Two prominent economists and industry figures in India say the new government that would assume office next month should accord top priority to the agriculture sector, as it is time for the second green revolution and to improve the economic health of the world's largest democracy.
"I think the time for the second green revolution has come. The new government that assumes office in May should give top priority to this," Dr Amit Mitra, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry said while participating in BBC Hindi Special Programme, Aapki Baat BBC Ke Saath broadcast on Sunday night.
He said: "Welfare of farmers is important. Similarly, agro-processing and food processing, which would provide jobs to millions should be linked to agriculture sector."
Participating in the programme, Prof Y K Alagh, former central minister said: "In the agriculture sector, there have been problems during the past four-five years. Our agricultural products, which were being sold in the international market, like cotton, have seen a decline in the demand, though the good crop of wheat and rice did allow a little bit of export.
"But the diversification, which was being done during the last two decades has faced severe problems during the past three-four years. It is important that the reforms in agriculture are given priority," Prof Alagh, a former vice chancellor of the JNU said.
Mitra on the other hand said: "In this age of reforms, despite all tall talk, let us admit that the agriculture revolution, the second green revolution could not be brought about. The major reforms required in the agriculture sector have been missing. Both the governments of the reforms era have not been able to do it. May be because they had to address the fundamental problems in macro economy, from fiscal deficit to licence raj, first."
He warned against the uneven development of the country. "In India, there is a clearly defined geographical region -- eastern UP, Bihar, parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh -- which has not seen any significant development in comparison to states of West and South.
"Development could be done with industries coming to this region. But how could you have industries there with even electricity? It is mainly because of the law and order problem and lack of basic facilities. See, this is leading to a fractured India, a divided one."
"We are having a heartland region in India, the states
that I have mentioned, which are not being developed, there is no political or social change. People are migrating from this region, and a big gap can be seen from the developed parts of the country."
Claiming that economic reforms are helping the poor of the country, Mitra said: "Before the reforms, 36 per cent of the people were below the poverty line. At present this percentage has dropped to 26 per cent. This shows that in this almost decade and a half, ten per cent of the people have come out of poverty line.
"We can bring the poverty figures down to 10 per cent, when we achieve 10 per cent of economic growth rate and provide more and more jobs. Do not forget that even in America 20 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line."
"It is true that the economic reforms have not been of much use for those below the poverty line. The GDP growth rate is not merely because of agricultural growth. Let us not forget that today more than a million Indians work. It is true that we are not seeing these reforms have not happened overnight. The Congress government initiated these reforms in a big way in 1991. In fact this process had been slowly underway since 1984. Now the BJP government continued these reforms, building a consensus, on these."
On poverty, Alagh said: "The decade of 80s saw a dramatic decline in the poverty figures. It was not so positive in the 90s. I feel that the improvement in agriculture sector for more jobs, and states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar must be put on the path to development. In these states, we would have to come out of the cluster development, and broad-base it. It could be done by investing in small-scale industries."
