Development Planning for Agriculture: Policies, Economic Implications Inputs, Production and Marketing

Despite four decades of planned development Indian agriculture is facing the problems of cyclical fluctuations, regional disparities, low productivity and inadequate utilisation of rural manpower and natural resources. The advent of new technology in agriculture has made the country self-sufficient but the goal of food security is yet to be realised fully. The recently prepared Draft Agriculture Policy Resolution by the Government of India is a welcome step in the direction of responding the major challenges faced by the Indian agriculture. It is now right time to go into deeper probe of the implications of Draft Policy so that new agricultural policy be formulated in a significant manner. The present volume is a modest attempt to bring issues surrounding various aspects of agricultural development. The papers included in this volume are contributed by eminent policy makers, economic thinkers and agricultural scientists. These well researched and comprehensive essays should be of enduring interest to policy makers in India and also to the development administrators, academics and students of economics, agriculture and rural development.

Arbind Prasad, I.A.S. (b. 1956) is presently Managing Director of the Bihar State Agricultural Marketing Board. Mr. Prasad got his B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and received the gold medal and First Prize for Academic Excellence at his graduate level. he joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1980 and since then he has held many responsible administrative positions in the Government of Bihar. He has been District Magistrate of Sharsa and Patna Districts; Joint Secretary, Department of Rural Development; Additional Director of Industries, and Managing Director, Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation. Along with vast administrative experience Mr. Prasad is also a man of academic pursuits, having to his credit several articles published in Journals and edited books. Besides, he is also the Chief Editor of The Bihar Journal of Agricultural Marketing. Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Ph.D. (b. 1948) is currently a senior faculty member in the Division of Economics in A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna. Dr. Prasad for the last two decades has been working on various subjects veering around agriculture and economic development. He is the author of Marketable Surplus and Market Performance. He is also the co-editor of the book New Economic Policy: Reforms and Development. He has to his credit over fifty research papers published in various reputed Journals and edited books. He has about a dozen reports mimeographed. Among important research/ teaching assignments, he was a member of the Study Group of National Commission on Rural Labour, Government of India. Currently, he is Editor of the Bihar Journal of Agricultural Marketing and Academic Counsellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Patna Study Centre Patna.