Indian Agriculture

• Share of Agriculture in National Income: 22% (which was 55.4% in 1951); In USA this percentage is only 3%, while in UK only 2%.
• Total Population of India: 102.7 crore (2001); Rural Population of India: 74.2 crore i.e. 72% of total population; Total working population of India: 40.2 crore; out of which 12.8 crore (i.e. 32%) are cultivators, 10.7 crore (i.e. 27%) are agricultural labourers…means 59% people still depend on the land for the work. In UK & USA, only 2% of population is engaged in agriculture.
• Agriculture contributes almost 70% of our exports, but only 14.7% of total export earnings.
• Here’s a comparison of actual yield of crops per hectare in India compared to country achieving highest yield per hectare of that crop:
  •           Rice: India- 29.3; Egypt- 88.8
  •           Wheat: India- 25.8; UK- 80.5
  •           Maize: India- 16.7; Italy- 96.9
  •           Sugarcane: India- 680; Egypt- 1190
  •           Groundnut: India- 9.1; USA- 30.4
  •           Cotton: India- 2.3; Australia- 12.7
• Area of cultivated land per cultivator is meager 0.20 hectares (0.5 acres). While in USA, average agriculture land area per farmer is 1249 acres. Compare 0.5 acres with 1249 acres!
• Out of all crops, foodgrains are 75% & non-foodgrains 25%.
• From 1951 to 2002, foodgrains productions has increase from 51 million tonnes to 212 million tonnes.
• UP accounting for 20.5% cultivated area contributes for 21.4% of total production of foodgrains, while Punjab accounting for just 5.7% of total area contributes 10.8% of total foodgrains.
• Government spends Rs. 2,12,00,00,00,000 on food subsidy which constitutes around 5.17% of total government expenditure.  
• Rice, wheat, sugar, edible oil, kerosene are sold through Public Distribution System outlets…Out of this, sugar alone constitutes 35%, rice 27%, wheat 10%, kerosene 15%. Bajra, Jawar & other grains, which are largely consumed by poor people, constitute less than 1% of total PDS sales. Share of Pulse, main source of protein for the poor, is less than 0.2%.
• PDS purchases account for 68% in case of sugar, 51% for kerosene, 40% for rice & 31% for wheat in rural areas. Thus, non-poor are taking advantage of PDS purchase, especially in sugar & kerosene.
• 1/3^rd of the new-borns still weigh less than 2.5 kg at birth.
• Since independence, government has spent a whopping Rs. 2,31,40,00,00,00,000 on major, medium & minor irrigation works. Now India has ‘the largest’ irrigated area in entire world. But still irrigation is available only to 39% of total cropped area in India. Means remaining 61% area still depends upon rain. It is interesting to note that this 39% irrigated area however produces 60% of total foodgrains production. The rain-dependant 61% area produces the remaining 40% of foodgrains.
• According to Irrigation Commission, the cost of bringing the remaining area under irrigation would be Rs. 750000000000.
• Out of total irrigation, 31.5% comes from canal, 58% from wells & tube-wells, 4.7% from tanks & 5.1% from other sources.
• In total water use, the share of agriculture is 83%, domestic use only 4.5%, industrial use 2.7% and energy use 1.8%. (Remaining 8% for miscellaneous purposes including environmental requirements). 
• Consumption of fertilizers per hectare in India is around 90kgs; in South Korea 400kgs, Japan 340kgs etc.
• Government spends nearly Rs. 128000000000 on fertilizer subsidy.
• Use of fertilizers in India is in the range of 17.47 million tonnes. If cattle urine (which has valuable manorial properties) is mixed with cow dung, the available manure would be about 400 million tonnes. And that too when only 1/3^rd cow dung is used. (out of remaining 2/3^rd, 1/3^rd is never collected, 1/3^rd is used as fuel. So easily India can manage to produce around 1000 million tonnes of fertilizers natural way and that too free of cost.  

Indian Energy Scenario

Article Written By: Amit Abhyankar

India’s Per Capita consumption of Energy is much lower than most nations-

Per Capita Energy Consumption (kgs of oil equivalent):

India: 515, Indonesia: 729, Egypt: 73, UK: 3982, Japan: 4099, USA: 7996

Did you know?

