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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | For The Farmer's Future -Ajay Vir Jakhar

For The Farmer's Future -Ajay Vir Jakhar

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published Published on Sep 21, 2018   modified Modified on Sep 21, 2018
-The Indian Express

It is important to evaluate the consequences of the Centre’s agriculture policy.

With elections around the corner, it’s too late for a course correction of the farm sector, but it’s an opportune time to document the unintended consequences of half-baked policies for the next five years. Otherwise, the momentum of existing policies will continue to feed rural economic misery.

Agriculture GDP growth plummeted just as India’s agricultural trade surplus, which had recorded a 10x increase between 1991-92 and 2013-14, fell by 70 per cent, mainly due to depressed international commodity prices and back-to-back droughts. The GDP time-series data clearly indicates growth was already declining when UPA II passed the baton to the present regime. Therefore, not all the blame can be heaped on this government. But it’s equally true that the response of those directing the agriculture policy to the dire circumstances not only created a credibility crisis for the government, but aggravated the problem on every farm. As a consequence, farmer suicides continue unabated.

UPA II basically lost the support of the people as it was unable to control inflation, while this regime faces a backlash for artificially deflating the economy. The MSP increase was a knee-jerk reaction to the deflation.

The government excelled in politically attractive slogans like “doubling farmer incomes”. But problems were bound to arise when it tried to implement the impractical message through schemes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Even BJP-ruled states aren’t receptive to the Centre’s polices. Haryana is a good example.

Every positive step like GST has a cost, especially if not thought through properly. Similarly, the architecture of PMFBY is flawed. Haryana insured the crops of 6,40,000 farmers. But only 1,053 farmers (0.16 per cent) voluntarily opted for crop insurance. In 2016-17 the premium collected was Rs 368 crore and even though the corresponding claim pay-out was Rs 280 crore, the premium for the next year rose to Rs 460 crore. Closer to my village, in Sirsa district, crop premiums per hectare increased manifold; for cotton from Rs 1,320 to Rs 5,936 and for maize from Rs 1,000 to Rs 6,225. Surprisingly, there are crops like gram (Rs 9,837/ha) where the premium is more than the actual cost of sowing.

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The Indian Express, 20 September, 2018, https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/agricultural-gdp-farmers-loan-bjp-upa-5365321/


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