Inight - Modi bets the farm. Will farmers win or lose?

Finally, Modi (pic) has thrown out the old furniture by ramming legislation through parliament. Now, growers don’t have to bring their harvests to the mandi. They can sell it at farm gates, factories, warehouses, silos, and cold storages.

BIG changes are afoot in Indian agriculture, driven by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at considerable political risk. Freeing up farming markets may be as significant as dismantling industrial licences in 1991.

However, if the state’s protection withers away only to reveal a few large capitalists as the new overlords, there will be chaos and misery rather than progress and prosperity.