Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (India)
Agency overview
Jurisdiction IndiaRepublic of India
Headquarters Krishi Bhawan
Dr.Rajendra Prasad Road
New Delhi
Annual budget 41,855 crore (US$5.8 billion) (2017-18 est.)[1]
Ministers responsible
Website agriculture.gov.in

The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (formerly Ministry of Agriculture), a branch of the Government of India, is the apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws related to agriculture in India. The three broad areas of scope for the Ministry are agriculture, food processing and co-operation. The agriculture ministry is headed by Minister of Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Krishna Raj and Parsottambhai Rupala are the Ministers of State.

Background

Agriculture is the principal source of livelihood for more than half population of India. Agriculture provides the bulk of wage goods required by non-agriculture sectors and most of the raw materials for the industries sector. India is a largely agrarian economy - with 52.1% of the population estimated to directly or indirectly employed in agriculture and allied sectors in 2009-10.[3] The combined efforts of Central Government, State Governments and the farming community have succeeded in achieving record production of 244.78 million tonnes of foodgrains during 2010-11. This record production has been achieved through effective transfer of newly developed crop production technologies to farmers under various crop development schemes, such as the Agriculture MMP, which is run under the direction of the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation. Other causes behind record production include remunerative prices for various crops through enhanced minimum support prices.[4] Agriculture in India is of significance because of this as well as a history of food shortages and a growing population.

Origins

Department of Revenue and Agriculture and Commerce was set up in June 1871 to deal with all the agricultural matters in India. Until this ministry was established, matters related to agriculture were within the portfolio of the Home Department.[5]

In 1881, Department of Revenue & Agriculture was set up to deal with combined portfolios of education, health, agriculture, revenue. However, In 1947, Department of Agriculture was redesignated as Ministry of Agriculture.[5]

Structure and Departments

The Ministry of Agriculture and farmers Welfare consists of the following three Departments.[6]

  • Department of Agriculture, Co-operation and Farmers Welfare. This Department's responsibilities are assigned to it in the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 as amended time to time. Co-operation in this context refers largely to promote farmer co-operative movements.[7] The Agriculture MMP is another program run by this depart that aims to replicate the agricultural e-governance projects being carried in different states at a national level and through a variety of media.
  • Department of Agriculture Research and Education. This Department's responsibilities are basic and operation research, technology development, improving linkages between various organisations and state governments across the country. In addition, this Department manages the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.[8]
  • Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. This Department's primary responsibilities are to increase the productivity of livestock and aquaculture.[9]

The administrative head of the Ministry are the Secretaries of the three departments.

Programs

A leading program of the Ministry is the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, which was launched in 2007 on the recommendations of the National Development Council of India. This program sought to improve the overall state of agriculture in India by providing stronger planning, better co-ordination and greater funding to improve productivity and overall output. The total budget for this program in 2009-10 was just over INR 38,000 crore.[10]

Reports and statistics

The Ministry publishes an annual report titled "Agricultural Statistics At a Glance". This gives a detailed picture of the state of the India's agriculture including demographics of the agrarian sector, crop production (including state-wise and crop-wise break-ups), rural economic indicators such as credit, etc. The latest report has been published for 2014.[11]

List of Ministers of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Ministers of Agriculture (India)
Name Portrait Term of office Political Party Prime Minister Reference
Rajendra Prasad 1946 1947 Indian National Congress Jawaharlal Nehru
Jairamdas Daulatram 1948 1952 [12]
Panjabrao Deshmukh 1952 1962 [13]
Swaran Singh 1963 1964 [14]
Chidambaram Subramaniam 1964 1966 Lal Bahadur Shastri
Jagjivan Ram 1967 1970 Indira Gandhi [15]
Jagjivan Ram 1974 1977 [16]
Parkash Singh Badal 24 March 1977 20 June 1977 Shiromani Akali Dal Morarji Desai
Surjit Singh Barnala 1977 1979 [16]
Rao Birendra Singh 14 January 1980 31 October 1984 Indian National Congress Indira Gandhi [17]
Buta Singh 1984 12 May 1986 Rajiv Gandhi [18]
Gurdial Singh Dhillon 12 May 1986 14 February 1988
Bhajan Lal 1988 1989 [19]
Chaudhary Devi Lal 2 December 1989 10 November 1990 Janata Dal V. P. Singh [20]
Balram Jakhar 1991 1996 Indian National Congress P. V. Narasimha Rao [21]
Suraj Bhan 16 May 1996 1 June 1996 Bharatiya Janata Party Atal Bihari Vajpayee [22]
H. D. Deve Gowda 1 June 1996 10 July 1996 Janata Dal H. D. Deve Gowda [23]
Chaturanan Mishra 10 July 1996 19 March 1998 Communist Party of India H. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral
Nitish Kumar 22 November 1999 3 March 2000 Janata Dal (United) Atal Bihari Vajpayee [24]
Nitish Kumar 27 May 2000 21 July 2001 Janata Dal (United) [24]
Ajit Singh 22 July 2001 24 May 2003 Rashtriya Lok Dal [25]
Rajnath Singh 2003 2004 Bharatiya Janata Party [26]
Sharad Pawar 23 May 2004 26 May 2014 Nationalist Congress Party Manmohan Singh [27]
Radha Mohan Singh 26 May 2014 Incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party Narendra Modi [28]

See also

References

  1. "EXPENDITURE OF MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS : A3" (PDFZ). Indiabudget.gov.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Government of India". Agriculture.gov.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  3. Economic Survey 2010, p. 180.
  4. "About DAC" Archived 20 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine., "Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India", Retrieved 2015-4-24
  5. 1 2 "Organisational History of the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  6. "Ministry of Agriculture - Agriculture - Sectors: National Portal of India". Web.archive.org. 5 June 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  7. "National Portal of India". Web.archive.org. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  8. "National Portal of India". Web.archive.org. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  9. "Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 4 October 2009. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  10. ":::Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana:::". rkvy.nic.in.
  11. "Economics And Statistics,Ministry Of Agriculture,Government Of India". Eands.dacnet.nic.in.
  12. "Members : J" (PDF). Rajyasabha.nic.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  13. "Members Bioprofile". 47.132.
  14. "Members Bioprofile". 47.132.
  15. "Members Bioprofile". 47.132.
  16. 1 2 "Biographical Sketch of Member of 12th Lok Sabha". 47.132.
  17. "9th Lok Sabha, Members Bioprofile". Loksabha.nic.in. National Informatics Centre. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  18. "Official biographical sketch on Lok Sabha website". 47.132. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  19. "Fifteenth Lok Sabha, Members Bioprofile : Bhajan Lal,Shri". 47.132. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  20. "Members Bioprofile". 47.132.
  21. "Biographical Sketch of Member of 12th Lok Sabha". 47.132. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
  22. "Biographical Sketch of Member of XI Lok Sabha". 47.132.
  23. "Sixteenth Lok Sabha, Members Bioprofile : Devegowda,Shri H.D." 47.132. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Fourteenth Lok Sabha, Members Bioprofile : Nitish Kumar,Shri". 47.132. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  25. Official biographical sketch on Lok Sabha website Archived 1 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  26. "Official biographical sketch on Lok Sabha website". 47.132. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  27. "Official biographical sketch on Lok Sabha website". 47.132. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  28. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
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