-The Indian Express The need of the hour is to expand distribution under the PDS. Failing that, the country is heading towards another round of wasteful stock accumulation even as poor people struggle to feed their families. The paradox of “hunger amidst plenty” has haunted India for a long time and shows no sign of going away. On the contrary, it reached a new plane in 2020. On the one hand, the...
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Three Myths and the Three Farm Laws -Arindam Banerjee
-Vikalpind.in Much of the discourse on the three farm laws are influenced by certain prevailing myths about Indian agriculture and the food situation in the country within the academic and policy-making circles. First, there is a common perception, propagated by the ruling establishment, that India is a ‘food surplus’ nation, particularly with respect to cereals. Our farmers have allegedly over-produced cereals due to the MSP-based government support system. Secondly, any removal...
More »How Promising Is the Food Processing Industry for Indian Agriculture? -Seema Bathla and Siraj Hussain
-TheWire.in Due to cultural reasons, India has a relatively small market for processed foods, and a number of factors afflict the food processing industry. In the light of recent farmer protests, there have been apprehensions that corporates will develop a monopoly over agricultural markets, purchase large quantities of cereals at cheaper prices and sell processed products made from them at very high prices. These apprehensions do not seem very plausible in the near...
More »The global angle to the farmer protests -Utsa Patnaik
-The Hindu It is not just domestic firms that are potential beneficiaries of the new farm laws; foreign agribusinesses are a danger too The farmers’ movement for the repeal of the three farm laws which affect them closely but have been rammed through without consulting them, has now entered its second month. It is of historic significance. It is not just about minimum support prices but also about the survival of the...
More »MSP -- the factoids versus the facts -Reetika Khera, Sudha Narayanan and Prankur Gupta
-The Hindu The debate on agricultural issues must take into account the changed geography of procurement and the seller’s profile According to one definition, a factoid is “an item of unreliable information that is reported and repeated so often that it becomes accepted as fact”. After the passage of the three controversial farm laws, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) — not mentioned in the laws — has gained a lot of attention....
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