Author(s): Rajesh Kumar
The farmers in India are on agitation for months. This agitation is going on because of the differences in the understanding of the government and the farmer groups opposing the recently enacted legislations on agriculture marketing reforms. The government is claiming that the new laws will definitely benefit farmers by promoting market in the agriculture sector and farmers. It is stated that farmers will gain by having opportunities and access national as well as international markets. However, farmer groups agitating on the roads are not convinced with this argument. According to them, the changes proposed by government have not emerged from the farm sector itself and this restructuring process is being imposed under the pressure of private companies working with the sole motive to earn more and more profit at the national as well as international level. Therefore, there is an urgent need to relook over the whole crisis so that this tussle comes to an acceptable conclusion that is in the wider interest of the economy and society in general and the agricultural sector in particular.