Question

BRIEFLY EXPLAIN THE EFFECTS OF REFORMS IN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR?

Answer 1

Agricultural Sector is the mainstay of the rural Indian economy around which socio-economic privileges and deprivations revolve and any change in its structure is likely to have a corresponding impact on the existing pattern of Social equity. Sustainable Agricultural production depends on the judicious use of natural resources (soil, water, livestock, plant genetic, fisheries, forest, climate, rainfall, and topography) in an acceptable technology management under the prevailing socio-economic infrastructure. Various research studies and policy papers highlight that the Indian Agricultural sector faces resource constraints, infrastructure constraints, institutional constraints, technology constraints, and policy induced limitations. To achieve sustainable agricultural development, it is essential to combine natural resources, capital resources, institutional resources, and human resources (i.e. to optimally utilize the agricultural resources). As an enabling technology, Information Technology (IT) plays an important role in the rapid economic growth and social transformation in developing countries. Information Technology and Bio-Technology, which are “the drivers” of globalisation with their complementarities of liberalisation, privatisation and tighter Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), are bound to create new risks of marginalisation and vulnerability in the Indian Agricultural sector. To reduce the risks of marginalisation and vulnerability, this paper suggests development of a comprehensive Agricultural Resources Information Systems using Geomatics Technology in districts with public funding, facilitating sustainable agricultural development, and also suggests the need for development of metadata and application of OpenGIS model for optimal utilisation of agricultural resources in India.