Model questions and Answer structure –B K Reddy sir

Indian agriculture is facing numerous challenges

despite a number of initiatives being taken by the
government. Discuss these challenges and suggest
the key requirements needed to meet these
challenges. (250 words)

 Introduction: importance and few Challenges faced in

agriculture

 Body: Action necessary to bring about a turn around

 Conclusion: Goal of doubling farmer’s income by 2022

Indian agriculture is seen to be facing various challenges such as –
 Low productivity
- Due to fragmentation of land holdings
- Inadequate irrigation facility
- Absence of good quality seeds and farm manure
 Inadequate agricultural finance
- Lack of sufficient affordable credit mechanisms
- Low private sector investment in the sector
 Distorted subsidies
- Urea subsidy causing erosion of soil fertility
- Electricity subsidy causing erosion of underground water resources
 Inadequate access to support services
- Poor farm extension
- Low insurance penetration at 35%
 Poor status of agricultural infrastructure
- Lack of adequate cold chain, warehouses, processing centres.
 Non- Remunerative prices
- Rising input cost in terms of seed, fertilizer, and labour
- Falling farm gate prices due to policies like APMC and inadequate reach
of MSP.
 Inadequate agriculture market access
- Due to poor implementation of Model APMC act by states.
- Due to absence of an integrated national market.
As a result, agriculture that employs 50% of the Indian work force still
contributes only 17–18% to the country's GDP.
In order to bring turn around in the sector, Immediate actions necessary to
sustain and accelerate agricultural growth as suggested by NITI Ayog in its
3 year action agenda include-
 Raising Productivity
- Promoting precision agriculture
- Adopting new technology in the form of high-yielding seeds and
fertilisers
 Reforming Land Policy
- Speeding up digitalization of land records
- Implementing Model land leasing act
 Remunerative Prices For Farmers
- Reform APMC’s and promoting e-NAM to facilitate better price discovery.
- Restructuring Essential Commodities Act to promote investment in agri-
good storage.
- Reforming MSP into a “Price Deficiency Payment” via DBT.
These steps shall go a long way in reaching the ambitious goal of doubling
farmer’s income by 2022.
 Why are land reforms needed in India? Discuss the
major land reforms in India? (250 words)

 Introduction: Meaning of Land Reforms

 Body:
o Need for Land Reforms in India
o Steps taken under Land Reforms Policy after
independence
o Steps taken under Land Reforms Policy by recent
governments

 Conclusion: India must strive hard to get better terms

Land reform refers to measures directed towards altering the existing
pattern of ownership, tenancy and management of land.
Need for Land Reforms in India
 Land reforms will help in the distribution of income and assets, leading to
more savings and investments.
 Large scale sub-division and fragmentation of holdings and the
impediments arising out of it.
 As per G. Myrdal and K.N. Raj- in order to develop agriculture of our
country land reforms is considered much more important than
technological reforms.
Steps taken under Land Reforms Policy
 Land reform policy as evolved after independence
o Abolition of intermediaries between the State and tenants
o Tenancy reforms
o Fixation of ceiling on land holdings
o Consolidation of land holdings
 Land Reforms Policy by recent governments National Land
o Records Modernization Programme, 2008
NLRMP aims to build a transparent and integrated system of real-
time land records based on land surveys, updating of survey and
settlement records.
It also envisages computerization of land records and registration,
modernizing of record rooms and setting up of record management
Centres.
o Model Agri Land Leasing Act, 2016
Restrictions on formal and transparent land leasing in agriculture
results in myriad issues such as:
- Fragmentation of farms and low productivity of land
 - Poor targeting of benefits and relief measures.
Land being a purely state subject, land leasing requires amending existing
state-level tenancy laws or replacing them by a new law. NITI Aayog has
prepared a Model Agri Land Leasing Act, 2016.
o Model Contract Farming Act, 2018
The Model Act seeks to create a regulatory and policy framework for
contract farming.

Thus, progress in Land Reforms needs to be accelerated in order to promote

farmer’s welfare, and to reduce agrarian distress.
‘Subsidies offer solutions, but create new issues or problems’.
Comment. (150 words)

