Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

VIII
Continuous slide in the arable area is just one side of the story to the present and futire scenario of agricultural resource crunch in China. Wang Xuegen, a researcher with Chinese Academy of Sciences has brought tot he fore the problem of wetlands in Qinghai Tibet plateau. It relates to capability of the soil to retain water and adjusting the water volume of the river. Wang says there is shrinkage of 10 per cent in the last four decades. He notes, "Though rainfall in the region is on increase, the water flow in the rivers had not increased due to faster evaporation caused by higher evaporation.
Notwithstanding, glaciers in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region has receded by 20 per cent in the corresponding period. Snow line has shrank by 60 meters. 300 cities in China face acute water shortage. Untreated sewage and industrial waste has polluted around 70 per cent of the water bodies.
The governemnt is circumspect about the development. While it can do precious little to stop the the shrinkage of the snow line in the immediate future until there is while range of change in the energy consumption pattern, it has earmarked US$2.1 billion to protect and restore endangered wetlands. Only time will tell the effecacy of the governmental response.

Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

VII
Chinese 11th Five Year plan has vowed to retain 120 million ha by 2010 to grow sufficient food products for over 1.3 billion populace. Land use plan of the central authorities seldom work. The provincial authorities have their own valid reasons. In 2006, for example, the central authorities had fixed to parcel out just 267,000 ha for construction works. However, at the end of the day, the construction works devoured 289,000 ha. Despite all protestations, the cases of illegal land use is on increase. Only last year, the central authorities had detected 131,777 cases. This goes to suggest that the target of maintaining 120 million hectares of cultivable land may turn a distant dream.

Universality of Indian Thoughts

There is often a criticism of the idol worship. This is since there is little understanding about the intent and purpose. Idols are manifests of ideals. They atre adored and worshiped as they depict most if not all elements of Godhood. Unlike most others, the Indian thought goes to assume each and every piece of creations as manifests of the divine. The worship is at long last not that of idol but the spirit divine (Atman).

Universality of Indian Thoughts

Vedanta speaks "Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamaduchate; Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnamevabsisyate". It means "It (power infenite) is full and complete: It (power finite) is full and complete:the reason being the fact that the substract of full and complete will be full and complete and nothing different in letter and spirit.

Universility of Indian Thought

When we say Indian thought, it transcends religious boundaries of one or the other ilk. It is some thing that originated, flourished and fructified in geo-cultural context of this land. Worship is cardinal to all sets of religious and spiritual practices. This is irrespective of one worships idols or not. What has come to be known as Hindu or Sanatan, there is complete understanding of the atom and the galaxy. It is known as pind and brahmand. The characteristics of Brahmand is writ large in pind. This is some thing modern statistical practices presupposess in drawing samples.
Can a thought of the kind SECTARIAN? No. If you think otherwise, please say how.

Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

VI
The crunch in the agricultural resource base is evidently turning ever critical. The arable area has touched the near warning level of 122.4 million hectares. It has forced the Chinese State Council to suspend the much talked reforestation programme of 1.07 million hectares. The fate of 267,000 hectares of marginal farm land, slated to put to reforestation campaing hangs in balance as the public out cry is getting lauder. The government has since set per annum loss of farm land to urbanization and industtrialization besides reforestation to 433,333 hectares. In 2006, reforestation and urbanization had repectively consumed 339, 333 hectares and 258, 333 hectares.
China had launched its reforestation programm in 2000. It was set to involve 124 million farmers from 32 million households across 25 provinces and Autonomous regions.

Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

IV
94 percent of China's people live in the eastern 48 percent of China encompassing 86 percent of the cultivated land. Much of the rest of China is desert, grassland, mountains, and high plateau much less suitable for cultivation. The amount of cultivated land in the northwest is constrained by low rainfall and lack of irrigation; the area lags far behind the rest of China in economic development. In recent years, the government has expanded irrigated areas in the hexi corridor along the silk road in gansu province. The ministry of water resources has also engaged in planning for a large-scale irrigation project north of Urumqi in Xinjiang.
There is thus little to deliberate on scarcity of land resources for farm use in China. There is year on year loss of cultivable land. The problem is acute beyond proportion in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong in South China.
It is not just a problem of Quantity. Aggording to a study of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the first class land of agricultural use in China does not exceed 40 million hectarters of land.

Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

III
Topgraphy together with climatic factors, particularly temprature set the limit of the propensity of land use for crop production. Wang Haowang, a famous Chinese geologist has estimated 10 per cent of the Chinese land form as plain, 16 per cent as basin, 9 per cent hilly land, 35 per cent plateau, and 30 per cent mountain. Notwithstanding, every plant needs its own length of growing times. In China, in the region north of the Great Wall, there are less than 140 days when plants can grow. In the yellow river valley, the killing frosts between autumn and spring, sets the plant growing period to 222 days. In the Yangze valley, the growing period is 285 days. It is just southern most region where there can be vegetation through out the year. Besides, the regional distibution of water resources define the upper limit of actual cultivation potential of the land resource. While 58 per cent of cultivable land lay in northern and north eastern provinces of China, the region has just 14.4 per cent share of surface run off and ground water.

Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

II
The estimates of cultivated area in the PRC vary. This is not something very piculiar about individual estimates. Even the official estimatessuch as that of Chinese State Land Administration data do not vouch same oveer the period.
Land use change survey 2004 says that China had 122.44 miliion hectares of cultivated land. In comparison to 2003, the cultivated area shrank by 0.77 per cent. In absolute terms, there was reduction of 800,300 hectares. The reasons were reduction were many. Construction works devoured 145,100 hectares while 63,300 hectares were destroyed by natural hazards. Likewise,732900 hectares were turned for ecological preservation purpose and 2o4,700 hectares decreased due to agricultural restructuring. Simultaneously, 345,600 hectares have been added to total stock by reclamation, development and consolidation. There is another study which puts China's cultivated land to be around 113.31 million hectares between 2001-2010. It is estimated to increase slowly to 118. 98 million hectares by 2050.

Areas of Sino-Indian Cooperation in Agriculture: Problems and Prospects

I

The arable area in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of India sustain respectively 1.12 billion and 1.32 billion people (July 07). It is a fine commentary on the carrying conditions of the soil in the two countries. The two countries are presently in the process of demographic transition, where the population size will unmistakably grow despite all family planning measures. This is despite substantial decline in average exponential growth rate in the two countries. It is presently 1.93 per cent Per annum in India and 1.22 in China.
The phenomenon has unstated bearing on the production potentials of the arable land at disposal in the two countries. In China, only about 10-15 per cent of the total land area can be cultivated. In India, it is staggering 56 per cent of the total land area that can be put to cultivation. India is thus better placed in comparison to China in land resources in absolute terms.

India and China: Partners in Growth

There is often talk about India and China confronting each other. The incident of 1962 border war and subsequent Chinese foreign policy thrust to aid and abate India's detractors primarily lay at the back of all such hypotheses.
India has been consistent. Be it epoch of extreme hostility or a thaw as it is now, India has held positive approach. It has never tried to fish in the troubled water. Even in the matter of Tibet issue, which, for most part the Chinese mandarine looked with suspicion, India maintained its stand. So is the case of Taiwan. Even when China employed its gun boat policy , India has re,mained placidly positive. It is not weak in any respoct in power projection that included the military might. China as much as India will do better to cooperate rather than target their guns. Nuclear issue as it comes before China as a member ofthe Nuclear Supplier Group shall give an opportunity to provve its diplomatic maturity. It should know for sure that the India nation was not going to be stopped.

Independent India

As Indians observe the 60th Anniversary of independence to day, it is heartening that the world community now understands in full what India means. There is United States of America (USA) at far end to literally give up its long distrust to the hearts and minds of Indian nation. Indo-US nuclear deal, better known as 123 Agreememt is a small token of new found American trust. It has not come in a flash. It has taken full 60 years to bloom. Our intent and purpose has been laboratory tested in full. Our patience and perseverence together with ingenuity has gone in background.We have near home china across our northern border, too, to come to terms, al beit not in full. There is Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two trunkated parts in the west and east to realize. There could be an umpteen number of cases where there is yet some problem spot. On the whole, the country has traveresed well to set and repose trust as a well meaning and responsible nation worth emolution.
Our pillars of pride include the "longest written constitution" that came into effect on 26th January 1950. It is supreme. The vagaries of political process can not affect it in any way. The power of the Indian court to review the legality of the law stands out as its impregnale armour.One could differ about its all time probity. One can ot yet deny its contribution in facilitaing democracy to flourish at the end of the day.