Panagariya bats for radical reforms to end agri turmoil

MSP has distorted cropping patterns, with an excessive focus on the cultivation of wheat, rice and sugarcane in the procurement states and neglect of other crops such as pulses, oilseed ...

NEWDELHI: The success of the Narendra Modi government’s promise of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 rests on introducing crop diversification, including genetically modified (GM) varieties, for higher yield and value, having fewer people employed in agriculture and modifying the existing support price mechanism, Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairperson of the government think tank NITI Aayog has said.

Panagariya’s to-do list for the government comes in the backdrop of the Three-year Action Agenda document unveiled by the Aayog last week.

The measures listed by Panagariya make ending the agrarian crisis contingent upon sweeping and controversial changes.

Batting for GM crops — currently BT cotton is the only GM variety allowed in India — Panagariya said the Aayog firmed up its position after listening to arguments in favour and against them. “We brought in both sides and found the scientists more compelling,” he told HT.

“Diversification into highvalue crops, animal husbandry, fisheries, and crops that hook up into the food chain is essential ...” he said. Moving agricultural labour into other sectors is essential for increasing the average income in the sector.

As an alternative to the MSP regime, “we should think of deficiency payments in a WTO compatible fashion,” he said.

Farmers be given direct cash transfers if the market price of their crops falls below the minimum support price (MSP), he suggested. Remunerative price for produce has been one of the key demands of farmers’ protests that broke out earlier this year.

Six farmers died in police firing in June during a protest in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur district. Farmers in Maharashtra, another BJP-ruled state, also agitated over similar demands.

The agenda document also talks about replacing MSP with a price benefit system.

“MSP has distorted cropping patterns, with an excessive focus on the cultivation of wheat, rice and sugarcane in the procurement states and neglect of other crops such as pulses, oilseed and coarse grains. It has led to depletion of water resources, soil degradation and deterioration in water quality in some states, especially in the north-western region. It has discriminated against eastern states where procurement at the MSP is minimal or non-existent,” it says.

The government think-tank is already at loggerheads with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s (RSS) affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch over GM crops. The SJM wrote to PM Modi last month slamming the Union agriculture ministry over GM crops.

Two other Sangh affiliates – the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh – attacked the government think tank in June for what they called its “anti-farmer and anti-labour suggestions.” The BKS has backed expanding the existing MSP regime.