Although developments in industry, trade, commerce and stock market have been making the headlines as the indicators of India’s economic growth; agriculture still continues as the India’s economic mainstay. This is precisely because of the fact that the country’s sustainable growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will depend upon the sustainable development of agriculture, which employs more than 60% of India’s population. There have been strides in agriculture; which include; greater research in bio-technology; improvements in seeds varieties; development of high-yielding seeds; better irrigation and water management; and diversification in cropping practices.

The agriculture development, however, has failed to maintain its sustained growth. Although the country has the highest irrigable land size ratio in the world; is one of the world’s largest producers of farm commodities; and has vast diversity, representing different agro-climatic regions of the country; paradoxically the country still has more than 250 million underfed people, below the poverty line and has high under-employment; which testify major lacunas in the distribution front.

The gains of the Green Revolution have been confined to a particular region of the country, and could not attend a pan-Indian character; particularly could not cover the Eastern, Southern and Western parts of the country. The public investment in agriculture has been stagnating, although the subsidy support has been increasing. The private investment is yet to make a presence and still a far-off ideal to make a dent.

The agricultural development and rural development are inextricably interwoven, each reinforcing or decelerating their growth. Rural India is the agricultural India. The rural development has substantially stagnated. Poverty has absolutely deprived the rural poor, small and marginal farmers, landless labours and rural artisans; particularly the women thereof in availing of the benefits of various ambitious governmental programmes; including the Integrated Child Development Scheme(ICDS), Mid-Day Meals Programme, Public Distribution System (PDS); Employment Grantee Scheme(EGS); National Old-Age Pension Programme; and the Annapurna Programme.

Many households in rural areas are not in a position to take their share of governmental support, because of their low assert base (poor nutrition, low education, marginal/ non-existent fix asserts). There has been little or no mobility out of extreme poverty and many households remain poor for generations. The intergenerational transmission of poverty has been further compounded by the role of private money lenders, with exorbitant interests and almost perpetual mortgaging of already available small physical asserts and properties.

The other major bottlenecks in rural development; besides the absolute and chronic poverty; are poor and pitiable rural infrastructure; primarily rural roads and rural electrification.

SANKALP has been focusing on strategic policy improvement and policy shift in agriculture development and rural development. There include;

• greater public investments in agriculture;
• promoting pro-poor rural and agricultural development by enhancing investments in rural infrastructure, particularly in rural roads and electrification;
• strengthening social safety needs and linking them to substantially employment generation in rural areas;
• streamlining the public distribution system;
• consolidating the human resource base in education, nutrition and skill development of women in rural areas;
• improving water management, particularly traditional and community based water harvesting structures;
• diversifying agriculture towards high-value agriculture that are now in high demands by India’s growing middle classes and urban dwellers and which have new export potentials;
• ensuring greater coordination and collaboration between the farmers, governmental agencies , agriculture universities, agriculture research institutes and industry to take the R & D activities from lab to land;
• strengthening the agriculture marketing and processing of agricultural commodities;
• integrating and enhancing the role of nationalized banks and governmental financial institutions, and farmers confederations and cooperatives in providing soft loans to the farmers; and
• taking advantage of full potentials of trade liberalization; with simultaneous thrust on streamlining the domestic markets, institutions and infrastructures; without compromising with the rights of the farmers.

The Organisation has been holding agriculture education and agricultural extension programmes to improve the traditional skills of farmers and to impart new appropriate skills. The Organisation also has been holding rural youth training programmes to acquaint the rural youth on various governmental agriculture and rural development programmes as well as impart skills in them for employment and self employment.

Another major plank of SANKALP’S activities is to involve the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in the democratic self-governance and self-determination of the rural population; particularly the marginalized and landless poor. Capacity buildings/ trainings, workshops and advocacy programmes are being organized for the representatives of the PRIs and grass-root level Organisations to empower them for community-based and village-level governance.