-CaravanMagazine.in In 2006, the Bihar government deregulated the agricultural sector, and largely removed government oversight over food grain procurement. Previously a majority of food grain procurement happened through the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, a marketing board run by the state government that would organise mandis—wholesale markets—where farmers could directly sell their produce to the Food Corporation of India or the State Farming Corporation at the established minimum support price. The MSP...

-TheWire.in Going forward, processed foods, with both low and high levels of secondary processing, offers significant potential for non-farm jobs, and equally makes agriculture remunerative. India takes pride in producing surplus food-grains, oilseeds, spices, milk, fruits and vegetables. Many a time, due to a large supply of agricultural produce, market prices crash, leaving the farmers out in the cold. Low bargaining power, lack of storage infrastructure and inadequate cold storage facilities in the...

-The Hindu Post-1991, changes in industry caused a second de-industrialisation; the results in agriculture are likely to be no different Almost all sections of people including farmers agree that the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC)-mandi policies for agricultural marketing, initiated in the 1960s for a few crops, have outlived their utility and the system needs a new policy in the face of the agricultural sector’s growth slowdown, the crop-composition not widening, and...

-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...

-Newsclick.in Private capital in agriculture is a death warrant for farmers, but the PM is trapped. He can either have a ‘firm leader’ image or avert this tragedy. What was intended to be a two-day protest on 26-27 November 2020 in Delhi has turned into a month-long protest on its borders. As it is turning into a nationwide protest with mass mobilisation, not only of farmers but of different classes of people,...