India's Economy (Mystudent's report--- HUM 102 Asian Civilizations --> 1st Sem, AY 2007-2008)

INDIA’S ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Since independence the Indian government has attempted to pursue a mixed economic policy with features of both a free market and socialist planning. Major industries such as railroads, automobile manufacturing, and banking are government run. At the same time, many consumer-goods industries and agriculture are in private hands. Despite significant economic growth since independence, however, many of India’s gains have been offset by its increasing population.

MANUFACTURING AND MINING

Under British rule industrial growth in India was inhibited. Since independence, however, the country has achieved near industrial self-sufficiency. Today, India produces most of its own chemicals, automobiles, steel, textiles, and even computers and television sets. Steel production has more than doubled since 1960. India is self-sufficient in iron and coal but is heavily dependent on foreign oil. India’s chief energy sources are coal (26 percent), petroleum (49 percent), and electricity (25 percent). Some 156 billion KWh of electricity were generated in 1987, which is still far short of demand. Only 65 percent of India’s villages are electrified, and electrical outages are common in urban areas.

AGRICULTURE

The majority of Indians earn their livelihood from the land, and agriculture accounts for about 35 percent of national income. About half of the land is arable, and two crops a year are normal where water and climate permit. The chief summer monsoon (kharif) crops are rice and millet. The major winter (rabi) crops are wheat and pulses. India is the world’s second largest rice producer and ranks fourth in wheat production. In addition to food crops, commercial crops such as cotton, jute, sugarcane, tea, coffee, oilseeds, and tobacco are grown. India is the world’s leading producer of tea and sugar. Although Indian cattle are poor producers, India is the largest Asian producer of milk and butter, as well as hides.

The so called Green Revolution, which introduces new seed varieties and farming techniques to increase yields, has had a major impact on Indian agriculture since 1967. Total food grain production for 1986 was 150 million metric tons and India remains self sufficient in food production despite of two recent monsoon failures. Theoretically, landlordism has been abolished and there are ceilings on land holdings in most states. Government attempts to land reform, however, have been largely circumvented by the entrenched and politically powerful landlord class becomes increasingly mechanized, more small farmers will lose their land and join the millions of landless migrants already flocking to such cities as Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi each year in a largely unsuccessful search for employment.

FORESTRY AND FISHING

Forestry and fishing account for only about 1.3 percent and 0.8 percent of the national income but are locally important in some stated. Fish production has tripled since 1947.

TRANSPORTATION AND TRADE

The volume of railroad and road traffic has increased greatly since independence. Inland navigable waterways are also important avenues of transportation. Air services now reach most large cities, and government-owned Air India is a regularly scheduled international airline. Major exports include cotton goods, iron, raw jute and jute products, coffee, electrical goods, leather, handicrafts, diamonds, and chemicals. India is now the world’s leading importer of rough diamonds and exporter of gem diamonds. In recent years, India has also exported engineers and technicians (especially to the Middle East) and thousands of medical doctors and nurses serving in hospitals in the United States and Great Britain. The country’s major imports include heavy machinery, petroleum, copper, and zinc.