Agriculture and Allied Sectors

Former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh opposed the Nehruvian soviet style of economic development Chaudhary Charan Singh was of the thought that cooperative farming could not be successful in India. Hence Charan Singh is not considered as a supporter of cooperative farming in India.`

'Small Farmers Large Field (SFLF)' is a collective action model to overcome the disadvantages faced by millions of small and marginal farmers due to diseconomies of scale and lack of bargaining power in the supply chain. This model is participatory and flexible and allows small and marginal farmers to benefit from achieving economies of scale by organizing themselves into groups and synchronizing and harmonizing selected agricultural operations. SFLF introduce scale efficiency by developing a model of community farming which pools small and marginal farmers together; enabling them with efficient, cost-effective input use, technical knowledge and infrastructural facilities that will help overcome the constraints faced by small farmers in accessing inputs, formal credit system, extension, and marketing.
Through systematic, planned and synchronized agricultural practices, farmers can utilize united-scale to procure inputs at a lower price, and gain more bargaining power for their produce. International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in support of its ongoing projects like Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) and Stress-Tolerant Rice for Africa and South Asia (STRASA) piloted SFLF customized model at Taraboisasan and Khanijpur village in Odisha.

The self-employed and self-funded producers with holdings large enough to support pair of bullocks are defined as 'Bul- lock Capitalists' by Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph (1987), while denoting the crucial role of public subsidies in preserving this faction of informal agrarian capitalism. They are small to medium-sized, self-employed agricultural producers who have some resources but are not rich.

India had such an agricultural system at the time of independence in which the ownership of lands was centred in few hands. Therefore land reforms were considered very imperative for the prosperity of the country and for this the eradication of the Zamindari system, ceiling on land holdings and tenancy reforms were adopted.

Abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms and ceiling on land holdings- all these measures have been taken in India to make the agrarian structure conducive to agricultural growth.

Land reforms in general and tenancy reforms in particular aim at redistributing ownership holding from the view point of social justice, and reorganizing operational holdings from the view point of optimum utilization of land. The scope of land reforms therefore entails abolition of intermediaries and tenancy reforms, i.e. regulation of rent, security of tenure for tenants and conferment of ownership on them. The entire concept aims at the abolition of intermediaries and bringing actual cultivator in direct con- tact with the State. The provisions of security of tenancy and rent regulation provide a congenial atmosphere in which the agriculturist feels sure of reaping the fruits of his labour.

In Indian Agriculture Census, the operational holdings are categorized in five size classes :

In Indian Agriculture Census, the operational holdings are categorized in five size classes :

As per the latest Agriculture Census 2015-16, the average size of landholdings in Bihar is 0.39 hectare which is second lowest (after Kerala 0,18 hectare) in comparison with other States of India.

Among the given options, rural poverty is the effective reason of slow agricultural development in India. Rural poverty discourages farmers from investment in the advance agricultural technology. Most Indians who are involved in agriculture do live in villages instead of cities. Therefore the impact of urban poverty on agricultural development is quite less or insignificant. Skilled labour and migration from cities to villages are not the causes of slow agricultural development. Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.