Question

what is lifeline of Indian agriculture explain according to 3 marks

Answer 1

AGRICULTURE is one of the core sector for economic growth of the country. The overall growth of the country is determined by various parameters. Irrigation is considered as a life line of the India’s agriculture. The outstanding feature of Indian agriculture is its dependence on rainfall. Due to unequal distribution of rainfall during the year and its variation from year to year-in respect of quantity, incidence and duration, the Indian agriculture gets affected. Hence the development of irrigation was adopted priority in the India’s Five-year plans. Considerable amount was spent for the development of irrigation in the Five-year plans. In the first Five-year plan, irrigation accounted for an expenditure of Rs 456 crore and created irrigation potential was of the order of 3.66 million hectare. The 11th plan envisages creation of an additional potential of 16 million hectares at an estimated required outlay of about Rs 2,10,000 crore. Of the 182.7 million hectares of land used for cultivation, only about 62 million hectares is currently irrigated; the rest depend entirely on monsoon rains. Hence, from the agriculture point of view, enlarging the cropped area under assured irrigation is critical for Indian economy. India’s agriculture sector currently used about 90 per cent of total water resources. Irrigated agriculture has been fundamental to economic development, but unfortunately caused ground water depletion. India draws 80 per cent of its water resources from groundwater. India receives an average of 4,000 billion cubic metres of rainfall every year. Unfortunately, only 48 per cent of rainfall ends up in India’s rivers. Due to lack of storage and crumbling infrastructure, only 18 per cent can be utilized.