A significant territory of South Asia is occupied by the Federal Republic of India, which is in seventh place in the world in terms of area, and the second in terms of population.
This is a country that is distinguished by a great diversity of nationalities, as well as the rapid growth and development of industry.
Population
India can rightfully be considered a favorable haven for representatives of various nationalities. In confirmation of this, it can be clarified that, despite the fact that state language considered Hindi, 14 more constitutional languages have been approved in the country, including English, Sanskrit, Marathi, Assami and others.
Eighty years ago, during the colonies, the death rate exceeded the birth rate, and the average life expectancy barely reached 30 years. Two decades later, the demographic situation of the country improved dramatically, as health care began to actively develop, and every family was promoted to produce at least two children. Today, population growth is so rapid that in 5 years India will surpass China in terms of the number of inhabitants. That is why in the last decade one of the most significant problems in the country is unemployment - more than 20% of able-bodied residents do not have a permanent job or are partially employed.
Although India cannot be called an urbanized state, the urban population still exceeds the rural one by several times. According to this indicator, India also ranks second in the world. Most of the townspeople work in trade and the service sector. It is worth pointing out that the largest cities in India are not sufficiently comfortable, on the contrary, there are many basti slums, lack of running water and sewerage, problems with transport interchanges, regular traffic jams at rush hour, poor conditions for the urban population. The life of the rural population can be called more comfortable.
Industry of India
The service sector occupies the bulk of India's gross domestic product. The most developed industries of the country include energy, ferrous metallurgy, mechanical engineering, chemical and light industries, since these are the areas that are state property and make a huge contribution to India's GDP.
Energy
(North Chennai Thermal Power Plant, India)
Despite the fact that the energy sector in the country is at the stage of rapid development, the majority of the population satisfies their domestic fuel needs through agricultural waste and firewood. Hard coal is mined mainly in the northeast, and the cost of its transportation is quite high and economically unjustified. The processing of oil deposits is practically undeveloped, therefore, mainly imported raw materials are processed. Therefore, the center of the energy industry are hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants. Nevertheless, India's nuclear energy program has been rapidly developing.
Metallurgy
(Steel plant in Bhilai, India)
Ferrous metallurgy is one of the main industries in India, because the country has a large number of deposits of ore and coal. The city of Kolkata is distinguished by the richest sources. The center of the largest metallurgical plants is located in the eastern part of the country. Basically, the work of factories is aimed at meeting state needs. Yet India exports some minerals, including mica, manganese and iron ore. It should be noted that the metallurgical industry is distinguished by aluminum smelting, since the country has its own rather large reserves of the necessary raw materials. All other non-ferrous metals India receives through imports.
mechanical engineering
(Conveyor assembly of cars by hand)
Over the past decade, the engineering industry in India has reached its apogee. Aircraft, shipbuilding, carriage and automotive industries began to develop rapidly, producing almost all types of necessary transport equipment. About forty diverse enterprises, which are located mainly in large cities, are the center of mechanical engineering and produce the necessary parts thanks to their own machine-building complex.
Textile and chemical industry
(Textile industry)
About two tens of millions of Indians work in the textile industry. Today it is invested by many foreign representatives of the textile business. Due to this industry, the economy of the state has significantly strengthened. The country's treasury receives a huge profit (more than 30 billion dollars) from the sale of chemical industry products: mineral fertilizers, plastics, chemical fibers, rubber. Now most of the factories have directed their efforts to organic synthesis.
Agriculture in India
(Collection of traditional Indian tea)
Agriculture in India is mainly focused on farming and growing a variety of food crops (rice, wheat). In the world, tea, cotton and tobacco exported from India are valued. The climate of the country makes it possible to grow these crops and distribute high-quality goods far abroad. The development of animal husbandry is hindered by Hinduism, which is widespread in the state, which promotes vegetarianism and considers even the processing of skins a low and sinful craft. But agriculture does not suffer from this, since the inhabitants of India can all year round engage in crop production, which gives them a constant stable income.
