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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 2010: Watershed year for Indian agriculture

2010: Watershed year for Indian agriculture

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published Published on Dec 27, 2010   modified Modified on Dec 27, 2010

In more ways than one the calendar year 2010 would go down the memory lane as a watershed year for the food and agriculture front in the country which recorded unprecedented growth rate of 4.4 per cent in July-September quarter but by December unprecedented price hike of essential food items especially left consumers in tears.
 
As the year comes to an end, an embattled government and the Union agriculture ministry stood vulnerable to severe criticism for alleged mishandling of the stocks and prices of onion and other vegetable items like tomato, garlic, pulses, milk and sugar.

Just when the government seemed to have heaved a sigh of relief as the food-based inflation dropped to single digit in November, by the week ended 11 December, this had again shot up to double digit at 12.13 per cent prompting a reasonable finance minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee to admit that the price hike was a matter of ‘concern’.

“That is one of the challenges at the macro-economic level,” he had said. The price situation left the government so much in alarm that by 21-22 December,  Prime Minister Dr Manmahon Singh virtually sidelined the beleaguered agriculture minister Mr Sharad Pawar and set up a core team to work on the same on war-footing.

He asked finance minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, commerce minister Mr Anand Sharma and cabinet secretary Mr KM Chandrashekar to quell the situation. The government also took a few drastic steps like banning onion exports indefinitely as well as abolished import duty on the base food item.

Earlier in the year, the milk and dairy products prices had gone up. As per the revised rates, a polypack of full cream milk in March went up to Rs 30 per litre and later to Rs 32, toned milk cost was Rs 23-24. Mother Dairy attributed the hike to the general increase in procurement prices.
 
In January, the agriculture minister had practically stirred the hornet’s nest by pressing the panic button on milk and other dairy products.

The country was facing a severe shortage of milk due to insufficient availability of milk, particularly in northern India, he had said. The government was also put to straddle a fight against the virtually united Opposition during the year on price rise. On 26 April, 2010, the government won a crucial number game by defeating the Opposition sponsored cut motions.

Among other steps during the year, the government constituted a Core Group of chief ministers from states to make recommendations on the agriculture development. The Core Group met under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister, and formed three working groups to deliberate on issues relating to agriculture production, food and public distribution and consumer affairs.

A new initiative to extend Green Revolution to the water surplus states in the eastern region was announced in this year’s budget with an initial outlay of Rs. 400 crore. The programme, covering Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal, Orissa and Assam envisages the adoption of new seed varieties, farm machinery, integrated nutrient and pest management and knowledge basedinterventions from different agro climatic zones.

During US President Barack Obama’s visit, India’s ‘Monsoon Mission’ had received a shot in the arm with the signing of a pact that will enable its scientists to use American models to better forecast rainfall. India and the USA also agreed to cooperate on agriculture front and work jointly for food security measures in Africa.

The much touted Food Security Mission made news from time to time during the year with Mrs Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC) on 23 October recommended to the government to grant legal entitlement of foodgrains to nearly 800 million people making about 75 per cent of population through a reformed PDS network from the next financial year. The NAC had also decided to set aside the Below Poverty Line (BPL)criteria and suggested two broad categories ~ priority and general ~ eligible for legal foodgrain entitlement under the proposed food security law. The issue is now pending with the PMO.


The Statesman, 26 December, 2010, http://thestatesman.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=353550&catid=36


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