k c chakrabarty : agricultural productivity and credit – issues and way forward address by dr k c chakrabarty, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the national seminar on productivity in indian agriculture, college of agricultural banking ( cab ), pune, 2 september 2011. * * * assistance provided by shri thanzason sonna and smt pallavi chavan in preparation of this address is gratefully acknowledged. 1. prof. m. s. swaminathan, shri a. s. bhattacharya, cmd, bank of maharashtra, ms kamala rajan, principal, cab, shri r. l. sharma, vice - principal, cab and other members of faculty, distinguished panelists, participants, ladies and gentlemen! it is a pleasure to be here this morning for the “ national seminar on productivity in indian agriculture ” organized by cab, pune. 2. in the indian context, the policy of self - sufficiency in food which led to green revolution had served the country well. the country currently has sufficient stocks of wheat and rice which are above buffer stock norms and food security reserve requirements. however, in the medium to long term, concern over food security is likely to become more intense. this is because land is scarce and its supply is limited. further, sustained dependence on food imports is not an option that is viable in indian context. therefore, food safety net for the present and future population requires enhanced agricultural production and productivity. this is already attracting the attention of the reserve bank of india. thus, this seminar organized by cab, pune is very topical and the theme has great bearing on the future growth of india. 3. and who could be a better person than prof. m. s. swaminathan to set the tone for this seminar. it is indeed a matter of great privilege that prof. m. s. swaminathan is in our midst today. known as the “ father of the green revolution in india ” for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high - yielding varieties of wheat in india, his vision is to rid the world of hunger and poverty. prof. swaminathan is an advocate of moving india to sustainable development, especially using environmentally sustainable agriculture, sustainable food security and the preservation of biodiversity, which he calls an “ evergreen revolution ”. he has worked worldwide in collaboration with colleagues and students on a wide range of problems in basic and applied plant breeding, agricultural research and development and

, medical facility and vocational training. in recent times, it has been witnessed that those countries, especially the emerging market economies where the labour laws have been rationalised and more awareness has been created in the unorganised sectors, have achieved higher growth rate of economic development. if we are able to address these issues successfully, we will be deriving many folds benefits of the economic development. let this critical matter be debated more earnestly at all levels and necessary steps taken urgently, as in india we do not have the type of social security mechanism put in place the way the developed countries have done so in their respective countries to take care and protect the interests of the people. demographic dividend beside technology, a key factor that has immensely added to india ’ s economic potential is its demographic advantage popularly called as “ demographic dividend ”. share of the working age group ( 15 - 64 ) in the population has been increasing since the 1980s and has been projected to be in the range of 62 to 68 per cent during first quarter of current century ( annex 8 ). however, for these demographic changes to provide upward push to economic growth, it needs to be accompanied by process of skill formation and employment opportunities. this would require larger investment in human capital formation and encouragement to entrepreneurial activities by creating conducing environment. current performance of the education sector particularly in terms of quality leaves much scope for improvement. financial inclusion while financial sector has performed appreciably in the past two decades with gains in terms of efficiency and productivity, it has grown many folds in terms of volumes and thereby supporting overall growth in the economy. however, it is increasingly being felt that benefits of growth have not percolated down to the under privileged sections. while a number of steps have been taken to achieve inclusive growth through various financial inclusion initiatives, these are constrained by several factors. high operating cost in remote areas, small ticket size, lack of collaterals and illiteracy have obstructed the steps towards financial inclusion. today, availability of banking technology has brought the realisation that poor are bankable with good business prospects and hence our efforts should be in the direction of using technology in such a fashion to make the transaction cost cheaper and affordable for the poor. conclusion to sum up, the reform process that began economic transformation since the early nineties has been based on a broad political and intellectual consensus in the country that explains as to why there has never been any policy reversal since then. at times we have been accused to