 Introduction: Define subsidies and importance

 Body:
o Benefits of subsidies
o Issues with subsidies

 Conclusion: Solution lies in reforming subsidies

Subsidies are defined as direct or potentially direct transfers of
funds from governments to firms or individuals (e.g. loans,
grants), government revenue foregone (e.g. tax waiver),
government provision of goods and services, other than
infrastructure, at less than market prices, and government
support of prices and incomes.
Benefits of subsidies
 Supports human capital formation - Through subsidized
health care (Ayushman Bharat) and Education (EWS quota
under RTE)
 Multiplier effect in the economy - by boosting consumption
demand.
 Environmental benefits - Subsidised public transport in Delhi
is encouraging use less polluting public transportation.
 Facilitates equitable and inclusive growth.
Issues with subsidies
 Subsidies can sometimes be regressive - Economic Survey
2015 suggests it benefit rich more than the poor.
 Fiscally burdensome - Subsidies are paid at the cost of
development expenditure.
 Environmentally destructive – as seen in case of electricity
and urea subsidy.
 Inclusion/Exclusion errors.
 Market distorting.
Nonetheless, Subsidies are quintessential attributes of any
welfare state. Thus cannot be totally done away altogether.
Solution lies instead in reforming them by undertaking
rationalization of subsidies, making use of ‘Direct benefit transfer
(DBT)’ and promoting ‘Give it up’ campaigns etc.
Examine the multiple challenges that the proper
implementation of the Food Security Act, 2013 faces.
(150 words)

 Introduction: need and About National Food Security

Act, 2013

 Body: Issues pertaining to proper implementation of

the Act
 Steps taken by the government in this regard

 Conclusion: pro NFSA

National Food Security Act, (NFSA) 2013 was introduced
with the objective of eradicating hunger and malnutrition from
India by extending subsidized food grains to two third of the
population.
It marks a paradigm shift in the approach to food security from
welfare to rights based approach.
Issues pertaining to proper implementation of the Act
 Centralized procurement is unsustainable and highly
inefficient.
 Fiscal burden attributed to large scale subsidized grain
distribution.
 Inadequate storage infrastructure causing wastage of food
grains due to infestation and pilferages.
 Inclusion/exclusion error in use of targeting of beneficiaries
under TPDS.
 Operational inefficiencies of FCI in its acquisition and
distribution process.
 Market distortions as act skew production in favour of wheat
and rice.
 Poor quality of food grains procured due to absence of
traceability mechanism.

To overcome some of the challenges, government has –

 Introduced scheme - One Nation One Ration Card to bring
about inter-state portability of PDS.
 Set up - Shanta Kumar Panel to suggest reforms in FCI.
These reforms shall go a long way in bringing about overall food
and nutrition security in the country.
Explain the significance of food processing industries 15
to India. Examine the bottlenecks faced by the
industry and measures taken by the government to
address them. (250 words)

 Introduction: Meaning of Food processing and

importance

 Body:
o Significance of food processing industries to India
o Bottlenecks in Food processing Industries

 Conclusion: Government effort in this regard

Food processing is the alteration of raw ingredients into food,
or of food into other forms. Food processing may signify direct
manufacturing of food or value addition on existing food.

Significance of food processing industries to India

 Boost to manufacturing as food processing unit’s acts as a
linkage between agriculture and industries.
 Generates employment as food processing industry holds
potential to absorb a major share of workers from the
agriculture sector.
 Enhances food and nutritional security by enhancing
productivity and reducing wastages.
 Boost to exports by creating a favourable demand for Indian
agricultural products in the global market.
 Enhanced food choice for consumers in terms of taste and
quality.
 Enhanced farmer’s income by enhancing demand for
agriculture produce.
 Reduced food inflation in the economy as it helps enhancing
shelf life of produce.
Bottlenecks in Food processing Industries
 Low demand due to low income levels and preference for fresh
food over processed food in Indian society.
 Small and dispersed marketable surplus due to fragmented
holdings, low farm productivity, high seasonality.
 Inadequate cold chain storage and logistics infrastructure due
to which more than 30 per cent of the produce from farm gate
is lost.
 Lack of integration & clarity as numerous laws, under the
jurisdiction of different ministries and departments, govern
food safety and packaging.
Government Efforts
 Government is implementing the Central Sector Scheme –
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (Pmksy).
 A new Food Processing Ministry has been established.
 Draft Food Processing policy, 2017 has been introduced.
 PLIS etc

India is the second largest food producer but hardly 2% food is

being processed. Thus there exists a remarkable capability to
grow. In this regard, India can learn from Global Best Players
such as New Zealand in food processing industries.
Discuss as to how the Agritech can play a catalytic
role in changing the agricultural landscape in India.
(150 words)

