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Agriculture Policy, Farmers' Protest and Strategies for Agri-reform: An Analysis


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1 Professor of Economics and Director, School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, (Retd.), New Delhi., India
     

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Agriculture in India is unique, in terms of topography climate and size of landholdings being very small. Agriculture has been in focus for both positive and negative reasons. Despite liberalization to a more marketoriented economy in 1991, the agriculture sector continues to have policy distortions. The issues related to agriculture are complex in nature which require a balance between the market and the state. This needs addressing major long-term challenges from food security to natural resource sustainability, especially soil and water. The objective of the paper is to highlight some of the problems of Indian agriculture and policy response of the government. It also traces the trajectory of the farmers' agitation against the farm laws. After the repeal of farm laws, the question of reform in agriculture is paramount. The paper proposes a road map for agri-reforms. It is argued that more unified framework of analysis is needed for an effective agricultural policy. This paper may be helpful in the field of public policy particularly relating to agriculture.

Keywords

Indian Agriculture, Farmers' Protest, MSP, Marketing and Policy Strategies.
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  • Agriculture Policy, Farmers' Protest and Strategies for Agri-reform: An Analysis

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Authors

Shrawan Kumar Singh
Professor of Economics and Director, School of Social Sciences, IGNOU, (Retd.), New Delhi., India

Abstract


Agriculture in India is unique, in terms of topography climate and size of landholdings being very small. Agriculture has been in focus for both positive and negative reasons. Despite liberalization to a more marketoriented economy in 1991, the agriculture sector continues to have policy distortions. The issues related to agriculture are complex in nature which require a balance between the market and the state. This needs addressing major long-term challenges from food security to natural resource sustainability, especially soil and water. The objective of the paper is to highlight some of the problems of Indian agriculture and policy response of the government. It also traces the trajectory of the farmers' agitation against the farm laws. After the repeal of farm laws, the question of reform in agriculture is paramount. The paper proposes a road map for agri-reforms. It is argued that more unified framework of analysis is needed for an effective agricultural policy. This paper may be helpful in the field of public policy particularly relating to agriculture.

Keywords


Indian Agriculture, Farmers' Protest, MSP, Marketing and Policy Strategies.

References