Abstract

About 90 percent of the population of India is concentrated in the villages. Of this, over 80 percent is dependent on agriculture for its liveli- hood. So, about 75 percent of the total population of India is directly or in- directly living on agricultural operations. Besides, agriculture is the largest industry of the country and quite many of the other industries are dependent on agriculture. In spite of this paramount position agriculture occupies in the national economy of the country, little attention was paid to this industry till recently. During the days of foreign rule, agriculture was looked upon as a source of raw materials for the industries of the ruling country. That is how India had to be importing food even in normal times, inspite of its immense agricultural potential. Only after the beginning of the last war, when rice was not available in the exporting countries, attention was focussed on producing enough food within the country itself. Even after the war, world-food-shortage continued and internal supplies became more and more inadequate in India due to the continued increase in population, loss of agricultural land as a result of the partition of the country and the failure of monsoon during successive years. Even now, one cannot say that agriculture is given the place it deserves in our national life. However, it is gratifying to note that more and more people have come to realise the importance of agriculture to national well-being.

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