Modern India is among the top developing countries in the world. A significant role in the country's economy belongs to industry and agriculture - the former accounts for slightly less than 1/3, and the latter - slightly more than 1/3 of GDP.
Industry
India's manufacturing industry is diversified. The vast majority of industrial workers are employed in millions of small handicraft enterprises. These are mainly households engaged in spinning, weaving, pottery, metalworking and woodworking, and for the most part provide for the local needs of the villages in which they are located.
However, in terms of total volume and added value, mechanized factory production dominates. Many industrial plants, especially those producing high-value products such as machinery, fertilizers, rolled metal, etc., are state-owned and run by the central or state governments. There are also thousands of private manufacturers, including a number of large and diversified industrial conglomerates. For example, the private corporation Tata Iron and Steel Company (Tata Steel) in Jamshedpur is one of the largest and most successful manufacturers in the steel industry.
Foreign corporations are reluctant to invest in Indian industry due to excessive regulation and rules restricting foreign controlling shareholding.
Workers in the textile industry, especially in cotton, jute, wool and silk, make up the bulk of those employed in production. Few large cities do not have at least one cotton factory. Jute production, unlike cotton, is concentrated in Googlyside, a series of towns along the Googly (Hooghly) River north of Calcutta.
Even more common than textile factories are primary processing plants for agricultural and mining products. Usually these are small seasonal enterprises located near the places of primary production. These include oil pressing, peanut shelling, sugar processing, food drying and refrigerating, and ore grinding and initial smelting.
The consumer goods industries are widely dispersed, and mostly concentrated in large cities. To spread the benefits of development regionally and reduce urban congestion, state governments are sponsoring numerous industrial parks that offer incentives to entrepreneurs, including cheap land and reduced taxes.
Heavy industries, such as steel mills, are located near either a raw material base or coal deposits, depending on the ratio of required materials and transportation costs. India has been lucky with several deposits, especially in the Chhota Nagpur Plateau, where abundant coal reserves are located in close proximity to high-quality iron ore. Located near Calcutta, the Chhota Nagpur Plateau has become a major region for heavy industry and interrelated chemical and engineering industries. The production of heavy transport equipment such as locomotives and trucks is also concentrated here.
Agriculture
Approximately half of all Indians still receive their livelihood directly from Agriculture and only relatively recently has their share begun to decline in comparison with the figures of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the area of cultivated land is growing steadily and already covers more than half of total area country. In fertile regions, such as the Indo-Gangetic Plain or the deltas of the east coast, the proportion of cultivated land to the total area exceeds nine tenths.
The availability of water is highly dependent on the climate. In all regions, except for a small part of the country, water supplies for agriculture depend on the unstable southwest monsoon. As a result, farmers grow only one crop a year in regions without irrigation, and the risk of crop failure is high in many areas.
Prospects and actual development of irrigation also differ greatly in different parts of the country. Conditions are especially favorable in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, partly because of the relatively uniform flow of rivers flowing from the Himalayas, and partly because of the vast reserves of groundwater in the thousands of meters of alluvial deposits that underlie the region. However, in the Hindustan peninsula, the availability of surface water depends on the seasonal rainfall regime in the region, in many areas the formation hard rock makes it difficult to drill wells and severely limits access to groundwater.
For such a predominantly agricultural country, cultivated soil resources and water volumes are critical. Although India has vast areas of fertile alluvial soils, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, as well as other significant areas of relatively productive soils, for example, soils of the Deccan Plateau, formed as a result of the crushing of volcanic rocks, red-yellow lateritic soils that predominate in most of the rest of countries have low fertility.
In general, the availability of cultivated area per capita is low, and less than half of cultivated land is of high quality. In addition, many areas have lost much of their fertility due to erosion, alkalization (caused by over-irrigation without proper drainage), and prolonged cultivation without restoring depleted nutrients.
The average Indian farm size is only about 5 acres (2 hectares), but even this figure masks a markedly skewed distribution of land allotments. More than half of the farms are less than 3 acres (1.2 ha), while the remainder are controlled by a small number of relatively wealthy landowners.
