- The Indian economy is the fastest growing in the world must be construed as a favourable omen. However, the key point to consider here is whether the growth being witnessed has encompassed all crucial elements to ensure organic growth. It is here that the Indian economy faces a significant obstacle, simply because our over-dependency on agriculture has not subsided, despite making tremendous advancements in several other economic parameters, such as services, technology-driven applications/solutions, and, to a marginal extent, manufacturing. The disconcerting aspect of our economic growth is the repeated challenges in weaning away the majority of the farmers from the agriculture sector to manufacturing, which is extremely essential in the long run.
PC: The Hans India
- The Indian leadership, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wishes the country to be recognized as one of the advanced countries by the year 2047. The aspirational society also wishes to be on par with other globally advanced nations as well. For such a wish to fructify, the Indian workforce should be made to move away from the Agri-based industry to the manufacturing sector sooner rather than later. In other words, factory jobs are key to the health of India’s farming. The tariff war unleashed by Donald Trump has a direct bearing on this tectonic shift for our good. India did right by not opening its Agri markets to US grains, fruit, dairy, and fish. Why? Agriculture sustains 42% of India’s population and employs 46% of workers. Simple.
PC: India TV News
- But as it generates less than a fifth of GDP, most farmers are poor. A recent NABARD report said farming households earn Rs 13,661 per month, on average, of which actual farm income is just Rs 4,476. The rest is income from other work. Pitting millions of such small farmers against the output of America’s highly mechanized farms would amount to throwing them under the bus. Thus, when PM says, for us, our farmers’ welfare is supreme, we can’t agree more. Nonetheless, it’s time farmer welfare moved beyond protectionism. The greatest good that government can deliver to farmers is to free them from the yoke of subsistence farming. Only 2% of the US population works in agriculture, 1% in Germany and the UK, and 3% in Japan.
PC: PC: Cool Farm Tool
- In 1991, the number was 60% for China and 63% for India. China has brought it down to 22% – below the global average of 26% – but India is now in the league of Afghanistan (45%), North Korea (47%), and Myanmar (45%). There’s no glory in subsistence farming. Population growth has fragmented landholdings to an unviable size. From 2.28ha in 1971, average farm size came down to 0.74ha by 2021. Notably, input costs and inflation have risen faster than earnings from most major crops. Yet, the share of workers in agriculture has grown from 44% in 2017-18 to 46% in 2023-24. That signals a failure of the industry to create jobs at the required rate of 7.9mn every year. GOI must address this problem, not for Trump’s deal but to modernize India.