• Commercial sources of Energy (sources that cost i.e. coal, petroleum, electricity) are only 50% of total energy consumption in India. Means non-commercial sources like fuelwood, agricultural waste & animal dung constitute ½ of the total energy consumption in India.
• More than 60% of Indian households depend on traditional sources of Energy for cooking & heating needs.
• At current rate of consumption & production, coal reserves in India would last for about 130 years.
• At current rate of consumption & production, oil in India would last only for about 20 to 25 years.
• In commercial energy consumption, coal constitutes 29%, Oil & gas 54% & electricity 17%.
• We are using only 20% of total hydro-power potential. (Estimated annual energy potential from hydro-electric sources is around 90000 MW while we are currently producing only 18000 MW.
• Out of total electricity production, 65.8% comes from thermal power plants, 26.3% from hydro electricity & only 3.1% from nuclear power. Non-conventional, renewable energy sources like solar, wind energy constitute nearly 4.9%. (As per NIC site on Ministry of Power).
• Public sector produces 558 billion kwh of electricity while private sector only 58 billion kwh.
• Uranium reserves in country – 70,000 tonnes (equivalent to 120 billion tonnes of coal) and Thorium reserves – 3,60,000 tonnes (equivalent to 600 billion tonnes of coal) – which is about 5 times the coal reserves in country.
• 65% of total rural energy consumption is met from fuel woods- (180 million tonnes for households + 43 million tonnes for cottage industry, hotels etc). At this rate, in near future, fuelwood could be a greater constraint than availability of foodgrains. (The problem can be solved by government spending of around Rs. 1000 crore annually).
• If animal dung is not utilized for burning and is used as fertilizer, food production would increase considerably because 73 million tonnes of animal dung is burnt every year for energy purposes, which is far more than total fertilizer consumed in agriculture production in India.
• From 1951 to 2004, the coal production has increased 12 times, crude oil 110 times & electricity 65 times.
• In 1973, price for petroleum crude oil in global market was only $2 per barrel ($2.09 exactly).
• Did you know, India has not experienced a sudden shock in its balance of payments after steep increase in global oil prices thanks to large inward remittance of foreign currencies by Indians working abroad (Thank you NRIs!).
• Only 0.3% of world’s known oil reserves are in India.
• Transport sector accounts for 56% of total oil consumption in India.
• Millions of poor people in India spend up to 100 man-days every year in gathering fuelwood for cooking purposes.
• Demand for coal rises @ 4 to 5% per year, for petroleum products 6 to 7% per year & for electricity 9 to 10% per year.
• India is second largest exploiter of Wind Energy – 1000 MW (70% by private sector).
• There are 33 lakh bio-gas plants, 2 lakh solar cookers & 10000 street lighting systems using solar photo-voltaic technology.
• Out of total electricity consumption in India, 34% goes to Industry, 24% to agriculture, 21 % to domestic use, 12% to public lighting & 2% to railway traction. These figures do not include captive (i.e. private sector) power generation.
• Currently 5,87,560 villages in India have electricity. Still 1,12,400 villages haven’t seen what electricity is! (most of these are in Assam, Orissa, UP, MP & Rajasthan). And that does not mean that every house in those 5,87,560 electrified villages has electricity…even if 10% of the households get electricity, government declares the village electrified! (This is as per ‘new modified’ definition of ‘electrified villages’ formulated in 2003-04.)

Indian Transport System

• To solve the problems in Transport sector the financial resources required are estimated to be Rs. 2,00,00,00,00,000.
• About 25% of total railway route length, 80% of equipment in railway workshops, 80% of buses operated by the SRTUs, 50% of shipping tonnage and 33% of aircraft of government airlines need to be replaced sooner or later as they have become over-aged or obsolete!
• In 1950-51, the road transport accounted for 11% of freight traffic; 26% of passenger traffic…Today freight traffic by road is 60% while 80% people prefer to travel by road.
• Indian Railways
• Railway began way back in 1853 when first train traveled from Bombay to Thane (22 km). Originally Railways were operated by private companies owned by Englishmen. Now Railway is country’s biggest nationalized enterprise.
• Indian Railways: Capital base- Rs. 55,000 crores; locomotives (diesel 4,770+ electric 3000)- 7,815; Passenger Coaches- 45,800; Wagons- 2,54,000; Staff- 1.6 million; Passengers traveling- 5,110 millions.
• From 1950-51 to 2003-04, Railways Route length increased only from 5,36,00,000 km to 6,32,20,000 km. While Road length increased from merely 4,00,000 km to 24,83,000 km.
• Indian Railway 2005-06: Total Earnings- 52,060 crores; Total expenses- 46,140 crores; Net Earnings- 5,920 crores; Dividend to General Revenue- 3,940 crores; thus total surplus- 1980 crores.
• Indian Roads
• In 2000, no. of registered vehicles on road was over 4.8 crores; No. of buses- 5,59,000; No. of trucks- 27 lakh.
• About 36% of the villages in India do not have road connections.
• About 65% of villages are without an all-weather roads.
• Only 50% of the road length in the country is provided with a proper surface.
• Even in case of National Highways, 30% of road length has a single lane road pavement.
• Cost of removing all deficiencies in National Highways is estimated at Rs. 16,44,35,00,00,000!
• The Golden Quadrilateral (5,846km) connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata + 7,300 km of North-South, East-West corridors (linking Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Silchar to Porbandar). Investment: Rs. 54,000 crores.
• 40% of bus services are nationalized.
• There are currently 60 State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs); buses- 1 lakh; investment- Rs. 5,000 crore; direct employment- 15 lakh; passengers every day- 4.5 crores. Overall performance of all SRTUs- Rs. 2,500 crores of LOSS.
• Nearly 60% of the passenger traffic & the whole of goods traffic is in the hands of private operators.
• Water Transport in India
• Practically no investment; labour intensive; but hasn’t developed.
• Fright traffic through Water transport is about 17 million tonnes, which is only about 0.15% of domestic transportation.
• Out of 25 lakhs tonnes of traffic between Assam & Kolkata, 50% is through river transport.
• Indian Shipping
• Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) is 7 million.
• Indian Shipping accounts for only 1% of total world fleet.
• There are 66 shipping companies- 16 engaged exclusively in coastal trade; 43 in the overseas trade & 7 in both.
• India has 4 major ship-building yards (Vishakhapatanam, Kolkata, Mumbai & Cochin).
• There are 2 major public sector ship building yards- Hindustan Shipyards Ltd and Cochin Shipyards Ltd.
• At present Indian ships carry only 29% of India’s total seaborne trade.
• There are 12 major ports (which handle 75% of total traffic) + 185 minor ports.
• Largest port in the World is Hong Kong, which processes 20.1 million TEUs (20-feet equivalent units). India’s largest container port handles about 2.3 million TEUs.
• Civil Aviation in India
• Civil Aviation Department was set up in 1927.
• Air Service providers- Air India, Indian Airlines, Vayudoot
• Infrastructure providers- International Airports Authority of India (IAAI); Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
• Passengers Carried- Domestic: 1,39,35,000; International: 41,72,000