Most peasants own farms that provide their families with little more than food. Given the fluctuations in the agricultural market and the fickle nature of the annual monsoons, the rate of abandonment of agriculture is quite high, especially among small farmers. In addition, almost a third of households have no land at all. Many tenants are forced to work for large landowners or to supplement their income with income from some ancillary activities, often those traditionally associated with their caste.
Modern technologies
Agricultural technology in India has undergone rapid changes. Government-sponsored large-scale irrigation canal projects, laid out by the British in the mid-19th century, were greatly expanded after independence. The focus then shifted to deep wells (called tube wells), often privately owned, from which water was raised by either electric or diesel pumps.
However, in many places, these wells have depleted local groundwater supplies, after which efforts have been directed to recharge aquifers and use rainwater. Reservoir irrigation, a method by which water is drawn from small reservoirs created along small streams, is used in some parts of the country, especially in the southeast.
Since the late 1960s, new high-yielding hybrid seed varieties have emerged, mainly wheat and rice, which have led to a dramatic increase in production, especially in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. The demand for chemical fertilizers is steadily growing.
The success of the so-called Green Revolution was so significant that it managed to build buffer stocks of grain, enough for the country to endure several years of disastrously bad monsoons with little to no imports or famine, and even become a modest net food exporter in some years.
agricultural crops
Most Indian farms grow little other than food crops and account for more than three-fifths of the cultivated area. The top grain crop, both in area planted and in total yield, is rice, the crop of choice in almost all areas with an average annual rainfall of over 40 inches (1,000 mm) and in some irrigated areas.
Wheat ranks second in terms of sown area and yield. Thanks to the use of hybrid technologies, it is ahead of all grain crops in terms of yield per hectare. Wheat is grown primarily in the fertile soils of northern and northwestern India in areas with an average annual rainfall of 15 to 40 inches (380 to 1,000 mm), often with supplemental irrigation.
Other important crops, in descending order of cultivated area, are sorghum (Jowar), pearl millet (Bajra), maize and millet (ragi). All of these tend to be grown in relatively infertile soils unsuitable for rice or wheat, while corn is preferred in hilly and mountainous areas.
Legumes, of which chickpeas are the most widely grown, are the main source of protein for most Indians, since the consumption of animal products is either a luxury or religiously prohibited for many.
Crops consumed in small amounts include potatoes, onions, various vegetables, eggplants, okra, zucchini and other vegetables, as well as fruits such as mangoes, bananas, tangerines, papaya and melons. Sugarcane is widely cultivated, especially in areas near processing plants. Sugar is also obtained from the trunks of palm trees, which are abundant in southern India, but most of This syrup is fermented, often illegally, to make an alcoholic beverage.
Sources vegetable oil serve a variety of crops - mainly peanuts, coconuts, mustard, cotton seeds and rapeseed. Spices that are in great demand among Indians are widely grown - the ubiquitous chili pepper, turmeric and ginger are used as seasonings in national cuisine. Tea is grown mainly for export in Assam, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, while coffee is produced almost exclusively in southern India, mainly in the state of Karnataka. Tobacco is cultivated mainly in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Among commercial industrial crops, cotton is the main crop. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab are the main cotton growing states. Native to West Bengal, Assam and Bihar, jute is the second most abundant natural fibre. Most of it is exported in processed form, mainly in the form of burlap. An even coarser fiber is obtained from coir, the outer shell of the coconut, the processing of which forms the basis of the handicraft industry in Kerala. Coconuts and oilseeds are also important for the extraction of industrial oils.
Cattle breeding
Despite the fact that Indians eat little meat, animal husbandry plays an important role in the agrarian economy. Today, India has the largest number of cows in the world. Cattle and buffaloes serve many purposes - to provide milk, as a source of meat (including Muslims, Christians, and some castes for whom eating beef is not forbidden), and as a source of fertilizer, fuel for cooking (from dried cow dung cakes) and leather.
