Subject: Economics

Mobilization of Resources: National Development Council; Finance Commission; States Finance Commission
National Development Council

The National Development Council or the Rashtriya Vikas Parishad was set up on 6th August 1952 to strengthen and mobilise the effort and resources of the nation in support of the plan, to promote common economic policy in all vital spheres, and to ensure the balanced and rapid development of all parts of the country.

The Council which was re-constituted on October 7, 1967 is the highest decision-making authority in the country in the area of development matters.

It is a constitutional body with representation from both the Centre and States. The Council is headed by the Prime Minister and all Union Cabinet Ministers, State Chief Ministers, representatives of Union Territories; Members of Planning Commission are its members.The Secretary/ Member-Secretary of Planning Commission functions as the Secretary of the Council and all administrative assistance is rendered by Planning Commission.

The Secretary/ Member-Secretary of Planning Commission functions as the Secretary of the Council and all administrative assistance is rendered by Planning Commission.

The functions of NDC are
1. to prescribe guidelines for formulation of the National Plan, including assessment of resources for the Plan
2. to consider the National Plan as formulated by the Planning Commission
3. to consider important questions of social and economic policy affecting national development and
4. to review the working of the Plan from time to time and to recommend such measures as are necessary for achieving the aims and targets set out in the National Plan.
5. The prime function of the Council is to act as a bridge between the Union government, Planning Commission and the State Governments.
It is a forum not only for discussion of plans and programmes but also social and economic matters of national importance are discussed in this forum before policy formulation. It is a very democratic forum where the States openly express their views. No resolution is passed by the Council.

The practice is to have a complete record of the discussion and gather out of its general trends pinpointing particular conclusions. Sub-Committees under the Chairmanship of Union Cabinet Minister/State Chief Minister are also formed under the NDC to deliberate on policy areas requiring wide-range of consultations.

The NDC ordinarily meets twice a year. So far 58 meetings of the NDC have been held.

Finance Commission.

Article 280 of Indian Constitution

Finance Commission:
1. The president shall, within two years of the commencement of the constitution and thereafter at the expiration of every five years or as such earlier time as the President considers necessary, by order constitute a finance commission which shall consist of a chairman and four other members to be appointed by the President.
2. Parliament may by law determine the qualifications which shall ne requisite for appointment as members of the commission and the manner in which they shall be selected.
3. It shall be the duty of the commission to make recommendations to the president as to:
4. The distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be, or may be, divided between them under this chapter and the allocation between the states of the respective share of such proceeds.
5. The principles which should govern the grants-in-aid of the revenue of the states out of the consolidated fund of India.
6. Any other matter referred to the commission by the President in the interest of sound finances.
Finance Commission Working

Vertical and horizontal imbalances are common features of most federations and India is no exception to this. The Constitution assigned taxes with a nation-wide base to the Union to make the country one common economic space unhindered by internal barriers to the extent possible.

States being closer to people and more sensitive to the local needs have been assigned functional responsibilities involving expenditure disproportionate to their assigned sources of revenue resulting in vertical imbalances.

Horizontal imbalances across States are on account of factors, which include historical backgrounds, differential endowment of resources, and capacity to raise resources. Unlike in most other federations, differences in the developmental levels in Indian States are very sharp. In an explicit recognition of vertical and horizontal imbalances,

The Indian Constitution embodies the following enabling and mandatory provisions to address them through the transfer of resources from the Centre to the States.

1. Levy of duties by the Centre but collected and retained by the States (Article 268)
2. Taxes and duties levied and collected by the Centre but assigned in whole to the States (Article 269).
3. Sharing of the proceeds of all Union taxes between the Centre and the States under Article 270. (Effective from April 1, 1996, following the eightieth amendment to the Constitution replacing the earlier provisions relating to mandatory sharing of income tax under Article 270 and permissive sharing of
Union excise duties under Article 272).
4. Statutory grants-in-aid of the revenues of States (Article 275)
5. Grants for any public purpose (Article 282).
6. Loans for any public purpose (Article 293).

In addition to provisions enabling transfer of resources from the Centre to the States, a distinguishing feature of the Indian Constitution is that it provides for an institutional mechanism to facilitate such transfers.The institution assigned with such a task under Article 280 of the Constitution is the Finance Commission, which is to be appointed at the expiration of every five years or earlier. Under the Constitution, the main responsibilities of a Finance Commission are the following.

The institution assigned with such a task under Article 280 of the Constitution is the Finance Commission, which is to be appointed at the expiration of every five years or earlier. Under the Constitution, the main responsibilities of a Finance Commission are the following.

1. The distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes which are to be divided between them and the allocation between the
States of the respective shares of such proceeds.
2. Determination of principles and quantum of grants-in-aid to States which are in need of such assistance.
3. Measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of
the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State.

The last function was added following the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution in 1992 conferring statutory status to the Panchayats and Municipalities. These Constitutionally mandated functions are the same for all the Finance Commissions and mentioned as such in the terms of reference (ToR) of different Finance Commissions.

To enable the Finance Commission to discharge its responsibilities in an effective manner, the Constitution vests the Finance Commission with the power to determine its procedures.

Under the Constitution, the President shall cause every recommendation made by the Finance Commission together with an explanatory memorandum as to the action taken thereon to be laid before each House of Parliament.

So far, thirteen Finance Commissions have given their reports. The Union government has always been accepting the recommendations of the Finance Commissions, exception being the recommendations of the Third Commission relating to Plan grants.

There have been major changes in the public finances of the Union and the States during the period of over 55 years covered by the Finance Commissions. A number of new matters have been referred to the Commissions in consonance with these developments.

How the different Finance Commissions have discharged their responsibilities in the ever-changing fiscal situation is covered in the following sections under different heads.

State Finance Commission

In India, decentralization reforms, aimed at empowering local people through local governments, assumed significance in early 1990s. Though the Panchayats and the municipalities (rural local bodies and the urban local bodies) existed even before the 73rd and 74th amendment of the Constitution in the year 1993, these amendments provided an impetus to the decentralisation process through a system of self-government for the panchayats and municipalities and devolve greater powers, functions and authority to them.

It also envisaged the panchayats and municipalities as an institution of self-government. These amendments also underscored the organic link in the public finances of the multi-layered federal polity in India. The devolution of financial resources to these bodies was ensured through periodic constitution of the State Finance Commissions (SFCs).

Articles 243 (I) and 243 (Y) of the Constitution spelt out the task of SFCs. Accordingly, SFCs are required to recommend
1. the principles that should govern the distribution between the State on the one hand and the local bodies on the other of the net proceeds of taxes, etc. leviable by the state and the inter-se allocation between different panchayats and municipalities,
2. the determination of taxes, duties, tolls and fees which may be assigned to, or appropriated by the local bodies, and
3. grants-in-aid from the consolidated fund of the State to the local bodies. SFCs are also required to suggest the measures needed to improve the financial position of the panchayats and municipalities.
The importance of the SFCs in the scheme of fiscal decentralization is that besides arbitrating on the claims to resources by the state government and the local bodies, their recommendations would impart greater stability and predictability to the transfer mechanism.

