas.

Research in agricultural engineering related to farm implements and machinery began at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Naini in 1921 with Prof. Mason Vaugh as the Research Engineer. During 1930 agricultural engineering research was started at the then Agricultural College and Research Institute, Coimbatore, with Mr. Charley, a Britisher, as the first research engineer.

Efforts were then concentrated mainly to develop labour saving manual and animal drawn implements. Later, with the starting of B.Sc. Agricultural Engineering Programme at Allahabad Agricultural Institute during 1942, establishment of Agricultural Engineering Division at TART in 1947, Agricultural Engineering Department at IIT, Kharagpur in 1954, and colleges of Agricultural Engineering and Technology at Pantnagar, Ludhiana, Jabalpur, Udaipur, Coimbatore. 1960s gave an impetus to agricultural engineering research programmes.

Besides these research-cum-academic institutions, a good amount of research opportunity was opened up in the soil and water engineering with the establishment of the 1st river valley project, the Damodar Valley Corporation in 1949, to tackle the problems of soil and water conservation in Bihar and West Bengal.

This was followed by the Government of India’s initiative in establishing soil conservation centres at different regions of the country from the First Five-Year plan. Subsequently all these centres were administratively combined together as a Central Soil and Water Conservation Research Institute at Dehra Dun under the ICAR in 1975, with 6 regional centres.

More recently, organizations other than the ICAR have shown interest in sponsoring research in different areas of agricultural engineering, either by giving financial support or as integral part of the activity of these organizations. Some of these organizations are Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources; Department of Electronics; Department of Science and Technology; Department of Agriculture and Co-operation; Tata Energy Research Institute and the Indian National Committee of Irrigation and Drainage etc.

The ICAR has however remained the most important organisation in the country supporting the research in all areas of agricultural engineering and technologies, primarily through the Division of Agricultural Engineering and in some aspects also through the Division of Natural Resource Management, Crop Science and Horticulture.

Early farm machinery development in India was greatly influenced by technological developments in England. The horse drawn equipment imported from England were suitably modified to suit Indian draught animals, and thus as a result, mould board ploughs, disc harrow and cultivators were introduced in India. In 1954 the ICAR for the first time sponsored a scheme to conduct state-wise survey of the existing tools and implements used by farmers.

Recommendations :

1. The work of improvement, development and standardization of indigenous implements should be carried out in co-ordinated manner with due regard to different soils, climatic conditions and cultural practices prevailing in various regions of the country.

2. Standardization of components of approved agricultural implements should be done to facilitate their manufacture on a mass scale, to be made available to interested farmers readily and cheaply.

3. Multi-purpose implements or tool bars with suitable attachments covering a variety of operations, similar to the bullock drawn tool carrier-cum-farm cart should be developed.

4. Research should be undertaken on animal yokes and methods of hitching with a view to improve their working efficiency.

5. Field tests of the implements developed should be conducted systematically and reported on a standard proforma.

Promising types of foreign implements should also be tried out under various soil and climatic conditions in different regions with a view to evolve successful designs.

During the sixties the ICAR made serious efforts to promote research and development improved farm implements by establishing 17 Research Training and Testing Centres (RTTCs) in each major states. These were operated by state Departments of Agriculture. During later part of sixties (Fourth Five-Year Plan) two zonal Research and Testing Centres, one at IARI New Delhi and other at TNAU, Coimbatore and 4 Research Centres at Ludhiana, Pune, Hyderabad and Mandi were established. Simultaneously during early sixties the Allahabad Agricultural Institute. Allahabad with the assistance of Ford Foundation established a centre called Development Centre for research on agricultural implements and machinery.

They also started another project on Evaluation of Power Tillers for Indian conditions. These projects yielded good results and many types of equipment were developed. During the same period, the Ford Foundation expert, in collaboration with a private manufacture in Hyderabad developed a 3 row Animal Drawn Seed-cum-Fertilizer called Swastik Drill.

This was the starting point for serious Research and Development work on seed drills and planters. During 1960 indigenous production of tractors started in India with a production of a few hundred tractors year which has now reached to a production level of more than, 2,00,000 tractors / year and India has emerged as number one tractor producing country in the world.

During sixties and seventies the indigenous production of power tillers, stationary engines, power threshers, plant protection equipment and other agricultural equipments were started and expanded to cope up with the increasing demand of improved agricultural machinery for crop production and processing.