Milk yields from Indian cows are rather low, while buffalo milk is somewhat better and more nutritious. Because cow slaughter is illegal in many states, cattle are not raised specifically to provide meat, and much of the beef consumed comes from animals that have died of natural causes.
Instead of being slaughtered, aged cows, no longer able to benefit a person, are sent to goshals (nursing homes supported by donations from devout Hindus) or simply driven out into the street as homeless. Either way, they compete with humans for scarce plant resources.
First you need to remember what kind of climate prevails in India. It is located in the subequatorial belt, which means that there are quite warm winters and hot summers. V winter months the thermometer stays at +19 to +24, and in summer the temperature can rise to +40ºС. The amount of precipitation in the west and in the east of the country is very different. While the east receives a lot of rainfall, the western part of India suffers from drought.
The presence of all these factors explains the presence of diverse soil. In India, yellow earth, red earth, alluvial soils, and also tropical black soils can be found. Each of these soils is fertile and, in combination with a mild climate, contributes to the development of agriculture. This industry is not new to India, it took its beginnings in antiquity. In order to create as much area as possible for sowing and growing plants, many forests were cut down, dams were built and many irrigation canals were built. Now in India, farmers can harvest not one, but as many as 4 crops during the year.
What distinguishes Indian agriculture from other regions
Although agriculture has great potential as a developed industry and under almost ideal conditions for its even better development, almost 30% of the peasants remain very poor. Huge areas belong to wealthy landowners who hire residents on favorable terms. Peasants who do not have their own plots of land are forced to agree to these conditions in order to somehow feed themselves. In addition to large landowners, there are small farms that have poor productivity. In general, the country is the world leader in terms of the number of people employed in this industry. For public and small private enterprises, the so-called "green revolution" has been a great help, which has helped to bring about changes in the work and methods of sowing and caring for plants.
Structure of agriculture
The main branch of agriculture in India is crop production. This is due to several factors. First, as a developing country, India focuses on crop production, because this industry is fast-paying and requires less material costs. Secondly, the development of animal husbandry is hindered by the local traditions of the population of India (for the Hindus, the cow is considered a sacred animal and these animals cannot be killed). Although the number of large and small livestock in India ranks first in the world, these animals are mainly used not for food, but as draft power.
animal husbandry
Despite the huge number of livestock, its productivity is not large, and as an industry, animal husbandry in India is underdeveloped. However, fishing is developed in the country, in particular, India is a major exporter of shrimp and frogs. Poultry farming, as well as breeding of other animals, is not very well developed. This can also be explained by the fact that Hindus are predominantly vegetarians. The country has developed the production of leather and in the world market India ranks first in this industry.
Cultivation of vegetable crops
The main crop in India is rice. It is mainly grown in the southeastern part of the Indo-Gangetic lowland. Also crops of wheat and millet give a large harvest. These crops grow mainly in the northwestern part of the country. Among cultivated plants suitable for food in the country, corn, various vegetables, fruits, and legumes are grown. Among fruit crops, bananas, papaya and mangoes are in great demand. India is the world's leading exporter of tea and sugarcane. The main source of fat in the country are oilseeds such as peanuts, sesame and cashew nuts. In addition to these plants, rubber, cotton, flax and rapeseed are grown here. And of course, India is known for its spices. It is here that cardamom, cloves, turmeric, ginger and black pepper are grown and supplied all over the world.
India is known as a land of ancient agricultural culture. And now about 1/5 of its GDP is created in agriculture, and it provides 3/5 of the economically active population with work. This branch of the economy of India has a pronounced crop orientation. Crop growing, predominantly labor-intensive, provides more than 3/4 of the total value of agricultural production, and approximately the same part of the entire sown area is occupied by food crops. Animal husbandry, despite having the largest livestock population in the world, is much less developed. Commercial livestock breeding is quite rare, and cattle are used mainly as a draft force in field work. As for the size of the livestock, it is largely explained by the views of Hinduism, which prohibit the killing of "sacred" cows. As a result, the number of completely unproductive and inoperable outbred cattle is estimated at tens of millions of heads.
natural background for the development of agriculture in India can be described as generally quite favorable. The structure of its land fund is characterized by an extremely high (56%) level of plowing. In terms of total cultivated land, the country is second only to the United States. The agro-climatic conditions in most of it are favorable (Fig. 137) and allow farming all year round. Most regions of the country are characterized by an abundance of heat (the sum of active temperatures is 4000–8000° per year). Limits only the lack of moisture. That is why 1/3 of all sown areas are irrigated in the country, and India holds the first place in the world in terms of the total area of irrigated lands.
