Cotton plays a significant role in India's agricultural and industrial economy. The country ranks first in the world in terms of cotton cultivation area with 114.84 lakh hectares under cotton, which is nearly 38% of the global cotton area of 304.08 hectares.
India’s dairy sector is an important source of rural employment, household income and nutritional security. The country produced 247.87 million tonnes of milk in 2024-25, an increase of 3.58% over the previous year, retaining its position as the world’s largest milk producer (DAHD, 2025). However, the sector is characterised by a large number of small and marginal producers who depend on regular milk sales for cash income. For these farmers, disruptions in procurement, weak market demand, delayed payments and inadequate working capital can have an immediate impact on their livelihoods.
The Integrated Fertilizer Management System (iFMS) is a comprehensive digital platform developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the Department of Fertilizers under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
India's financial inclusion landscape is undergoing a structural paradigm shift, transitioning from expanding basic brick-and-mortar banking access to deploying an intelligent, real-time digital public ecosystem. Traditionally, financial inclusion has been defined as the process of ensuring access to financial services, with timely, adequate, and affordable credit, primarily for vulnerable populations and low-income groups. However, actualizing this definition in rural credit markets has historically been hindered by two structural barriers: a lack of verifiable credit histories among thin-file borrowers and the linguistic exclusion of regional-language-speaking communities.
Coconut occupies a distinctive position in India’s agricultural economy. Often associated with coastal livelihoods, the crop supports farmers, processors, traders and a wide range of downstream industries. Its economic significance extends beyond the sale of fresh coconuts to products such as coconut oil, coconut water, milk, virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut, activated carbon and coir-based products.
Over the past decade and more, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has evolved from a standalone climate-adaptation-focused mission into part of India's agricultural policy framework. NMSA was launched as one of the eight missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) with the objective of making Indian agriculture more productive, remunerative and resilient to climate variability, especially in the face of the huge rainfed agriculture base in India. The article describes the institutional journey of NMSA from 2014–2026 and evaluates their key initiatives: Rainfed Area Development, Per Drop More Crop, Soil Health Management and the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture programme; along with measured outcomes of the mission, and the structural constraints that remain, most prominently, lack of funding at the last mile and underfunding.
Groundwater is one of the most important sources of water in India. It supports agriculture, drinking water, rural livelihoods, and several urban and industrial activities. According to the Dynamic Groundwater Resources Assessment, 2025, India extracts about 247.22 billion cubic metres (BCM) of groundwater annually. Agriculture accounts for around 87 per cent of this extraction, while domestic use accounts for 11 per cent and industry for about 2 per cent. Groundwater also supports a large share of India’s irrigated agriculture and remains an important source of drinking water for rural and urban populations.