Good on paper

But direct income support for farmers tough to implement

The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has recommended direct income support of Rs 15,000 per hectare per annum to farmers. To prevent this from becoming a fiscal nightmare, the Aayog has suggested scrapping all subsidies for agriculture, including fertiliser, electricity, crop insurance, irrigation and interest subvention, and transfer an estimated saving of around Rs 2 trillion directly to farmers. There are two reasons why this proposal makes sense. One, the existing subsidies are often inefficiently disbursed and a direct transfer to a farmer’s account will be a more efficient alternative. The other reason is that unlike minimum support