Rice. 137. Agro-natural conditions of India and neighboring countries (according to S. B. Rostotsky)
Unlike natural socio-economic background for the development of agriculture for a long time were much less favorable. First of all, because of the survival of the semi-feudal agrarian structure, the system of intermediary land lease and the huge concentration of both land and production in the hands of a few.
Once upon a time, communal land tenure prevailed in India with subsistence farming and its combination with home crafts. During the Mughal Empire, it was replaced by peasant land use and landlord (zamindari system) land tenure. The British colonial authorities retained this system, thereby strengthening the landlord system. Supplemented by a multi-level predatory lease of land (from 1/2 to 2/3 of the crop had to be paid for rent), and even while maintaining massive landlessness, such a system placed a heavy burden on the shoulders of the bulk of the peasantry.
Rice. 138. The main agricultural regions of India and neighboring countries
After gaining independence, great agrarian transformations took place in the country. An agrarian reform was launched, aimed at eliminating large landed estates and allocating land to the peasants. But it was not carried out consistently enough and led to the strengthening of the kulak elite, which in the first place took advantage of the fruits of the 1960s. "Green Revolution", thereby increasing the social stratification of society. But industrial agricultural cooperation, despite the efforts of the new government, did not become widespread. The mechanization of agriculture is still extremely insufficient. In the Indian village, the natural and semi-natural ways are still very strong.
Nevertheless, both the agrarian transformations carried out and the beginning of the "green revolution" contributed to a significant increase in agricultural production. Over the past decades, the use of tractors has increased several times, rural electrification has expanded. Special meaning had the use of high-yielding seeds, fertilizers, an increase in the area of irrigated land.
As a result, grain yields increased from 5 centners per hectare in the early 1950s. to 15–25 q/ha at the end of the 1990s, which led to an increase in overall grain production. This allowed India not only to get rid of food imports, but also to start exporting grain. Now, in terms of gross grain harvest (230 million tons), it ranks third in the world after China and the USA; in terms of total consumption of wheat and rice, it is second only to China (although it lags behind many countries in terms of per capita consumption). India also occupies a leading place in the world in the collection of tea, fruit, and sugar cane. Interestingly, in Lately it has also become one of the world leaders in milk production: the rapid growth in milk production is sometimes called the “white revolution” here.
Against such a general background, individual agricultural areas India is quite different from each other. First of all, this applies to natural conditions. Figure 137 shows that from the point of view of agro-natural conditions, the Indo-Gangetic lowland is most favorable for agriculture, the plains and lowlands in the east and north-east of the country are relatively favorable, and the areas located in the central and southern parts of Hindustan are less favorable. But there are big differences between the regions both in terms of the level of marketability and in terms of the specifics of the production structure of agriculture. Based on the main specialization of the main industry - agriculture, in the most general, generalized terms, three large agricultural regions can be distinguished in India.
V first district wheat crops predominate, although rice, millet, cotton, oilseeds, and sugarcane are also cultivated here. It is located in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh. Although less than in other parts of India, there are also two main agricultural seasons: summer (kharif) and winter (rabi). In the summer season, the main source of moisture is monsoon rains, which dictate all the main terms of field work, and in the winter, dry season, the fields need artificial irrigation.
