Indian Monsoon Essay

Remember the Famine 1975 (?) A bestseller by William and capital of Minnesota Paddock which had created ripples throughout the world by their comments on the lowdeveloped countries especially India. Their marrow was loud and clear Let the (hopeless) Indians starve to death. Humiliated by the inefficiency due to lack of advanced technology and inability to be self- low-level to fall the universe of discourse drastic changes were implemented by then policy makers of egalitarian Re overtan of India. Mr Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan led the crusade to make India self-sufficient by spread the green revolution throughout India. Since then India has never looked back despite weak monsoons frequently.Impact of green revolution So what led to the end of the world being averted? The modern practices in agriculture were implemented with newer technology. But the move point was the introduction of high yielding variety of seeds which made the dependency on monsoon much less. The gen etically modified seeds addition Indias issue from 120 tonnes to 170 tonnes in a span of just oneness year. India also invested in agricultural universities to promote research in drought resistant seeds. Land reforms in that era resulted in the consolidation of miniscule holdings which resulted in implementation of technology optimally. MS Swaminathan was instrumental in spread the aw beness rapidly regarding the ill personal effects of fertilizers and pesticides which eroded the quality of soil. advanced policies were implemented to make the credit supply for farmers easy and convenient.The cumulative effects of all these changes made sure India would non withdraw to be in all dependent on monsoons in future. Initially the food whit yield did subjoin with the implementation of green revolution exactly after ten-spot years it reached its saturation. The food grain available per person reached its peak at 480 gms per person. The consumption of protein rich foods whic h were not dependent on agriculture increased simultaneously with growth of Indias deliverance. Although the penetration of superior foods among the lower strata of population was still insignificant nevertheless the consumption among the higher end of the society increased considerably.Implementation of PDS The game changer however was the improved public distri providedion system. Monsoon in India is peculiar in the sense that the rainfall whitethorn be deficient in some argonas whereas abundant in otherwise. So the production also follows the same pattern being under tush in the monsoon deficient areas whereas bumper production in the abundant monsoon areas. But the badinage was that he food grain in the bumper production region were left wing to rot despite of the people starving in other regions. The rapid development of roads led to a better connectivity which ensures that the food grain make can be equitably distributed across India. So level if the monsoon being de ficient in some areas the excessive output from other regions could be sent across to compensate or the low production. amend irrigation The dependence of agriculture on monsoon has declined over the years. Compared to 1965, when 67% of the agriculture was dependent on monsoon, only 40 % of the agriculture is dependent on rainfall today. The irrigation earlier was due to canals which were indirectly dependent on rainfall but now the irrigation is mostly by tube wells which are not dependent on monsoons. So a decline in monsoon wont affect the production output drastically. India traditionally produces two crops, kharif and rabi. Kharif crops are cultivated in the monsoons and rabi crops are cultivated in the winters. So kharif crops are dependent on, whereas rabi crops are unaffected by, monsoons. Earlier the kharif crops accounted for three fourths of the total output but in the contemporary scenario the output of kharif and rabi crops are almost equal. So a deficient monsoon may c hange the output of kharif crops slightly but the rabi output wont be affected.Inflation rendered ineffective vulnerable monsoon impart fuel inflation due to the supply and demand mismatch. The increase in level of prices will have some effect on other commodities as well. Having said that, as per the the PDS scheme the population under the BPL gets 35 kg of food grain e very(prenominal) month. So the short wont be affected much by increase in the food inflationEffect on GDP Indias agriculture contributed to around 52% of the total GDP in 1950. The investments in the manufacturing sector as well as the rise of Indian operate sector led to decrease in the share of the agriculture in Indias GDP. Presently agriculture contributes only 14% to the GDP. So pull down if the production decreases due to weak monsoon its effect on the GDP will be negligible. Even 7% drop in the output, though very unlikely would decrease the GDP by only 1 %.Forex adequacy Earlier India received foodgrai ns on charity primarily from USA, Australia and Canada. But dependencies have been worked upon. Scenarios have been mitigated. Today, India has $300 billion as foreign reserves and has take in enough forex reserves to buy food grains in times of emergency. The received reserves of the food grain stands at 80 million tonnes, so a situation of import is highly improbable.These all contribute as the major reasons which have ceased Indian-draughts & fickle monsoon conditions from being calamities anymore. Foodgrain availability remains as low as in the 1960s, despite the green revolution. But rapid GDP growth, by hugely boosting the share of services and industry in GDP, has made agriculture a relative pygmy, greatly reducing the economys monsoon dependence. Yet when everything is said and read, things arent as rosy as we have depicted above. There remains a catch a drought may no longer mean mass starvation, but it still means food inflation