So far, three SFCs have submitted their reports in most of the States. These cover different time period. The convention established at the national level of accepting the principal recommendations of the central finance commission without modification, is not being followed in the states.

Often, even the accepted recommendations are not fully implemented due to resource constraints. There is no synchronization of the periods covered by the reports of SFCs with that of the central finance commission, which affects the central finance commission in assessing the resource required to state governments to supplement the resources of the panchayats and municipalities.

By,
Himanshu Arora

Doctoral Scholar in Economics & Senior Research Fellow, CDS, Jawaharlal Nehru University
October 16, 2017
Infrastructure Sectors: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc
October 11, 2017

Economics of Animal Rearing in India

Economics of Animal Rearing

India’s Position in Global Livestock Economy.

Importance of Livestock sector in the Indian Economy.

Importance of Livestock sector in achieving Inclusive Growth in India

Distribution of livestock is more equitable than that of land. In 2003 marginal farm households (≤1.0h hectare of land) who comprised 48% of the rural households controlled more than half of country’s cattle and buffalo and two-thirds of small animals and poultry as against 24% of land. Between 1991-92 and 2002-03 their share in land area increased by 9 percentage points and in different livestock species by 10-25 percentage points.
Livestock has been an important source of livelihood for small farmers. They contributed about 16% to their income, more so in states like Gujarat (24.4%), Haryana (24.2%), Punjab (20.2%) and Bihar (18.7%).
The agricultural sector engages about 57% of the total working population and about 73% of the rural labour force. Livestock employed 8.8% of the agricultural work force albeit it varied widely from 3% in North-Eastern states to 40-48% in Punjab and Haryana. Animal husbandry promotes gender equity. More than three-fourth of the labour demand in livestock production is met by women. The share of women employment in livestock sector is around 90% in Punjab and Haryana where dairying is a prominent activity and animals are stallfed.
The distribution patterns of income and employment show that small farm households hold more opportunities in livestock production. The growth in livestock sector is demand-driven, inclusive and pro-poor. Incidence of rural poverty is less in states like Punjab, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, and Rajasthan where livestock accounts for a sizeable share of agricultural income as well as employment. Empirical evidence from India as well as from many other developing countries suggests that livestock development has been an important route for the poor households to escape poverty.

Livestock population (2012 Livestock census)

Sl. No	Species	Number (in millions)	Ranking in the world population
01	Cattle	190.9	Second
02	Buffaloes	108.7	First
	Total (including Mithun and Yak)	300	First
03	Sheep	65.0	Third
04	Goats	135.2	Second
05	Pigs	10.3	–
06	Others	1.7	–
	Total livestock	512.3
	Total poultry	729.2	Seventh
07	Duck	–	Fifth
08	Chicken	–	Fifth
09	Camel	–	Tenth

Schemes/Policies Launched for Livestock Sector by the Government

National Livestock Mission

The National Livestock Mission (NLM) has commenced from 2014-15. The Mission is designed to cover all the activities required to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders. The Mission will cover everything germane to improvement of livestock productivity and support projects and initiatives required for that purpose subject. This Mission is formulated with the objective of sustainable development of livestock sector, focusing on improving availability of quality feed and fodder. NLM is implemented in all States including Sikkim.

NLM has 4 submissions as follows:

The Sub-Mission on Fodder and Feed Development will address the problems of scarcity of animal feed resources, in order to give a push to the livestock sector making it a competitive enterprise for India, and also to harness its export potential. The major objective is to reduce the deficit to nil.

Under Sub-Mission on Livestock Development, there are provisions for productivity enhancement, entrepreneurship development and employment generation (bankable projects), strengthening of infrastructure of state farms with respect to modernization, automation and biosecurity, conservation of threatened breeds, minor livestock development, rural slaughter houses, fallen animals and livestock insurance.

Sub-Mission on Pig Development in North-Eastern Region: There has been persistent demand from the North Eastern States seeking support for all round development of piggery in the region. For the first time, under NLM a Sub-Mission on Pig Development in North-Eastern Region is provided wherein Government of India would support the State Piggery Farms, and importation of germplasm so that eventually the masses get the benefit as it is linked to livelihood and contributes in providing protein-rich food in 8 States of the NER.

Sub-Mission on Skill Development, Technology Transfer and Extension: The extension machinery at field level for livestock activities is very weak. As a result, farmers are not able to adopt the technologies developed by research institutions. The emergence of new technologies and practices require linkages between stakeholders and this sub-mission will enable a wider outreach to the farmers.All the States, including NER States may avail the benefits of the multiple components and the flexibility of choosing them under NLM for a sustainable livestock development.

Rashtriya Gokul Mission

Key features of the mission

The Mission aims to conserve and develop indigenous breeds in a focused and scientific manner and for that breeding facilities will be set up for varieties with high-genetic pedigree”. Indigenous cattle are largely ignored in India despite the fact that they are better adapted to the country’s climate”.
The aim of the mission is to protect Indigenous cow from being cross-bred into different varieties.
Focus will be largely to give a push to local breeding programme on the line of elite local breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi to enhance milk production.
The local cow breed will be protected through traditional-style “gaushalas” or cattle-care centres. • The scheme has provision to acknowledge those farmers who works rigorously in the direction. • The “Gopal Ratna” awards will be conferred to them. • The scheme also makes a point about upkeep of cattle after their milk producing phase gets over and then they often used for the purpose of meat. Official reaction.
An amount of Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for Bovine Breeding and Dairy Development programme and out of which Rs 150 crore will be specially allocated for the protection of indigenous cow breeds.

Idea behind the Mission?

The idea is to increase milk production which is dismal in comparison to US, UK, and Israel.
Though India has attained the numero uno position in milk production but that is only because the country is home of world’s largest livestock population.
Through the programme, the aim is to increase high yield per cow which is very low in comparison to the European countries like US. Low yield per cow in India
The average daily milk yield for crossbred cattle in India is at 7.1 kg per day while it is at 25.6 in UK, US (32.8) and Israel (38.6).
The reason behind the low yield in India is because of intrinsic and extrinsic factors both.
The intrinsic factor is low genetic potential while extrinsic is related with number of reasons like poor nutrition and feed management, inferior farm management practices and inefficient implementation of breed improvement programs.
At present, India is largely using Jersey, a native of Netherlands and British origin Holstein for cross-breeding purposes.

