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GS Economy Basics of Indian Economy

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With reference to Indian economy, which among the following were the measures undertaken by Indian Government to bring about revolution in agriculture?

(A)

1 and 4 only

(B)

1, 2, 3 and 4 only

(C)

1, 2 and 4 only

(D)

2, 3, 4 and 5 only

Explanation:

ANSWER: (B)

The policy makers of independent India had to address these issues which they did through land reforms and promoting the use of ‘High Yielding Variety’ (HYV) seeds which ushered in a revolution in Indian agriculture.

The major policy initiatives in agriculture sector were land reforms and green revolution. These initiatives helped India to become self-sufficient in food grains production.
Subsidies were, therefore, needed to encourage farmers to test the new technology. Some economists believe that once the technology is found profitable and is widely adopted, subsidies should be phased out since their purpose has been served.
Further, subsidies are meant to benefit the farmers but a substantial amount of fertiliser subsidy also benefits the fertiliser industry; and among farmers, the subsidy largely benefits the farmers in the more prosperous regions.
Therefore, it is argued that there is no case for continuing with fertiliser subsidies; it does not benefit the target group and it is a huge burden on the government’s finances (see also Box 2.6).
On the other hand, some believe that the government should continue with agricultural subsidies because farming in India continues to be a risky business.
Land ceiling was another policy to promote equity in the agricultural sector. This means fixing the maximum size of land which could be owned by an individual. The purpose of land ceiling was to reduce the concentration of land ownership in a few hands.
The abolition of intermediaries meant that some 200 lakh tenants came into direct contact with the government
Equity in agriculture called for land reforms which primarily refer to change in the ownership of landholdings. Just a year after independence, steps were taken to abolish intermediaries and to make the tillers the owners of land.
The idea behind this move was that ownership of land would give incentives to the tillers to invest in making improvements provided sufficient capital was made available to them.