UPSC CSE Mains Syllabus: GS-3- Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.

Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance 2020 (FPTC) & Issues with MSP

Farmer agitations against the recently promulgated farm Bills are growing in northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. Interestingly, these are states benefitting most from the government’s MSP operations. This warrants an impartial assessment of the MSP.

FPTC:

Assessing through an example:

But how can farmers in Bihar, for example, generate more income per hectare than in Punjab?

Diversified crops vs Cereals:

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 Limitations of MSP:

So what is the way forward:

Only with consensus and convergence can the Bill reach where it is rightly positioned and intentioned to reach.

Source:”Financial Express”.

POSSIBLE UPSC MAINS EXAMINATION:

Considering the recent agitation of the farmers against the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) bill, provide an assessment of the efficacy and limitations of the Minimum Support Price.