Operation flood/ White Revolution in India:

‘Operation flood’ a program started by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 1970 made India the largest producer of the milk in the world. This program with its whopping success was called as ‘The White Revolution’. The main architect of this successful project was Dr. Verghese Kurien, also called the father of White Revolution.

In 1949 Mr. Kurien joined Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (KDCMPUL), now famous as Amul.

Kurien has since then built this organization into one of the largest and most successful institutions in India. The Amul pattern of cooperatives had been so successful, in 1965, then Prime Minister of India, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, created the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to replicate the program on a nationwide basis citing Kurien’s “extraordinary and dynamic leadership” upon naming him chairman.

Operation Flood Phases

The Operation Flood was completed in three phases:

Phase I (1970-79):- During this phase 18 of the country’s main milk sheds were connected to the consumers of the four metros viz. Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. The total cost of this phase was Rs.116crores. The main objectives were, commanding share of milk market and speed up development of dairy animals respectively hinter- lands of rural areas.

Phase II (1981–1985):- The management increased the milk sheds from 18 to 136; 290 urban markets expanded the outlets for milk. By the end of 1985, a self-sustaining system of 43,000 village cooperatives with 42.5 lakh milk producers were covered. Domestic milk powder production increased from 22,000 tons in the pre-project year to 140,000 tons by 1989, all of the increase coming from dairies set up under Operation Flood.

Phase III (1985–1996):- The dairy cooperatives were enabled to expand and strengthen the infrastructure required to procure and market increasing volumes of milk. Veterinary first-aid health care services, feed and artificial insemination services for cooperative members were extended, along with intensified member education. It went with adding 30,000 new dairy cooperatives to the 42,000 existing societies organized during Phase II. Milk sheds peaked to 173 in 1988-89 with the numbers of women members and Women’s Dairy Cooperative Societies increasing significantly.

Amul: (“priceless” in Sanskrit. The brand name “Amul,” from the Sanskrit “Amoolya,” formed in 1946, is a dairy cooperative in India.

It is a brand name managed by an apex cooperative organization, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by some 2.8 million milk producers in Gujarat, India. The White Revolution’s model dairy board was that of Amul. The whole program of NDDB was largely based the working of this dairy board. The three-tier ‘Amul Model’ has been instrumental in bringing about the White Revolution in the country.

Achievements of the White Revolution

The phenomenal growth of milk production in India – from 20 million MT to 100 million MT in a span of just 40 years – has been made possible only because of the dairy cooperative movement. This has propelled India to emerge as the largest milk producing country in the World today.
The dairy cooperative movement has also encouraged Indian dairy farmers to keep more animals, which has resulted in the 500 million cattle & buffalo population in the country – the largest in the World.
The dairy cooperative movement has spread across the length and breadth of the country, covering more than 125,000 villages of 180 Districts in 22 States.
The movement has been successful because of a well-developed procurement system & supportive federal structures at District & State levels.

Blue Revolution in India

Realizing the immense scope for development of fisheries and aquaculture, the Government of India has restructured the Central Plan Scheme under an umbrella of Blue Revolution.

The restructured Central Sector Scheme on Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries (CSS) approved by the Government provides for a focused development and management of the fisheries sector to increase both fish production and fish productivity from aquaculture and fisheries resources of the inland and marine fisheries sector including deep sea fishing.

The scheme has the following components:
i. National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and its activities.
ii. Development of Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture.
iii. Development of Marine Fisheries, Infrastructure and Post-Harvest Operations.
iv. Strengthening of Database & Geographical Information System of the Fisheries Sector.
v. Institutional Arrangement for Fisheries Sector.
vi. Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) and other need-based Interventions.
vii. National Scheme on Welfare of Fishermen.

The Scheme Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries is being implemented in consultation with all States & UTs. Besides the activities undertaken under both the marine and inland sectors, no specific role for the coastal states has been defined.

The Blue Revolution is being implemented to achieve economic prosperity of fishermen and fish farmers and to contribute towards food and nutritional security through optimum utilization of water resources for fisheries development in a sustainable manner, keeping in view the bio-security and environmental concerns.

Under the scheme, it has been targeted to enhance the fish production from 107.95 lakh tonnes in 2015-16 to about 150 lakh tonnes by the end of the financial year 2019-20. It is also expected to augment the export earnings with a focus on increased benefit flow to the fishers and fish farmers to attain the target of doubling their income.

The Department has prepared a detailed National Fisheries Action Plan-2020(NFAP) for the next 5 years with an aim of enhancing fish production and productivity and to achieve the concept of Blue Revolution. The approach was initiated considering the various fisheries resources available in the country like ponds & tanks, wetlands, brackish water, cold water, lakes & reservoirs, rivers and canals and the marine sector.

Challenges faced by the fisheries sector

Shortage of quality and healthy fish seeds and other critical inputs.
Lack of resource-specific fishing vessels and reliable resource and updated data.
Inadequate awareness about nutritional and economic benefits of fish.
Inadequate extension staff for fisheries and training for fishers and fisheries personnel.
Absence of standardization and branding of fish products.

The Way Forward

Schemes of integrated approach for enhancing inland fish production and productivity with forward and backward linkages.
Large scale adoption of culture-based capture fisheries and cage culture in reservoirs and larger water bodies are to be taken up.
Sustainable exploitation of marine fishery resources especially deep sea resources and enhancement of marine fish production through sea farming, mariculture.

Poultry Sector in India

Growth of India’s Poultry sector in Recent years

Indian Poultry Industry is one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector today in India. As the production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5 to 2% per annum while the production of eggs and broilers has been rising at a rate of 8 to 10% per annum. Today India is world’s fifth largest egg producer in the world. Indian broiler production at 3.8 million tons is the fourth largest in the world after US, Brazil and China.
The broiler growing companies are becoming bigger and the feed mills are getting larger. More than 60 per cent of the feed is being processed. The layer farming with 220 million layers is growing at six to eight per cent and the egg prices are at record high.
The 67,000-crore Indian poultry industry is expected to report higher margins in the years to come.
The Indian Poultry Industry has undergone a paradigm shift in structure and operation. A very significant feature of India’s poultry industry is its transformation from a mere backyard activity into a major commercial activity in just about four decades which seems to be really fast. The kind of transformation has involved sizeable investments in breeding, hatching, rearing and processing. Indian farmers have moved from rearing non-descript birds to today’s rearing hybrids such as Hyaline, Shaver, and Babcock which ensure faster growth, good livability, excellent feed conversion and high profits to the rearers.
The organized sector of Indian Poultry Industry is contributing nearly 70% of the total output and the rest 30% in the unorganized sector.
Due to the demand for poultry increasing and production reaching 37 billion eggs and 1 billion broilers, the Poultry Industry today employs around 1.6 million people. At least 80% of employment in Indian Poultry Industry generates directly by the farmers, while 20 % is engaged in feed, pharmaceuticals, equipment and other services according to the requirement. Additionally, there might be similar number of people roughly 1.6 million who are engaged in marketing and other channels servicing the poultry sector.

