March 2021
Ajay Chhibber (George Washington University)
Abstract: While the world has changed, India’s farm policy is stuck in a 50-year-old mindset. India’s response to food shortages in the 1960’s was to establish a mix of price (procurement, ration, and minimum support prices MSP’s) and non-price policies – irrigation, high yielding seed, subsidised fertiliser – which led a green revolution in cereals and a complex system of procuring and selling this grain through the Food Corporation of India and the Public Distribution System. But this system has outlived its usefulness for India but changing it is not easy as those whose livelihoods depend on it are unwilling to risk any changes as the farm protests show. This paper examines the issues behind the farm protests and suggests ways forward for India’s farm policy.
JEL Codes: Q1,Q2,O1,O2,O3
Key Words: Farm protests, structural transformation, green revolution, farm price policy, farm subsidies
