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Unit 6: Agriculture in the National Economy

Indian telecom companies are considered to be most cost efficient telecom operators of Notes
the world. They have an expertise in cutting cost and offering services at lower tariffs than
anywhere in the world. Applying the Low – Cost Model to higher APRUs market will
maximize the returns. Bharti can leverage on the economies of scale it is operating in
Indian Market. Bharti is very good at rolling out networks fast and effortlessly and have
got some unique contracts and relationships that they can leverage internationally. For
instance, Bharti has tied up with IBM (on the IP front) Nokia and Ericsson (for Networks).
There are many first to Indian Telecom Companies as India is the first country in the
world to outsource the IT network, India is the first to start infrastructure sharing, Indian
telecom players were the first to hive off their towers into separate companies. Such
innovative strategies will help Bharti fight it out in the Bangladesh telecom market.

Source: Business Environment, Dr Vivek Mittal, Excel Books
6.2 Progress of Agriculture under the Five-Year Plans

In this section, you must appreciate the progress of agriculture under the five-year plans. On the
eve of the First Plan (1951-56), agriculture was in a desperate and deplorable situation. Our
farmers were in huge debt to the village money-lenders. They were possessing small and
scattered holdings. They had neither the money nor the knowledge to utilise proper equipment,
good seeds and chemical manures. Except in particular selected irrigated areas, they were
dependent upon rainfall and upon the vagaries of the monsoons. Productivity of land and of
labour had been decreasing and was generally the lowest in the world. Despite the fact that
more than 70 per cent of our working population was involved in cultivation, the country was
not self-sufficient in food grains but had to rely on imports of food grains. Also, the partition of
the country in 1947 worsened the agricultural situation, as India was allocated more people but
less land to support them.

6.2.1 Objectives of Economic Planning for the Agricultural Sector

You should remember while planning to create the agricultural sector, the Planning Commission
has generally kept four broad goals in view:
(a) Increase Agricultural Production: The ambition has always been (i) to bring more land
under cultivation, (ii) raise the per hectare yield via intensive application of such agricultural
inputs as irrigation, improved seeds, fertilisers, etc. and therefore (iii) bring about enhanced
agricultural production.
(b) Increase Employment Opportunities: Aside from increase in production, the agricultural
sector has to produce extra employment opportunities and offer scope for increasing the
incomes of the poorer sections in our villages.
(c) Decrease the Pressure of Population on Land: Another fundamental goal of planning in
the agricultural sector has been to decrease the number of people working on land, on the
assumption that there are too many people working on land. The excess labour on land
should be shifted to secondary and tertiary sectors, rather in rural and semi-urban regions.
(d) Decrease Inequality of Incomes in the Rural Sector: The Government should eliminate the
exploitation of tenants, and should distribute excess land among small and marginal
farmers in such a manner that there would be some amount of equality and justice in the
rural regions.
All these four goals are generally followed in all our five year plans but in practice, agricultural
planning in India has come to depict increase in agricultural production, namely, the achievement
of the first objective; all other goals have either been avoided or given lower priority.

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