01 April, 2021An agenda for agricultural reforms
As the farmers’ protests continue, Barun Mitra outlines some of the key issues that could help understand the current political deadlock over the three new farm laws, and suggests possible ways to r...
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Barun Mitra 
16 February, 2021
- Perspectives
Drought relief by state governments: Evidence from South India
In developing countries, extreme climate events can have disastrous consequences for vulnerable populations. This article analyses state government’s responses to droughts in South India during 2008...
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Lisa Tarquinio
- 10 March, 2021
- Articles
Farm laws: Roadmap for agricultural marketing privatisation
Focussing on the essence of the farm laws, which purportedly seek to promote free market competition in agricultural marketing, Dilip Mookherjee emphasises the need for reform of APMC (Agricultural P...
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Dilip Mookherjee
- 06 February, 2021
- Perspectives
Bovine Economics
About a month ago, the state government of Maharashtra instituted a ban on the slaughter of bulls and bullocks, in addition to the existing ban on the slaughter of cows. In this article, Shanta Gokha...
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Shanta Gokhale
- 08 April, 2015
- Perspectives
Adoption of Balanced Use of Chemical Fertilisers: Farmer's Response to Scientific Evidence and Social Learning
Government of India has launched a massive program of individualized soil tests and customized fertilizer recommendation, with the hope that scientific information will lead farmers to optimize the fe...
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Ram Fishman Avinash Kishore David J. Spielman
- 31 March, 2015
- IGC Research on India
Transforming landholding agricultural workers into farmers
Some believe that MNREGA has negatively impacted agriculture by reducing the supply of labour available for farm work. This column refutes this view and argues that MNREGA has enabled agricultural wo...
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Ravi Kumar
- 07 January, 2015
- Articles
Financial inclusion for agricultural growth: An alternative approach
Traditional, group-based microcredit has had limited success at enabling farmers to expand the cultivation of risky but profitable cash crops. Evidence suggests that this is mainly because of its mech...
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Pushkar Maitra Sandip Mitra Dilip Mookherjee Alberto Motta Sujata Visaria
- 08 December, 2014
- Articles
Reconstructing facts in Bt cotton: Why scepticism fails
In disputes around Bt cotton, a “triumph narrative” is alleged to have emerged from researchers - mainly economists - catering to vested interests of the biotech industry, its funding and allied j...
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Ronald Herring
- 02 June, 2014
- Articles
Do the poor need genetically modified crops?
Field trials of a few genetically modified crops were recently put on hold by the Environment Ministry. This article asserts that the decision reflects an ideological resistance to and suspicion about...
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Milind Murugkar
- 22 November, 2013
- Perspectives
Why do insecure rural property rights persist?
Poorly specified and weakly enforced property rights over land may reduce productivity in the agricultural sector. This column examines why strong private property rights are not adopted more widely, ...
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Leopoldo Fergusson
- 18 September, 2013
- Articles
The unintended child health consequences of the Green Revolution in India
While the Green Revolution in India greatly enhanced agricultural production, the enhanced use of fertilisers led to the contamination of surface and ground water. This column analyses the impact of f...
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Nidhiya Menon
- 09 September, 2013
- Articles
The role of Bt cotton in improving food security
The role of genetically modified crops in the fight against hunger remains disputed. The debate primarily focuses on whether or not these crops can contribute to sustainable increases in food producti...
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Shahzad Kouser Matin Qaim
- 24 June, 2013
- Articles
Willingness to pay for index-based crop microinsurance in India
Given the significance of the agricultural sector in India and its vulnerability, an adequate and sustainable risk management system is critical. However, uptake of microinsurance is quite low. This c...
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Janani Ramasubramanian
- 22 April, 2013
- Articles
Grain stocks: Is it a problem of storage capacity?
Foodgrains rot due to insufficient storage capacity, even as millions go to bed hungry. This column argues that increasing capacity is only a partial resolution. The crisis has happened before and wil...
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Bharat Ramaswami
- 01 April, 2013
- Articles
Agricultural wages and MNREGA: Exploring the myth
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, India’s flagship programme that guarantees 100 days of minimum wage employment to rural households, has come under attack for pushing up t...
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Kanika Mahajan
- 05 November, 2012
- Articles
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Climate change and Indian agriculture
Indian agriculture remains vulnerable to the vagaries of weather, and the looming threat of climate change may expose this vulnerability further. This article presents findings from a study that uses ...
- Siddharth Hari Parth Khare Arvind Subramanian
- 16 August, 2018
- Articles
India's farm crisis: Decades old and with deep roots
In this Perspectives piece, Prof. Himanshu argues that the crisis in Indian agriculture today is not a new one; it goes back many years. Therefore, the problems of farmers cannot be addressed by the b...
- Himanshu .
- 12 April, 2019
- Perspectives
How new technologies can raise farm productivity
Lele and Goswami discuss the potential of new technologies in raising farm productivity, and the challenges involved in turning the power of information and other technologies into a farmer-friendly t...
- Sambuddha Goswami Uma Lele
- 06 December, 2017
- Articles