Indian Economy, 5th edition (33 page)

(iii)
Cooperative farming
which has a high socioeconomic moral base was only used by the big farmers to save their lands from the draconian ceiling laws.

The whole attempt of land reforms in India is considered a big failure by the majority of experts. Many consider the issue of land reforms in India as the most complex socioeconomic problem of human history
15
. The data regarding the numerical achievements of the land reforms have been highly discouraging
16
.

(i)
Tenancy reforms made tenants have their rights but only on 4 per cent of the total operated area of India (14.4 million hectares of operated area by the 11 million tenants by 1992);

(ii)
Redistribution of ownership rights of land took place but on only 2 per cent of the total operated area of the country (less than 2 million hectares among the 4.76 million people by 1992);

(iii)
Taken together, the whole process of land reforms could benefit only 6 per cent of the operated area of the country with a negligible socioeconomic positive impact.

It was the failure of the land reforms which made the government easily attracted towards the new policy of the Green Revolution in the coming times—land reforms had failed to increase the agricultural production thus the government opted the route of increasing the productivity to reach the same goal i.e., the initiation of the new techiques of agriculture.

Reasons for Failure of Land Reforms

Out of many reasons forwarded by the experts responsible for the failure of the land reforms in India, the following three could be considered the most important ones:

(i)
Land in India is considered a symbol of social prestige, status and identity
unlike the other economies which succeeded in their land reform programmes where it is seen as just an economic asset for income-earning;

(ii)
Lack of political will which was required to affect the land reforms and make it a successful programme; and

(iii)
The rampant corruption in public life, political hypocricy and leadership failure in the Indian democratic system.

Land Reforms & Green Revolution

Once the Government launched the Green Revolution (GR), the issue of land reforms (LR) almost got marginalised due to the following reasons:

(i)
There is an inherent diabolic relationship between the GR and the LR as the former suits to bigger and economic land holdings the latter intended to fragment the land among a large number of the masses.

(ii)
The LR was socially opposed by the land-owning caste lobbies while there was no such opposition to the GR.

(iii)
The level of legislative attempts taken by the governments regarding the LR till date had almost no positive socioeconomic impact on the country while the GR was having all potential of proving higher yields of the foodgrains.

(iv)
The subsidised supplies of foodgrains under PL480 were hampering India from carving out its independent diplomacy, as well as there has always remained a doubt about the regular supplies of wheat.

(v)
International pressure as well as the suggestions from the
w
orld Bank besides the success stories of the GR from the countries where it had increased the yield of wheat.

Land Reforms & Economic Reforms

Once economic reforms started in early 1990s, the issue of the LR looks logically going to the back burner. Though many state governments have revived their new commitments to the matter of the LR, the market economy approach to reform hardly got materialised.

The central government is doing everything to increase agricultural production, specially to achieve
food security
. Besides, unless India grows surplus agricultural produce the benefits of globalisation in the WTO regime would not be accruing to the agriculture sector and the masses who depend on it for their livelihood would miss the train to their prosperity and development. The government’s emphasis and permission for
corporate farming
and
contract farming
has been praised by the experts in India and abroad alike. Yet, sociopolitical acceptance of these new methods of farming are yet to crystallise.

Meanwhile, the soul of the land reforms needs modification to go parallel with the process of economic reforms.

Agriculture Holdings

The average size of land holding in India is continuously decreasing due to rapid and high population growth. The continuous division and fragmentation of holdings has increased the number of holdings, obviously of smaller size. According to the results of Agriculture Census 1990–91:

•
The total number of operational holdings in the country had increased from 972 million in 1985–86 to 1066 million in 1985–86 to 1066 million in 1990–91.

•
Operated area, on the other hand, had risen only marginally, i.e., by about 0.6 per cent. Rise in the number of holdings without corresponding increase in area clearly showed pressure of population on land with average size of holding declining from 1.69 hectare in 1985–86 to 1.55 hectare in 1990–91. 59 per cent of total operational holdings in 1990–91 were of size less than 1 hectare (i.e., marginal holdings), 32.2 per cent of size between 1–4 hectare (i.e., small holdings), 7.2 per cent of size between 4–10 hectares (i.e., medium holdings) and only 1.6 per cent of size more than 10 hectares (i.e., large holdings).

•
In 1985–86, Rajasthan had the highest average holding size of 4.34 hectares, followed by Punjab having an average size of 3.77 hectares. Contrary to it, Kerala was having the lowest average holding size of 0.36 hectares (1985–86 data are the latest.) Agricultural holdings have been classified into
three
categories:

1. Economic Holding

It is that holding which ensures a minimum satisfactory standard of living to a family. In other words, economic holding is a minimum essential area for profitable agriculture.

2. Family Holding

Family holding is that holding which gives work to average size family having one plough under traditional farming system. In other words, family holding is a
‘plough unit’
which is neither less nor more for an average size family to cultivate it properly.

3. Optimum Holding

Maximum size of the holding which must be possessed and owned by a family is called optimum holding.

Computerisation of Land Records

Two Centrally Sponsored Schemes viz. (i) Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) and (ii) Stren-gthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA & ULR) are being administered by Land reforms Division in the Department of Land Resources
17
.

