Could well-intentioned policies end up worsening inequalities? An investigation of paddy prices across India and the policy of announcing support prices
By: Baruah, Prerona
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: Social Change and Development Description: 17(1), Jan, 2020: 25-39.Subject(s): Agriculture - Economic aspects - India, Agriculture and state - India
In:
Social Change and DevelopmentSummary: This study uses wholesale market level data from 2003 to 2016 to examine if, and how, the differences in the access to the support-price policy have influenced price movements of one of India’s major food-grains: paddy. It also analyses whether the pattern of availability/absence of procurement facilities could be indirectly influenced by some other important factor like class relations and economic inequalities. The paper finds that prices often fall below the government declared support price (MSP) wherever procurement is low. Furthermore, it is in States like Jharkhand and West Bengal, where rural regions have a relatively low concentration of landownership that the extent of procurement is lower. By contrast, in States like Punjab and Haryana, which are relatively affluent regions marked by high class inequalities, procurement is higher. As the former regions are also lagging behind in terms of economic development, continuation of such uneven procurement patterns will worsen both inter-regional and intra-regional inequalities. Given that the present government’s response to farmer distress has been overtly in terms of raising the MSP, this pattern will reinforce and worsen the skewed distribution of wealth across already unequal regions. – Reproduced
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 17(1), Jan, 2020: p.25-39 | Available | AR123701 |
This study uses wholesale market level data from 2003 to 2016 to examine if, and how, the differences in the access to the support-price policy have influenced price movements of one of India’s major food-grains: paddy. It also analyses whether the pattern of availability/absence of procurement facilities could be indirectly influenced by some other important factor like class relations and economic inequalities. The paper finds that prices often fall below the government declared support price (MSP) wherever procurement is low. Furthermore, it is in States like Jharkhand and West Bengal, where rural regions have a relatively low concentration of landownership that the extent of procurement is lower. By contrast, in States like Punjab and Haryana, which are relatively affluent regions marked by high class inequalities, procurement is higher. As the former regions are also lagging behind in terms of economic development, continuation of such uneven procurement patterns will worsen both inter-regional and intra-regional inequalities. Given that the present government’s response to farmer distress has been overtly in terms of raising the MSP, this pattern will reinforce and worsen the skewed distribution of wealth across already unequal regions. – Reproduced
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