Reason Behind this growth

The contributing factors behind this growth are – growth in per capita income, a growing urban population and falling poultry prices.
The Indian Poultry Industry has grown largely due to the initiative of private enterprises, minimal government intervention, and very considerable indigenous poultry genetics capabilities, and support from the complementary veterinary health, poultry feed, poultry equipment, and poultry processing sectors. India is one of the few countries in the world that has put into place a sustained Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) egg production project.

Challenges the Poultry sector is facing

In last 2 years the Poultry sector is facing distress due to number of factors
There is disparity between states and hence an impairment in growth of the sector. About 60% of the egg production comes from Andhra Pradesh. Commercial poultry farming yet to make a mark in states like Odisha, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan. This disparity has resulted in uncertainty in sector.
Recent heatwaves in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana region has resulted in high chicken prices due to killing of birds. As a result, poultry feed demand has fallen.
Avian influenza was another issue which has resulted which has devastating effect on Indian poultry, and it still continues to haunt the sector due to low demand and less exports
Shortage of raw material is another issue. Price of soybean meal, the major and only source of protein has increased about 75%, which has forced the feed manufacturers to comprise in terms of diet given to birds.
Shortage of human resources is another problem because of the absence of veterinarians, researchers, in areas where expertise knowledge is required.
Indian poultry sector is still unable to tap the benefit of international market. Lack of adequate cold storage, warehouses is the major factor affecting poultry sector in India.
Majority of the production is by unorganized which is another threat faced by sector.
Usually, summer sees a production drop of five to 10 per cent; this year, with the heat and drought, there is a 25-30 per cent drop. The drought has hit water supply for the birds and the latter’s mortality rate has risen in recent months, pushing up prices for broilers and eggs.

Way Forward

The Following measures should be taken by the Government to improve the situation.

Strong marketing network to set the industry free from the clutches of middlemen.
Government support to public poultry educational and R&D institutions.
Building infrastructure to meet the growing manpower demand of the poultry sector.
Promote both mass production as well as production by masses.
Support and promotion of the processing sector.
Insurance against losses.
Provision of subsidies, and credit

Himanshu Arora

Doctoral Scholar in Economics & Senior Research Fellow, CDS, Jawaharlal Nehru University

October 9, 2017

Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
October 9, 2017
Investment Models
October 9, 2017
Transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints
1. Marketing of Agricultural Produce in India: Definition; Role; APMC Act, Model APMC Act, 2003
2. Private and Co-operative Sector in Marketing of Agriculture Produce in India
October 7, 2017
Land reforms in India
1. Land Tenure System in Pre-Independent India: Zamindari System; Mahalwari System; Ryotwari System
2. Land Reforms in India
October 6, 2017
Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices
October 6, 2017
Technology Missions in India
Technology Missions in India

The technological missions in India was initiated in 1987 by the Rajiv Gandhi led Congress government. Rajiv Gandhi had chosen his close aid Sam Pitroda to lead the Mission. The mission had the task to cover five critical area which were considered very important for the development of the Indian economy and society.

The Core Focus areas were:

The sixth goal of Dairy Production was added in the succeeding years.

The Specific Goals of the Technology mission was

The Progress Made

Drinking Water: The drinking water mission identified 100,000 problem villages. Research was done, using geohydrological mapping, to determine where to drill new wells, increasing water sources.

Many villages had some water, but did not have access to clean water. Water was tested in labs, and official standards of quality and quantity were established.

The mission also included an effort to educate people how to repair broken pumps when they broke. Before, when pumps broke, they usually stayed broken due to lack of local knowhow. Easy to understand repair manuals were distributed in each of India’s fifteen languages, and later made available online.

Immunization: In 1987, India had the highest amount of polio in the world. The mission met with top immunization experts decided to begin immunizing the country using an oral vaccine. As a live virus vaccine, the oral version had to be refrigerated. They developed a cold chain for handling the vaccines with industrialists to get refrigeration to all parts of India.

The mission also launched India’s polio vaccine production capacity. In 1987, India had zero production capacity. With government backing, they began to study France and Russia’s methods. Several years later, India was producing all of their own vaccines.

25 years later, in 2013, India was declared polio-free.

Literacy: When the Technology Missions began, India’s literacy rate was around 50%. Several hundred million adults were illiterate, most of them women.

The mission had the dual focus of motivating people (adults in particular) to learn, and providing materials and teachers.

Oilseeds: India was importing one billion dollars of cooking oils each year, when large portions of Indian land are well suited to growing oil crops. Farmers did not grow these crops because they found other crops were more profitable. This was causing India costly economic situation.

Their goal was to make farmers see the benefits of planting oilseeds.

Kurian, who handled buffer stocks, described his plan as such: “We move into areas where there is gross exploitation and try to restructure the marketing system so that the small producer is not fleeced by middlemen or the oil kings.”

Once the intervention on oil was complete, India was exporting oil cakes at the rate of 600 million per year.

Telecommunication: The official goal of the telecom mission was to improve service, dependability, and accessibility of telecommunications across the county, including rural areas. This was through indigenous development, local young talent, rural telecom, digital switching networks, local manufacturing and privatization.

Today, India has made maximum progress in providing accessible and cheap telecom services to 924 Million people.

Dairy Farming: The goal of the dairy mission was to develop and implement technologies to improve breeding, animal health, and fodder and milk production.

Today, India is the number one producer of milk in the world.

After the Defeat of Rajiv Gandhi led Congress Government at the centre, the successive governments have transferred the responsibility of each of the core areas to the respective parent ministries.

Technology Missions in Agriculture and Horticulture

National Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture

A Centrally Sponsored Scheme of MIDH has been launched for the holistic development of horticulture in the country during XII Plan. The Scheme, which took off from 2014-15, integrates the ongoing schemes of National Horticulture Mission, Horticulture Mission for North East & Himalayan States, National Bamboo Mission, National Horticulture Board, Coconut Development Board & Central Institute for Horticulture, Nagaland.

Horticulture Mission for North East and Himalayan States

HMNEH is a part of Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), being implemented for overall development of horticulture in NE and Himalayan states. The Mission covers all NE states including Sikkim and Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand. The Mission addresses the entire spectrum of horticulture from production to consumption through backward & forward linkages.

National Horticulture Mission

A National Horticulture Mission was launched in 2005-06 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to promote holistic growth of the horticulture sector through an area based regionally differentiated strategies. The Scheme has
been subsumed as a part of Mission for Integration Development of Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15.

