Govt of India's attempt to revive unpopular reforms contained in the repealed farm laws

By Dr. Rajinder Chaudhary & Kavitha Kuruganti*

The Draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, released by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare on November 25, 2024, raises critical concerns for the future of Indian farmers. While the framework ostensibly aims to address the complexities of agricultural marketing, a closer examination reveals a concerted push towards de-regulation, leaving farmers vulnerable to corporate exploitation. This article provides an in-depth critique of the proposed policy and highlights its significant shortcomings.

1. Undermining Federalism and Farmer Participation

The draft acknowledges that agricultural marketing is a state subject under the Indian Constitution (Entry 18, List II, Seventh Schedule). However, contrary to its federal obligations, the Union Government has bypassed state governments in drafting this framework. Widespread consultations with state governments and farmer organizations should have been the foundation of this policy, but there is little evidence of such engagement.

2. Lack of Emphasis on Market Regulation

The policy’s silence on the regulation of agricultural markets is troubling. Effective regulation, supported by government oversight, is critical to prevent exploitation and ensure fair competition. The absence of this focus suggests a backdoor reintroduction of the repealed farm laws, which were widely opposed by farmers.

3. Ignoring Legal Guarantee of MSP

The demand for a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been a long-standing plea from farmers across India. However, the draft completely disregards this essential demand, undermining the stated vision of ensuring fair prices for farmers.

4. Insufficient Support for Infrastructure Development

While the framework stresses institutional reforms, it fails to provide clear commitments or financial support from the Union Government to bridge the significant gaps in marketing infrastructure. States cannot shoulder this responsibility alone, and the draft falls short in offering viable solutions.

5. Omissions on International Trade Policies

India’s international trade policies, including unpredictable export bans and reduced import duties, often harm farmers. The draft overlooks these critical issues, which are essential for protecting domestic agriculture. There is no commitment to align trade decisions with farmer welfare, nor is there any consideration of the implications of upcoming free trade agreements.

6. Failure to Address Data and Regulatory Gaps

The draft rightly identifies data unavailability in unregulated markets as a key issue. However, it offers no concrete measures to address these gaps. Promoting unregulated private markets without oversight exacerbates the problems, leaving farmers without protection.

7. Overlooking Evidence from Direct Market Models

The draft superficially acknowledges the lack of infrastructure for direct farmer-to-consumer markets but fails to draw on successful models like Rythu Bazaars in Andhra Pradesh. Evidence shows that investment in such infrastructure significantly benefits farmers, yet the policy lacks concrete proposals in this direction.

8. Inadequate Support for Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)

The framework’s focus on value chain-centric infrastructure does not prioritize Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) as central to these initiatives. Primary processing alone has proven insufficient for meaningful farmer benefits, yet this remains the policy’s limited approach.

9. Missed Opportunities in Organic Marketing

The policy mentions marketing organic produce but fails to propose segregated infrastructure or traceability systems essential for a robust organic supply chain. It shifts the entire responsibility to state governments without specifying how the Union Government will support this important initiative.

10. Revival of Repealed Farm Laws

Several provisions in the draft mirror the repealed farm laws, such as promoting private markets, deregulation of perishables, and direct purchase by corporations at the farm gate. These proposals ignore the resistance these laws faced, underscoring the policy’s intent to revive the same agenda through alternative means.

11. Questionable Reform Committee Proposal

The suggestion to form an “Empowered Agricultural Marketing Reform Committee” akin to the GST Council appears to be a tool to coerce states into compliance with Union Government policies, undermining genuine federal cooperation.

12. Skewed Focus on Ease of Doing Business

The draft prioritizes an index for “ease of doing agri-trade” but does not propose a similar mechanism for creating farmer-centric markets. This approach places corporate interests above farmer welfare.

13. Promotion of Contract Farming

The policy’s promotion of contract farming echoes provisions of the repealed farm laws. This move, resisted by farmers for undermining their interests, raises serious concerns about the government’s intentions.

Conclusion

The Draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing represents an attempt to revive the unpopular reforms contained in the repealed farm laws. It disregards the constitutional role of states, fails to address critical farmer demands such as a legal MSP guarantee, and neglects international trade issues affecting Indian agriculture. The Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) strongly urges the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare to withdraw this draft and initiate genuine consultations with all stakeholders to create a truly farmer-centric policy.

---

*Co-Convenors, ASHA-Kisan Swaraj. This article is based on the authors' representation to Surendra K Singh, Dy. Agriculture Marketing Adviser and Convener of Drafting Committee, Department of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Government of India.

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog