In a printed edition titled ‘Good Laws in Bad Times’ published on October 6^th, Yoginder K Alagh expressed his views on the ongoing farmer protests against the new farmer bills passed in the Parliament and how well the government is handling it.

In his article, he expressed that it is reasonable for the Indian Government to recognize the “arhtiyas” (commission agents) as an integral part of the agricultural market and more than half of its trade takes place outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). However, it is not sensible for them to assume that this trade takes place in a good condition.

Even though the “arhtiyas” are an important part of the supply chain in north-west part of the country, they cannot take on the Food Corporation of India or the senior officials of the Indian government. In addition to this, he says it is ‘childish’ to say that the Institute of Rural Management Anand as chaired by him, is a dominant rural organization today.

“Agriculture is the one good performing sector this year. We need to strengthen it, not feed off its glory.”- Alagh said, claiming that the Indian agricultural markets are the largest in the world, as per the spatial maps. But these markets are not a part of the APMC, which is why in times of absence of first-stage processing, additional infrastructure, and thin markets 0 the farmers are directly dependent on the traders.

The ‘traditional exploiters’ of such farmers are given the priority which forces them to come out on streets and protest against the never-ending injustice that takes place. This is exactly what is happening in Punjab. Alagh also mentions that even if the new farmer policies are meant for their benefit, it won’t cause harm to anyone if the government takes some caution in such a time of financial crisis that has made it a non-agricultural year.

He also talked about the past when the Agricultural Prices Commission (APC) was headed by Ashok Mitra – the Marxist economist and late Dharam Narain when procurement was made compulsory with certain zone restrictions. A separate report was prepared for each crop, which was changed after Yoginder came in charge – after which only 2 reports were prepared- one for Rabi crops and the other for Kharif crops, excluding the annual crops and sugarcane.

These reports also focused upon the relative pricing and MSPs placed on the crops to be used especially when the markets failed to follow the compulsory guidelines.

Alagh recalls the last time he had argued over a fair MSP price against Rajasthan and Gujarat, where he was supported by the former speaker of the Rajasthan assembly – Ram Niwas Mirdha. The report was summarized by Sharad Pawar and was released in the Parliament during a meeting.

As for the solutions, he suggested the Niti Aayog should consider writing an implementation plan meant for the farmer bills. He also said this should be done after discussing it with various parties and senior members like Ramesh Chand and Rajiv Kumar who have a better understanding of the agricultural trade system.

Yoginder K Alagh is a former Union Minister of Government of India and an economist. He was also the Chairman of the Institute of Rural Management Anand between 2006-2012.