Himalayan Times (1957)

May 5, 1»S7

Seven

schemes mint have the
pride of place in our
plans.

A number of irriga-
tion schemes, both large
and small, have been
taken in hand—by harnes-
sing the watera of some
of our big rivers and by
a variety of more modest
measures such as the cons-
truction, of wells and
tanks. The area under
irrigation in the coui.try
has been increased from
51 million acres in 1951
to 67 million acres in 195(5,
and a further increase to
88 million acres is envi-
saged by 1961. Thus, the
area under irrigation is
proposed to be increased
by fully two thirds in a
matter of ten years.

The soope for land
reclamation in India is
limited. All cultivable
land is being cultivated.
So that reclamation for
us means, in the main
preventing loss of land
through erosion, and win-
ning back cultivable land
already lost through ero-
sion. A numbrr of schemes
for the prevention of soil
erosion and afforestation,
bundii g and dry cultiva-
tion have already been
undertaken and'others are
under examination. The
reward will be rich when
the schemes are comple-
ted, but they are initially
expensive and time-con-
suming and can, theretore,
largely depend on the

support and initiative of
the State.

Various parts of our
country are ft* quently the
victims of floods, and
these are in no small
measure due to uncon-
trolled deforestation, that
has taken place in the
past, made worse by in-
creasing consequential ero-
sion in the upper reaches
of our large rivers. Flood
control measures are also
being undertaken but they
are in effect measures of
soil conservation and af-
forestation.

Better quality seed
and fertilizers in adequate
quantities are our next
most important require-
ments A large number
cf seed—multiplication
farms have been started
and better seeds and fer-
tilizers are being populari-
sed by a variety of mea-
sures. We are meeting
with a most encouraging
response and already the
consumption of chemical
fertilizers has gone up 300
per cent in three years.

The process of raising
the productivity of land
has thus already got going
well and truly. Over the
First Plan period, i.e bet
ween 1951 1956, a^ritul-
tural production in the
country has increased by
some 15 per cent and
the production of food-
grains by some 20 per
cent. These are signifi-
cant increases for agricul-

ture. Jn the Second Plan,
it is proposed to increase
agricultural' production by
18 per cent and. steps are
already under contempla-
tion for raising this tar.
get to 25 per oent and
more.

I have devoted so
much attention to the
general approach to agri-
cultural productivity for
it is only on the basis of
a rapid increase in the
productivity of land that
the fundamental objecti-
ves of a socialistic pat-
tern can be realised. But
you may well ask: "What
about ensuring social and
economic justice among
the agricultural popula-
tion ?" All ancient socie-
ties are cursed with a
feudal or semi feudal sys-
tem of land, tenure and
economio justice among
the persons dependent on
land often requires a com-
prehensive measure of land
reform.

In India also, the
problem of land reform—
of arranging a rational
and just system of land
ownership and land mana-
gement—has received con-
siderable attention. 1 can-
not begin to discuss hern
the bewildering variety of
land tenure systems that
existed in India a few
years ago. Consistent
with our democratic sys-
tem of Qovernment and
the wide variety of looal
custom and conditions in