National Mission on Oilseeds and Palm Oil

NMOOP envisages increase in production of vegetable oils sourced from oilseeds, oil palm & tree borne oilseeds. The Mission is implemented through three Mini Missions (Oilseeds, Oil Palm & TBOs) with specific targets.

The strategy includes increasing Seed Replacement Ratio with focus on varietal replacement; increasing irrigation coverage; diversification of area from low yielding cereals; intercropping; use of fallow land; expansion of cultivation in watersheds & wastelands; increasing availability of quality planting materials; enhancing procurement of oilseeds and collection & processing of TBOs.

Technology Mission on Coconut

The Mission was launched to converge & synergize all the efforts through integration of existing programs & address the problems and bridge the gaps through appropriate programs in mission mode to ensure adequate, appropriate, timely & concurrent action to make coconut farming competitive & to ensures reasonable returns.

Technology Mission on Oilseeds, Pulses and Pulses

The Mission was launched 1986 to increase the production of oilseeds to reduce import and achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils. Subsequently, pulses, oil palm & maize were also brought within the purview of the Mission.

Schemes under TMOP are:
- Oilseeds Production Program
- National Pulses Development Project
- Accelerated Maize Development Program
- Post-Harvest Technology
- Oil Palm Development Program
- National Oilseeds and Vegetable Oil Development Board
National Livestock Mission

The Mission covers all activities required to ensure improvement in livestock production systems & capacity building of all stakeholders. It covers everything for improvement of livestock productivity & support projects & initiatives subject to condition that such initiatives cannot be funded under other Centrally Sponsored Schemes

It has 4 Sub-Missions:
1. Livestock Development;
2. Pig Development in NE Region;
3. Feed & Fodder Development; and
4. Skill Development, Technology Transfer & Extension
5. Technology Mission on Cotton.
The aims of the Mission are: to improve the yield and quality of cotton; to increase the income of cotton growers by reducing the cost of cultivation & by increasing the yield; to improve the quality of processing of cotton.

It had four Mini Missions-

I: Cotton Research and Technology Generation;

II: Transfer of Technology and Development;

III: Development of Market Infrastructure;

IV: Modernization / Setting up of new G&P factories

Technology Mission on Literacy

National Digital Literacy Mission

The Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) or National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) Scheme has been formulated to impart IT training to 52.5 lakh persons, including Anganwadi & ASHA workers and authorised ration dealers in
all the States/UTs so that non-IT literate citizens become IT literate so as to enable them to actively & effectively participate in the democratic and developmental process and also enhance their livelihood.

National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology

NMEICT has been envisaged as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to leverage the potential of ICT in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in higher education institutions in any time anywhere mode.
It has two major components: providing connectivity, along with provision for access devices to institutions & learners; & content generation.

Nano Technology Mission

The Government of India, in 2007, approved the launch of a Mission on Nano Science & Technology (Nano Mission) with an allocation of Rs. 1000 crore for 5 years.

The Department of Science and Technology is the nodal agency for implementing the Nano Mission. Capacity-building in this area of research will be of utmost importance for the Nano Mission so that India emerges as a global knowledge-hub in this field.

Other important Technological Missions

Technology Missions on Indian Railways

TMIR is a consortium of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Science and Technology and Department of Heavy Industry on an investment sharing model for taking up identified railway projects for applied research and use on Indian Railways.

It will also monitor progress of research projects of the existing Railway Research Centre, Kharagpur & other 4 upcoming Railway Research Centres sanctioned in Budget 2015-16. Thus, Railways’ investment in applied research activities will be fruitfully converted to technology development for actual use in railway working.

Technology Mission on Railway Safety

A Technology Mission has been launched to focus attention and drive modern technologies of monitoring, control, communications, design, electronics and materials for railway safety. It will help to initiate and incubate design & development projects of significant national importance.

Its objective is to develop & adopt state-of-the-art safety, control and design technologies defined by needs related to Indian conditions. It will formulate and implement projects aimed towards achieving higher throughput, lower cost of transmission per unit & safer train movement.

Technology Mission on Technical Textiles

The Mission was announced in 2007 to address the “major constraints for improving production & consumption of technical textiles”.

In 2008-09, 4 Centres of Excellence were set up to catalyse industry support & build capacity in the area of Geotech (geotextiles used in civil engineering applications), Protech (personal & property protective clothing), Meditech (medical textiles) and Agrotech (specialized agriculture use).

Technology Mission on Water and Clean Energy

Water Technology Initiative Program

It was initiated in August 2007 aims to promote R&D activities aimed at providing safe drinking water at affordable cost and in adequate quantity using appropriate Science and Technology interventions evolved through indigenous efforts.

Since quality is the main consideration of safe drinking water, processes which imply nano-material and filtration technologies have been focused.

The initiative also includes the pilot testing of credible number of products and referencing of selected technologies to the social context of the application region.
In pursuance of directives of Hon’ble Supreme Court, Technology Mission on Winning, Augmentation and Renovation (WAR) for Water has been launched in August 2009 to undertake research-led solutions, through a coordinated approach, to come out with technological options for various water challenges in different parts of the country.

Aims and Objectives

This pro-active India – centric ‘solution science’ endeavour aims to strengthen the R&D capacity and capability to develop the technological solutions for existing and emerging water challenges facing the country.
1. Promote national and collaborative developmental Research to address prevalent and emerging water challenges
2. Capacity building of research professionals and water managers
3. Evolve methodology for development of customised solutions suited to social context
4. Develop synergies with line departments at Central/ State level for last mile connectivity of the research findings
5. Evolve S&T based sustainable models with industry and recommend appropriate policy inputs
6. Conduct techno- economic-social analysis of technologies and their suitability in specific context
7. Support Impact Assessment Studies/ development of Research Packages/ Technology Status Reports and other documentation required by different users/ agencies
8. Upscaling and Replication of technologies/ solutions to credible scale.
Scope and Thrust Areas

This demand oriented user centric initiative includes development research in laboratories as well as application research in field.

The scope of initiative covers the entire value chain of R&D right from water oriented basic and applied research, pre competitive technology development , technology based classification & assessment of technology options, pilot-demonstration of technology leads from laboratories and academic institutions assessment of available technology options to evolve a basket of technology options and mounting of technically, socially, environmentally and eventually affordable convergent solutions based on evolving, novel as well as known technologies suited to socio-economic context.

It also envisages to nurture enabling activities such as human and institutional capacity building such as fellowships for researchers, training of water managers to enable identify and select most appropriate technology option, promoting centers of excellence for water research and nurturing nascent water technologies for last mile connectivity etc.

The thrust areas for initiative dynamically evolve based on need for technology based solution from the users, requirement of R&D inputs by stakeholders, assessment of S&T requirements to enable achieve technology prowess in water sector etc. The thrust areas specific to call for proposals are articulated in call document uploaded on DST website periodically.

