The recent reforms announced by the government for agriculture — removing certain foodstuffs from the Essential Commodities Act and thereby deregulating them, opening up inter-state trade to farmers to sell their produce beyond the APMC mandis in their States and coming up with a legal framework for contract farming — have generated some debate about whether they represent a watershed moment for Indian agriculture and if it would help farmers get better prices and access to more equitable markets.

In this episode we look at the reforms from the perspective of both domestic and international trade and whether the reforms are a step in the right direction or if there are further structural problems that need to be addressed first.

Guest:  Dr. Biswajit Dhar, professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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