Agricultural Crisis and Farmers-friendly Reforms in India

According to the Fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, 45.7 percent of Indias workforce in 2014-15 was employed in agriculture. Around 13 to 14 percent of Indias national income originates from the agricultural sector. Agricultural sector, thus, occupies a key position in the Indian economy, at least in terms of employment. Regrettably, agricultural sector in India has been witnessing loss of dynamism in recent years. The sector, as a whole, has showed poor performance lately. Signs of agrarian distress are visible in parts of the country. The spate of suicides by farmers in some areas is the most disconcerting manifestation of this distress. Marginal and small farmers have borne the brunt of the adverse circumstances in agriculture. Agricultural crisis has increased overtime due to a number of reasons but mainly owing to widening disparities between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors, resulting in burgeoning gap between the incomes generated per worker from the two sectors. Concerned by the slow growth in the agriculture and allied sectors, the Government of India has launched a series of programmes/schemes in recent years to rejuvenate agriculture and improve farm incomes.