This has resulted in establishment of a large number (about 20,000) of agricultural implements manufacturing industries in small, medium and large scale sectors. The present day investment in agricultural machinery has risen to approximately rupees 2, 50,000 million annually, which is about 10% of the total National GDP from the agricultural sector.

After independence when Five Year Development Plans were prepared in 1950, agriculture was given priority as a result of which agricultural research was also given priority. However, it was only during sixties, when a number of Agricultural Engineering Colleges were started in the country and trained manpower was made available, the research activities in the field of agricultural engineering picked up and got a boost during the last two and a half decades.

During this period, 3 ICAR Institutes namely Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE), Bhopal Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), Ludhiana and National Research Centre on Women in Agriculture with a unit at CIAE Bhopal (to work on reducing drudgery of Women in Agriculture) were established and 10 All India Coordinated Research Projects and number of AP Cess funded ad-hoc schemes were initiated in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering by the ICAR, as a result of which very good work have been done, both, in quality and quantity in development of equipment and technology.

Agricultural Engineering, as defined by international institutions, comprises 4 main branches, namely (i) farm implements and power, (ii) rural structures, (iii) soil conservation, drainage and irrigation, and (iv) rural electricity.

Because of the peculiar local conditions, the lack of development of electricity in a large scale, and immediate utility of implements, agricultural engineering in India has come to mean more of agricultural implements and machinery. But in fact, agricultural engineering is a very vast subject.

And may be defined as the application of the knowledge, techniques and disciplines of various fields of engineering to the solution of problems arising in the fields of agriculture and rural living, with the object of reducing labour, improving agricultural productivity per worker, and raising the standard of living of the farmers and increasing the overall earnings per worker.

During the Second and the Third Five-Year Plans, agricultural engineering division were added to the departments of agriculture in the states and at the Centre. They undertook the work of hiring or selling tractors, oil engines, implements, pumps, etc. Several training institutions and workshops were started to train artisans and mechanics, and in every state a research-cum-testing and training centre for agricultural implements was established.

The cumulative effect of all these steps has been to popularize mechanization and to prepare a sound base for it. They came an era of more intensive planning and reorganization on a wider scale. With the establishment of agricultural universities, several agricultural engineering colleges were established, offering graduate and postgraduate courses.

In most of the states, where such colleges were established, they took over research, education and extension from the state departments of agriculture. The most important step in the reorganization has been the establishment of agro-industries corporations, one in each state, with the financial assistance of the Central Ministry of Agriculture.

The main objective of establishing these corporations have been to take over the supply and service functions of the departments of agriculture and to expand them. These agro-industries corporations have each a paid-up capital of 20 to 50 millions of rupees. They have taken over the existing government workshops also.

The other most important development has been in the field of industry which has established so far half a dozen factories for manufacturing tractors, 3 or 4 for manufacturing power-tillers and several other factories for sets. Some of these industries are being substantially assisted by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India.

The Government has also established a factory for manufacturing crawler tractors and another one for manufacturing wheel-type tractors. These three main developments helped to quicken the pace of mechanization of Indian agriculture.

The private industries as well as the government, through their agro-industries corporations, are in the field now for the supply of agricultural machinery to the farmers. To present the charging of exorbitant prices for tractors the government has fixed the maximum prices of tractors with the assistance of the Bureau of Cost Accounting in the Ministry of Finance. This organisation has helped the farmers a lot.

Agricultural electronics has also begun and the remote-control tractors are being designed and tested in some countries. Japan has successfully designed machines for transplanting paddy seedling and their trials are going on at the Tractor-Training and Testing Centre at Budni. A very ambitious programme for joining the Ganga with the Kauveri, via the Mahanadi, the Narmada, the Godavari and the Krishna, is under the consideration of the Central Government and some preliminary work is being carried on.

With the successful explosion of an atomic device, India may be in a position to generate more electricity in future. The availability of plentiful irrigation water as a result of the Ganga-Kauveri Project, and the availability of more electricity from atomic energy will make the progress of farm mechanization in India speedier.

To achieve this objective effectively, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has now established one research cum-testing and training centre in each state. Some of them have now been converted into regional centres or have been taken over by the state governments.

The object is to improve the indigenous agricultural implements, to design new implements and to test them in the field up to the prototype level. After the implements have proved to be useful, the prototypes can be given to the manufacturers both in the public as well as in the private sectors and the implements can then be sold through them to the farmers.

