A 'Jai Kisan' stimulus: FM Sitharaman pushes long-sought agri reforms

The government has turned the pandemic crisis to good account by pushing through long-sought legislative changes aimed at more remunerative prices for farmers, but at the risk of antagonising the states.
 

The changes included amending the archaic Essential Commodities Act, bringing in a law to dismantle inter-state barriers on movements of agricultural produce, and creating a legal framework for a kind of contract farming.
 

The Centre will have to wait for Parliament’s monsoon session or bring in Ordinances on these. The Centre, perhaps for the first time, has decided to frame legislation that will enable direct purchase from farmers outside