 Introduction: Concept of Agritech-Significance and

Importance

 Body: Benefits of Agritech-Reducing Input costs,

Enhancing Productivity, Better market linkages

 Conclusion: Need for National level efforts to harness

the potential
Agritech refers to use of technology in agriculture with aim of
providing access to inputs, improving yield, market linkages etc.
leading to higher efficiency. Examples include Mobile
applications, weather forecasts, drones, AI, Big Data, IoT etc.
According to NASSCOM, Agritech can bring in innovation in
agriculture leading to its comprehensive transformation:
Access to Inputs: E-commerce Mobile apps provide farmers
with access to agricultural inputs at doorsteps. Farmers would
also understand best input product to increase yield. Example:
BharatRohan
Increased Mechanisation through Uber-like apps such as
Goldfarm
Access to Loans through apps such as JaiKisan.
Resource Maximization: IoT based platforms such as Fasal
use AI and Big data to optimally utilise water, fertilisers etc.
Enhancing Productivity: NITI Aayog’s pilot project on
Precision Agriculture using AI for increasing crop productivity.
Agricultural Marketing: Apps such as Ninjacart would
streamline supply chain by connecting farmers directly with
customers.
Keeping in mind these advantages, states such as Maharashtra
and Karnataka have set up separate funds to boost agritech
sector. There is a need to upscale these efforts at national level
to optimally harness agritech.
Despite being one of the largest producers of
agricultural Commodities, the agricultural export has
not been a strong point both at macro-economic
(Nation) and micro-economic (farmers) levels in
India. Discuss various constraints and bottlenecks in
boosting agricultural exports from India. (250
words)

 Introduction: Poor Performance of India’s exports and

its adverse impact on economy and Farmers.

 Body:
o Potential of Agriculture Exports
o Current Status of Agri-exports
o Constraints and Bottlenecks

 Conclusion: Suggestions to boost India’s Agri exports

Though India is among the largest producers of agricultural
commodities, its share in the global exports stands at merely
2.2% (9th Rank). This has not only affected export earnings, but
also affected farmers due to lower prices in the domestic market.
Since 1991, India has been a net exporter of agri-products.
However, there are number of problems:
● Agri-products account for only 10% of Exports
● Mainly dominated by Basmati Rice and Marine Products
● Low-value agri-exports

The reasons for poor export performance can be understood in

terms of Supply and Demand side challenges:
Supply-side
● Lack of stable and reliable export policy. More focus on
price stabilization and food security and not on exports.
● Lack of Market Intelligence related to consumer preference
in export markets. For example, higher sweetness in Indian
mangoes is not necessarily in demand in many countries.
● Identification Challenges: Absence of state level export
data precludes us from identifying potential export clusters
within a state to provide suitable incentives.
● Lack of aggregation of low marketable surplus due to
significant variation in terms of varieties cultivated.
● Training and Skill Development: Unregulated chemicals
usage; Inadequate post-harvest management; Lack of
awareness
● Fragmented and restrictive APMC regime
● Poor Infrastructure and Logistics makes Indian products
uncompetitive.
● Lack of coordination among multiple agencies
Demand-side
● High import duties and Quota limits in export markets
● Indiscriminate application of sanitary and phytosanitary
measures
● Surge in agricultural imports after signing of FTAs
The Government’s Strategy of Doubling farmers’ income should
be linked to target of Agricultural export Policy 2018 to double
India’s exports to $ 60 bn by the end of 2022. Going forward,
focus should be on “Bake in India” on lines of “Make in India” to
boost exports.
Do you think the Government’s long pending
agricultural marketing reforms introduced as part of
Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package is a 1991 moment for
Indian Agriculture? Give arguments in support of
your answer. (250 words)

 Introduction: Liberalisation of agricultural market

through pending agricultural marketing reforms
introduced as part of Atma Nirbhar

 Body: 3 Reform measures – Benefits and Challenges

 Conclusion: Need to create conducive ecosystem to

ensure success
Government has converted the COVID-19 crisis into a reform
opportunity by undertaking long pending reforms in agriculture
marketing. Out of 11 measures, 3 measures seek to liberalise
agricultural marketing and hence hailed as 1991 moment for
agriculture.
1. Amendments to Essential Commodities Act (ECA) 1955:
ECA was enacted when India used to face food shortages and
hence considered to be anachronistic in present times. As
against its stated objective, ECA has led to price volatility and
reduced consumer welfare.