Principles of Research:

In India, the holdings are generally small, the average farmer is poor, and the draft cattle are also small and ill fed. Taking these factors into consideration, certain principles, on which research is to be carried out, have been laid down.

These are given below:

(i) That the implements and machines for the Indian farmers should be simple in construction so that they could be operated by the illiterate farmers, and should either be manufactured or could be repaired by the village artisans or mechanics;

(ii) The prices of the implements should be within the reach of the ordinary farmers, though need not necessarily be cheap at the cost of efficiency, but they should also not be too costly. In power-driven equipment, the difficulty be overcome by giving the machinery on hire or hire- purchase system or on custom basis or can be utilized on co-operative basis;

(iii) The implements should be light, so that they can be transported from the village to the field and that the draft of the implement is suitable for the types of animals that are used in particular areas;

(iv) That the implements should be scientifically tested on a fairly uniform basis throughout India, so that the results are known and can be compared. There should be as little guess work as possible; and

(v) In designing the implements, as far as possible, the local available materials are to be used. In the case of soil-working and plant-working parts, durable materials, such as high-carbon steel, should be used.

To fulfil these requirements, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has also finalized procedures for the testing and designing of implements and the preform as in which the test data are to be collected, in recent years, oil-engines, and pumps. Quite a large number of the farmers are using these implements and firms have also been established in India to manufacture them. This trend towards mechanized farming is bound to increase.

Recently, however, new developments have taken place to bring about mechanization of agriculture. Due to the shortage of diesel-oil and its increased price, the mechanical operation will have to be restricted to deep ploughing, land-levelling, clearing land, and other operations which cannot be carried out with bullock-power.

Now greater attention has to be paid to the bullock drawn implements and manually operated implements. For instance, for short distances, bullock-carts have been found more economical than trucks; hence the necessity for improving bullock carts and also bullock-drawn, but improved implements, on priority basis.

Related Articles:

• Implements and Machinery used in Agriculture | Agri-Business
• Importance of Agriculture in the Indian Economy

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13 Indian Economy after Independence

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Chapter 13 surveys economic change and shifts in the political context of economic change in the Indian Union, 1950–2010. Based on the survey, the chapter answers three larger questions. First, why was economic growth relatively low in the first 35 years after the end of colonialism, and why was there a turnaround in the pace of economic change in the 1980s? Second, why did human development lag achievements in income growth after the turnaround? If the quality of life failed to improve enough, then a third question follows, why did the democratic political system survive at all if it did not fairly distribute the benefits from growth?

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Sociology Optional Mains Paper 2 for UPSC | Year 2023 | Land Reforms in Post Independence India: Features, Impacts, and Societal Consequences | Triumph IAS

Table of Contents

Discuss the main features of Land Reforms in post independence India.

Section: A. Sociology Paper 2023 Analysis. Paper 2: Unit-12 Social Structure; Agrarian social structure- evolution of land tenure system, land reforms.

Question 1 (d): Discuss the main features of Land Reforms in post independence India.

(10 Marks).

Introduction:

Before independence, India’s agrarian structure suffered from extensive land concentration and tenant exploitation, prompting the need for reforms . Post-independence, land reforms aimed to economically uplift landless individuals and regulate agriculture. Key features included abolishing intermediaries, tenancy reforms, and landholding consolidation.

Features of  land reforms.

• Abolition of Intermediaries: One of the key features of land reforms in post-independence India was the abolition of intermediaries, such as Zamindars and Jagirdars, who held the land ownership of the land. This measure aimed to provide security for the tiller of the soil and ensure equality of opportunity in the agrarian system.
• Tenancy Reforms: The tenancy contracts at the time were often expropriated in nature, leading to tenant exploitation. The reforms sought to address this issue and provide more favourable conditions for tenants , ensuring a more equitable distribution of benefits from agricultural activities.
• Fixing Ceilings on Landholdings: To address the concentration of land in the hands of a few, land reforms in post-independence India included the fixing of ceilings on landholdings. This measure aimed to redistribute agricultural land in favour of the less privileged and cultivating classes, promoting a more equitable distribution of resources.

Impact of land reforms on the society:

Functional consequences of land reforms..

