Those who compare India with China on equal basis, could be left with egg on their face if the new Global Food Policy Report 2014-15 is to be read and believed. The recent report from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) shows why India is still faring much worse as compared to its neighbours including China, in the areas of agriculture and food security. In 2012, China spent close to...
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Bursting the myths on Indian agriculture -Rakesh Rao
-Business Standard Though Indian agriculture has grown to be second largest globally, there are many myths and misconceptions. So, let's find the truth. Though the government over the past few years has been focusing on enhancing manufacturing sector's share to India's GDP, contribution of agriculture to the GDP continues to be higher than that of the manufacturing. India has in abundant four critical fundamental resources - light, land, water & labour. Contrary...
More »Machines drive 90% of power in farming, humans’ share drops to 5% -Subodh Varma
-The Times of India Silently, agriculture in India has gone through a far-reaching change in the past few decades. The share of human power available for carrying out the myriad operations in farming has shrunk to a mere 5% as has that of draught animals, the iconic oxen pulling the plough. More than 90% of the power is now drawn from mechanical sources: tractors and power tillers provide the bulk, 47%;...
More »Going back in time -Yoginder K Alagh
-The Indian Express There seems to be emerging a fair consensus across the political spectrum that it is not prudent to tamper with the ongoing process of land market reform that began a decade ago. The earlier "revenue laws" that governed the registration of titles came from a century-old colonial legislation. The imperial government of India kept almost complete control over land title and use - in order to dispense...
More »The developing story -Sukumar Muralidharan
-The Hindu Business Line Will the growth-versus-distribution debate finally be settled in favour of the former? There are few areas of settled concord in economic theory. That the dynamic of power is often determinant in the limited enclaves of consent has been evident in recent times in the growth-versus-distribution debate. Residual doubts about the tilt of current policy were laid to rest with the Economic Survey for 2014-15. In this assessment of the...
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