Rajasthan First Five Year Plan an Appraisal

Abstract

Rajasthan is predominantly an agricultural State, with 99 per cent of its area being rural and 71 per cent of its inhabitants being engaged in the exploitation of land. Yet prior to the introduction of the First Five Year Plan, only 30.9 per cent of its area was under cultivation and the rest was either cultivable or uncultivable waste, including 4.3 per cent under forests. Bulk of the area was and still is under the vast expanse of sand dunes and hilly tracts. Of 23622 thousand; acres of cultivated area in the State, only 2839 thousand acres i.e., 12 per cent was under irrigation. Perennial irrigation was almost absent in the State except in the Gang Canal area. The sub-soil water was either almost inaccessible or unsuitable, being brackish. Thus, major part of the State, was dependent on the vicissitude of the monsoon and scanty rainfall. Besides, the rapid advancement of the desert area from western side presented a grave danger to the agriculture of the State. The forests covering 4.3 per cent of the State were insufficient to protect the hilly areas against excessive soil erosion, and flat lands against dessication and erosion caused by winds. While the population during the last decade increased by 14.9 per cent; the production of food grains had not kept pace with it. - This indicated an appreciable decrease in per capita availability of food grains from internal resources. Out of 24792 thousand acres of total area sown, 69.8 per cent was under food grains, 0.2 per cent under sugarcane, 15.7 per cent under oil seeds and the rest 14.3 per cent under non-food crops like spices, fibres, etc. Only 5 per cent of the area was cropped more than once. Improved agricultural practices and modern implements were hot adopted, with the result that the average yield per acre was below normal. Besides, famine and scarcity conditions were rampant and there was hardly a year in which relief operations were not necessary in one part of the State or other.