Just Prices: Government Intervention in Agricultural Prices in Karnataka

Just Prices: Government Intervention in Agricultural Prices in Karnataka presented by Dr. T.N. Prakash Kammardi, Chairman, Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission, Government of Karnataka in Bangalore, India, on Wednesday, May 2 at 10:00am in room 250A of the Agricultural Administration Building (2120 Fyffe Road, Columbus, OH 43210). This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Law and Interdisciplinary Studies at the Mortiz College of Law and is open to the public. No RSVP is required. Space is limited.

ABSTRACT: High growth in agriculture enabled India to achieve much needed self sufficiency in food production long ago. However, the agriculture sector is marked by crises and farmers’ suicides in the past decades. Un-remunerative prices for farm produces leading to inadequate income security are the prime causes behind the woes that farmers face in India today. Indian agriculture is characterized by a large number of small and uneconomical holdings which are scattered across the country side. Farmers are relegated to the position of absolute ‘price takers’ rather than “price makers” that prevails elsewhere in the economy. In order to protect the interests of peasantry, government interventions rather allowing free market forces while determining the prices of farm produces become imperative in a country like India. Hence, a legal approach to supplement government interventions and other conventional methods to ensure just and remunerative prices for farmers is envisaged. This paper makes a modest attempt to throw light on this issue, by taking the case of Karnataka, a progressive state in Southern India.