Agriculture is nobody's baby On January 3, 2006, addressing the Indian Science Congress at Hyderabad, Dr Manmohan Singh called for a "second Green Revolution'. Two years down the line the Centre and the states have done little to make that goal a reality. In fact, speaking at a seminar to mark the birth centenary of Babu Jagjivan Ram last Friday, the Prime Minister indirectly admitted the lack of quality leadership required "to chart out a new course for agricultural renovation and revival'. Nobody in the government seems clear about what the second Green Revolution means and how to go about it. The Agriculture Minister is more interested in cricket than agriculture. Meanwhile, the farm crisis has gone from bad to worse. Countrywide reports of farmers' suicides have evoked only a Central package, that too for select districts, and even that has not worked. Such fire-fighting measures are no substitute for a sound policy to rejuvenate agriculture. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is concerned about keeping the growth rate at "close to 9 per cent'. He does not seem to realise the social catastrophe that is building up due to the wide gap between the industrial and agricultural growth, between the urban rich and the rural poor. In fact, a mere 4 per cent farm growth is seen as an achievement. As food prices are on the rise globally, foodgrain production and buffer stocks are dwindling and the public distribution system is in tatters, the poor are in for serious trouble. To revitalise agriculture, the Centre and the states have to launch a vigorous joint drive of the kind that made the first Green Revolution possible. The requirements are the same: cheaper institutional credit, soil health enhancement, efficient water management, application of science and biotechnology to seeds and livestock and reliable rural infrastructure. A large part of the rural population needs to be shifted from agriculture to industry and services. The M.S. Swaminathan report has outlined the farm agenda in detail, but who will implement it?