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) was started in 1988–89 with 100 per cent financial assistance as a pilot project in eight districts, viz., Rangareddy (A.P.), Sonipur (Assam), Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Morena (M.P.), Wardha (Maharashtra), Mayurbhanj (Orissa) and Dungarpur (Rajasthan) with a view to remove the problems inherent in the manual systems of maintenance and updating of land records and to meet the requirements of various groups of users. It was decided that efforts should be made to computerise core data contained in land records, so as to assist development planning and to make records accessible to people/planners and administrators.

At present, the scheme is being implemented in
582
districts of the country excepting those districts where there are no land records. A decision was taken during 1997–98 for operationalisation of the scheme at the tehsil/taluk level for facilitating delivery of computerised land records to users and public at large. Under this programme, funds are released to the state governmentsfor purchase of hardware, software and other peripheral equipment.

Green Revolution

It is the introduction of new techniques of agriculture which became popular by the name of the Green Revolution (GR) around the world in early 1960s
—
at first for
wheat
and by the next decade for
rice
, too. It revolutionised the very traditional idea of food production by giving a boost by more than 250 per cent to the productivity level.
18
The Green Revolution was centred around the use of the High Yielding variety (HYV) of seeds developed by the US agro-scientist Norman Borlaug doing research on a British Rockfellor
f
oundation Scholarship in Mexico by the early 1960s. The new wheat seeds which he developed
in vivo
claimed to increase its productivity by more than 200 per cent. By 1965, the seeds were successfully tested and were being used by farmers in food deficient countries such as Mexico, Taiwan.

Components of the Green Revolution

The Green Revolution was based on the timely and adequate supply of many inputs/components. The components of the G.R. and a brief introductions follows:-

1. The HYV Seeds

They were popularly called the ‘
dwarf
’ variety of seeds.
w
ith the help of repeated mutations, Mr. Borlaug had been able to develop a seed which was raised in its nature of nutrients supplied to the different parts of the wheat plant—against the leaves, stem and in favour of the grain. This made the plant dwarf and the grain heavier—resulting into high yield
19
.

These seeds were non-photosynthetic, hence non-dependent on sun rays for targeted yields!

2. The Chemical Fertilizers

The seeds were to increase productivity provided they got sufficient level of nutrients from the land. The level of nutrients they required could not be supplied with the traditional compostes because they have low concentration of nutrients content and required bigger area while sowing—it meant it will be shared by more than one seed! That is why a high concentration fertilizer was required which could be given to the trageted seed only—the only option was the chemical fertilizers—the urea (N), the phosphate (P) and the potash (K).
20

3. The Irrigation

For controlled growth of crops and adequate dilution of fertilizers, a controlled means of water supply was required. It made two important compulsions—firstly the area of such crops should be at least free of flooding and secondly, artificial water supply should be developed.
21

4. Chemical Pesticides and Germicides

a
s the new seeds were new and non-acclimatised to local pests, germs and diseases than the established indigenous varieties, use of pesticides and germicides became compulsory for result-oriented and secured yields.

5. Chemical Herbicides and Weedicides

To prevent costlier inputs of fertilisers not being consumed by the herbs and the weeds in the farmlands, herbicides and weedicides were used while sowing the HYV seeds.

6. Credit, Storage, Marketing/Distribution

For farmers to be capable of using the new and the costlier inputs of the GR, availability of easy and cheaper credit was a must. As the farmlands suitable for this new kind of farming was region-specific (as it was only Haryana, Punjab and
w
estern Uttar Pradesh in India) storage of the harvested crops was to be done in the region itself till they were distributed throughout the country. Again, the countries which went for the GR were food-deficient and needed the new yield to be distributed throughout the country and a proper chain of marketing, distribution and transport connectivity was necessary. All these peripheral infrastructure were developed by the countries going for the GR with softer loans coming from the
w
orld Bank—India being the biggest beneficiary.
22

Impact of the Green Revolution

The GR had its positive as well as negative socioeconomic and ecological impacts on the countries around the world, we will specially study India here:

1. Socio-economic Impact

Food production increased in such a way (wheat in 1960s and rice, too by 1970s) that many countries became self-sufficient (self sufficiency of food must not be confused with the idea of food security!) and some even emerged as food exporting countries too.

But the discrepancy in farmers’ income it brought with itself increased the inter-personal as well as inter-regional disparities/inequalities in India
23
. Rise in the incidence of malaria due to water-logging, a swing in the balanced cropping patterns in favour of wheat and rice putting pulses, oilseeds, maize, barley on the margins, etc. were the negative impacts.

2. Ecological Impact

The most devastating negative impact of the GR had been the ecological one.
w
hen the issues related with it were raised by the media, scholars, experts and the environmentalists, neither the governments nor the masses (what to say of the farmers of the GR region! they were not educated enough to the side effects of the inputs of the GR!) were convinced. But a time came when the government and the government agencies both started doing studies and surveys focused around the ecological and environmental issues. The major ones among them may be glanced in their chronological order:

I. Critical Ecological Crisis
On the basis of on-field studies
24
it was found that critical ecological crises in the GR region are showing up—

(a)
s
oil fertility being degraded
(due to the repititive kind of cropping pattern being followed by the farmers as well as the excessive exploitation of the land; lack of a suitable crop combination and the crop intensity; etc.).

(b)
Water table falling down
(as the new HYV seeds required comparitively very high amount of water for irrigation—5 tonnes of water needed to produce 1 kg of rice!.