-The Hindu Business Line This will reduce disparity between States in procurement The announcement of abrogation of farm laws can only be the initial success of farmers’ collective actions. Most of the farmers are out of the ambit of these laws. The Shanta Kumar Committee report in 2015 estimated that only 6 per cent of the farmers could sell their produce through government agencies. Furthermore, the procurement is extremely unequal across States. During...
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How important is MSP-based procurement -CP Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh
-NetworkIdeas.org Though not featuring in any of the three farm laws, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) at which the government promises to procure 25 different commodities through different agencies, is a central issue in the standoff between the government and protesting farmers. The latter fear that the implementation of the three laws will end the MSP regime, with the government withdrawing from procuring output at a remunerative cost-plus price. The response...
More »Farm bills: Politics now threatens to complicate the process -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-The Indian Express An opportunity has been lost in the lackadaisical handling of the issue. When the establishment ignores the historical context and the emotional component underlying any debate, mass protests can erupt to potentially shape the future. The people of Punjab would not have wanted a confrontation with the Union government, neither would I want to put it so bluntly, but around us, agitated farmers, with a strong common purpose, are...
More »Explained: Why it’s an underestimate to say only 6% farmers benefit from MSP -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express The actual number could be anywhere between 15 per cent and 25 per cent. “Only 6% of Indian farmers benefit from minimum support prices (MSP)”. So widely-quoted is this figure — especially in the context of the recently-passed Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act — that it has become a factoid or even truism. What is, isn’t counted The apparent source of the 6% figure is the Shanta...
More »Policy must tackle not just dissatisfaction of large farmers, but distress of most vulnerable -Bina Agarwal
-The Indian Express To address farmers' woes, we need a multi-pronged strategy of income support, government investment, and institutional innovations, and not a one-size-fits-all approach. The two main policy interventions repeatedly discussed in recent months to tackle farmer distress — loan waivers and minimum support prices (MSP) — treat all farmers (large/small, male/female) alike. But farmers are heterogeneous. They differ especially by income, land owned and gender. And farmer dissatisfaction is...
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