UGC Report on Inter University Center on Rural - Ministry of Rural ...

2.1 Dualism inIndia’s Economy
Chapter 2
NEED FOR A N INTERUNIVERSITY CENTER
The position of India’s economy is apty described by the preamble of Planning
Commission’s Approach to Eleventh Plan:
“The Indian economy on the eve of the XI Plan is in a much stronger position that it
was a few years ago. While this performance reflects the strength of the economy in many
ways, it is also true that large parts of our population are still to experience a decisive
improvement in their standard of living. The Percentage of the population below the poverty
line is declining, but only at the modest pace. Far too many people still lack access to basic
services such as health, education, clean drinking water and sanitation facilities without
which they cannot be empowered to claim their share in the benefits of growth’’.
Official literature now accepts that the agricultural and rural sectirs have been neglected and
need priority in policy. There has been:
. Agricultural growth has declined and regional differences in performance are higher
• Decline in public investment on irrigation since the early 1980s.
• Agricultural profitability has fallen by 14.2 per cent through the decade of economic
reforms.
• Earlier agricultural fixed capital formation in the private sector was rising, although it
had collapsed in the public sector. But in the last few years, private sector investment
in agriculture had collapsed, although there is some revival in public investment.
• Low public investment on agricultural education and research (0.4 per cent of
agricultural GDP).
• Decline in the annual growth rate of fertilizer use from 7.8 per cent during the 1980s
to 4.3 per cent during the 1990s due to increasing fertilizer prices.
• Intensive cultivation and rice-wheat rotation year after year resulting in depletion of
soil nutrients in the North-Western region and a slow down of agricultural growth.
• Decline in growth of irrigation and arable area
• The first half of the Nineties was a period of explosive growth of agricultural trade.
Import growth exceeded export growth. In the second half, substantial import growth
continued. Exports collapsed.
• Rural urban inequalities have increased.
However the last few years have shown some improvement which should be capitalized
upon. As India powers itself into the Twenty First century with an eight percent growth and
a booming industry and export sector, agriculture continues as a soft underbelly. Its growth
has collapsed, employment particularly of women in subsidiary work has gone down and the
urban rural divide is wider. We must now walk the talk in agriculture. The National
Commission on Farmers has been successful in creating the consciousness that technology
support will be necessary and that if the economic climate and the technological choices are
not available in an integrated manner, both will hang separately.
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