From a nation dependent on food imports to feed its population, India today is not only self-sufficient in grain production, but also has a substantial reserve and has of late started exporting appreciable quantities of wheat and rice. The progress made by agriculture in the last four decades has been one of the biggest success stories of free India.
Agriculture is the means of livelihood of about two-thirds of the work force in the country.
As efforts continued to increase the irrigation potential in the country, the last 40 years saw the gross irrigated area trebled to about 70 million hectares. At the end of the Seventh Plan there were 182 major irrigation projects that included major ones like the Indira Gandhi Canal, Indira Sagar and Sardar Sarowar. Minor irrigation projects, which irrigate more land than the major ones, totalled 312. The water resources in India are estimated to be 1880 km3 annually. Ground water resources are assessed at 452 km3.