• This reform was a ‘ revolutionary step’ in changing the agrarian structure in India. For example more than 200 lakh farmers were brought into direct contact with state.
• Land reforms lead to weakening the hold of absentee landlordism over rural household. It assisted in emergence of a class of substantial peasants and petty landlords as the dominant political and economic group.
• Land reforms aimed to tackle landlordism, while credit was to be provided through institutions like credit societies and nationalized banks. Initially, about 91% of agricultural credit came from informal sources, mainly moneylenders. India planned to boost cooperative credit societies and later, through social control and nationalization, commercial banks were also directed to prioritize lending to agriculture. This reduced rural households’ reliance on informal sources over time.
• Rudolph and Rudolph in their book ‘In Pursuit of Laxami’ termed the emergence of strong middle peasants caste as bullock capitalists.  

Dysfunctional aspects of land reforms.

• In qualitative terms most of the land begins to be self-cultivated and the incidence of tenancy declined considerably . The fear of losing land induced many potential losers to sell or rearrange their lands in a manner that escaped legislations.
• Andre Beteille argues that the tenancy reforms were less successful because of the lack of political will and the resistance from the dominant landowning classes.
• Ashok Rudra has highlighted that limited impact of land reforms in reducing the area under absentee landlordism.
• R. Desai stated that ineffectiveness of land reforms is a testimony to shift from external colonies to internal colonies in India.
• Daniel Thorner highlighted that the concentration of prosperity in upper strata and expansion of poverty in lower strata. This stands testimony to capitalist agrarian development in socialists India.
• The rights of women were completely ignored during land reforms , as agrarian reforms focused on household’s land rights not on women’s land rights .

Conclusion:

S. Swaminathan has called the process of land reforms as unfinished agenda, new and innovative land reform measures like conclusive land titling , unique land parcel IDs should be adopted with new vigour to eradicate rural poverty.

Related Blogs…

To master these intricacies and fare well in the Sociology Optional Syllabus, aspiring sociologists might benefit from guidance by the Best Sociology Optional Teacher and participation in the Best Sociology Optional Coaching. These avenues provide comprehensive assistance, ensuring a solid understanding of sociology’s diverse methodologies and techniques.

Land Reforms, Land Reforms Sociology, Land Reforms UPSC, Land Reforms 2023, Land Reforms in India, Land Reforms in Indian society, Post-Independence India, Agrarian Structure, Tenant Exploitation, Abolition of Intermediaries, Tenancy Reforms, Landholdings Ceiling, Rural Poverty, Agrarian Issues, M. S. Swaminathan, Social Impact, Rural Household, Agricultural Land, Land Ownership, Societal Consequences, Women’s Land Rights, Capitalist Agrarian Development, Credit Societies, Absentee Landlordism

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• IAS Preparation
• UPSC Preparation Strategy
• Post Independent India Issues In Land Reforms

Land Reforms in Post Independent India: UPSC Mains GS 1 Notes

Since its independence in 1947, India has carried out many land reforms with the dual objective of economically uplifting its landless poor and in bringing regulations in the agriculture industry.

Land Reforms in Post Independent India are an important topic in the Indian history section of the IAS exam.

Land Reforms in India – UPSC Notes:- Download PDF Here

History of Land Reforms in Post-Independent India

Since its independence in 1947, there have been central government and state government mediated land reforms in several states with dual objectives of optimum use of land and ensuring the well-being of the peasantry. The most notable and successful example of land reforms is in the states of West Bengal and Kerala. Other than these state-sponsored attempts of reforming land ownership and control, there was grassroots-level activism for land reforms by individuals, the most famous among them being the Bhoodan movement of modern-day Maharashtra.

To know more about Vinod Bhave , (Born on September 11, 1895) the Gandhian who led the Bhoodan Movement, click on the linked article.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) came to power in West Bengal in 1977, riding on the promise of enacting land reforms. Keeping their word, the new government initiated gradual land reforms, such as Operation Barga. The result was a more equitable distribution of land among the landless farmers and an enumeration of landless farmers. This has ensured an almost lifelong loyalty from the farmers and the communists were in power till the 2011 assembly election.

In Kerala, the only other large state where the CPI(M) came to power, the state carried out some of the most extensive land, tenancy and agrarian labour wage reforms in the country as well as that of the non-socialist late-industrializing world.

In a nutshell, land reforms have been successful only in pockets of the country, as people have often found loopholes in the laws that set limits on the maximum area of land that is allowed to be held by anyone.

Objectives of the Land Reforms in Post-Independent India

Redistribution of land has been the state policy of India since independence.  Independent India’s biggest success story regarding land policy is perhaps the abolition of the Zamindari system.  

