History of Agriculture in India

History of Agriculture in India

Origin: 5000 years old

1. Mesolithic Age – Hunters and Gatherers

·        Kalibanga (Rajasthan)- Plough Field

·        Banawali (Haryana) –  Terracotta Figure - Plough

·        Harappa (Punjab Province)- Wooden Plough

Food Habits:

19 Edible Plants, 17 Plants for Juice, 25 Edible Leaves

2. Neolithic Age (Origin of Agriculture Revolution)

Grains dibbled with pointed sticks – wheat, barley, rice, millet, maize.

Sheep, goat, cattle – Dung as manure

Clay pots – storage of grain

Sickle – harvesting crop

Concept of Food security -  when man settled in villages.

3. Harappa (Indus Valley Civilization) Agriculture

Town – Citadel – Lower town & Upper town – Farm filed located near river basins.

Wheel cart, Pottery making

Mohenjadaro (Sind) – Great Granary

Sling balls – to scare away animal, pest…

2000 Agriculture tools recovered form Burazhom (Srinagar) – Belong to Mesolithic Period.

Oldest Irrigation system and Dam – Saurastra (Gujarat)

Jhuming  - Shifting cultivation still prominent in North East India.

4. Chalcolithic settlement

Ragi found (1800 BC),  Ber, Amla fruit (1600 BC)

5. Angus Maddison Report.

India - Richest Country – 1AD to 1700 AD (i.e. Until the British Entry)

India contribute – 25-30% of World Avg. GDP

I confirm that famine has never visited India, there has never been a general scarcity in the supply of nourish food – 1^st Century BC, Diodorus Siculus (Greek Historian)

“Many of the advances in the sciences that we consider today to have been made in Europe were in fact made in India Centuries ago.” – Grant Duff, British Historian

“We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” – Albert Einstein

150 years British in India – Indian Economy drops 80% whereas British grown 75% estimated by Economic History of India by Romesh Chandra Dutt.

Concept of PwD – by Dupleix – 1838 – separation of  Irrigation, farming, storage… Carrot and Stick policy – disturbed the Indian Agricultural behavior.

6. Government policy towards agriculture.

Persisting Colonial mentality

Copying western model of development (Foolish to believe one size fit to all)

India 32 cr + people dependent on Agriculture directly.

·        Land holding per individual in India <= 5 Acres

but in western countries less number of people involved.

So their land holding per head

Bristish Avg – 432 acres US Avg – 1089 acres, Canada – 1789 acres, Australia – 17975 acres

·        Agriculture subsidies in western countries

In US, 2% population depend on agriculture but 7600 cr amount spent on Agri. Subsidy.

In EU – 2.55 Lakh crore spent on Agri. Subsidy.

Government policy past decade, those are destructive to Agriculture

1.     MGNREGA – 100days Employment Guarantee – Diverted Agriculture Labours.

2.     GM food crops & Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill – Disturbs the natural and organic method of Agriculture.

3.     FDI in Retail & Multi-brand

4.     Food Safety & Security Bill

5.     Direct Cash Transfer

6.     New Water Policy

7.     Land Acquisition

For Further Reading,

(Roots of India, Agriculture, Policy affecting Agri. & Village Economy)

1. http://cpsindia.org/index.php/art/114-science-sustainability-and-indian-national-resurgence/d-science-and-technology-under-the-british-rule/158-d1-indian-agriculture-before-modernisation.

2. http://www.vanagam.com/

3. http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/agriculture-rural-development/

4. http://www.devf.org/

5. http://www.incredibleindia.org/