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India's agricultural growth in the twentieth century has been low compared to that in other developing countries. However, there have been some important developments in the agricultural sector in this period. Famines have all but disappeared and there is now a food surplus. The green revolution too increased yield and productivity for certain crops in specific agro-climatic zones. Having said that, a lot still needs to be done.
While agricultural growth has contributed to significant decline in poverty, India still remains home to the largest number of poor. Agricultural productivity remains low in much of the rain fed areas where poverty and malnutrition are concentrated. Land productivity is also declining in areas which are over-irrigated. Agricultural growth must be restarted, and the benefits more fairly distributed.
This timely handbook reviews key issues in Indian agriculture today. Individual contributors assess the state of Indian agriculture in relation to state and central economic policies and their impact on the economic and societal environment; the need to shift focus from green revolution areas to other regions and crops in the context of globalization and even distribution of the benefits achieved; food security, not only at the national but also at the regional, household, and group levels; contemporary issues relating to poverty and agricultural subsidies; emerging issue of the changing agrarian system and rural urban linkages.
1: Overview; 2: Economic and Agriculture Policy in India; 3: Part-I Agriculture and Environment; Part-II: Zero-tillage for reducing negative environmental impacts of agriculture; 4: Role of Agriculture in the Poverty Reduction Process in India; 5: Food Security and Agriculture; 6: Rural Urban Migration: Agriculture and Crisis Management; 7: Changing Agrarian System and Rural Urban Linkages in India in the Context of Social Viability; 8: The Vanishing Village: Culture and Agriculture in Rural North India; References.
Shovan Ray, Dr, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research Contributors: Shovan Ray, Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research, Sudhakar Yedla, Associate Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research ; Sowjanya Peddi, ;Vijay Laxmi Pandey, Assistant Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research; Raj Gupta, Coordinator, Rice and Wheat Consortium, CIMMYT ; Manoj Panda, Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research; P.V. Srinivasan, Professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research; Amitabh Kundu, Professor, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University; Dipankar Gupta, Professor, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University
