Page 139 - DECO502_INDIAN_ECONOMIC_POLICY_ENGLISH

Unit 11: Sectoral Performance I: Agriculture: Growth Productivity Trends and Crop Patterns

knowledge. The provision of irrigation facilities or the supply of seeds and fertilisers, etc., may Notes
be related to the adoption of a given crop pattern by the farmers.
Apart from the personal prejudices, and inadequate financial and other resources of the farmers
there may be factors like recurrent drought or pest infestation that prevent them from opting
for a more remunerative set of crops. In those situations if more of irrigation, institutional credit
fertilizers pesticides etc. are made available, it would be possible for them to change the crop-
structure and so earn larger returns from their land. To the extent it is not possible for a farmer to
acquire all these by himself, the Government could come to his help and procure these for him.
To other possibilities of helping the farmer to improve the cropping pattern are building of new
roads which will improve the flow of commodities to the market where they will fetch better
prices and help to stabilish industries or townships nearer to their land.
Self- Assessment
1. Choose the correct option
(i) Where did crop circles first appear?
(a) Peru (b) England
(c) Russia (d) Zambia
(ii) Who or what was discovered to have created those early crop circles?
(a) Ball lightning (b) Wind vortices
(c) Pranksters (d) Aliens
(iii) What is the science of studying crop circles called?
(a) Cereology (b) Agronomy
(c) Terralogy (d) Anomology
(iv) Wiltshire County, England, is the center of the crop circle phenomenon. What else is Wiltshire
home to?
(a) Tower of London (b) Canterbury Cathedral
(c) Windsor Castle (d) Stonehenge
(v) What form have some crop circle artists included in their work to prove the designs are not
natural occurrences?
(a) Triangle (b) Straight line
(c) Perfect circle (d) Zigzag
11.3 Summary

• Agriculture has always been the backbone of the Indian economy and despite concerted
industrialisation in the last six decades, agriculture still occupies a place of pride. It provides
employment to around 60 per cent of the total work force in the country. The significant of
agriculture in the national economy can be briefly explained by considering the role of agriculture
under different heads.
• Indian agriculture has been the source of supply of raw materials to our leading industries.
Cotton and jute textile industries, sugar, flour mills vanaspati and plantations-all these depend
on agriculture directly.
• Importance of Indian agriculture also arises from the role it plays in India’s trade. Agricultural
products-tea, sugar, oilseeds, tobacco, spices, etc.-constituted the main items of exports of India.
• The significance of agriculture in India arises also from the fact that the development in
agriculture is an essential condition for the development of the national economy. Ragnar Nurkse
argues that the surplus pelation in agriculture should be shifted to the newly stated industries.
Nurkse’s thesis is that agricultural productivity will be increased on the one hand and on the
other industrial units would be set up with the use of surplus labour.

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