The role of the main granary of the country is played by the relatively small state of Punjab, in translation - Pyatirechye. Indeed, before the separation of Pakistan in 1947, its territory covered the basins of the five main tributaries of the Indus: the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelam. The largest irrigation systems in the country were created here. But after the partition of the former British India, most of them ended up within Pakistan. Therefore, in Punjab, from the very beginning, much attention was paid to hydraulic engineering. In 1948–1970 here on the river Sutlej built the country's largest hydroelectric complex Bhakra-Nangal, which includes a hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 1.2 million kW and a system of irrigation canals with a total length of 4.5 thousand km; with their help, 1.5 million hectares of land were irrigated in Punjab and neighboring states. Then other waterworks and irrigation systems were built.
Rice. 139. Agricultural and peasant calendar in the Delhi area
Irrigation contributed to the fact that it was in the Punjab that the “green revolution” began and manifested itself to the greatest extent (in the conditions of India). It embraced, first of all, the farms of the kulaks and wealthy peasants, predominantly Sikhs, who also widely used agricultural machinery and mineral fertilizers. As a result, the share of Punjab in the total Indian harvest of wheat, which is grown in the rabi season, has risen to 40%. The yields of rice, long-staple cotton, and other crops also increased significantly.
The state of Haryana can be called a kind of reduced copy of the Punjab. It is also reminiscent of the largest state of Uttar Pradesh in terms of population - the largest producer of not only wheat, but also legumes and oilseeds, sugar cane, potatoes and vegetables, which already lies completely within the Indo-Gangetic lowland. Figure 139 gives an idea of the agricultural calendar of the peasants of the wheat region, which, as you can easily see, continues all year round.
In second district rice crops predominate, although along with it sugar cane, jute, millet and oilseeds, and wheat are cultivated here. It occupies a much larger area than the wheat region, covering the main part of the lowlands of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, the eastern part of the Deccan Plateau, as well as the Coromandel and Malabar coasts of Hindustan. But its core lies within the states of West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, and partly also Chhattis Garh and Uttar Pradesh.
Rice has been cultivated here for thousands of years. It is usually planted at the beginning of the kharif season, when the weather is dry and hot with May temperatures up to 42-44 ° C. With the onset of monsoon rains in early June, rice fields are covered with water, and harvesting is carried out in the fall. But with artificial irrigation, which is provided with the help of both large irrigation systems and wells (wells), rice is successfully grown in the Rabi season.
Third agricultural region India occupies the main part of the Deccan Plateau. He does not have such a clear specialization. From grain crops, mainly jowar and other millet crops are grown here, but also rice, wheat, corn, and short-staple cotton from industrial crops. The general level of agriculture, its productivity and marketability are much lower here, only 1/7 of the sown area is irrigated. Even cotton is not grown on irrigated lands, although the most fertile dark-colored clay soils on basalt covers - regura - are used for its crops. Therefore, the cotton yield in India is 26 centners per hectare, which is significantly less than the world average (55 centners per hectare), not to mention the United States or Uzbekistan. India accounts for 1/4 of all cotton crops in the world, and in terms of the collection of cotton fiber (4.6 million tons), it ranks third after China and the United States.
In addition to these three main areas, there are several more highly specialized areas of agriculture in India. This is, for example, the lower reaches of the Ganges in West Bengal, where jute is actually a monoculture. Or the Assam Valley in the northeast, which at the end of the 19th century. has become one of the largest tea-producing regions in the world. Or the Malabar coast - the largest supplier of coconuts, as well as black pepper and other spices. Most of these areas are dominated by plantation farming.
India is an agro-industrial country. From the colonial period it inherited considerable economic backwardness and the appalling poverty of the vast masses of the population. In a state of extreme decline was the main branch of the economy - agriculture. But the socio-economic transformations within the framework of the Nehru Course pulled the country out of the stagnation of the colonial period and led to its steady economic upsurge.
By the beginning of the 1980s, the stage of breaking up the colonial structure had basically ended in the Indian economy, and local capitalism had turned from the leading socio-economic structure into a structure that directly or indirectly dominated the entire system of social production. This was facilitated by a number of factors, including the creation of a powerful state-capitalist sector, the strengthening of the processes of concentration of production and the centralization of capital in the large private capitalist sector, which outpaced the development of small-scale capitalist entrepreneurship in the city and countryside since the second half of the 60s.
