India at 75: A journey from growing more food to smartly growing it

Unless policies are pursued to address all the problems facing Indian agriculture holistically, the sector would find it difficult to meet the challenges of a new India

The fearsome Bengal famine happened just four years before Independence in the midst of World War II. Now that India will complete 75 years as an independent nation, the occasion calls for many celebrations, one of which is the transformation agriculture has undergone since then.

The period since 1947 can be classified into two. The first is the years when India, immediately after Independence, faced food shortages and limited avenues to raise production.

Its rising population and their growing food demand meant a hand-to-mouth situation for most and the country had to implore other nations to feed its people.

Thereafter,