The land-reform policy of India had two specific objectives:

• To remove such impediments to increase in agricultural production as arise from the agrarian structure inherited from the past.
• To eliminate all elements of exploitation and social injustice within the agrarian system, to provide security for the tiller of the soil and assure equality of status and opportunity to all sections of the rural population.”

Candidates must check out the following links to assist their UPSC exam preparation-

Actions are undertaken during the Land Reforms in Post-independent India

In order to attain carry out the reforms, the following actions were undertaken by the Indian government:

Abolition of intermediaries: One of the many aims of the land reforms was in eliminating middlemen entities such as the Zamindars and Jagirdars in order to bring the cultivator into a direct relationship with the government. 

Regulating Tenancy:   The congress Agrarian Reforms Committee very strongly felt that there was a direct relationship between the welfare of the Indian peasantry and the progress of agriculture in India. To a large extent that relation relied on to what extent the peasantry felt secure about the source of its livelihood and whether the tenure system provided incentives and opportunity for local development.

A ceiling on landholdings: In all other states, the level of the ceiling was fixed to take account of different classes of land. For example, the ceiling ranged all the way from 27-134 acres in Andhra, 20-80 acres in Orissa, 19-132 acres in Gujarat, 18-126 acres in Maharashtra. In others, it was fixed in terms of standard acres, a standard acre being equal to a certain number of ordinary acres laid down in the Act passed in each state.

Thus the ceiling was fixed at 30 standard acres in the Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madras; 25 standard acres in Madhya Pradesh and 27 standard acres in Mysore. In U.P., the ceiling was imposed on 40 acres of ‘fair-quality’ land.

Consolidation of landholdings: The consolidation of fragmented holdings was regarded as ‘part and parcel’ of the agricultural production programme. Legislation for compulsory consolidation of holdings was enacted in Bombay in 1947, in Punjab in 1948, in Pepsu and Saurashtra in 1951 and in U.P. in 1953. Similar provisions were made in other provinces except for Kerala and Madras. By 1964-65, a total area of 55 million acres was consolidated.

Encouragement of cooperative joint farming: Cooperative farming did not receive any attention before the planning period although the congress Agrarian Reforms Committee had recommended coopera­tive farming for holdings below the ‘basic’ holding. The Progress was rather meagre. Up to 1965-66, a total of 7294 cooperative farming societies having a membership of 1.88 lakhs had been formed and these covered an area of 3.93 lakh hectares.

However, many of these societies were defunct and some existed only on paper for the sake of obtaining state grants though their land was cultivated in the old way. It also did not help that some of the old owners had left for new nations born following the partition of India , making the redistribution of land a difficult affair. 

Abolition of bonded/forced labour: Another significant development since 1947 was the virtual disappearance of forced labour. At the turn of the century, the vast majority of agricultural labourers were men who were held in bondage due to debt or other forms of forced servitude.

However, since independence, the force of hired labourers in Indian agriculture, by and large, was made up of free men. This was a change of great significance which was likely to have far-reaching repercussions in the future.

Aspirants can get the previous years’ History questions in UPSC Mains GS 1 for IAS preparation.

The topic ‘land reforms in post-independent India’ makes an important part of Modern History of the UPSC Exam. In Mains GS paper 1, questions are majorly asked from Modern History. To get the complete trend analysis of general studies paper-I of Mains, check our page – GS 1 Strategy, Structure and Syllabus .

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Home » Economy » Agriculture » Indian agriculture at the time of independence

India’s economy under the British colonial rule remained fundamentally agrarian — about 85 per cent of the country’s population lived mostly in villages and derived livelihood directly or indirectly from agriculture. Agriculture and allied  activities  contributed  nearly  50  percent to  India’s  national  income. However, despite being the occupation of such a large population, the agricultural sector continued to experience stagnation and, not infrequently, unusual deterioration.

Agricultural productivity became low though, in absolute terms, the sector experienced some growth due to the expansion of the aggregate area under cultivation. This stagnation in the agricultural sector was caused mainly because of the various systems of land settlement that were introduced by the colonial government.  Particularly, under the zamindari system which was implemented in the then Bengal Presidency comprising parts of India’s present-day eastern states, the profit accruing out of the agriculture sector went to the zamindars instead of the cultivators. However, a considerable number of zamindars, and not just the colonial government, did nothing to improve the condition of agriculture. The main interest of the zamindars was only to collect rent regardless of the economic condition of the cultivators; this caused immense misery and social tension among the latter. To a very great extent, the terms of the revenue settlement were also responsible for the zamindars adopting such an attitude; dates for depositing specified sums of revenue were fixed, failing which the zamindars were to lose their rights.

