Bemoans Devinder Sharma, noted food and trade policy expert, to B&E, “The government’s agriculture policy should be more aptly termed as the ‘farmer exit
policy’. The official vision envisages to ensure that by year 2050, about 400 million poor framers should quit their farmland and be deprived of their livelihood, in order to hand-over the agriculture to the corporate sector.” That the government is paying only lip service to agriculture is amply proven by the fact that more than half of the cultivated area in India is devoid of irrigation facilities. Not surprising, as agriculture has only 0.8% and irrigation a mere 0.13% share in the 2007-08 budget. The combined expenditure on agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying, irrigation, cooperatives and agricultural R&D is a paltry 1.6% of the total expenditure. Compare this to the fact that agriculture’s share of the European Union’s budget is a massive 34% (from year 2007 till 2013).
Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the brilliant leader of India’s Green Revolution, had shared with us in the past the critical problems facing this sector. Interestingly, he and the eminent farm-sector expert, Abhijit Sen, brought out the lopsided agricultural development policy of the government in their latest report.
policy’. The official vision envisages to ensure that by year 2050, about 400 million poor framers should quit their farmland and be deprived of their livelihood, in order to hand-over the agriculture to the corporate sector.” That the government is paying only lip service to agriculture is amply proven by the fact that more than half of the cultivated area in India is devoid of irrigation facilities. Not surprising, as agriculture has only 0.8% and irrigation a mere 0.13% share in the 2007-08 budget. The combined expenditure on agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying, irrigation, cooperatives and agricultural R&D is a paltry 1.6% of the total expenditure. Compare this to the fact that agriculture’s share of the European Union’s budget is a massive 34% (from year 2007 till 2013).Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the brilliant leader of India’s Green Revolution, had shared with us in the past the critical problems facing this sector. Interestingly, he and the eminent farm-sector expert, Abhijit Sen, brought out the lopsided agricultural development policy of the government in their latest report.
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Source: IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative
Source: IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative
