What to Read in Indian Express Editorial( Topic and Syllabus wise)

Editorial 1 : A Happy New Year to Farmers

Context: A 2025 wish list for farms and farmers

 

Goals for Indian Agriculture

• A vibrant and sustainable agriculture sector is essential for India’s development.
• Climate Resilience: Adapting to climate change to sustain productivity.
• Increased Productivity: To control food inflation and ensure economic stability.
• Farmer Prosperity: Enhancing farmer incomes to align with the vision of a developed India by 2047.
• Improved Real Wages for Farm Workers: Lifting the economic conditions of farm labourers at the bottom of the pyramid.

 

Key Challenges in Indian Agriculture

• Food Inflation
  1. Vegetables inflation reached 29% in November 2024. Potato inflation reached 67%.
  2. High inflation rates have restricted the RBI’s ability to lower the repo rate.
• Climate Change and Its Threats
  1. 2024 was the warmest year since 1901, with temperatures 0.9°C higher than the Long Period Average.
  2. Impact on agriculture: Wheat, India’s staple crop, is particularly vulnerable. A 1°C rise in temperature could reduce wheat yields by 5%.
• Weak Agri-extension
  1. Government’s Agri-extension network is the weakest link in the system.
  2. The challenge is to take climate resilient varieties of crops from labs to farmers.
• Policy and Budgetary Challenges
  1. Agri-R&D and Agri-extension require a major boost in the upcoming budget to build climate resilience.
  2. Subsidy Overload
     • Food and fertilizer subsidies are expected to cross ₹4 lakh crore in FY25.
     • PM-KISAN and MGNREGA add to the rural expenditure, totalling over ₹5 lakh crore.

 

Reforms Needed in Indian Agriculture

• Rationalisation of Subsidies
  1. Fertiliser subsidy reforms
     • Merge with PM-KISAN for direct per-hectare payments to farmers.
     • Deregulate fertiliser prices to eliminate inefficiencies.
     • Revise urea prices which are unchanged since 2012 to reflect market realities.
  2. Food subsidy reforms: Replace the existing system with targeted digital coupons for purchasing nutritious food items.
• Align Welfare Schemes with Agricultural Goals
  1. Synchronise MGNREGA with agricultural work to improve rural productivity.
  2. Link PM-Awas Yojana with employment in agriculture-related projects.
• Strengthen Agri-Extension Services
  1. Expand and modernise Agri-extension networks to ensure climate-resilient crop varieties reach farmers effectively.
  2. Promote farmer awareness and training on climate adaptation strategies.
• Invest in Rural Infrastructure: Savings from subsidy rationalisation can be used to build basic infrastructure from rural roads to water harvesting structures to upgrading agri-mandis and rural haats.

 

Broad Concerns for India’s Growth

• Freebie Culture
  1. This culture runs through all political parties.
  2. Most of these are simply bribes for votes, and waste of taxpayers’ money. The taxpayer feels totally helpless and cheated.
  3. The Election Commission and Supreme Court need to regulate such practices.
• Stagnation of Real Wages
  1. The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) shows that real wages in rural areas (including farm wages) have stagnated and even marginally declined in the last five years.
  2. Improving real wages for rural workers should be a national priority.

 

Way Forward: Opportunities

• With no parliamentary elections in the immediate future, the government can focus on bold agricultural reforms and restructure spending to prioritise rural development.
• Overhauling the System
  1. Strong leadership and focus are necessary to reform India’s agricultural policies.
  2. Without systemic changes, India risks falling short of its development goals.

 

Conclusion

Indian agriculture is at a crossroads, it holds the potential to transform the country’s economy but faces immense challenges. Reforms in subsidies, welfare schemes, and agri-extension services are essential for fostering a climate-resilient and inclusive agriculture sector.

