Setback for reforms

India needs feasible ways to increase farm incomes

The all-round relief that farm groups have ended their protests against the three agricultural laws must be tempered by a sober reckoning of the implications of this 15-month face-off for Indian agriculture and the democratic process in the country. The farmers have earned kudos for the tenacity with which they braved Covid-19, fatalities, the cold, the heat, and the government machinery. The fact that the government agreed to their demands must be considered their victory. The protests have also offered the government a salutary lesson in the limits of parliamentary majority. Had the government engaged sufficiently with farm organisations and