Video: Jean Drèze on the farm laws and ongoing protests by peasants in India | Jan 23, 2021

Jean Drèze argues that the three farm laws, particularly the APMC Bypass Act, could be better termed as Agri-Business Promotion Acts. He describes the limits of free markets, why regulation is needed to restrict concentration of market power, how markets exclude equity considerations, and why globally their is a demand for collective marketing institutions in agricultre. He argues that the farms laws would result in an oxymoronic ’dual-regulation’ of agricultural markets which would be a far worse outcome than the status quo; APMCs and Mandis are a natural way of regulating agricultural markets and if they are not entirely efficient, equitable, or sustainable, then they should be reformed and supplemented instead of jumping from the frying pan to the fire.

The video was a recorded message for the Kisan Sabha at Guru Tegh Bahadur Memorial on 23 January.