Govt needs to build on some silver linings in farm sector to push economic recovery: D Subbarao

15 Jul 2020 Evaluate

In order to speed up the economic recovery, former Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao has said the government needs to build on some silver linings in the farm sector, driven by the prospect of a favourable monsoon. He said the rural economy is doing slightly better than the urban economy which is still grappling with COVID-19.  Rural economy, which accounts for 65 per cent of population and 25 per cent of GDP, is actually proven to be a buffer because of expanded MGNREGA spending.

Further, he stated that spending’s under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and procurement of agri produce by the Food corporation of India (FCI) have put money in the hands of farmers. Besides, he said, favourable monsoon augurs very well for the agriculture sector. As part of the reform process for the farm sector, the government amended the six-and-a-half-decade-old Essential Commodities Act to deregulate food items, including cereals, edible oil, oilseeds, pulses, onion and potato.

The amendment, besides deregulating production and sale of food products, will provide for no stock limit to be imposed on any produce. Last month, the government approved an ordinance to allow barrier-free trade in agriculture produce outside the notified Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC) mandis. Besides, any conflicts arising from the transactions will be dealt with exclusively by the Sub Division Magistrate (SDM) and District Collectorate within 30 days and not in the jurisdiction of civil courts.

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