Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
PAPER
PESTLE Analysis of
Indian Agriculture
Submitted by:
Sheikh Talha
RS1904 B25
10906035
Submitted to:
Mr. Vishwas Chakra Narayan
LOVELY PROFESSIONAL
UNIVERSITY
Acknowledgement
I take this opportunity to present my vote of thanks to all those guidepost who really
acted as lightening pillars to enlighten our way throughout this project that has led to
successful and satisfactory completion of this study.
We are really grateful to our COD Mr.Devdhar shetty for providing us with an
opportunity to undertake this project in this university and providing us with all the
facilities. We are highly thankful to Mr.vishwas chakra Narayan for his active support,
valuable time and advice, whole-hearted guidance, sincere cooperation and pains-
taking involvement during the study and in completing the assignment of preparing
the said project within the time stipulated.
Lastly, We are thankful to all those, particularly the various friends , who have been
instrumental in creating proper, healthy and conductive environment and including
new and fresh innovative ideas for us during the project, their help, it would have
been extremely difficult for us to prepare the project in a time bound framework.
SHEIKH TALHA
INTRODUCTION
Agriculture’s share in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has declined from over half at
Independence to less than one-fifth currently, agriculture remains the predominant
sector in terms of employment and livelihood with more than half of India’s workforce
engaged in it as the principal occupation. Agriculture still contributes significantly to
export earnings and is an important source of raw materials as well as of demand for
many industries. India’s agriculture sector has an impressive long-term record of
taking the country out of serious food shortages despite rapid population increase.
This was achieved through a favourable interplay of infrastructure, technology,
extension, and policy support backed by strong political will. The main source of
long-run growth was technological augmentation of yields per unit of cropped area.
This resulted in tripling of food grain yields, and foodgrain production increased from
51 million tonnes in 1950–51 to 217 million tonnes in 2006–07. Production of
oilseeds, sugarcane, and cotton have also increased more than four-fold over the
period, reaching 24 million tonnes and 355 million tonnes and 23 million bales,
respectively, in 2006–07. 1.3 But, although GDP from agriculture has more than
quadrupled, from Rs 108374 crore in 1950–51 to Rs 485937 crore in 2006–07 (both
at 1999–2000 price), the increase per worker has been rather modest. GDP per
agricultural worker is currently around Rs 2000 per month, which is only about 75%
higher in real terms than in 1950 compared to a four-fold increase in overall real per
capita GDP. While slower growth of GDP in agriculture than non-agriculture is
expected, the main failure has been the inability to reduce the dependence of the
workforce on agriculture significantly by creating enough non-farm opportunities to
absorb the labour surplus in rural areas and equipping those in agriculture to access
such opportunities. Half of those engaged in agriculture are still illiterate and just 5%
have completed Higher Secondary education. Incomes and education are of course
least among agricultural labourers. Even families operating farms now suffer from
much smaller holdings (70% below 1 hectare in 2003 compared to 56% in 1982),
and farming members in such families are twice as likely to be illiterate as non-
farming members. Ensuring food security and farmer welfare thus require support
systems to extend technology and scale benefits in a sustainable manner to a huge
existing workforce in agriculture that lacks non-farm skills and is also ageing and
getting feminized.
Growth of agricultural GDP decelerated from over 3.5% per year during 1981–
82 and 1996–97 to only around 2% during 1997–98 and 2004–05 . This
deceleration, although most marked in rainfed areas, occurred in almost all States
and covered almost all major sub-sectors, including those such as horticulture,
livestock, and fisheries where growth was expected to be high. Consequently,
growth of agricultural GDP has been well below the target of 4% set in both Ninth
and Tenth Plans. In fact, Tenth Plan growth averaged even less than that during
Ninth Plan because, as was noted in the MTA, growth plummeted to below 1%
during its first three years, that is from 2002–03 to 2004–05. There has been some
upturn since then and growth has averaged more than 4% in the subsequent two
years, with early indications that this is likely to be maintained in 2007–08 also. This
revival gives hope that at least some of the causes of recent poor agricultural
performance are being reversed and that the Eleventh Plan target, set at 4%, may
actually be attainable. 1.6 The improved performance in the second half of Tenth
Plan is a welcome development, but there is no reason for complacency. Not only is
the period too short to reach firm judgment on trends, the prolonged deceleration
over several years has meant that despite the improvements, per capita output of
cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and also of some major vegetables and fruits (e.g.,
potatoes and bananas) in 2006–07 remained below 1996–97 levels. Moreover,
despite significant imports, food prices flared up in 2006. This was unlike during
2000–05 when, although production was even lower, prices remained subdued
because of low domestic demand and depressed world prices. Part of the recent
production upturn is clearly price-led, following a marked hardening of world
commodity prices and possibly also responding to the fact that domestic food
demand has responded positively to higher overall GDP growth at the introduction of
Rural Employment Guarantee. However, although important in the short-run, such
price response alone cannot be the basis of sustained agricultural growth at 4%. The
recent trend towards diversion of food crops for biofuels in surplus countries means
that food security needs a stronger production response based on tackling supply
side problems in the foodgrains sector. The supply side performance of agriculture is
affected by a large number of factors, several of which interact among each other.
These factors are the natural resource base (including rainfall), technology,
infrastructure (including irrigation), and the economic environment comprising price
signals and institutions . Analysis by the Steering Group for the Eleventh Plan has
identified technological change (using yield potential of varieties of major crops
released by the National Agricultural Research System [NARS] as a proxy), public
investment (including investment on irrigation), and diversification (represented by
area under fruits and vegetables) as the most important proximate determinants of
growth. The Steering Group analysis shows that progress on first two of these
factors slowed down from early 1990s. However, the negative effect in growth was
offset by private investment, which was the fourth most important factor in the
analysis, because the terms of trade, which affect profitability and thus private
investment, improved during 1990–97. As a result, growth continued to be relatively
high in this period. However, terms of trade turned against agriculture from 1999–
2000 to 2004–05 and reduced profitability of farming quite sharply.
POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING
INDIAN AGRICULTURE
Economic reforms initiated since 1991 have put the Indian economy on a
higher growth trajectory. Annual growth rate in the total Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) has accelerated from below 6 per cent during the initial years of reforms to
more than 8 percent in recent years. The Planning Commission in its approach
paper to the Eleventh Five-Year-plan has stated that 9 per cent growth rate in GDP
would be feasible during the Eleventh Plan period. However, Agriculture that
accounted for more than 30 per cent of total GDP at the beginning of reforms failed
to maintain its pre-reform growth. On the contrary, it witnessed a sharp deceleration
in growth after the mid-1990s. This happened despite the fact that agricultural
productivity in most of the states was quite low as it were, and the potential for the
growth of agriculture was high.
The GDP of agriculture increased annually at more than 3 per cent during the
1980s. Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996 to 2001-02), India has been targeting a
growth rate of more than 4 per cent in agriculture, but the actual achievement has
been much below the target. More than 50 per cent of the workforce of the country
still depends upon agriculture for it’s livelihood. Slow growth in Agriculture and allied
sectors can lead to acute stress in the economy because the population dependent
upon this sector is still very large. A major cause behind the slow growth in
agriculture is the consistent decrease in investments in the sector by the state
governments. While public and private investments are increasing manifold in
sectors such as infrastructure, similar investments are not forthcoming in Agriculture
and allied sectors, leading to distress in the community of farmers, especially that of
the small and marginal segment. Hence the need for incentivising states that
increase their investments in the Agriculture and allied sectors has been felt.
Concerned by the slow growth in the Agriculture and allied sectors, the
National Development Council (NDC), in its meeting held on 29th May, 2007
resolved that a special Additional Central Assistance Scheme (RKVY) be launched.
The NDC resolved that agricultural development strategies must be reoriented to
meet the needs of farmers and called upon the Central and State governments to
evolve a strategy to rejuvenate agriculture. The NDC reaffirmed its commitment to
achieve 4 per cent annual growth in the agricultural sector during the 11th plan. The
Resolution with respect to the Additional Central Assistance scheme reads as below:
Industrial growth in India has always been given precedence over agricultural growth
and the emphasis and favours bestowed on it have continued even beyond the stage
of infancy. The simplistic, reductionist assumption that agricultural sector would
automatically respond to the exogenous stimuli through the trickle-down effect
generated by the forces of development in industrial, trade and service sectors has
prove to be a misplaced conceptualisation under the existing agrarian structure and
socio-economic setup of the farming community. Industrial sector so far has been
receiving a major portion of the incentives and subsidies, at the cost and neglect of
the agricultural sector. It has led to a constant decline in the share of agriculture in
India s Gross Domestic Product since independence, with no decrease in proportion
of employment provided by this sector.
India has made impressive strides on the agricultural front during the last
three decades. Much of the credit for this success should go to the several million
small farming families that form the backbone of Indian agriculture and economy.
Policy support, production strategies, public investment in infrastructure, research
and extension for crop, livestock and fisheries have significantly helped to increase
food production and its availability. During the last 30 years, India’s foodgrain
production nearly doubled from 102 million tons in the triennium ending 1973 to
nearly 200 million tons (mt) in the triennium ending (TE) 1999. Virtually all of the
increase in the production resulted from yield gains rather than expansion of
cultivated area. Availability of foodgrains per person increased from 452
gm/capita/day to over 476 gm/capita/day, even as the country's population almost
doubled, swelling from 548 million to nearly 1000 million.
India has high population pressure on land and other resources to meet its
food and development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and bio-
diversity is under severe pressure. The massive increase in population (despite the
slowing down of the rate of growth) and substantial income growth, demand an extra
about 2.5 mt of foodgrains annually, besides significant increases needed in the
supply of livestock, fish and horticultural products. Under the assumption of 3.5%
growth in per capita GDP (low income growth scenario), demand for foodgrains
(including feed, seed, wastage and export) is projected in the year 2020 at the level
of 256 mt comprising 112mt of rice, 82mt of wheat, 39mt of coarse grains and 22mt
of pulses. The demand for sugar, fruits, vegetables, and milk is estimated to grow to
a level 33mt, 77mt, 136mt and 116mt respectively. The demand for meat is projected
at 9mt, fish 11mt and eggs 77.5 billion (Table 1).
Emerging Trends
The agriculture sector recorded satisfactory growth due to improved
technology, irrigation, inputs and pricing policies. Livestock, poultry, fisheries and
horticulture are surging ahead in production growth in recent years and will have
greater demand in the future. Industrial and service sectors have expanded faster
than agriculture sector resulting in declining share of agriculture in national accounts.
Despite the structural change, agriculture still remains a key sector, providing both
employment and livelihood opportunities to more than 70 percent of the country's
population who live in rural areas. The contribution of small farmers to the national
and household food security has been steadily increasing. The water availability for
agricultural uses has reached a critical level and deserves urgent attention of all
concerned.
India has high population pressure on land and other resources to meet its
food and development needs. The natural resource base of land, water and bio-
diversity is under severe pressure. Food demand challenges ahead are formidable
considering the non-availability of favourable factors of past growth, fast declining
factor productivity in major cropping systems and rapidly shrinking resource base.
1. Cost of Production
2. Changes in Input Prices
3. Input/output Price Parity
4. Trends in Market Prices
5. Inter-crop Price Parity
6. Demand and Supply Situation
7. Effect on Industrial Cost Structure
8. Effect on General Price Level
9. Effect on Cost of Living
10.International Market Price Situation
11.Parity between Prices Paid and Prices Received by farmers (Terms of Trade).
Of all the factors, cost of production is the most tangible factor and it takes
into account all operational and fixed demands. Government organizes Price
Support Scheme (PSS) of the commodities, through various public and cooperative
agencies such as FCI, CCI, JCI, NAFED, Tobacco Board, etc., for which the MSPs
are fixed. For commodities not covered under PSS, Government also arranges for
market intervention on specific request from the States for specific quantity at a
mutually agreed price. The losses, if any, are borne by the Centre and State on
50:50 basis. The price policy paid rich dividends. The Government have raised
substantially the MSPs in recent year
Micro Finance:
Micro finance scheme has been introduced by National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development (NABARD), the apex bank for agriculture and rural
development in India, to improve the access of the rural poor to formal institutional
credit and other financial products. In all 547 banks, which include 47 commercial
banks, 158 RRBs, 342 cooperative banks are now actively involved in the operation
of Self Help Group (SHG)- Bank Linkage Programme to spread the facility of micro
finance to the needy small and marginal farmers and tiny entrepreneurs. The
programme has enabled nearly 329 lakh poor families in the country to gain access
to micro finance facilities from the formal banking system.
Capital Formation in Agriculture: The share of the agriculture sector's capital
formation in G.D.P. declined from 2.2% in the late 1990s to 1.9% in 2005-06.
Stagnation or fall in the public investment in irrigation is partly responsible for this
fall. However there is indication of a reversal of this trend with public sector
investment in agriculture accelerating since 2002-03.The share of public investment
in gross investment in agriculture increased by 6.5 percentage points from 1999-
2000 to reach 24.2% in 2005-06.
Agricultural Finance:
Credit: Availability of adequate credit is vital for every sector and agriculture is not
an exception. In India, Commercial Banks, Cooperative Banks, and Regional Rural
Banks ( RRBs) are responsible for smooth flow of credit to agricultural sector. But a
huge unorganized market exists for credit to agricultural sector in India, which
provide timely fund to this sector but at the exorbitant rate of interest. Among
organized credit disbursement to agriculture commercial banks play a vital role with
a share of about 70% where as cooperative sector and RRBs contribute 20% and 10
% respectively.Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was introduced to provide adequate
and timely support from the banking system to the farmers for their cultivation needs.
This scheme has made rapid progress and more than645 lakh cards issued up to
October 2006. The 'Farm Credit Package' announced by the Government of India in
June 2004 stipulated doubling the flow of institutional credit for agriculture in ensuing
three years. Annual targets for this package are being surpassed in the two
consecutive years from its introduction and it is likely to surpass in the third year
also.
INFLATION:
Inflation raises prices for farm inputs as well as farm products, resulting in uncertain
effects on the current net incomes of farmers, the National Council of Applied
Economic Research (NCAER) said in its monthly report.
Inflation may benefit people with flexible money incomes but not those whose money
incomes are fixed.
Farmers have flexible money incomes. Therefore, theoretically at least, they should
benefit from an unanticipated increase in the rate of inflation. Empirical studies
however, have not found this connection, the NCAER study said.
As inflation increases, prices paid by farmers for various inputs increase faster than
the prices they receive for their products, thereby the terms of trade for farmers
deteriorate as the rate of inflation rises.
On the other hand, higher marketing margins due to imperfections in the agricultural
markets, stirred up by higher wages and various other marketing costs, reduce the
demand for farm output at the farm level, NCAER said.
These opposing forces suggest that the net impact of inflation in the national
economy on prices received by farmers is small in comparison to the impact on
prices paid.
Studies in the United States have observed that in the short run, a rise in input prices
by 10 per cent reduced net income of farmers by 2.3 per cent in short run of 1-2
years and 1.2 per cent in the long run.
The impact of inflation on agriculture is multifaceted. Firstly, it raises the sector's
costs of production through increased material input costs.
Secondly, higher production costs may be shifted to consumers, but this possibility is
limited by the competitive imports, thus reducing farmers' rate of return, the NCAER
study said.The low current income from farming motivates farmers to seek higher
support prices and to extend price support policies to more commodities. Such
policies result in further higher prices and higher rates of inflation.
The high input prices lead farmers to take recourse to more credit, especially non-
institutional credit for their farm operations which ultimately leads farmers into a debt-
trap, the study said.
Since long time, Indian farmers have been facing a number of socioeconomic
problems, such as harassment by moneylenders, inability to repay debts following
crop loss, inability to get medical treatment for the family, etc. The problem is
compounded by lack of positive and cooperative support from banks especially in the
face of inclement weather and market fluctuations. Economic plight of farmers might
be illustrated with the fact that a farmer having as much as 15 acres of land and
hence considered a well off farmer in Vidarbha, with an average income of Rs 2700
per acre per annum, had an income just little more than what he would have earned
the legal minimum wage for all 365 days of the year.
India consisting of 16% of world's population sustains only on 2.4% of land resource.
Agriculture sector is the only livelihood to the two-third of its population which gives
employment to the 57% of work force and is a raw material source to large number
of industries. Despite of portrayal of farming as a healthy and happy way of life,
agriculture sector experiences one of the highest number of suicides than any other
industry. Farmers' suicide is not only reported in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, but
also from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka.
In 1990s, India woke-up to a spate of suicide among farmers community. The first
state where suicides were reported was Maharashtra with particular reference to
Vidarbha region. A look at the figures given out by State Crime Records Bureau
makes it evident those farmers as a professional category is suffering from this
problem of high-suicide rates. Approximately 3.4 million cotton farmers occupy the
Vidarbha region (includes Akola, Buldana, Washim, Amravati, Nagpur, Chandrapur,
Gondia, Bhandara, Yavatmal, Gadchiroli, and Wardha districts) and 95% of them
struggle with massive debt, according to the Vidarbha Jan Aandolan Samiti (VJAS;
Local Farmers' Support Network). Incidence of farmers ending their lives in this
region had hit epidemic like proportions recently .
In a country of 70 million farmers, it is 10 in every 100,000 farmers committing
suicide. This is higher than the total national suicide rate. The number of farmers
committing suicide in India is more than twice of the total number of suicides being
committed in the top 100 countries on the suicide list! This indeed is worrying factor.
The Government's measures including waiving off loans, construction of dams, and
other assisting measures have not produced positive results so far.
In India, the national data show that suicide rate was 9.7/lakh population in
1995. [1] The population of Vidarbha is 12 lakhs, so number of suicide should be
around 116 per year. But according to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, suicides in
Vidarbha is 600 in 2007 till June, 1065 in 2006, 572 in 2005, 620 in 2004, 170 in
2003, and 122 in 2002. These figures definitely suggest suicide rate in Vidarbha is
high since 2002 in comparison to national suicide figure. A total of 7000 farmers
have committed suicide during the last 3 years. That is an average of over six
farmers committing suicide per day! More than 2190 per year!! Farmers' suicides in
Vidarbha in the last 3-4 years have already crossed 2500 causing a great anxiety.
Wardha district in particular is also facing this problem with increasing number of
claims for government ex gratia grant on steady rise. [9] In 2008 till April alone there
were 26 claims, as compared to 29 in 2004, 26 in 2005, 154 in 2006, and 128 in
2007. Subsequently Hon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Vidarbha and
promised a package of Rs. 11,000 crores to be spent by the government in
Vidarbha. The families of farmers who had committed suicide were also offered an
ex gratia grant to the tune of Rs. 1 lakh by the government. This figure kept on
varying, depending on how much pressure the government was facing from the
media and the opposition parties for being uncaring toward the farmers' plight.
TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING
INDIAN AGRICULTURE
Long since the start of green revolution Indian Agriculture has moved very far.With
the inception and adoption of new technology and improved way of farming
agriculture sector has taken long strides. Few of the factors affecting Indian
agriculture are:
Agricultural Mechanisation:
Extension Activities:
o Providing fee based advisory and other support services to the farmers
by training agriculture graduates in agri-business development and
establishing agri-clinics
E-Chaupal:
E-Chaupal is a business platform consisting of a set of organizational
subsystems and interfaces connecting farmers to global markets. It has been
initiated by International Tobacco Company (ITC) who are quite active in
agricultural sector in India. This e-chaupal business platform consists of three
layers each of different level of geographic aggregation. Each of the three
layers is characterized by three key elements
1. the infrastructure(physical or organizational)through which transaction
takes
place
2. the entity( person or organization) orchestrating the transactions , and
3. the geographical coverage of the layer.
The first layer consists of the village level kiosks with internet access
(e-chaupals), managed by an ITC trained local farmer and within walking distance 5
kilometers of each target farmer. Each cluster of five villages gets an e-chaupal,
which is justified by sparse population in rural India. The second layer consists of a
brick and mortar infrastructure called hub managed by the traditional intermediary
who has local knowledge/skills called Samayojak and within tractorable distance(25-
30 kilometer) of then target farmer.
ENVIRONMRNTAL FACTORS
AFFECTING AGRICULTURE
In India, monsoon is crucial for summer sow crops, like, soybean, rice, cotton an
sugarcane. With only 40 percent of farmland irrigated, the vast majority of India's
small farmers depend on monsoon to water their seeds. Insufficient rains this year
have cause acreage of all major crops to lag behind in term of year-on-year (Y-o-Y)
estimates, halting prospects for bigger harvests of rice, oilseed and sugar cane.
Indian Farm Minister, Shara Pawar told Parliament on 24th July that monsoon rains
has remained weak in the State of Bihar, India's leading corn producer, an Uttar
Pradesh, which normally produces more than half of India's sugarcane.
