03/08/2019 - Government Policies

KEY POINTS     

Separate ministry, a good move

·        According to the ministry of agriculture, dairying and Animal Husbandry contributes around Rs 7.7 lakh crores per year to the GDP which is around 4.2 per cent of National GDP. Livestock census 2012 shows complexity in animal population.

·        While the share of crops in the value of agricultural output has been declining, that of livestock and fish products is on a steadily upward trend.

·        It is therefore most appropriate that a separate ministry is created which would ensure proper focus and right budget and resource allocation that the sector required.

·        India has remained top milk producer in the world for last 21 years with current milk production at around 176 million tonnes per year (about 48 crore liters per day) which is around 20 per cent of the world milk production.

·        It is expected that with the creation of the new ministry, both the departments under it will have significantly higher budget allocations for existing and new schemes/programmes, as also investments and establishment of infrastructure in the value chain.

Criticisms of forming a separate ministry

·        The policy focus and incentive structure in agriculture is highly skewed in favour of crop cultivation.

·        Agricultural policies were bent towards foodgrain cultivation to overcome the food shortage crisis in the mid-1960s. However, long after attaining self-sufficiency and even surplus production, agricultural policies have remained undesirably crop-centric. 

·        Creation of a new ministry for livestock, dairying and fisheries has chances of further dissociating these from an integrally linked and rather mainstreamed activity of crop cultivation.

·        The livestock production system is closely interwoven with crop sector in India. Usually a single-window system is preferred for better coordination, policy synchronization and a general holistic approach.

·        With the creation of a new ministry, the already subpar coordination between departments is under threat of getting worse.

·        This also might encourage the fisheries department to lobby for a separate ministry of its own, especially with the growing emphasis on Blue Revolution in India.

·        The research ecosystem should not be equated with the governance structure of implementing departments.

·        It is, therefore, hoped that the objective behind the creation of this new ministry has been well-thought-through. 

Kindly review sir Thank u

Pls review

Review thank you

Kindly review.