On the eve of India's independence in 1947, Indian agriculture was characterized by feudal land relations and primitive technology, and the resultant low productivity per hectare. As a consequence, rural India presented a picture of mass poverty and widespread unemployment or under-employment. Therefore, the first task of the government in the immediate post-independence period was to initiate a growth process in the modernization of agriculture, both in terms of technological and institutional changes. Indias Mid-term ...
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On the eve of India's independence in 1947, Indian agriculture was characterized by feudal land relations and primitive technology, and the resultant low productivity per hectare. As a consequence, rural India presented a picture of mass poverty and widespread unemployment or under-employment. Therefore, the first task of the government in the immediate post-independence period was to initiate a growth process in the modernization of agriculture, both in terms of technological and institutional changes. Indias Mid-term Appraisal of the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) drew attention to the loss of dynamism in agriculture and allied sectors after the mid-1990s. Hence, various policy initiatives have been taken in recent years to promote the agricultural sector. These have included, inter alia, the partial decontrol of fertilizer prices, the removal of bottlenecks in agricultural marketing, the relaxation of restrictions under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and the introduction of f
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