Its Shame ! we R in action only when hit by problems.

Lack of consistency in building up effective response mechanisms to deal with the vagaries of nature, like floods and droughts, has been the bane of the Indian establishment for the past six decades.

“It appears we have failed to create systems to cope up with events like floods and drought.

We get into action only when hit by the problem and forget about devising long-term strategies to deal with it.

The only way to make the Indian economy immune is to plan for the years ahead now.

Besides planning, the other limitations of Indian agriculture are lack of long-term investment in creating requisite infrastructure and the federal structure of governance.

Agriculture is a state subject and most state governments have little funds to invest in the sector, reducing the impact of Central schemes to improve the situation.

While states like Maharashtra and Gujarat have done better than others in the field of agriculture, the law and order situation in large states like UP and Bihar continues to be a bottleneck in inviting big investment.


Besides this, as India is a rain-fed economy, the challenges of drought would be there.

Our irrigation system is not developed to take care of low rains and our ability to water the fields is limited.

More small dams would have meant greater ability to handle flooding of major rivers and would have generated more hydro-power, said experts.

Against a required 80 per cent, the irrigation system in India is just about 40 per cent of the requirement.

This reflects poorly for a country where over 50 per cent of the population is involved in agriculture.

Then the alternate cropping system, which would come handy in rain deficiency years, has not been developed enough.

Comparing the strategies of the developed world in managing the natural calamities, experts said food production in Australia has been hit due to drought-like conditions for the past two years.

But since it is a food exporter and does not have to worry about feeding its population, the country has been able to withstand the pressure on its economy.

However, given the size of the country, agriculture experts said it would be wishful to think we can immunise the population against natural calamities.

Predicting a complex phenomenon like the Indian monsoon remains a challenge for the weatherman, they said.

Though there are systems in place, a 30 per cent rain deficiency, like the one being faced this year, can play havoc with the best of planning, they added.

STATE GOVT HAS TO WAKE-UP.

LUCKY.