Himalayan Times (1962)

Six

Himalayan Times

August 26, 196

GR1CULTURE: THE PIVOT OF OUR PLANING

By Shriman Narayan

Although agriculture
as been accorded the
ighest priority in the
hird Five Year Plan,
iie State Governments
ave a general teudency
3 pay a greater atten-
ion to industrial pro-
ramme8, more specially
l the large soale sector,
'here is some kind of a
ssoination and almost a
oxaze" for establishing
ig factories in differed
reas an a symbol of our
oonomic growth and de-
elopraent. Industries,
,nd more specially heavy
ni key industries, have
urely an importance of
heir owa in our planned
couorny. The Planning
Commission has also re-
icatadly emphasised that
igrioultura! and indus-
■rial development of. the
country must go hand iu
land. Nevertheless, it ig
lot very clearly realized
jy many of us that lor
nany years to come, us-
:icu!ture will still remain
the pivot of Indian eoo-
aomy and we shall be
neglecting various pro
grammes of agricultural
production at our great
pari!.

It is significant to
know that even a highly
industrialised and totals,
jariun country like the

Soviet Union is now pay.
ing greater attention to
increased agricultural pro.
duction and animal hus-
bandry as its highest pri-
ority in economic plan-
ning. Recently Mr. Khru-
shchev wa« obliged to
announce an increase of
30% in the retail prices
of meat and an increase
of about 26% in the prices
of butter. Ia China, their
Prime Minister h&e an-
nounced to his country-
men that the nation must
once again lay much
greater stress on increasing
agricultural crops even at
the cost of slowing down
various industrial enter-
prises. As is well known,
China is at present facing
serious famine in several
parts of the cnunlry, and
several types of industries
based .T1 agricultural raw
materials are being affec-
ted seriously on account
of inadequate growth in
the agricultural sector.
In fact, as the June 16
issue of the London Eco-
nomist (joints out, agricul-
ture has become 'the
Achilles heel of the Pom.
munist economy." After
bitter and costly expe-
rience gained during the
last two or three deeacee,
the Communist countries
are now veering round to
the view that in order to

achieve a quicker rate of
growth even in the indus-
trial sector agriculture
must begiTen much greats.;-
importance in the econo-
mic plain.

In India, therefore,
we cannot afford to re-
peat this mistake by ac-
cordina programmes of
agriculture, animal hus-
bandry and dairying a,
lower priority. As a mat-
ter of fact, it is nov?
quite obvicu? that States
like Punjab which have
concentrated on agricul-
ture and sma'sler indus-
tries have achieved a
mnoh higher rate of growth
as compared with States
like Bihar which hi;vo the
advantage of good num-
ber of hsavier industries
but which possess s week
bate of agricultural deve-
lopment. In Indian eco-
nomy, the agricultural
sector still contributes
about 50% to our annual
national income. it iff,
therefore, imperative that
Tarious targets vfhicis ha-ye
been fixed for food grams,
commercial crops arid an.i
ma! husbandry and dairy-
ing programmes are achie-
ved in a positive manr.or
by the end of the Third
Plan.

The Planning Co.ro*
mission has made it abun-
dantly ol-ar ttet. so £si:
as agricultural p£<>£; am-
ines are concerned, specj.-il.
ly for miner irrijta».iort
and soil corie.rvssk'.i",
whatever is j-feyskeTij {-»..»•