Hence, the amendments to ECA to deregulate Agriculture food

stuff is in right direction.
However, as hinted by Economic Survey 2019-20, there was a
need to abolish ECA completely. The Government still retains
option of imposing stock limits under exceptional circumstances
and hence it is a half-hearted measure.
2. Central Legislation to Promote Inter-State Trading:

Government’s move to enable farmers to sell their produce

wherever and whomsoever they like is a welcome step.
However, based upon previously failed experiences, it should be
accompanied by - Increased Market density, Organising farmers
into FPOs, Increased Private sector Investment, Linkages with
E-NAM etc.
3. Promotion of Contract farming: The introduction of
separate law to promote and regulate contract farming would
have multiple benefits – Access to inputs and technology,
elimination of middlemen, higher price realisation, lower post-
harvest losses, increased investment in agriculture etc.
However, success would depend on number of factors-
consolidation of land holdings through land leasing, formation of
FPOs to enable small farmers to reap economies of scale etc.
Undoubtedly, recent reforms can prove to be a game-changer in
liberalising the agricultural market. At the same time, as
highlighted, to ensure their success, these reform measures
should be accompanied by conducive ecosystem.
Agriculture credit has registered growth in India in
recent times; however, more efforts are needed to
make it more inclusive. Comment. (250 words)

 Introduction: Institutional Credit in Agriculture and its

importance

 Body: Challenges to Agriculture Credit in spite of

phenomenal increase; Steps to promote credit

 Conclusion: Need for inclusiveness in Credit

The Institutional Credit in agriculture is provided through the
network of Banks, MFIs, NBFCs etc. Apart from enhancing capital
formation, access to inputs and productivity, it also enables the
poor farmers to break out of a vicious cycle of debt trap.

Agricultural credit has consistently grown at around 20% in the

last decade. The annual credit flow has also been higher than
the targets. However, a number of concerns still remain:
● Share of Institutional Credit: only 60%; Higher reliance on
money lenders
● Share of Credit: Long term (35%) and Short-term (65%)
● Share of Small and Marginal Farmers: 60% of the loans.
● Regional imbalances: Higher share of southern region
● Low Credit creation due to higher NPAs
● Problems with the Priority sector Lending:
o Concentration of Large value loans
 o Concentration of loans in urban areas
o March rush
The National Commission of Farmers and Dalwai Panel have
given number of recommendations to address these problems:
● Build enabling ecosystem
o Digitisation of land records
o Agritech solutions to promote financing
o Implementation of Model Land Leasing Act
● Strict adherence of Priority Sector targets for Small and
Marginal farmers. A sub-limit for loans to tenant and landless
farmers needs to be introduced.
● Saturation drives for KCC
● Promote FPOs to enable poor farmers to have access to loans
● Special focus on unbanked regions to correct regional
disparity
● Improve the management of Cooperative banks
● Credit Guarantee Trust should be set up under NABARD to aid
long term financing.
The Institutional credit leads to modernisation of agriculture,
helps farmers in accessing markets and makes farming more
productive. Hence, these reform measures should be
implemented at the earliest to make the credit more inclusive
The Government’s vision of doubling farmers’ income
cannot be realised without enhancing input resource
use efficiency and minimizing the cost of cultivation.
Analyse. (250 words)

 Introduction: Agriculture as an enterprise- Reduce

input costs, Productivity and Maximize prices received

 Body:
o Input intensive agriculture after the Green Revolution.
o How various inputs such as Fertilizers, water, Land,
Labour etc. have been sub-optimally utilized.
o Explain as to how these inputs can be effectively
utilized.

 Conclusion: Increase in the input costs cause of the

agrarian distress and hence the need to reduce it.
According to Dalwai Panel, to double farmers’ income,
agriculture should be treated as an enterprise with focus on 3
aspects-Reducing Input costs, Enhancing Productivity and higher
prices. Agricultural inputs need to be efficiently utilised to fulfil
dual objectives-Increased income and Sustainable agriculture.
The Green Revolution has promoted input-intensive agriculture
leading to increase in input costs, unsustainable practices and
hence decline in income levels.
Land: Net sown area is around 141 mha as against total
geographical area of 328 mha. However, fragmented
landholdings due to a higher share of small and marginal farmers
(83%) has led to lower productivity. This can be addressed
through FPOs, land leasing, land Banks.
Labour: Agriculture contributes only 16% to GDP, yet it employs
45% of workforce. Disguised unemployment can be addressed
through agricultural mechanisation, skilling youths.
Water: Agriculture accounts for more than 80% of water
consumption, out of which share of groundwater is quite high
(60%). 52% of area is rain-fed wherein yield is almost 3 times
lower. This can be addressed through Micro-irrigation, changes
in cropping pattern, Rainwater harvesting, Conservation
agriculture, amendments to Indian Easement Act.
Financing: Government’s expenditure on subsidies is quite
higher at 8.2% of agri-GDP as compared to investment of 3%.
Since Public Investment is more inclusive and sustainable, there
is a need to rationalise subsidies and enhance Public Investment.
Subsidised Electricity has led to over-exploitation of
groundwater and losses to DISCOMs.
Subsidised Fertilisers has led to their over-consumption and
unbalanced use leading to decline in soil fertility.
The rising Input costs has emerged as the dominant reason for
agrarian distress, Hence, doubling of farmers income would not
be possible unless there is increase in input use efficiency.
The APMC reforms cannot be considered as the magic
bullet to address various problems in the agricultural
marketing. Illustrate with the help of examples as to
why the state Governments have to go beyond the
APMC reforms for the benefit of the farmers.
(250 words)

