75 Years of Agricultural and Rural Development in India: 1947-48 to 2021-22

Agriculture in India was traditional and stagnant in every respect at the time of Independence in 1947. It was characterized by feudal land relations and primitive technology, resulting in low productivity per hectare of land. Consequently, rural India presented a picture of mass poverty and widespread unemployment and under-employment. Therefore, the first task of the government in the immediate post-Independence period was to initiate growth process in agriculture on modern lines. Modernization of agriculture was required both in terms of technological and institutional changes. Abolition of intermediaries in agriculture, namely zamindars and jagirdars, was accomplished soon after Independence. Agricultural sector occupies a key position in the Indian economy. Agriculture (inclusive of animal husbandry, forestry and fishing) is central to the nutrition needs of India and also remains the largest sector of India’s economy as a source of employment. Two major components of agricultural development strategy have been: (a) subsidies on inputs and (b) minimum support price for output. In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, a countrywide lockdown was announced from March 25, 2020. Most of the economic activities came to a grinding halt in urban areas. However, rural India continued to be normal in view of the exemption from restrictions allowed to farmers to conduct farming operations, including harvesting and transporting their produce to grain markets with the general conditions of face covering, hand hygiene and social distancing. These exemptions helped to maintain continuity in supply chain, especially in view of harvesting and sowing season. Not only cultivation, but agriculture-related activities—plantation, horticulture, cattle breeding, fishing, and dairy farming—also remained, by and large, immune to COVID crisis, providing a silver lining in the otherwise gloomy scenario. Government of India promulgated three ordinances on June 5, 2020 relating to agriculture. These ordinances were subsequently replaced by the following Acts of Parliament. (1) Farmers [Empowerment and Protection] Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 is a dedicated legislation to enable contract farming based on written agreements. (2) Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 liberates farmers by giving them the freedom to sell anywhere. (3) Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 has the objective of restricting the conditions on which the government can impose stock limit on agricultural produce. According to Economic Survey, 2020-21, “The reforms in the agricultural sector were more overdue than even the labour reforms as the existing laws kept the Indian farmer enslaved to the local mandi and their rent-seeking intermediaries”. Rural development implies both the economic betterment of people as well as greater social transformation. Increased participation of people in the rural development process, decentralisation of planning, better enforcement of land reforms and greater access to credit and inputs go a long way in providing the rural people with better prospects for improved quality of life. Improvements in housing, transport and communications, energy supply, health and education, water supply, and sanitation coupled with attitudinal changes are key elements of rural transformation. Alleviation of rural poverty has been one of the primary objectives of planned development in India. Ever since the inception of planning, the policies and the programmes have been designed and redesigned with this aim. Progressive reduction of unemployment has been one of the principal objectives of economic planning in India. Hence, India’s poverty alleviation strategy has leaned towards wage employment programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).…