-Hindustan Times Loan waiver provides strong disincentive for those who repaid loan on time and perverse incentive for default. But the most serious effect of the waiver is potential risk of fiscal slippage . India’s agricultural economy witnessed significant changes during the post reforms period, many of which were positive, but some were negative. Income of farmers could not keep pace with their aspirations and fast growth in the income of non-farm...

-The Indian Express Lowering production costs, and a policy shift from ‘managing shortages’ to ‘handling surpluses’, is the way forward for Indian agriculture The government wants farmers’ incomes to double in five years by 2022. While a laudable objective, the reality today is that farmers are suffering stress, if not shrinkage, in their incomes. The demand for loan waivers, and political pressures to implement these, is only a reflection of this...

-The Indian Express Farmers getting lower prices for their produce, much lower than the minimum support prices announced by the government for the kharif crops this year, has hit the rural consumption demand story. New Delhi: The consumption-driven story of India’s economic growth is expected to face a slowdown as wide concerns emerge about the weakening rural demand. At a time when public expenditure is likely to be curtailed by the obligation...

-Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, December 2018 (WP-2018-026) There are three goals of agricultural development in India. These are: (a) achieving high growth by raising productivity; (b) inclusiveness by focusing on lagging regions, small farmers and women; and (c) sustainability of agriculture. In this paper, we will address two questions: (a) How far India progressed in the three goals of agriculture in recent decades? (b) What are the policies...

It is being said by economists that unlike the issue of low food production that gripped Indian agriculture for long in the past, the present problem is about farmers not getting remunerative prices against the crops that they are growing. According to farmer leaders, the policymakers are too late to realise that bitter truth. As a result, there is a growing disenchantment in the rural hinterland against the ruling government...