SWEEPING REFORMS IN FARM SECTOR: AN OVERVIEW

J. PAUL MANSINGH¹*, A. NISHA^2
1VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL), Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, India
²VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL), Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, India
* Corresponding Author : paul.mansingh@vit.ac.in

Received : 10-06-2020     Accepted : 23-06-2020     Published : 30-06-2020
Volume : 12     Issue : 12       Pages : 9978 - 9980
Int J Agr Sci 12.12 (2020):9978-9980

Keywords : Agriculture, COVID-19, Economic packages, Essential Commodities Act, Reforms
Academic Editor : Dmello Basil Rudolph, P.T. Patel, Dr Ravikanth Makarla, Dr J.P. Rai
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to VIT School of Agricultural Innovations and Advanced Learning (VAIAL), Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, 632014, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

The pandemic COVID-19 has hit the normal functioning of all wings of society. The central government has announced tranches of economic relief packages to help farmers earn more and survive the situation. Out of 11 measures announced, eight are related to strengthening activities and three towards governance. The following measures are aimed at strengthening farm-gate infrastructure and logistics, and build capacities including cold chain and post-harvest management structure, micro food enterprises, aquaculture and fisheries, animal husbandry infrastructure, vaccination for Foot and Mouth disease, herbal cultivation, beekeeping initiatives, and supply chains. The administrative measures focus on bringing amendments to the Essential Commodities Act, the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act, and Contract farming. In this paper, the pros and cons of the sweeping reforms announced by the central government are discussed. Further, the necessity to bring reforms in the Land Ceiling Act that was left out and the importance of integrating agricultural works with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in the current scenario are presented in this paper.

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