Farm and labor sector reforms
One phrase from the left wing politicians from India that I have come to detest with passion is "pro people Policies". These pro people policies have proven to be very anti-people. They have proven to be job killers and have impoverished farm sector beyond belief. India has one of the best climate for agriculture and has abundant supply of water most of the years but it has one of the lowest farm productivity in the world. India should be the bread-basket of the world. It needs to produce high value fruits and vegetables and other cash crops rather than lo value staples. It needs to mechanize and get out of the bullock cart age.
Roughly speaking, farm sector is one third as productive as rest of the economy. It absorbs 60% of the work force, for about 20% of the national output. Farmers will always be poor unless that ratio is corrected.
Both farm and labor sectors are long overdue for a swift kick in the pants. They need to be exposed to market forces. Price support needs to go. Entreprenurs need to help upgrade technology and improve market access. Government needs to help build safety structures like crop insurance. Futures markets need to be built. In other words, farm economy needs to be put on the modern footing.
What we have here is a first step in making this sector reach its potential.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/farm-bills-anger-spills-onto-highways-railways/story-Xf0dSzakpvQfrIwvlsGWPL.html
Interim Management, Board Advisor | Digital Solutions & Services | Consulting Businesses
4 年In India Sir, politicians on both sides of the aisle use phrases like?pro-people policies, freedom of choice, free speech, etc. The labor reforms are a welcome start in the right direction but yet not enough to help our current stagnant state. The simplification of laws is always a good thing although of course with the GST effort we actually ended up causing more challenge than anticipated in the course of that process to simplify. Overall, a good effort but they are no longer simple. GST is now complex issue (again). As far as farm sector reforms go, that is more tricky and difficult to assess so quickly. We will need to see how these are executed, while on one hand it is possible they completely open up and liberalize the sector only time will tell. As far as the politics of the situation goes, even that is not so simple as it seems on the surface but keeping all that rhetoric aside most of us citizens are rooting for the small farmer and more power to everyone giving a better deal to him. Overall, yes, we need sensible reforms in these sectors.
This was over due to break the monopoly of few rich farmers who are also politicians leading the resistance in Punjab and Haryana.
Co-Founder MYFOJO, Co-Founder localfocal.com (acquired), Investor, Mentor
4 年Agree. There are some concerns about oligopolies forming like what happened in Bihar... So will need to be managed and monitored