Nowadays, we frequently come across various heartbreaking reports about the poverty-stricken people in rural India. In recent years, due to irregularities in monsoon, shortage of water for irrigation, lack of storage facilities, marketing, inadequate sanitation and health care, the farmers, particularly the marginal ones and landless labourers, are facing a lot of hardship in leading a normal life. Very often we are coming across news about farmers committing suicide because of crop failure and heavy financial burdens.
During the last five to six decades in India, the annual growth of industries and services has been at the rate of 6.1 per cent and 6.2 per cent respectively whereas that in agriculture is only 2.9 per cent. However, at present, India is the largest producer of pulses andmilk, second largest producer of wheat, rice, sugarcane, fruits and vegetables in the world. In this way India is a surplus country in agricultural products. But, most of the benefits go to big farmers and traders who are a few in numbers. Due to this, nearly one third of the population is living below the poverty level and 25 to 30 per cent people are unemployed. These are mainly because of improper distribution of lands and high percentage of landless people in rural India. Along with this, there is a loss of 25 to 30 per cent of food grains due to inadequate storage facilities and defective distribution systems.
In 2016, the contribution of agricultural sector was only 17.32 per cent to our Gross Domestic Products (GDP) whereas that of industries and services was 29.02 per cent and 53.66 per cent, respectively. The contribution of agriculture towards GDP is only 17.32 per cent while the people engaged in this sector are about 65 per cent of the population of India. This indicates that each worker in agricultural sector is contributing only 0.26 per cent towards GDP while those engaged in services and industrial sectors contribute about 2.5 per cent. As a result, most of the people in agricultural sector except a few large landholders are living with very small income.
Thus, in rural India, the farmers, particularly the marginal ones and the landless workers in the agricultural sector, are large in numbers and their socio economic condition is very miserable. Therefore, the subsidies provided by the Central Government and State Governments on seed, fertilizer, power, irrigation, crop insurance etc., only benefit the big farmers who are small in number. Besides 100 days of wage work in a year of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme for an adult in each rural household, there is practically no other employment opportunity. As a matter of fact, the employment opportunities for them could have been enormous by providing services in the areas like irrigation, supply of agricultural implements, production of renewable energy, employment in agro industries, health and sanitation etc.
The agro industries in villages are a few. These industries are facing a lot of obstacles like want of proper infrastructure, skilled workers, updated technology, financial assistance, market, proper incentives etc. If these could be taken care of, a lot of people in the farmer’s family can be able to earn more.
The contribution of agriculture sector towards GDP during the last seven decades in India has declined where as industry and service sector has grown much faster. As a result, the contribution of agriculture towards GDP has fallen from about 53 per cent in 1950 – 51 to only 15.2 per cent in 2016 – 17. However similar is the trend in other countries, but the number of people engaged in agricultural sector in India is much more than those in other countries. For example, the employment share of agriculture in South Korea is 5 per cent, in Japan 3.5 per cent, and in United States 2 per cent, whereas in India it is as high as 45 per cent. Therefore, it is essential to diversify the livelihood of our farmers, so that more members of their family particularly the youths and women, can be employed in services and industrial sectors, including agro industries.
There is great scope to initiate various programmes in rural India like public health and sanitation, supply of solar, wind and bio-energy, post harvest technology, agro-waste processing, mining of minerals, infrastructural development etc. which can provide employment to most of these people. In this way, a large number of people can get better sources of earning other than farming. In this process less number of people will be engaged in agriculture and can earn more by applying modern agricultural practices in a cooperative manner.
It is therefore, essential for skill development among younger generation in rural India in various disciplines and creation of job opportunities in services and industry sectors. Thus, a large number of people can be accommodated in these two sectors as employees or through self – employment. In this way, a family in rural area will not only depend on agriculture but also have other additional sources of earning. The practice of giving loans and waiving it every time will not serve the purpose.
In Odia there is a saying “Dhoke Pi Dande Ji” (Take a sip, live a while). The programme of subsidies and loans will not help the farmers for long. Therefore, well planned programmes for diversification of livelihood of farmers as mentioned, will be helpful to upgrade their living standard. Thus, the farmer’s family can have a respectable living instead of looking for subsidies and loan waiving every now and then.
(Prof Dr Jena is former Director General, CSIR, former, State Planning Board member, founder chairman, Institute of Advance Technology and Environmental Studies (IATES) and founder president, Natural Resources Development Foundation (NRDF), Email: prof.pkjena_iates@yahoo.com )