General Issues

By Vijay Kumar

Some of the important general issues discussed were:

• There is a trade-off between targeting the poor and helping the farmers from the link between MSP and PDS price.

• There is a need to increase per capita calorie intake, which has been falling.

• There is a need to think of a subsidy system which can enable Indian farmers to compete with USA and European countries, which give high agricultural subsidies.

• ‘Grain Banks’ established by women farmers ensure food security for the poor. Need for greater public investment in agriculture, particularly irrigation, to increase income, reduce poverty and strengthen food security.

• Crop insurance schemes should be streamlined. At present they do not benefit the farmers as insurance companies usually manage to get a certificate stating that monsoons have been good.

• The need for a more liberalised and stable export-import policy for agricultural items to gain from greater market access likely to be provided by the reduction of agricultural subsidies by India’s major trading partners as a result of WTO negotiations. This could ensure better prices for agricultural commodities, thereby reducing the need for subsidies.

• The loss in production likely to arise from diversification away from rice and wheat in states like Punjab should be made good through higher production in others states (Eastern/North-eastern states) with potential for improvement in production and productivity.

In conclusion, the need to get the best for the expenditure on subsidy account and the desirability to target subsidies to the poor and needy was agreed even though the views/modalities differed.

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