The leading branch of agriculture in India is crop production (4/5 of the value of all products). The sown area is 140 million hectares, but there are practically no land resources for new development. Agriculture needs irrigation (40% of the cultivated area is irrigated). Forests are reduced (slash-and-burn agriculture is still preserved).
The main part of the cultivated area is occupied by food crops: rice, wheat, corn, etc. The main industrial crops of India are cotton, jute, tea, sugar cane, tobacco, oilseeds (pane, peanuts, etc.). Rubber plants, coconut palms, bananas, pineapples, mangoes, citrus fruits, spices and spices are also grown.
The achievement of self-sufficiency in grain is an important success for independent India. At the same time, this self-sufficiency is based on maintaining an extremely low level of consumption. Despite the "green revolution", the level of agricultural technology and productivity in India remains one of the lowest in the world. Despite the fact that the use of chemical fertilizers in the country has doubled over the 70s and now they are used on 55% of the area occupied by wheat and 45% by rice, their consumption per 1 ha of sown area in India was in 1983 5 times less than in China, cotton - 7 times less than in Mexico. The development of agriculture in India is hampered by the backward socio-economic structure of the countryside.
Under agricultural land in India, 60% of the territory is used. They are mainly occupied by arable land. Although due to the abundance of heat almost throughout the country, with the exception of the highlands, year-round farming is possible, only less than 1/5 of the sown area is sown more than once. The main reason is insufficient moisture during the dry season.
Rice is planted mainly in the main kharif field season during the summer rains in the coastal lowlands, as well as in the Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys. Wheat is grown mainly during the winter rabi season in Northwest India - in the states of Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradish and adjacent areas. Improved varieties occupy about 83% of wheat fields. Yields range from 30 centners/ha in irrigated areas in Punjab to 6.5 centners/ha in dry areas of Gujabat.
Millet crops (Jokhar and bajra) are cultivated on about ¼ of the area occupied in India for food crops, legumes - on 1/5. These are predominantly inland dry and poorly irrigated regions of peninsular and Central India, as well as Rajasthan.
Animal husbandry is the second most important branch of agriculture in India, much behind crop production. Cattle are used in peasant farms mainly as draft power. Milk, hide and skin of animals are used.
In India, about 2.5 million tons of fish are caught per year (7th place in the world), including 2/3 - marine. Sea fishing is most developed in the coastal southern and western states, river fishing - in the East and North-East of the country. For the inhabitants of a number of areas, especially Bengal, fish is one of the essential foodstuffs.
Production in the chemical industry mineral fertilizers. The importance of petrochemistry is growing. Resins, plastics, chemical fiber, synthetic rubber are produced. Developed pharmaceutical industry. The chemical industry is represented in many cities of the country.
Light industry is a traditional branch of the Indian economy. The cotton and jute industries stand out in particular. In terms of the production of cotton fabrics, India is one of the leading countries in the world, and in the production of jute products (technical, packaging, furniture fabrics, carpets) it ranks first. The largest centers of the cotton industry are Bombay and Ahmedabad, jute - Calcutta, Textile factories are located in all major cities of the country. In India's exports, textile and clothing products account for 25%.
The food industry produces goods both for domestic consumption and for export. The most widely known in the world is Indian tea. Its production is concentrated in Kolkata and in the south of the country. India is the world's leading tea exporter.
The state actively supports small businesses. The number of small and handicraft industrial enterprises. They provide jobs for about 9 million people. The small handicraft sector produces about 5,000 types of industrial products. In India's exports, their share is about 30%.
India's economic development is, however, extremely uneven - in terms of sectors and industries, as well as regions and states of the country.
In terms of total gross domestic product, India ranks 11th in the world. It is the world's leading producer of peanuts and tea, the second largest producer of rice and sugar, and the third largest producer of tobacco and cotton yarn. At the same time, in terms of national income per capita, India ranks 102nd in the world. About 40% of the country's population lives below the official poverty line, which implies incomes of less than $100 per person per year. This clearly reflects the contradictions in the economic development of modern India.
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