Between June 1 and July 15, rains have been 43 per cent below normal in the
crucial Northwest region, the nation's 'Grain Bowl' reported the weather bureau. The
region includes the biggest grain-growing states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and
Haryana. All of major agri states of India, including Madhya Pradesh, Andhra
Pradesh, Gujarat Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana kept waiting for
rain in the month of June, which ultimately arrived in the last wee of June, but indeed
with a very weak progress.
According to official estimates, the cumulative seasonal rainfall between 1st June
and 15th July is 27 per cent below normal levels. The deficient rainfall has adversely
affected the kharif sowing, as the total are under kharif crops has declined to 112
lake hectares in 2009 compared to 136 lakh hectare in the corresponding period in
2008, a drop of 17.1 per cent. The worst hit crops are rice oilseeds, especially
groundnut and soybean sugarcane. Coincidentally, these are the crops which have
observed sharp price rise in the last year.
Poor rain could affect cane crops in the main growing region of the northern state of
Uttar Pradesh. Other than being the world' top consumer of sugar, India, is also the
biggest producer of it after Brazil. However, it has become the large importer in
2008-09, after exporting a record 5 million tonnes of sugar is the year to September
2008. Now any impact on the production of sugarcane could lead to more imports of
sugar. Such is the impact of report regarding the possible decline in India' sugarcane
production due to weak monsoon that sugar values in the New York raw sugar
market have rallied to a three-year high of 17.3 cents per lb.
LEGAL FACTORS AFFECTING INDIAN
AGRICULTURE
Legal factors include various laws, reforms and new policies drawn up by the
government for improving the current scenario of agriculture sector. Some of the
important aspects of legal factors are discussed below.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation is considering to undertake a study of all the
existing enactments on state tube-well in the various states with uniform model
circulating it to the states of entrusting the main- works to the Panchayati Raj has
been accepted by the states of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and
Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Kerala,
Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, in some states the implementation of this
policy is under way.
The ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has impressed upon the state governments
the need for introducing legislation on ground-water and has circulated a draft model
Bill for the purpose. The purpose of the Bill is to regulate and control the
development of ground-water to Prevent over-exploitation and deterioration in water
quality. It has been suggested to the state governments to introduce legislation
authorizing them to notify the areas for controlling and regulating ground-water
development, granting permits for lifting and using water and for registering the
existing users in such areas. Laws for this purpose are under consideration in the
states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Goa.
Crop protection:. The Destructive Insects and Pest Act, 1914, passed by the
central Government provided for means against the entry of diseases from other
countries into India. Suitable provisions also exist in the Act for preventing the
spread of plant pests and diseases from one state to another in the country. For
implementing the provisions relating to the prevention of the entry of injurious pests
and diseases into the country, a chain of plant quarantine and fumigation stations
has been established in all important airports and seaports and land frontiers. The
state governments have also passed suitable legislative measures for dealing with
tile epidemics of plant diseases and pests, empowering them to organize measures
for chemical control. The success of plant protection measures largely depends upon
the efficacy of the chemicals used for controlling the plant pests and diseases. At the
same time, it is important that the chemicals used do not pose any serious risk to
human and animal life. It is necessary to ensure the quality of chemicals
manufactured in the country or imported and marketed for undertaking plant
protection measures.
Apart from these positions, most of the states, viz., Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra,
Gujarat,Assam, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh have
amended their Municipal Acts making obligatory on the part of the Municipal
committees to adopt competing as a method of refuse disposal.
Legislative measures dealing with soil and water conservation have been passed in
all the states, except Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. Among
the Union Territories, the Land Development Schemes Regulations, 1963, is in force
in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In other Union Territories, the question of
enacting suitable legislation is in various stages of examination and consideration. In
many states, there are other Acts which have an indirect bearing on the subject of
soil and water conservation dealing with the preservation and protection of forests,
etc.
Conclusion
From a nation dependent on food imports to feed its population, India today is not
only self--sufficient in grain production, but also has a substantial reserve. The
progress made by agriculture in the last four decades has been one of the biggest
success stories of free India. Agriculture and allied activities constitute the
single largest contributor to the Gross Domestic Product, almost 33% of it.
Agriculture is the means of livelihood of about two--thirds or 67% of the work force in
the country.
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