AGRARIAN POTICIES AIID PROGRAMMES

A SOTUTION FOR STRENGTHE]IING RURAT IilDIA

griculture has been feeding entire world'spopulation. Agricuture has been at thefocal point of rural life for centuries. The

remains employed in this sector and it is a source oflivelihood for a majority of the popu ation; (2) theperformance ofagriculture is much more importantthan other sectors for inclusive growth and forreducing poverty (Ravallion and Datt 1996; Datt andRavallion 1998; Virmani 2008)j (3)the performanceof agriculture determines the food and nutritionsecurity of the populatjon of the country; (4) thegrowrh of ag'r(u rure has J .rgnihcanl oearing on

bod dnd overall inlldLior dnd nd(roe(onomr(stability; and (5) much of trade / commeTce andindustrial activities are linked to agriculture.

Agricultural Contribution in Gross DomesticProduct (GDP)

The Agriculture and Al ied Sector contributedapproximately 13.9% of lndia's GDP (2004 05 prices)

in 2013-14. There has been a continuous decline inthe share ofAgriculture and Allied Sector in the GDP

trcm L4.6 % in 2A1O-Lt to 13.9 % in 2013 14. Falling

share of Agriculture and Allied Sectors in GDP is an

expected outcome in a fast growing and structurallychanging economy. The chart and table below shows

the declining trend of agriculture's share in totalGDP

rural economy was almost exc usively determinedby agricultura activities at the tinre of ndia'sirdpppndpnr p. A(r he( ou_l ynovedordneLo_omicgrowth path in the post-independence era and therural economy diversified, the dominance of theagriculturalsector in the overalleconomy has s owlydeclined over the years, yet, the so. o p(onon c

structure of ln dia can be observed from the fact thatthe majority ofthe countryt population depend on

agrlculture for their livelihood. According to census2011,68.9 percent (83.3 crore) population is shllrural. The agriculture sector contributed morethan half the output of the lndian economv whenthe country embarked on its First Flve Year P an in1950-51. Over a period of seven decades, the shareof agriculture has gradualv declined to less than15 percent. Despite its shrinking share in nationallncorne and losing dominance in rural income, thepe'[orndnce o' tl_e agric-lture .ector re11a n< a

matter of centra concern to pollcymakers and thepublic at large. The maln reasons for this are : (1)

more than half the tota workforce in the country

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Kurukshetra r lune 2015 (,)

The crisis in the lndian agricultural sectorcropped up as a result of privatization, liberalizationand globalization during nineties. The major impact

abruptly thrown in to unfamiliar situations_,, Morethan one lakh small farmers in the country havegiven up ferming since 1992. young people do notshow interest in farm work Iooking to the presentplight of the farmers and unhealthy environment rnthe farm sector. The covernment of lndia and atsovarious State Governments have taken measures toinstillthe confidence among the farming cornmunitvand encourage farming. Various Commissions andcorrmittees have been appointed to stLrdy andsuggest measures to resolve the crisis in this sector.The Government of tndia has set up the NationalCommission on Farmers in February 2004 under theChairmanship of well-known agricultural scientistDr. M. S. Swaminathan. The Commission startedits work with a declarationi ,,Serving Formers andSoving Fdrming". The National Commission forFarmers is formed with the objective to prepare theroad map forsustainable development of agricultureand optimizing its contribution to growth anddpvelool.1ent of e.onory. parti.,lta.rV trprovtngthe income and standard of living of farmers. Thecommission has the power to recommend policies,programmes and measures for accelerated ancldiversified agricultural development, to alleviaterural poverty and impart viability and attractivenessto farming as a remunerative and rewardingprofession. The Union and the State Governmentsforrnulate policies from time to time to articulatec ear vjsion on few basic parameters of agriculturalsector To achieve seif sufficiency and food securityin the agriculture sector of the country, thenationa po icy is devised under the chairmanshtpof Dr. M. S- Swaminathan, Chairman, NationalFarmers Commission. This policy is formuiatedwith the objective of assisting the hard workingwomen and men tn the country to ensure gloriousdestiny for the country in the field of agricultureand food security- For the purppse of this policybroad defn.r on ot rho re.'11 .rdrmp<' .r g,v--.Accordingly the term "formeB,, relers to ,both