 Introduction: Recent APMC reforms and the rationale

 Body:
o APMC Reforms introduced by the State Governments
o Why these Reforms did not lead to intended outcomes

 Conclusion: Suggestions to improve marketing-

Beyond APMC Reforms
The Centre recently passed an ordinance to give freedom to
farmers to sell their produce wherever and whomsoever they
like, leading to the end of the virtual monopoly of highly
restrictive, fragmented, pro-trader and anti-farmer APMC
regime. However, the Government must realize that reforming
APMCs alone would not have intended outcomes.
Even prior to this, States such as Kerala and Bihar did not have
APMC Acts. States such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, TN etc have
already brought out number of reforms-allowed private markets,
unified trading licence, single-point levy of market fee, direct
marketing of agricultural produce etc. However, a study
conducted by NCAER has highlighted that there has been no
increase in income levels of farmers in spite of these APMC
Reforms.
Reasons
1. Markets located away from the villages and hence 90% of the
Crops sold within the villages to the traders at lower prices.
2. Poor Participation of Government agencies in procurement
leading to distress sale
3. Lack of enthusiasm among the Private sector in setting up
Market yards or direct procurement of produce from farmers.
4. Doing away with APMC levy has led to loss of revenue which
otherwise could have been used for improving the
infrastructure of existing APMCs.
5. Proliferation of small unregulated private market yards which
charge fee but yet do not provide basic infrastructure.
Hence, the recent APMC reforms have been accompanied by
creation of conducive ecosystem through:
● Organising farmers into FPOs to aggregate their produce,
carry out value addition and earn higher incomes.
● Increasing market density in line with recommendations of
National Commission For Farmers
● Improving Infrastructure in existing APMCs and link them with
E-NAM
Strengthening price dissemination mechanism for benefit of
farmers.
In spite of various Governments’ initiatives, Organic
Farming is still at a nascent stage. In this regard,
discuss various constraints in the promotion of
Organic Farming in India. (250 words)

 Introduction: Organic Farming- Importance and

Initiatives.

 Body:
o Present Status of Organic Farming in India.
o Reasons for poor coverage in area under Organic
Farming.

 Conclusion: Suggestions to improve Organic Farming-

Dalwai Panel.
The Organic Farming has the potential to boost income levels
of the farmers by reducing input costs and enhancing
productivity, while ensuring environmental sustainability.

Keeping in mind these benefits, the Government has taken

number of measures to boost organic farming as shown below:
Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Participatory Guarantee
Yojana (PKVY): System (PGS):
Cluster form ation, Training Certification o f Organic
and Marketing Support products for Domestic Market
Init iatives for
Organic Farming

Mission Organic Value Chain National Programme for Organic

Development for North Eastern Production (NPOP)
Region (MOVCDNER) certification of Organic products
for Exports
On account of these initiatives, India ranks 1st in terms of
number of organic farmers and 9th in terms of area under organic
farming.

In 2016, Sikkim became the first State in the world to

become fully organic and other States including Tripura and
Uttarakhand have set similar targets.

However, even though India accounts for 30% of global organic

producers, it accounts for only around 2.5% of the global area
under organic cultivation.

Some of the major constraints in boosting Organic

Farming are
 Shortage of biomass since the crop residues are mainly
used as fodder and fuel.
 Poor knowledge about compost making using modern
techniques.
 Inadequate supporting infrastructure: Poor Certification
of Organic products; absence of market for organic products;
higher prices of organic products etc.
 Higher costs of the organic inputs such as Neem cake,
Vermi-compost, cow dung etc.
 Transition period: Yields have been shown to have
significant drop during the initial years.
 Lack of quality seeds to support organic agriculture as
the modern Hybrid seeds are designed to respond to fertilizers
and chemicals.
 Lower exports due to high price expectations, chemical
residues, complicated paperwork etc.
Thus, organic farming would be successful only when the
concept of food security goes beyond mere ‘availability’ to
‘availability of safe food’. In this regard, recommendations of the
Dalwai Committee such as Integrated Farming System (IFS),
integrated pest management, documentation of Indigenous
Technical Knowledge (ITKs) etc. should be implemented.