The Policy Monitor
Should ‘Smart India’ carry forward the burden of ‘Unsmart Agriculture’, how long?
Probably, time has come to abandon the dream project ‘Doubling Farmers Income’ by 2022, launched 7 years ago, which appears a far cry! Better, initiate exercise to pay remunerative price to farmers having rationality to MRP and closer to price charged from consumers.
Ministry of External Affairs has designated one officer each in 10 selected missions as Agriculture Counsellor. While welcoming such an aggressive strategy for developing international agricultural trade to achieve a growth target that is quantifiable, I would urge upon the government to take a top-down approach to bring about sweeping reforms (even at the risk of inviting criticisms and protests for heavy handedness).