Editorial 2 : A Journey to Visibility

Context: Building a system that sees the migrant worker

 

Background: In view of the pathetic condition and exodus of migrant workers during the pandemic, the Supreme Court of India had directed the Union government to build a national database of workers. Subsequently, the e-Shram Portal was started by the Ministry of Labour & Employment (MoL&E) in May 2021 with the objective of creating a national database of this labour force.
 The e-Shram portal is the largest database of unorganised workers in the world with 300 million registered workers.

 

e-Shram and One-Stop Solution (OSS)

• Aimed at addressing the vulnerabilities of migrant and unorganised workers, especially exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The recently launched One-Stop Solution (OSS) integrates welfare schemes with e-Shram to ensure access to social security and welfare programs.
• Integrated schemes include:
  1. One Nation One Ration Card.
  2. MGNREGA.
  3. PM Shram Yogi Maandhan.
  4. National Social Assistance Programme.
  5. Future plans to link more schemes such as PM Matru Vandana Yojana and Shramik Suraksha Yojana.

 

Opportunities

• Holistic Approach to Social Security
  1. OSS aims to connect workers with pension, insurance, housing, health, food security, and skill development programs.
  2. Promotes portability of welfare entitlements across states for inter-state migrants.
• Female Worker Representation
  1. Women constitute 53.59% of all registered workers on the e-Shram platform.
  2. Provides an opportunity to address gendered inequalities in the labour market.
• Recognition of Migrants as Economic Assets
  1. Acknowledges the contribution of migrant and unorganised workers to the economy.
  2. Focus on human development outcomes over freebie culture.
• Alignment with Sustainable Development Goals: Contributes to Agenda 2030, which underscores the importance of well-governed migration for sustainable development.

 

Concerns and Challenges

• Exclusion Due to Inadequate Documentation
  1. Many migrant unorganised workers face eligibility exclusion due to inadequate documentation and identity proofs.
  2. Some migrant workers don’t even have an Aadhaar card or ration card. Some don’t have permanent mobile phones, others lack permanent numbers, and sometimes the mobile number is not linked to their Aadhaar card.
  3. They remain non-eligible to register even at the e-Shram portal.
  4. In the absence of identity documents, the institutional mechanism of social security keeps them excluded. This is a significant barrier to the universalisation of access to social security.
• Lack of Comprehensive Data
  1. Migrant workers are not a homogeneous category — there is substantial socio-cultural, regional, demographic, and economic diversity.
  2. The portal currently lacks disaggregated data to design inclusive policies for specific groups.
• e-Shram should not be a freebie and subsidy burden
  1. Migrants and workers must be seen as assets and focus should be given more on human development outcomes by carefully designing every scheme.
• Portability of Welfare Schemes: While portability is a focus, challenges remain in ensuring seamless transfer of entitlements across states.
  1. MoL&E must look at the portability of welfare schemes through e-Shram and OSS.

 

Way Forward: Recommendations

• Address Eligibility Barriers
  1. Simplify registration by providing alternative identification mechanisms for workers without Aadhaar or ration cards.
  2. Collaborate with non-profits and local governments to assist in documentation processes.
• Disaggregate Data
  1. Map migrant profiles based on region, gender, age, economic activity, and socio-cultural background.
  2. Use this data to frame targeted and equitable policies.
• Enhance Portability: Ensure seamless portability of benefits across states, especially for inter-state migrant workers.
• Promote Gender Sensitivity: Incorporate women-specific measures in social security programs, addressing challenges such as unequal pay, maternity benefits, and childcare facilities.
• Shift Focus to Human Development
  1. Prioritise education, skill development, and health outcomes over mere subsidies.
  2. Encourage public-private partnerships to build worker-centric development models.
• Strengthen Governance
  1. Build robust mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the implementation of welfare programs.
  2. Increase transparency and accountability through regular reporting and audits.

 

Conclusion

Migrants and unorganised workers are the fuel of the Indian economy, awaiting their due recognition and rights. The goal of Viksit Bharat cannot be achieved without well-designed social protection systems for the meaningful inclusion of the unorganised and migrant workforce. The e-Shram and OSS are steps towards this, but there is still a long way to go.