Clean Energy Research Initiative

It was initiated in January, 2009 the initiative aims to develop national research competence to drive down the cost of clean energy through pre-competitive translational research, oriented research led disruptive innovations & human and institutional capacity development.

Aims and Objectives

CERI has been envisaged to –
1. Support upstream end of research, where knowledge, more advanced than the current practice in the industry must have a space.
2. Develop India centric innovations developed around user needs and forge collaboration between industry and academics as much as possible and gain value for such collaborations.
3. To develop critical mass of researchers to meet requirement of R&D professionals for clean energy.
Scope and Thrust Areas

The scope of initiative includes support for solar oriented fundamental research for solar devices, sub-systems and systems. The initiative supports feasibility assessment of fresh ideas/ concepts, including various emerging and disruptive technologies, for their potential conversion into useful technology/ product.

The envisaged thrust areas are –
- Solar energy materials
- Solar energy devices (for user direct load applications)
- Storage devices
- Power electronics for grid synchronization
- Capacity building to create critical mass for solar energy research
- Development of systems/ subsystems for solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, storage smart energy grid and building energy efficiency.
- Convergent Solar thermal technology solutions (25 kw to 1 MW)
- Convergent Solar Photo Voltaic Technology solutions
- Any other topic, considered to be of relevance to country needs.
By

Himanshu Arora

Doctoral Scholar in Economics & Senior Research Fellow, CDS, Jawaharlal Nehru University
October 6, 2017
E-Technology in Indian Agriculture to Aid the Farmers
E-Technology in Agriculture

E-Platform for Agriculture Markets in India.

The electronic trading portal for national agricultural market is an attempt to use modern technology for transforming the system of agricultural marketing.

National Agriculture Market
- The National Agriculture Market (NAM) is envisaged as a pan-India electronic trading portal which seeks to network the existing APMC and other market yards to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. NAM is a “virtual” market, but it has a physical market at the backend.
- NAM was announced during the Budget of 2014-15 and is proposed to be achieved through the setting up of a common e-platform to which initially 585 APMCs selected by the states are linked. NAM was launched on 14 April 2016 with 21 mandis from 8 States joining it and the first phase of connecting 250 mandis was over on 6 October 2016.
- NAM will be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF). The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation (DAC), Ministry of Agriculture will set it up through the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC).
- The Central Government will provide the software free of cost to the states, and in addition, a grant of up to Rs. 30 lakhs per mandi /market will be given as a onetime measure for related equipment and infrastructure requirements. In order to promote genuine price discovery, it is proposed to provide the private mandis also with access to the software, but they would not have any monetary support from Government.
Benefits of NAM
NAM is said to have the following advantages:
- For the farmers, NAM promises more options for sale. It would increase his access to markets through warehouse based sales and thus obviate the need to transport his produce to the mandi.
- For the local trader in the mandi / market, NAM offers the opportunity to access a larger national market for secondary trading.
- Bulk buyers, processors, exporters etc. benefit from being able to participate directly in trading at the local mandi / market level through the NAM platform, thereby reducing their intermediation costs.
- The gradual integration of all the major mandis in the States into NAM will ensure common procedures for issue of licences, levy of fee and movement of produce. In a period of 5-7 years Union Cabinet expects significant benefits through higher returns to farmers, lower transaction costs to buyers and stable prices and availability to consumers.
- The NAM will also facilitate the emergence of value chains in major agricultural commodities across the country and help to promote scientific storage and movement of agriculture goods.
1. Karnataka Agriculture Marketing Model
- Among various states of the country, Karnataka has been the forerunner in market reforms and in devising innovative practices to improve agricultural markets and competitiveness.
- In order to take advantage of modern technology to improve agricultural marketing, the state prepared a plan in 2012–13 with the assistance of NCDEX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange) Spot Exchange for automation of auction process in mandis (primary agricultural markets where producers sell their agricultural produce).
- The plan involves the creation of transparent, integrated e-trading mechanism coupled with facilities for grading and standardisation to facilitate seamless trading across mandis (APMCs). The approach was to integrate all such APMCs with major consumption market to fetch remunerative prices to farmers.
- The plan has been implemented through Rashtriya e-Market Services (ReMS) Private Limited Company, which is a joint venture created by the state government and NCDEX Spot Exchange.
- ReMS offers automated auction and post-auction facilities (weighing, invoicing, market fee collection, accounting), assaying facilities in the markets, facilitation of warehouse-based sale of produce, commodity funding and price dissemination. NCDEX is also implementing a uniﬁed market platform, whereby all mandis in the state are being uniﬁed for single trading.
- The uniﬁed online agricultural market initiative was launched in Karnataka on 22 February 2014. A total of 105 markets spread across 27 districts have been brought under the Uniﬁ ed Market Platform (UMP) as of March 2016.
- Under this initiative, every farmer who brings produce to the APMC market is given an identiﬁed cation number for the lot brought into the mandi.
- The farmer has a choice to use the common platform or the platform of commission agent for the auction of the produce. These lots are then assayed, and information about quantity and quality is put on the portal of ReMS.
Agriculture Marketing Information Network (AGMARKNET).
- Agricultural Marketing Information Network (AGMARKNET) was launched in March 2000 by the Union Ministry of Agriculture.
- The Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI), under the Ministry, links around 7,000 agricultural wholesale markets in India with the State Agricultural Marketing Boards and Directorates for effective information exchange.
- This e-governance portal AGMARKNET, implemented by National Informatics Centre (NIC), facilitates generation and transmission of prices, commodity arrival information from agricultural produce markets, and web-based dissemination to producers, consumers, traders, and policymakers transparently and quickly.
- The e-governance portal caters to the needs of various stakeholders such as farmers, industry, policymakers and academic institutions by providing agricultural marketing related information from a single window.
- The portal has helped to reach farmers who do not have sufficient resources to get adequate market information. It facilitates web-based information flow, of the daily arrivals and prices of commodities in the agricultural produce markets spread across the country.
- The data transmitted from all the markets is available on the AGMARKNET portal in 8 regional languages and English.
- It displays Commodity-wise, Variety-wise daily prices and arrivals information from all wholesale markets. Various types of reports can be viewed including trend reports for prices and arrivals for important commodities.
- Currently, about 1,800 markets are connected, and work is in progress for another 700 markets. The AGMARKNET portal now has a database of about 300 commodities and 2,000 varieties.
The information being disseminated through the AGMARKNET portal includes:
- Prices and Arrivals (Daily Max, Min, Modal, MSP; Weekly/ monthly prices/arrivals trends; Future prices from 3 National commodity exchanges)
- Grades and Standards
- Commodity Profiles (Paddy/Rice, Bengal Gram, Mustard-Rapeseed, Red Gram, Soybean, Wheat, Groundnut, Sunflower, Black Gram, Sesame, Green Gram, Potato, Maize, Jowar, Cotton, Grapes, Chilies, Mandarin Orange etc.)
- Market Profiles (Contact details, rail/road connectivity, market charges, infrastructure facilities, revenue etc.)
- Other Reports (Best Marketing Practices, Market Directory, Scheme Guidelines, DPRs of Terminal Markets etc.)
- Research Studies
- Companies involved in Contract Farming
- Schemes of DMI for strengthening Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure
Schemes and Projects of Government and its agencies in e-technology for farmers.