Besides this, low levels of technology, lack of irrigation facilities and negligible use of fertilisers, all added up to aggravate the plight of the farmers and contributed to the dismal level of agricultural productivity.

There was, of course, some evidence of a relatively higher yield of cash crops in certain areas of the country due to commercialisation of agriculture. But this could hardly help farmers in improving their economic condition as, instead of producing food crops, now they were producing cash crops which were to be ultimately used by British industries back home.

Despite some progress made in irrigation, India’s agriculture was starved of investment in terracing, flood-control, drainage and desalinisation of soil. While a small section of farmers changed their cropping pattern from food crops to commercial crops, a large section of tenants, small farmers and sharecroppers neither had resources and technology nor had incentive to invest in agriculure.

Above points can be summarized as :-

State of Indian agriculture at time of Independence :-

• Old technique of production was used.
• Inefficient use of fertilizers.

In  1950-51,  there  were only  7  tractors,  62  oil  engines  and  16  irrigation  pump-sets  per  lakh hectares  of  gross  cropped  areas  of  the  country.  A  very  negligible amount  of  fertilizer  (0.66  lakh  tonnes  in  1952-53)  was  also  applied on  agriculture.

• Dependence on Rainfall.
• Agriculture was excessively dependent on monsoon rainfall.
• Low level of Production.
• Output per hector was extremely low.
• Subsistence Farming.
• Primary objective for a person was to produce for his own family only.
• Wedge between owners and tillers of the soil.
• Owners never shared proper information with tillers regarding cost of output.

Causes of Stagnation of Indian Agriculture Sector:

• Land revenue system imposed by Britishers ruined Indian agriculture – these policies put heavy rent burden on the peasants.
• Zamindari system
• Mahalwari system
• Ryotwari system
• Commercialization of agriculture.
• Production was not for self-profit moto for farmers, instead cultivation was done to be sold in British market (e.g.: Indigo).
• Partition of country.
• Food crises in India.
• Rice food producing area went in Partition to the new formed country Pakistan.
• The agriculture land distribution was uneven which leaded to shortage of raw resources in various industries.

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Growth of Agricultural Libraries in India in the Post-Independence Era

• Chhotey Lal

The author traces the origin and development of agricultural libraries in lndia beginning with the creation of Department of Agriculture in 1873. The recommendations of various committees having bearing on library matters are also discussed and listed the pathos of agricultural libraries, studies the impact of information technology in the storage and retrieval of agricultural information. The author sees a bright future for agricultural libraries in the growing network of information networks.

http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dbit.18.2.3389

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Rape and murder of doctor in hospital sparks protests in India

Early on Friday morning, a 31-year-old female trainee doctor retired to sleep in a seminar hall after a gruelling day at one of India’s oldest hospitals.

It was the last time she was seen alive.

The next morning, her colleagues discovered her half-naked body on the podium, bearing extensive injuries. Police later arrested a hospital volunteer worker in connection with what they say is a case of rape and murder at Kolkata’s 138-year-old RG Kar Medical College.

Tens of thousands of women in Kolkata and across West Bengal state are expected to participate in a 'Reclaim the Night' march at midnight on Wednesday, demanding the "independence to live in freedom and without fear". The march takes place just before India's Independence Day on Thursday. Outraged doctors have struck work both in the city and across India, demanding a strict federal law to protect them.

The tragic incident has again cast a spotlight on the violence against doctors and nurses in the country. Reports of doctors, regardless of gender, being assaulted by patients and their relatives have gained widespread attention. Women - who make up nearly 30% of India’s doctors and 80% of the nursing staff - are more vulnerable than their male colleagues.

The crime in the Kolkata hospital last week exposed the alarming security risks faced by the medical staff in many of India's state-run health facilities.

At RG Kar Hospital, which sees over 3,500 patients daily, the overworked trainee doctors - some working up to 36 hours straight - had no designated rest rooms, forcing them to seek rest in a third-floor seminar room.

Reports indicate that the arrested suspect, a volunteer worker with a troubled past, had unrestricted access to the ward and was captured on CCTV. Police allege that no background checks were conducted on the volunteer.