men ond wamen, ond include landless ogricutturalI obo u rers, sh o recra p pe rs, te n o ntsl smo I l, ma rqin a Iond sub morginol cultivators, formers with lorgerholdings, fishers, livestock ond pauttry reuters,postorolists, smoll plontation Jormers, os well os,rurol ond t bol fomilies engoged jn o wide vorietyof farning related occupotion such as opiculture,sericulture dnd vermiculture_ The term wi includetribol fomilies sometimes engaged in shiftingcultivotion ond in the collection ond use af non-

: : E ; g 3 ; E e i : ; 5;

Table 1i Share of ABricutture in Totat GDp at tactorCost 12004-0s prices)

aoalo2 ) )4ue62)4 t4c6) 5\415', )) 3a

2002 0, l5.o9ls cl/1c9 20t,1::l :1 ll!,,0, \6430 I 20 { .,oq):ll00a 0( )o7 t464 56\4)1 lo 03200,-0b 32\ {07J \o4a8' t8.. /2000 0' ,5643b4 6-!Ioo )7 37/00,-08 l89b6l6 o5so80 to.sr2!08 09 qrsgoze - 6550s9 15.7r

i2oo9,1o 4s16071 | 660987 14_64201417 491as3r 711e1t4y!! Lt 4914533 7ta14 u.592ou. '2 >.tl.la ,\18r. i.,t.0'2 Ir \r82lit 76a,)O Il05)01t-t4lP\ 5/at7gr 800548 l'%

sour.e: Centra SratisticatOrBan sation (CsO)

of these changes was on the small farmers, themajor farming cornmunity of the country. Farmsaved seeds were replaced by corporate seedswhich needed fertilizers and pesticides. Agriculturebecame a costly affair. The lndian small farmersfailed to adjust with these chalenges. Managingfinance for the agricultural work became a difficuittask. Understanding the problems that havecropped up in farming, some small farmers gaveup farming and shifted to other occupations. Thefarrners who failed to cope up with these changeswere driven to suicide in the depressed state. EmileDurkheim an authority on the studV of suicidestates that "in periods of rapid change, people are

G) ri- Kurukshetrd I lune 2015

timber forest products. Farm and Home ScienceGraduotes eoming their livelihaods from crop ondonimol husbondry, fisheries ond ogro-forestry willhove their righqulplace in the world offormers ond

Governm€ nt lnifiatiues f at Farrnera

Agriculture in ndia is varied, diversified andprone to a variety of risks. Most farmers are smalla'ld -rJrg _dlore\. ln rro\r dreas, a8riculture is.ainfed, leading to a greater degree of yield variabilityand risk. To prevent the risks and ncidents of suicideamong farming community and to instill confidencer Lherr, the Covernnert of lndia'ras takel various

initiatives by announcing packages and insurances tothe farming community:

National Policy for Farmers (NPF): The Policyannounced in 2007 had provisions, inc uding assetreforms in respect of land, water, livestock, fisheries,and bio resources; support services and inputs likeappication of frontier technologies; agriculturalblo security systems; supply of good quality seedsand disease-free planting material, improving soilfertillty and health, and integrated pest managementsystems; support services for women like crbches,chlld care centres, nutrltion, health and training;timely, adequate, and easy reach of institutjonalcredit at reasonabe interest rates, and farmer-friend y insurance instruments; use of Informationand Communcahon Technology (lCT) and settingup of farmers' schools to revitalize agriculturalextension; effective lmplementation of MSP acrossthe country, deveopment of agricultura marketinfrastructure, rura non farm employment initiativesfor farm households and integrated approach forrura F'rarg) 6_. VIJny o' lheie provrlions rrebelng imp emented through different GovernmentDepartments and IUinistries through differentsche mes and programmes,

An inter ministerial committee has beenconshtuied to monitor the progress of the P an ofAction for the implementation of the NPF.

