Seminar-cum-interactive session on Agrarian Crises by Prof. Sangeeta Shroff

Prof. Sangeeta Shroff obtained a PhD from Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics. Presently working as faculty (Professor) in Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune and is also the Director of Agro-economic Research Centre for Maharashtra (Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India). She has also worked on many research projects for Planning Commission and Government of Maharashtra. She has worked on more than 30 Research projects and published more than 50 research papers in the field of Agriculture.

Prof. Sangeeta Shroff gave a brief overview of agriculture sector about the conditions of the farmer from the pre-independence period to the situation currently. She mentioned about the food crises we were facing in the late 1950s and mid-1960s. the situation was called ship-to-mouth owing to our dependence on food import.  The situation changed dramatically after the green revolution during the late 1960s. The green revolution program was mainly the adoption of the HYV seeds (wheat and rice), fertilizers, and irrigation. Later, HYV seeds of coarse cereals, pulses and cotton were also developed during the 1980s. Similar to green revolution for rice and wheat, for milk, there was milk revolution, for oilseeds:  "Yellow revolution", for aquaculture: "Blue Revolution"  in the 1990s. The situation of Agriculture in India at the end of the twentieth century seemed good. However, the situation of agriculture starting deteriorating with yields of major crops stagnating, rising costs of production, deteriorating state of natural resources in terms of soil erosion, ground water depletion, etc. After the talk, there was Q & A session with questions being raised on different topics such as loan waivers, Kissan call centre scheme, agriculture Labour, etc.