Agriculture plays a major role in the development of any country economy and acts as a driving force to make country socially and economically independent. A country with low agriculture growth will not find any place in this world and has to always depend on the other country for their basic needs. Post Independence India agriculture condition was very poor and the country was unable to feed their own people, moreover frequent floods, famine and spread of various diseases have made the situation worst. It was a political will showed by then Agriculture minister C. Subramanian and PrimeMinister Lal Bahadur Shastri for the introduction of technology in agriculture sector and India became self-sufficient in cereal grain production.
With the explosion of population in the developing world like India, China, there was the need for more focused approach in dealing with the issue of food security and how effectively it can be distributed over the masses with maximum efficiency. It is said that the power of population is indefinitely is greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.
The solution for the issue is usage of Science and Technology .In the 1960s when country was facing famine like condition, dwarf wheat varieties developed by Norman Borlaug at CIMMTY in Mexico with funds from the Ford Foundation were introduced in northern India to bring about Green Revolution.
In 2011-12 India has imported around 56000 crore worth of edible oil to meet national requirement. India today requires another Green Revolution based on low input- high output model. Science can play a major role in this field but in the country like ours where various political ideology exist opposed the technology in 1960s.The worst siege on new technology has been conducted by neo-left. They want to take back India in 1900 era and sometime they also called as eco-terrorist .Various countries like European countries,Japan,SouthKorea have not allowed transgenic crops in their territories however the are importing huge amount for human consumption.
But in a country like India where millions of people die every year due to hunger and malnutrition ,there is a need for strict measures in the field of agriculture and science and technology can play a major role in developing the basic infrastructure for the present need .The only transgenic crop released in India till now is Bt cotton in 2005 ,as a result of PIL filed by an NGO ON bio-safety issue relating to transgenic crop. The committee set by the Supreme Court of India also slammed India bio-safety protocol and competence to carry out bio-safety work .If the committee had an open mind they would have asked for improvement rather than banning it.
Due to lack of investment and political will of people, the future of transgenic crop in India is in danger. That is why the Planning commission has projected the growth of 4% in the 12th Plan. We can use our old and new technologies we can aspire to grow at 7 to 8 % but if all these bans ,lack of will power, slow decision making will be there then the future of Indian agriculture will not be fruitful.In the words of Jawahar Lal Nehru" It is science alone that can solve the problem of hunger and poverty ,of sanitation and illiteracy ,of superstition and deadening custom and tradition.
Good blog. keep it up!!
ReplyDeleteVery informative one!!!..
ReplyDeleteIn India after 80's the Green Revolution has shown it's negative effects.The High Yielding seeds were suited to a few specific regions of the country and that made those areas develop at much rapid rate.The tragedy lies here of the unequal development which has led disparities among the states and broadened the economic gap which has been latter proved to be a social,cultural and political as well.Then, the regional factors became prevalent and the notion of survival made the migration of agricultural laborers to and fro.
The administrative failure lies here in the improper planning and the inordinate decision-making which has led to a 'Flawed Policy'.
The question here is what we seek the development outside our sovereignty, why can't we make that inside with a proper planning and flexible policy making which has a much wider scope of its own.I am not a supporter of 'Nehruvian Model' nor I am opposing the second green revolution proposed by the government; but I demand the accountability of the government and a proper and effective bureaucracy for proper policy-making.
Anyways Dinkar,your effort is laudable through the information shared.