Schemes during the 12th Five Year Plan: n

order to maintain the targeted growth rate of 4% inagrlcu rure, during the 12th Five Year Pla n, to ensurefocu5ed approach and to avoid overlap, ajl the

schemes of the Department has been restructuredinto five Missions viz. National Food Security Mission(NFSM), Mission for lntegrated Developmentof Horticulture (MIDH), National Mission on Oil

Seeds and Oil Palm {NMOOP), Natjonal Mission forsustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and National Missionon Agricultural Extension & Technology (NMAET);

and four Central Sector Schemes viz. National Croplnsurance Programme (NCIP), lntegrated Scheme on

Agri Census & Statistics {ISAC&S), lntegrated Schemeof Agriculture Marketing (ISAM) and lntegratedScheme of Agriculture Cooperatjon (ISAC); and oneState Plan Scheme viz. Rashtriya KrishiVikas Yojana(RKVY).

Notiondl Food Security Mission fNfSM)r TheMission (2007) is being sustained during 12th Five

Year Plan with new target of additional productionof 25 million tonnes of food grains comprising of10 million tonnes rice,8 million tonnes of wheat,4 million tonnes of pulses and 3 million tonnes ofcoarse cereals by the end of 12th Plan and promotionof commercial crops llke cotton, jute and sugarcane.

outcome of NFsM since lnception: The focusedand tar8et orierted impementanon oI mrssion

initiatives has resulted in bumper production ofwheat, rice and pulses in the country. During 2012-13, the production of rice, wheat and pulses has been

achieved at the level of 105.24 mil ion tonnes, 93.51million tonnes and 18.34 million tonnes respectively.As per 4th Advance Estimates during 2013-14, theproduction of wheat increased from 75.81 miLlion

rorres in 2005-07 to 95.91 mrllon ton4es, .e. a1

increase of 20.00 million tonnes. Similarly, the totalproduction of rice increased {rom 93.36 milliontonnes in 2006 07 to 106.54 million tonnes in 201314, implying an increase of nearly 13.18 milliontonnes. The total production of pu ses a so increasedfrom 14.20 million tonnes during 2OO5 07 to 19.27.rillon rorres duri.1g 2013-14. showinS an i^crea\eof 5 million tonnes.

B nging Green Revolution to Eosten lndla(BGREI): a sub scheme of Roshtriyo Krishi vikos

Yojona(RKVy) was initiated ln 2010 11to address theconstraints limiting the productivity of'lice based

cr^^oing systems" rn I d.l'rr 'ndia (orro' 5ing

sE, :n states: Assam. Bihar, Chhattisgarh,lharkhand,tr0isha, UttarPradesh andWestBenga . An amountof{ 1000 crores was allocated for each during 2012 13

o 2014 15. The programme is being mpiemented in

rservne F.rme15 rnd 5avjnC FarminC, fifth :rnd final,eport,loctober2006,Governmentof lndia, Ministrvof,\er cLr ture, Nanonal commission on Farmers

KurL,ksh€tra L ,rne 2015

121 identified districts which are not covered underNatjonal Food Security Mission. Crop DiversificationProgramme in original Green Revolutjon states is

being implemented as a sub scheme of RashtriyoKrishi Vikos Yojono in Punjab, Haryana and westernpart of Uttar Pradesh with financial allocation of1250 Lrore dunng 2014 l5 io diver\ifv c'opprnBpaf(ern from water consuming paddy to pulses,oilseeds, maize and agro forestry with the objectiveof tackling the problerns of declining soilfertility anddepleting water table in these states-

Mission lq lntegrdted Development olHotticulture (MIDH): Ihis mission leads to holisticdevelopment of horhcJltLre <eclor by ensuringforward and backward linkage through a clusterapproach with the active participation of all stakeholders.

Ndtional Mission on Oil Seeds dnd oil polm(NMOOP,Ir envisions increase in production ofvegetable oils sourced from oilseeds, oil palm andtree born oilseeds from 7.06 million tonnes (averageof 2007 08 to 2011 12) to 9.51 million tonnes bythe end of Twelfth Plan (2016 17). The Mission isproposed to be implemented through three MiniMissions with specific target.

Notionol Mission lor Sustdinoble AqricultureIVMSA/ is one of the eight Missions outlinedunder National Action Plan on Climate Change(NAPCC). The Mission aims at promoting sustainableagriculture through seventeen deliverables focusingon ten key dimensions of lndian egriculture. NMSAas a programmatic intervention made operationalfrom 2014 15 aims at making agriculture moreproductive, sustainable, remunerative and climateresilient by promoting location specific integrated/composite farming systems; soil and moistureconservation measures; comprehensive soil healthmanagement; efficient water management practjcesend mainstreaming rain fed technologies.

Notiondl Mission on Agricultutol Extension &Technoloqy (NMAET): NMAET is being implementedduring the 12th Plan with an objective to restructureand strengthen the agricultural extension machinerywith a judicious mix ofextensive phys ica I outreac h ofpersonnel, enhancement in quality through domainexperts and regular capacity buildinS, interactivemethods of information dissemination, PublicPrivate Partnership, persistent & innovative use oflnformation & Communication Technology (lCT)/

Mass Media, Federation of groups and convergenceof extension related efforts under various schemesand programmes of Government of lndia and theState Governments.

Under NMAET, the programme CommunityRadio Stations (CRS) would bring a major revolutionin agricultural extension by expanding the reach oflocalised technolcgies to the farmers located withina radius of 20 to 50 kilometres. Presently, a totalnumber of 58 CRSs throughout lndia are broadcastingagriculture programme.

The Kisan Call centers IKCC) Scheme waslaunched on 2lst.January 2004 to provide answerto farmers'queries on agriculture and allied sectorsthrough toll free telephone lines. A country widecommon eleven digit number 1800-800-1551 hasbeen dllocdted for KCC. lhe replies to lhe qJeriesof the farming community are being given in 22lndian languages. KCCS operate from 14 locationsin the country covering allthe states and UTs. Callsare attended from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm on all 7deys of a week. Since inception of the scheme till31st December,2014 over 186.00 lakh calls havebeen re8istered in the KCC5. During the current yeararound 36-04 lakh calls have been received upto31st December, 2014. ln order to make farmersaware ofthis fecility, audio and video spots on KisanCall Centres have been broadcast/telecast throughAll lndia Radio, Doordarshan and private televisionchannels. A Kisan Knowledge Management System(KKMS) has been created at the backend to capturedetails of the farmers calling (CCs provide correct,consistent and quick replies to the queries offarmers is being developed and by putting thereinvalidated information on agriculture and alliedsectors. Modifi ed call Escalation Matrix has also beencirculated. Thefarmercalling KCC can also registerforreceiving SMSs from experts on the subject area andtheir providing and also for receiving regular updateson mandi price of selected mandis and crops.

Nriional Crop Insurance ProCramme (NCIP):To make the Crop lnsurance Schemes more farmerfriendly, a restructured Central Sector Scheme inthe name of'Natjonal Crop lnsurance Programme'(NCIP) was introduced from 2013-14. The exishngModified National Agricultural lnsurance Scheme(MNAIS), Weather Based Crop lnsurance Scheme(WBCIS) and Coconut Palm lnsurance Scheme (CPIS)

wFrp merSed under this programme wrlh various

(o KurLkshetra lune 2015

improvernents and changes for implementatjonthroughout the country. The coverage of NClpin terms of farmers and area insured has beenprojected to the level of 50 percent each from theexisting level of about 25 percent and ZO percentrespectively by the year 2076 1j of the TwelfthPla n.