Agricultural Technology Management Agency (A T M A)
- ATMA is a society of key stakeholders involved in agricultural activities for sustainable agriculture development in the district. It is a focal point for integrating Research and Extension activities.
- It is a registered society responsible for technology dissemination at the district level. As a whole, the ATMA would be a facilitating agency rather than implementing Agency.
- The scheme is supported by the Central Government. The funding pattern is 90% by the central Government and 10% by the state government. The 10% state’s share shall consist of cash contribution of the State, beneficiary contribution or the contribution of other non-governmental organizations.
The objectives of ATMA are
- To strengthen research – extension – farmer linkages.
- To provide an effective mechanism for co-ordination and management of activities of different agencies involved in technology adaptation / validation and dissemination at the district level and below.
- To increase the quality and type of technologies being disseminated.
- To move towards shared ownership of the agricultural technology system by key shareholders.
- To develop new partnerships with the private institutions including NGOs.
National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET)

National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET) is being implemented during the 12^th Plan period.

NMAET consists of 4 Sub Missions:
1. Sub Mission on Agricultural Extension (SMAE)
2. Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP)
3. Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM)
4. Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine (SMPP)
- Agricultural Technology, including the adoption/ promotion of critical inputs, and improved agronomic practices were being disseminated under 17 different schemes of the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation during the 11th Plan. The Modified Extension Reforms Scheme was introduced in 2010 with the objective of strengthening extension machinery and utilizing it for synergizing interventions under these schemes under the umbrella of the Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA).
- The NMAET has been envisaged as the next step towards this objective through the amalgamation of these schemes.
- The common threads running across all 4 Sub-Missions in NMAET are Extension and Technology. Therefore, while 4 separate Sub-Missions are being proposed for administrative convenience, these are inextricably linked to each other at the field level, and most components thereof have to be disseminated among farmers and other stakeholders through a strong extension network.
- The aim of the mission is: to restructure and strengthen agricultural extension to enable delivery of appropriate technology and improved agronomic practices to farmers.
This aim is envisaged to be achieved by a judicious mix of:
1. extensive physical outreach and interactive methods of information dissemination,
2. use of ICT,
3. popularisation of modern and appropriate technologies,
4. capacity building and institution strengthening to promote mechanisation, availability of quality seeds, plant protection etc. and
5. encourage aggregation of Farmers into Interest Groups (FIGs) to form Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
- In order to overcome systemic challenges being faced by the Extension System, there is a need for a focused approach in mission mode to disseminate appropriate technologies and relevant information to larger number of farmer households through interpersonal and innovative methods of technology dissemination including ICT.
M-Kisan SMS Portal
- Though there are about 38 crore mobile telephone connections in rural areas, internet penetration in the countryside is still abysmally low. Therefore, mobile messaging is the most effective tool so far having pervasive outreach to nearly 8.93 crore farm families.
- M-Kisan SMS Portal for farmers enables all Central and State government organizations in agriculture and allied sectors to give information/services/advisories to farmers by SMS in their language, preference of agricultural practices and location.
- These messages are specific to farmers’ specific needs & relevance at a particular point of time and generate heavy inflow of calls in the Kisan Call Centres where people call up to get supplementary information.
- As part of agricultural extension (extending research from the lab to the field), under the National e-Governance Plan – Agriculture (NeGP-A), various modes of delivery of services have been envisaged. These include internet, touch screen kiosks, agri-clinics, private kiosks, mass media, Common Service Centres, Kisan Call Centres, and integrated platforms in the departmental offices coupled with physical outreach of extension personnel equipped with pico-projectors and handheld devices. However, mobile telephony (with or without internet) is the most potent and omnipresent tool of agricultural extension.
- USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data), IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) and Pull SMS are value added services which have enabled farmers and other stakeholders not only to receive broadcast messages but also to get web based services on their mobile without having internet. Semi-literate and illiterate farmers have also been targeted to be reached through voice messages.
Kisan Call Centres
- In order to harness the potential of ICT in Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture launched the scheme “Kisan Call Centres (KCCs)” on January 21, 2004. The main aim of the project is to answer farmers’ queries on a telephone call in their own dialect. These call Centres are working in 14 different locations covering all the States and UTs. A countrywide common eleven-digit Toll-Free number 1800-180-1551 has been allotted for Kisan Call Centre.
- Replies to the farmers’ queries are given in 22 local languages. Call centre services are available from 6.00 am to 10.00 pm on all seven days of the week at each KCC location.
- A Kisan Knowledge Management System (KKMS) to facilitate correct, consistent and quick replies to the queries of farmers and capture all the details of their calls, has been developed. The Kisan Call Centre (KCC) Agents working at various KCC locations throughout the country have access to it.
Sandesh Pathak
- The Sandesh Pathak application developed jointly by C-DAC Mumbai, IIT-Madras, IIIT Hyderabad, IIT Kharagpur, and C-DAC Thiruvananthapuram will enable SMS messages to be read out loud, for the benefit of farmers who may have difficulty in reading.
- It is usable by people who cannot read. A large population of farmers belongs to this category. So, when they receive an SMS message either containing agriculture-related advice or some other thing, this app will read aloud the content.
- It uses the text-to-speech synthesis systems developed by the Indian Language TTS Consortium. To make it especially useful for farmers, the TTS engines of all these languages have been tested on the agriculture domain-related texts and fine-tuned accordingly.
- The app which is available for download from the App store of Mobile Seva Project of the government of India.
Kisan credit card
- Kisan credit card uses the ICT to provide affordable credit for farmers in India. It was started by the Government of India, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1998 to help farmers access timely and adequate credit.
- The aim of Kisan Credit Card Scheme is to provide adequate and timely support from the banking system to the farmers for their short-term credit needs during their cultivation for purchase of inputs etc., during the cropping season.
- Kisan Credit Card has emerged as an innovative credit delivery mechanism to meet the production credit requirements of the farmers in a timely and hassle-free manner.
- The scheme is under implementation in the entire country by the vast institutional credit framework involving Commercial Banks, RRBs and Cooperatives and has received wide acceptability amongst bankers and farmers.
Sanchar Shakti scheme
- The Sanchar Shakti scheme for Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) provisioning envisages development of content/information customized to the requirements of women SHG members engaged in diverse activities in rural areas across India. The scheme entails innovative application of technology in designing & delivering the VAS content so as to ensure its easier accessibility & effective assimilation among the targeted women beneficiaries.
- Sanchar Shakti scheme has been initiated by the Universal Service Obligation Fund(USOF) which launched wireless broadband Scheme in 2009. USOF is funding the National Optic Fibre Network which is being managed by Bharat Broadband Network Limited. Bandwidth from NOFN will be eligible to give wide range of services to rural India.
Agropedia –ICAR initiative

Content availability and its intelligent organization continues to be a serious challenge in agriculture. This prevents offer of meaningful and efficient advisory and allied services to farmers and other stakeholders. Agropedia is an attempt to infuse semantic and social networking technologies into agriculture information management to alleviate this problem.