"The hospital has always been our first home; we only go home to rest. We never imagined it could be this unsafe. Now, after this incident, we're terrified," says Madhuparna Nandi, a junior doctor at Kolkata’s 76-year-old National Medical College.

Dr Nandi’s own journey highlights how female doctors in India's government hospitals have become resigned to working in conditions that compromise their security.

At her hospital, where she is a resident in gynaecology and obstetrics, there are no designated rest rooms and separate toilets for female doctors.

“I use the patients’ or the nurses' toilets if they allow me. When I work late, I sometimes sleep in an empty patient bed in the ward or in a cramped waiting room with a bed and basin,” Dr Nandi told me.

She says she feels insecure even in the room where she rests after 24-hour shifts that start with outpatient duty and continue through ward rounds and maternity rooms.

One night in 2021, during the peak of the Covid pandemic, some men barged into her room and woke her by touching her, demanding, “Get up, get up. See our patient.”

“I was completely shaken by the incident. But we never imagined it would come to a point where a doctor could be raped and murdered in the hospital,” Dr Nandi says.

What happened on Friday was not an isolated incident. The most shocking case remains that of Aruna Shanbaug , a nurse at a prominent Mumbai hospital, who was left in a persistent vegetative state after being raped and strangled by a ward attendant in 1973. She died in 2015, after 42 years of severe brain damage and paralysis. More recently, in Kerala, Vandana Das, a 23-year-old medical intern, was fatally stabbed with surgical scissors by a drunken patient last year.

In overcrowded government hospitals with unrestricted access, doctors often face mob fury from patients' relatives after a death or over demands for immediate treatment. Kamna Kakkar, an anaesthetist, remembers a harrowing incident during a night shift in an intensive care unit (ICU) during the pandemic in 2021 at her hospital in Haryana in northern India.

“I was the lone doctor in the ICU when three men, flaunting a politician’s name, forced their way in, demanding a much in-demand controlled drug. I gave in to protect myself, knowing the safety of my patients was at stake," Dr Kakkar told me.

Namrata Mitra, a Kolkata-based pathologist who studied at the RG Kar Medical College, says her doctor father would often accompany her to work because she felt unsafe.

“During my on-call duty, I took my father with me. Everyone laughed, but I had to sleep in a room tucked away in a long, dark corridor with a locked iron gate that only the nurse could open if a patient arrived,” Dr Mitra wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend.

“I’m not ashamed to admit I was scared. What if someone from the ward - an attendant, or even a patient - tried something? I took advantage of the fact that my father was a doctor, but not everyone has that privilege.”

When she was working in a public health centre in a district in West Bengal, Dr Mitra spent nights in a dilapidated one-storey building that served as the doctor’s hostel.

“From dusk, a group of boys would gather around the house, making lewd comments as we went in and out for emergencies. They would ask us to check their blood pressure as an excuse to touch us and they would peek through the broken bathroom windows,” she wrote.

Years later, during an emergency shift at a government hospital, “a group of drunk men passed by me, creating a ruckus, and one of them even groped me”, Dr Mitra said. “When I tried to complain, I found the police officers dozing off with their guns in hand.”

Things have worsened over the years, says Saraswati Datta Bodhak, a pharmacologist at a government hospital in West Bengal's Bankura district. "Both my daughters are young doctors and they tell me that hospital campuses in the state are overrun by anti-social elements, drunks and touts," she says. Dr Bodhak recalls seeing a man with a gun roaming around a top government hospital in Kolkata during a visit.

India lacks a stringent federal law to protect healthcare workers. Although 25 states have some laws to prevent violence against them, convictions are “almost non-existent”, RV Asokan, president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), an organisation of doctors, told me. A 2015 survey by IMA found that 75% of doctors in India have faced some form of violence at work. “Security in hospitals is almost absent,” he says. “One reason is that nobody thinks of hospitals as conflict zones.”

Some states like Haryana have deployed private bouncers to strengthen security at government hospitals. In 2022, the federal government asked the states to deploy trained security forces for sensitive hospitals, install CCTV cameras, set up quick reaction teams, restrict entry to "undesirable individuals" and file complaints against offenders. Nothing much has happened, clearly.

Even the protesting doctors don't seem to be very hopeful. “Nothing will change... The expectation will be that doctors should work round the clock and endure abuse as a norm,” says Dr Mitra. It is a disheartening thought.

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