Recent lnitiatives/ poliay d€.isions: tn additionto the existing Missions/ Schemes, following fournew schemes have been introduced in the vear2014 15:

(a) Soil Health Card Scheme-tssuance of SoiIHealth Cards to every farmer of the countryduring the remaining three years of 12thFive Year Plan (2014-15 to 2016-17) has beenapproved with a total outlay of { 568.54 crore.State-wise allocation has also been made forestablishing 100 mobile soil testing laboratoriesin 2014 15.

(b) Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai yoiana - TheScheme is being formulated with a view to takeirrigation water to each and every agriculturalfield in the countrv.

(c) Price Stabilization fund for Cereals andVegetables Government has establisheda oric. \t"bil.<aho.r F,rnd of ?500 crore inorder to reduce price volatjlity in perishableagricultura commodities (onions, potatoes &tomatoes etc.J. Wlth the setting up of this priceStabil sahon Fund,farmerswill beabletogetfairpr ce for their produce while consumer wouldbe abe to purchase the same at affordableprices.

(d) National Agri-tech tnfrastructure: An AgriTech nfrastructure fund has been proposedto cTeate a comrnon e marketing platform foragr -commodities in the Agriculture produceMarketing Committees (ApMCs) of the State,as a first step towards creatjon of a national

Nisan Credlt Card: The schenre wasintroduced ln 1998-99 to ensure that all eligiblefarmers are provided with hassle free and timelvcred t for thelr agricultural business. Kisan CreditCard scheme for farmers is to enable the farmersto purchase agricultural lnputs such as seeds,fedil sers, pesticides, etc. The (isan Credit CardScheme s in operation throughout the countryand is implemented by commercial banks,

cooperative banks and Regiona, Rural Banks. uptoMarch,20L4; I 12 crore KCC5 have been issuedand <10.35 crore (CCs are active/operational.The scheme has facilitated in augmenting creditflow for agricultural activities. The scope of theKCC has been broad-based to include term creditand consumption needs. All farmers includingsmall farmers, marginal farmers, share croppers,oral lessee and tenant farmers are eligible to becovered under the Scheme. There is coverage ofrisk of KCC holders against accidental death orpermanent disability upto a maximum of { 50,000and ?25,000 respectively.

Summing Up

Thus the government is trying hard withholistic policies to help the farmers who are themost vulnerabie group of the society_ lt cannot bedenied that there are problems that need to beaddressed quickly and firmly to explore the fullpotentialofagriculture and a llied sectors, Featureslike dependence of a Iarge number of farmers onrains and small farm holdings, make it difficult tobrinB about fast transformation of agriculture.The only way to tackle them is to adopt focusedstrategies, and the government has alreadystarted with several concrete initiatives. Thesestrategies have been rigorousiy tested in the lastfew years and they have succeeded in achievinga fast growth, better prices to farmers, adequateavailability of food greins, and reasonable stablefood prices. Acceleration of growth in this sectorwill not only push overall GDB but also promoteinclusive growth. Although the share of agriculturehas decreased in totalGDg it has made significantadvances in agricultural production in the recentdecades, including the introduction of hieh yieldseed varieties, increased use of fertilisers andimproved water management systems. Reformsto land distribution, watei, management andfood distribution systems wiil further enhanceprodrct:vity and helo lnoia rrpeL 'r( growirgdemand for food. 50 it is most important aspectthat in order to improve agricultural productivityand farmers'condit,on in lndia, solid and farmerfriendly schemes have been developed in therecEnt years.

(The outhot is Assistont prcfessot, dt Centrelor Econofiic Policy ond public Findhce, AsionDevelopment Reseorch tnstitute (ADRI), pdtna.

KLrukshetra I lune 2015 h:r1.