Agriculture

A panoramic picture of a farm in India

Recently

Today, India is ranked second worldwide in the "farm world". Although agriculture is one of the broadest economic sector and has a massive role in the overall socioeconomic fabric of India as a whole. India also contributes a significant figure to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Sustainable agriculture, in terms of food security, rural employment, and environmentally sustainable technologies such as soil conservation, sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity protection, are essential for holistic rural development. Indian agriculture and allied activities have witnessed a green revolution, a white revolution, a yellow revolution and a blue revolution (India.gov).

Major Crops & Farms

In India, it is a large producer of various fruits, rice, wheat, vegetables, major spices and much more. Farms in rural India are usually small plots or smaller fields. In the recent decades, the agriculture in India has doubled in that time span. India also has a great "cash crop", such as cotton and coffee. For example, in 2009, India has the third largest producer of oranges, beans, peas and eggs. The Indian culture has a very diverse agriculture which can range from very poor parts and very developed modern farm villages. 

Various crops across India

Challenges

Three agriculture sector challenges will be important to India’s overall development and the improved welfare of its rural poor:

1. Raising agricultural productivity per unit of land: Raising productivity per unit of land will need to be the main engine of agricultural growth as virtually all cultivable land is farmed. Water resources are also limited and water for irrigation must contend with increasing industrial and urban needs. All measures to increase productivity will need exploiting, amongst them: increasing yields, diversification to higher value crops, and developing value chains to reduce marketing costs.

2. Reducing rural poverty through a socially inclusive strategy that comprises both agriculture as well as non-farm employment: Rural development must also benefit the poor, landless, women, scheduled castes and tribes. Moreover, there are strong regional disparities: the majority of India’s poor are in rain-fed areas or in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic plains. Reaching such groups has not been easy. While progress has been made - the rural population classified as poor fell from nearly 40% in the early 1990s to below 30% by the mid-2000s (about a 1% fall per year) – there is a clear need for a faster reduction. Hence, poverty alleviation is a central pillar of the rural development efforts of the Government and the World Bank.

3. Ensuring that agricultural growth responds to food security needs: The sharp rise in food-grain production during India’s Green Revolution of the 1970s enabled the country to achieve self-sufficiency in food-grains and stave off the threat of famine. Agricultural intensification in the 1970s to 1980s saw an increased demand for rural labor that raised rural wages and, together with declining food prices, reduced rural poverty. However agricultural growth in the 1990s and 2000s slowed down, averaging about 3.5% per annum, and cereal yields have increased by only 1.4% per annum in the 2000s. The slow-down in agricultural growth has become a major cause for concern. India’s rice yields are one-third of China’s and about half of those in Vietnam and Indonesia. The same is true for most other agricultural commodities.

Policy makers will thus need to initiate and/or conclude policy actions and public programs to shift the sector away from the existing policy and institutional regime that appears to be no longer viable and build a solid foundation for a much more productive, internationally competitive, and diversified agricultural sector (World Bank). 

Conclusion

In conclusion, India has an excellent agriculture for its time, and it seems to only be growing. Although India is known for being extremely poor, not too many people understand that we get many spices and food sent over from this lovely country. 

References:

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/05/17/india-agriculture-issues-priorities

http://tejas.iimb.ac.in/interviews/12.php

Human Development Report

Defining Human Development:

Human development is defined as the process of enlarging people’s freedoms and opportunities and improving their well-being. Human development is about the real freedom ordinary people have to decide who to be, what to do, and how to live. 

Central to the human development approach is the concept of capabilities. Capabilities—what people can do and what they can become-are the equipment one has to pursue a life of value. Basic capabilities valued by virtually everyone include: good health, access to knowledge, and a decent material standard of living. 

The History of Human Development:

The human development concept was developed by economist Mahbub ul Haq. At the World Bank in the 1970s, and later as minister of finance in his own country, Pakistan, Dr. Haq argued that existing measures of human progress failed to account for the true purpose of development which was to improve people’s lives. To be more exact, he believed that the commonly used measure of Gross Domestic Product failed to adequately measure well-being. Working with Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen and other gifted economists, in 1990 Dr. Haq published the first Human Development Report, which was commissioned by the United Nations Development Program. 

Human Development Report Information

Indicators:

Education: 

 

Mean years of schooling: 4.43

Poverty: 

Population in multidimensional poverty (%): 55.28

Demography:

Population total (millions): 1,252.14

Public Data Explorer:

While looking at the public data explorer, I realized that India was low on the graph, at 0.38 for the year 1980. At the year 2013, India was at 0.59.

All information about India in this blog can be found at: 

References:http://hdr.undp.org/en
http://www.measureofamerica.org/human-development/

http://www.livescience.com/28634-indian-culture.html

Criminal Activity Rate

India's flag

In India, the location plays a massive role just like other countries. The location has a significant impact on crime in India. In 2012, Kerala reported the highest cognizable crime rate of 455.8 among States of India, while Nagaland recorded lowest rates (47.7). The rates were calculated by National Crime Records Bureau as the number of incidents per 1,00,000 of the population.

Crime in general since 1953 to the year 2007 has increased for the most part. Murder has dropped in 2007, Kidnap increased and so did rape. I was unable to find a more recent graph to depict this information.

The crime rate against women in India in earlier days were not usually reported. Since many cases were not registered with the police due to the social stigma attached to rape and molestation cases, things have changed in a more modern day. Official statistics actually show there has been a drastic increase in the number of reported crimes against women which is a great thing. 

Crime Against Women Fact Video

Interesting Criminal Justice Facts about the NCRB:

• National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) is the first organization to have installed the Automated Finger Print Identification System (AFIS) called Fingerprint Analysis and Criminal Tracking System (FACTS) in India. Only a few countries in the world may claim to have a FACTS.
• Located at New Delhi as the attached office of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India, NCRB is mandated to empower the Indian Police with Information Technology for modernization of Indian Police.
• Digitized fingerprints database is also being maintained at NCRB. In the near future, the live scanner based remote query facility and it would be one of the largest networked computer-systems in India, in the aid of the Criminal Justice System.
• Each year this Bureau conducts an average 22 training programs for Indian Police Officers in subject like Programming.
• NCRB has the proud distinction of installing 762 server - based computer systems at every District Crime Records Bureau and State Crime Records Bureau, across the country, 'Crime Criminal Information system (CCIS)’ project, with a view to maintain a National - level Database of Crimes, Criminals and Property related to crime.

                                           

     (All information about the NCRB can be found at http://ncrb.gov.in/)

References:
http://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/profiles/India/Crime
http://ncrb.gov.in/
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/crime-map-of-india/428809-79.html