Shoumitro Chatterjee and Mekhala Krishnamurthy on the Economics (and Politics) of India’s New Farm Laws

In September 2020, Indian lawmakers approved three controversial agriculture bills amidst an uproar on the floor of Parliament. That uproar would soon manifest outside of Parliament as tens of thousands of farmers took to the streets on the outskirts of Delhi to protest the passage of these laws. Today, the government and the farmers are locked in a months-long standoff, with everyone from the Supreme Court to foreign governments weighing in on the confrontation. 

 

To discuss the farm laws—the motivations behind them, their likely consequences, and the political fallout—Milan sits down with two experts on Indian agriculture, Shoumitro Chatterjee of Penn State University and Mekhala Krishnamurthy of Ashoka University and the Centre for Policy Research. 

 

The three discuss the state of Indian agriculture, the motivations behind the new laws, the anxieties that have fueled the protests, and possible compromises that can resolve the current impasse. If you have been watching the protests in India unfold but are struggling to make sense of them, this episode will help you fill in the blanks. 

 

Episode notes: 

1. Shoumitro Chatterjee, Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Devesh Kapur, and Marshall M. Bouston, “A Study of the Agricultural Markets of Bihar, Odisha and Punjab”
2. Yamini Aiyar and Mekhala Krishnamurthy, “On Farm Laws, How the Centre Faltered”
3. Mekhala Krishnamurthy, “Modi govt can bring real agriculture reforms only by working with states”
4. Shoumitro Chhatterjee and Mekhala Krishnamurthy, “Farm laws: First principles and the political economy of agricultural market regulation”
5. Bharat Ramaswami, “Constituency for reforms in BJP-ruled states can disprove fears that farm laws are a corporate plot”
6. Shoumitro Chatterjee and Arvind Subramanian, “India’s Export-Led Growth: Exemplar and Exception”