-Society for Social and Economic Research The economic reforms which were started in 1991 shifted the focus of fertilizer policies away from playing a leading role in building the fertilizer industry and ensuring the availability of fertilizers at affordable prices to farmers. Under the neo-liberal policy framework, reducing the fiscal burden of fertilizer subsidies and the foreign exchange burden of fertilizer-related imports became the overriding concerns of the state.  Interestingly, the post-liberalisation...

-Business Standard The MSP is declared for 23 crops. This means that farmers of other crops or those trying to diversify under contract farming would not have the MSP protection of the Bills Much was made of the Punjab government’s plan to reject the three central laws on agri markets and provide its own protection to famers, especially on prices for their produce. But, the two Bills presented in the state legislature...

-IdeasforIndia.in Wrapping up the Symposium on farm bills, Mekhala Krishnamurthy and Shoumitro Chatterjee contend that regulatory reforms are an important but limited part of what must be both a more comprehensive and contextual approach to policy design and implementation. Moreover, when it comes to markets, it is crucial to think through what market regulation can and cannot do and to understand the role that mandis play in India’s agricultural marketing system. Over...

-Livemint.com Wide disparities in agri-marketing regulations have resulted in fragmented markets across states. The new farm bills aim to change this but the jury is still out on whether it will have the intended impact. On 26 September, government procurement of food crops commenced across the country, five days in advance, following the enactment of three contentious farm bills. Under the new policy regime, farmers need not sell their produce through designated...

-TheWire.in With low levels of farmers' income and a lack of assured price mechanism, what impact will the three farm bills have in the long term on India's agrarian economy. Here's an analysis. Last week, the Union government passed three bills to replace the three ordinances that were enacted during the COVID-19 lockdown. These three bills, expected to bring revolutionary changes to agrarian context and help double farmers’ incomes are: The Farmers’...