|
|
Country's agri sector growth drop to 0.02 pc in Q4
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
Saumya Tewari | 04 Jun, 2015
Country's agriculture growth dropped to 0.02% in the last quarter of 2014-15,
according to the latest government data, compounding predictions of a
bad monsoon ahead.
The meteorological department on June 2,
2015, lowered its rainfall projections, saying the monsoon rainfall
would be 88 percent of the average. If this prediction pans out, 2015
will officially be a drought year, declared when monsoon rainfall
shortfall exceeds 10 percent. Unseasonal rains caused crop damage and a farm crisis this year, forcing wheat imports from Australia.
While
agriculture - which supports 600 million Indians - faces significant
distress, the warning signs have been evident for many years. Over the
past 20 years, the farm sector has experienced negative growth during
five years, three of those being drought years. Two indicators of India's struggle to keep its people fed are foodgrain production and its per capita availability. Although
foodgrain production increased 32 percent over the past two decades,
the population has increased by roughly 42 percent over this period. Per
capita availability of foodgrain has increased marginally, from 471 gm
in 1994-95 to 511 gm in 2013-14. Agriculture in India is mostly weather dependent, and that is a major reason for the fluctuations in farm growth. The
year 2014-15 has not been a good year for agriculture and productivity.
Our recent report shows how hunger and malnourishment are growing in
India, and why agriculture needs a boost in innovation for better
productivity. Instead, India's farmers are sinking deeper into distress. Why farmers are becoming workers Data
gleaned over last three census periods-1991, 2001 and 2011-indicate
that the population of cultivators has declined and farm labourers has
increased. This indicates that more people engaged in agriculture are landless and work on other people's land for wages. The
census defines two categories of workers engaged in farming:
cultivators and agricultural labourers. While cultivators own land,
agricultural labourers work on farms. People engaged in the farm sector are mostly unskilled workers. Meanwhile,
India's urban-rural divide appears to have widened between 1993-94 and
2011-12, according to an IIM-Ahmedabad study, which indicated two trends
over this period: * Per capita GDP for rural India increased 7 times and for urban India by 8 times.
* Urban per capita GDP was 2.3 times more than rural in 1993-94; this difference was 2.5 times in 2011-12 The
increasing gap shows that instead of moving towards greater economic
productivity, rural India is engaged in low wage-earning activity on
farms.
(In arrangement with IndiaSpend.org, a data-driven,
non-profit, public-interest journalism platform. Saumya Tewari can be
contgacted at webmaster@indiaspend.org. The views expressed are
personal)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|