Ringing endorsement for Farm Laws in Economic Survey 2020-21 even as protests continue

Tabled in Parliament on Friday, Ecomic Survey 2020-21 strongly endorsed  three farm laws amid ongoing protest by farm unions at Delhi borders. In chapter 'Agriculture & Food Manment', Chief Ecomic visor KV Subramanian stressed that agrarian reforms are catered for benefit of small and marginal farmers which constitutes around 85% of farmers. Maintaining that y are biggest sufferers of "regressive" APMC regulated market regime, he opined that new era of "market freedom" can tremendously help in improvement of farmer welfare. Moreover, Survey listed several occasions in past where Centre was suggested to enact se reforms.

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Benefits of farm laws

Farmers' Produce Tre and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 aims at freeing  farmers from constraints of state Agriculture Produce Market Committees whereby y would be able to sell ir produce anywhere. Meanwhile,  Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 protects and empowers farmers to eng with processors, wholesalers, large retailers, exporters for farm services. This entails provision of contract farming. 

Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 specifies that supply of foodstuffs including cereals, pulses, potato, edible oilseeds, and oils shall be regulated only under exceptional circumstances. CEC stated that factors such as presence of multiple intermediaries, a large range of taxes and cesses and poor infrastructure of markets led to farmers getting a lower price for ir produce. According to him,  Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 would transfer risk of market unpredictability from farmer to sponsor and enable him to access modern techlogy and better inputs.

Assuring farmers that ir land will remain safe, Ecomic Survey highlighted that 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations coming up in country will bring toger small farmers and ensure remunerative pricing for farm produce. Furrmore, it stated that  Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 was also aimed at attracting private sector and FDI into agriculture sector which in turn can help modernization of food supply chain. Overall, re is a focus on meeting goal of doubling farmers' income. However, SC has temporarily stayed implementation of farm laws to resolve standoff between farmers and Centre. 

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Positive signs for  agriculture sector

Subramanian appreciated fact that agriculture and allied sectors showed resilience amid  coronavirus-induced crisis by clocking a growth rate of 3.4% at constant prices during 2020-21. foodgrain production in 2019-20 was higher than production of foodgrains in previous fiscal year by 11.44 million tonnes. ditionally, India's agricultural and allied exports amounted to nearly Rs.2,52,000 crore as of 2019-20 with major export destinations being USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nepal and Banglesh. Ecomic Survey also ted that Centre increased Minimum Support System for all mandated Kharif and Rabi crops for 2020-21 season whereby MSP was fixed at 1.5 times of cost of production. It also threw light on Centre's anuncement for agriculture under aegis of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. 

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