Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- A note on primary sources
- Introduction
- 1 Town–country struggles in development: A brief overview of existing theories
- 2 Nehru's agricultural policy: A reconstruction (1947–1964)
- 3 Policy change in the mid-1960s
- 4 The rise of agrarian power in the 1970s
- 5 Organizing the countryside in the 1980s
- 6 Has rural India lost out?
- 7 The paradoxes of power and the intricacies of economic policy
- 8 Democracy and the countryside
- Appendix: Liberal trade regimes, border prices, and Indian agriculture
- Index
- Titles in the series
2 - Nehru's agricultural policy: A reconstruction (1947–1964)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- A note on primary sources
- Introduction
- 1 Town–country struggles in development: A brief overview of existing theories
- 2 Nehru's agricultural policy: A reconstruction (1947–1964)
- 3 Policy change in the mid-1960s
- 4 The rise of agrarian power in the 1970s
- 5 Organizing the countryside in the 1980s
- 6 Has rural India lost out?
- 7 The paradoxes of power and the intricacies of economic policy
- 8 Democracy and the countryside
- Appendix: Liberal trade regimes, border prices, and Indian agriculture
- Index
- Titles in the series
Summary
At the time of India's independence, the agricultural situation was bleak. During the four decades preceding 1946–7, India's foodgrain output grew by a mere 12 percent, whereas the population increased by over 40 percent, resulting in a decline in the per capita availability of foodgrains. Foodgrain yields had remained constant over this period. Yields for rice, India's main crop, accounting for close to one-half of its foodgrain output, had in fact dropped. In 1947, only about 15 percent of the cultivated land was under irrigation; the rest was dependent on the proverbial vagaries of the monsoon. Moreover, agriculture in many underdeveloped parts of Asia had moved ahead. Java, through labor-intensive methods, had managed to increase food output to match its population growth. Paddy yields in China were twice as high as average yields in India. Thus, the task of transforming agriculture was daunting and urgent. As a reminder of what could happen, one of the century's worst famines had already taken place in Bengal a few years back – in 1942 – when a million people died.
What strategy should India adopt for transforming agriculture? Political leaders of independent India went through a long and intense debate. There was agreement on the production objective. A substantial increase in food production was essential, new areas had to be brought under cultivation, and yields had to go up.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Democracy, Development, and the CountrysideUrban-Rural Struggles in India, pp. 28 - 47Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995