Voice Krishi Vigyan Kendra
- KVK places a special emphasis on training and education of farmers, entrepreneurs, farm women, rural youth, financial institutions extension functionaries as well as voluntary organizations.
- The centre plays a First Line Extension role- A linkage between research and the field in augmenting the socio-economic conditions of farmers, farm women and livestock owners since 1985 – 86.
- Total 631 Krishi Vigyan Kendras-KVKs have been established across the country at the district level with a team of multidisciplinary team of experts. The KVKs aim at technology assessment and refinement and work as knowledge and resource centre in the district.
- A voice KVK (VKVK) is a set of advisors (KVK experts) and peers (lead smallholder farmers) connected through mobile and internet technologies. In the VKVK, the interaction between the two parties can be entirely electronic.
- The agropedia platform acts as ‘middle ware’ for this interaction providing amplification (one-to-many and many-to-one), persistence (messages are stored and can be searched, retrieved), monitoring and other utilities which are possible when the content is electronically stored and semantically indexed.
E-NAM

In April 2016 Union Government launched the pilot of e-NAM – the e-trading platform for the National Agriculture Market.

Key features of E-portal
- The e-NAM is a pan India e-trading portal to network existing APMC and other market yards to create a unified national market for agri commodities.
- The portal will provide a single window service for all APMC related information and services.
- The portal will connect e-mandis in several states and is aimed at ushering in much needed agri marketing reforms to enable farmers to get better price of their produce and double their income.
- It is designed to create a combined national market for agricultural commodities. Farmers can display case their crop online from their adjacent market and dealers can costing price from anywhere.
- Online trade will be allowed within the state and inter-state trade will be likely once all states and mandis are integrated at the primarily stage. 25 possessions including onion, potato, apple, wheat, pulses, coarse grains and cotton, have been recognized for online trading.
- To mix a wholesale mandis from corner to corner from the country with the online platform, the state governments have to amend their Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act.
- eNAM will be realized in different phases with an aim to assimilate 585 controlled markets across the country with the common e-market platform by March 2018. So far 365 mandis from 12 states have been established approval.
Significance of E-NAM
- A major objective of the common market is to iron out the price differentials that exist across the country, by curbing the tendency to hoard, which could lead to moderation of food inflation.
- The initiative will usher in transparency that will greatly benefit the farmers. Farmers are often forced to sell at a distress prices in the closest mandi (market) and the e-NAM platform will allow them to sell their produce anywhere in the country.while farmers will earn more, traders will have a wider choice and consumers can expect lower prices
- The current state-level APMC laws permit the first sale of crops — after harvesting by farmers — to take place only in regulated market yards or mandis. It, thus, restricts the farmer’s universe of buyers to just the traders licensed to operate in the mandi under the concerned APMC’s jurisdiction.
- Even traders have to procure separate licenses to operate in different mandis within the same state. NAM would essentially be a common electronic platform allowing farmers to sell their crops to buyers anywhere in the country and vice versa. The benefits to buyers — be it large retailers, processors or exporters — are obvious, as they can log into the platform and source from any mandi in India connected to it. They don’t need to be physically present or depend on intermediaries with trading licenses in those mandis.
- Horticultural crops such as onions and potatoes are often sold at varying rates in different states and a unified market can help bring a parity in prices.
- A farmer in north India can sell his produce on the NAM to a trader in the west or south based on price. This will make a significant difference because there is no state or national price.
Challenges/Criticism
- While buyers would definitely gain from this portal same could not be clearly said about the Farmers as Most farmers do not take their crop to the mandis; they sell off to the local arhatiya or produce aggregator even before that. Even the ones who take would offer a trolley load or two at most — hardly enough to excite distant buyers bidding online.
- The National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) recently released ‘Some Aspects of Farming in India’ report shows almost 85 per cent of coconut growers selling their produce to retailers and dealers in their immediate neighbourhood. These ratios are well above 50 per cent in most crops.
- The survey data also provides a possible reason why most farmers lack the flexibility to even take their crop to the mandis. The survey data indicates that Farmers procure most of their Fertilizers, Fodder, and credit for seasonal agricultural operations from the local Bania and the credit and other inputs are given to the farmers on the condition that they will have to sell their goods to the local bania.
- The biggest challenge will be to bring in uniformity and rationalization in taxes as agriculture and the marketing is a state subject.
- Essentially the farmers cannot do away with the procurement agents whom the government wants to cut off from the ecosystem by having a transparent system.” Even APMC is only a “political platform of powerful and connected traders”. These traders own large tracts of land themselves. This nexus needs to be knocked off.
Way Forward
- eNAM may become a game changer for agriculture but States need to deliver by amending there age old APMC laws. The government should have centralized APMCs and put a cabinet rank minister to cater to commerce part of agriculture.
- Farmers can greatly benefit if they were to find ways for aggregating produce on their own, bypassing the arhatiya, Local Bania and even the local mandi in the process. This is where farmer producer organisations and cooperatives can play a role, by facilitating aggregation and creation of volumes that is intrinsic to the success of any ambitious virtual marketplace experiment.
- In order to reduce the role of Village Bania in the life of Farmer, we need to improve the structure of formal source of credit, Fertilizers and other Agriculture inputs.
- While e-NAM Can bring together both Buyers and sellers at a virtual space however in order of have adequate physical connectivity between the Farmer and retailer (which is a necessity if virtual deal needs to be transformed into actual deal )rural infrastructure like roads, warehouses and cold storage Infrastructure need to be improved simultaneously.
By

Himanshu Arora

Doctoral Scholar in Economics & Senior Research Fellow, CDS, Jawaharlal Nehru University
October 6, 2017

Subject: Economics

National Development Council

Finance Commission.

State Finance Commission

Economics of Animal Rearing

Livestock population (2012 Livestock census)

Technology Missions in India

Technology Missions in Agriculture and Horticulture

Technology Mission on Literacy

Other important Technological Missions

Technology Mission on Water and Clean Energy

Aims and Objectives

E-Technology in Agriculture