Economic growth is greatly dependent on the Government's policies in the farm sphere. Ranabir Ray Choudhury The World Development Report for 2008 focuses on "Agriculture for Development', an emphasis which appears to be specially appropriate for India. Among other things, it is well-known that overall GDP growth in this country always receives a fillip if farm-output growth is good, the converse being also true. In other words, in India at least, the positive correlation between overall growth and farm performance is very strong which, among other things, indicates t he critical position which agriculture occupies in the GDP growth scenario. It also suggests strongly that Indian economic growth in the coming years is greatly dependent on the Government's policies in the farm sphere, and that, without a quantum jump in performance, the potential of national economic growth getting into the front seat in the international league table is almost certain to be stymied. In fact, the Prime Minister's message, delivered at the FICCI AGM held last week, should be seen in this framework to be properly appreciated. Essentially, what Dr Singh said was that though checking inflation was the first priority of his Government, the overall objective was to encourage growth. More specifically, the growth aimed at would be more inclusive, meaning that as many people as possible should be brought within its ambit. Checking inflation But then, how do you