CONVERTING AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR INFRASTRUCTURE / INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS IN INDIA – COUNTER PRODUCTIVE

In India, all said and done, in  spite of steady growth in the industrial and infrastructure  projects  and services sector including software industry  in recent years , Indian economy essentially remains as agricultural based, which is a strong and sustainable  and  stabilising factor in  Indian economy.  This is likely to remain  so for all time to come.

Decreasing agricultural  land area :

However, India’s agricultural land saw a  decrease from ~189.6 million hectares in 1950-51 to ~181.9 million hectare  in 2014-15. Such trend is continuing with the area of agricultural land steadily declining in the country.

Converting  agricultural land for other purposes  such as infrastructure, industrial , housing projects amounts to counter productive policy approach, that would inevitably  have  severe short term and long term adverse implications. It is necessary to keep in view that once an agricultural land is converted to build roads or airports or factories , then the land would become unsuitable for agricultural operations  any more .  In other words,  converting agricultural land for other purposes is  irreversible,   which would result in loss of land for agricultural operations permanently and in the process,  throwing out large number of agricultural workers out of job that would  uproot the economy of the millions of  families.

Comparative GDP

Those arguing in favour of converting agricultural land for non agriculture purposes,   to some extent and selectively , are of the view that the contribution of agricultural sector is less than that of a few other sectors for the growth of national economy.

The contribution of agriculture sector to GDP of Indian economy is 17.94% ,  as against 54.93% for services sector , 27.13% for industrial sector, 8.75% for construction sector and so on.

Those who advance such arguments for converting agricultural land  appear to  ignore the significance of the agricultural sector and do  not seem to adequately appreciate  its importance for the national welfare and social stability. They certainly lack holistic view.

Overwhelming importance of agricultural sector:

In any country  food security and self sufficiency in food production is extremely vital and important  to ensure social stability.

This is particularly so in a highly populous country like India which has highest population level and highest  population density amongst all countries in the world.   Though Indian economy is progressing  at reasonable pace, still substantial percentage of Indian population  remain at below poverty line or at marginal level of poverty line. There is necessity to keep  the entire population reasonably well fed,  even if section of the population cannot afford to pay for the day today food requirements. Therefore, governments in India  are  providing free rice , wheat  and several other form of subsidy to sustain the families of the people in the marginal level of national economy . This arrangement has to  continue for several years to come, until  India  would attain much higher level of economic standards.

 Since agricultural production depends on seasonal factors and excessive rain or drought  may affect agricultural production severely  at anytime,  the precise quantity of agricultural production for future period is difficult to estimate in clear terms, unlike factory outputs.  Therefore , maintenance of buffer stock of food products is also vitally necessary to meet the requirement during  any lean period in agricultural sector.

Historically, it has been seen repeatedly in different parts of the world that shortage of food products and consequent hardship for the people are the prime contributing factors for riots , unrest and violence in society.

 In other words, this implies that  agricultural production  and agricultural land should not be sacrificed under any circumstances. Converting  agricultural land for non agricultural purposes is a calculated risk that India cannot afford.

In recent years, the production of rice, wheat , sugar and a few other agricultural  crops have reached  high level , leading to sort of surplus production in the country,  with the warehouses remaining full. However, it should be kept in view that in some years, in the recent past, agricultural  products like sugar has to be imported due to lower production caused by seasonal factors.

The warehousing capacity in India for food products  is still not adequate and on several occasions, the agricultural  products like rice have been spoiled due to exposure to rain and sun without cover. What is urgently required is that more warehousing capacity should be built at good standards to keep the buffer stock in proper conditions.

Such condition has given a false sense of feeling that Indian agri products like rice wheat etc. are produced more than the national requirements, leading to export to some extent. This scenario has prompted those who advocate converting agricultural land for non agricultural purposes , to think as justification for their stand.  Such view does not take into consideration that agricultural production can vary from year to year  due to certain reasons beyond one’s control. 

Public protest against acquisition of agricultural  land :

Every time, government proposes to acquire agricultural land for non agricultural purposes, there have been large scale  protest from the farming community. Such move to acquire agricultural  land  for other purposes  remains as  unpopular decision, causing huge uncertainty and anxiety for the thousands of agricultural workers all over India.

For example,  the proposal to acquire around 3500 acres of agricultural land for constructing a new airport near Chennai city has evoked agitation and protest  by the farmers. Similarly, the move to acquire 1000 acres of land near Hosur  in Tamil Nadu for setting up industrial estate has also been opposed by the farmers.. There are so many other instances of forced acquisition of agricultural  land all over India. The government tries to convince the farmers by offering them compensation amount or rehabilitation measures. The  farmers are not impressed ,  as they have skill only for agricultural operations and  such compensation would not provide them life long sustenance

What alternative to agricultural  land acquisition ?

India has around 63.85 million hectare of waste land , which remain totally un utilised and which are spread all over the country.

Area of wasteland  in India by classification

It is certainly possible to utilize such massive area of wasteland for setting up  industrial or other projects , appropriate to the suitability of the  land for the particular end use.  The government does not seem to have thought about such approach at all. No meaningful initiative have been put forth to retrieve  such wasteland and utilize them for productive purpose. On the other hand, the government is resorting to the  other easy option of acquiring the productive agricultural land.

With very high population density of India, it is certainly possible and  there is need to distribute the population  which can be done by utilizing the wasteland by adopting  appropriate innovative forward planning

Unutilised industrial and non agricultural land :

There are many industrial units  , educational institutions etc. that  have large areas of surplus land remaining unutilized for several decades.

Further, there are many sick industries all over India , where industrial shed and land remain unutilized for several years .

It appears that the government has not carried out a careful survey of such surplus land available all over the country, which may run to a few million hectares.  Not utilizing such land for industrial / infrastructure projects but resorting to acquisition of agricultural land cannot be justified at all.

Increasing population and job scenario :

India’s population is now estimated to be around 1.45 billion. While it is reported that fertility rate in India is reducing and smaller families are being brought up, still the population in India is increasing at around 1.5% every year and it is estimated that Indian population would reach  level of 1.8 billion by the year 2050 and it may happen even before this period.

At present, joblessness in India is  repeatedly pointed out as a crucial issue that need to be tackled  on priority basis.

Amongst the Indian population, around 30% is reported to be youth in the age group of  20 to 29.  Keeping the youth adequately employed is an urgent national necessity to avoid social unrest. Government of India is finding  it hard to achieve this target.

It is reported  that around 43% of the working age population in India is engaged in agricultural sector. With the mechanization of farming activities, labour involved in agricultural operation is already showing  marginal decline. With conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes, the unemployment conditions in India  would further intensify . Certainly, the non agricultural activity such as  industrial , infrastructure projects  cannot generate employment similar to what agricultural operations can do.

It appears that such decline in job opportunities that would happen due to conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes has not been carefully considered by the policy planners in India.

Wrong in substance and spirit :

Justification advanced for conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes such as  that only negligible percentage of agricultural land being acquired or the so called surplus food stock production in the  country or greater contribution of non agricultural activity compared to agricultural activity are all  unacceptable . 

Those who advance such arguments should do more responsible and holistic analysis of their view. The fact that Indian economy is bound to remain as agro based economy to a large extent has to be clearly understood . Under no circumstances, agricultural land should be converted to non agricultural purposes as such move is wrong in letter and spirit.

The discussions on conversion of agricultural land for non agricultural purposes should not be based on statistics oriented cost benefit analysis  by desk based researchers.