THE DECLINE OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE: A LEGAL AND POLICY ANALYSIS
AUTHOR – TANYA REJI, STUDENT AT AMITY LAW SCHOOL, AMITY UNIVERSITY, MUMBAI
BEST CITATION – TANYA REJI, THE DECLINE OF INDIAN AGRICULTURE: A LEGAL AND POLICY ANALYSIS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 5 (9) OF 2025, PG. 27-36, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.
This article is published in the collaborated special issue of Amity Law School, Amity University, Mumbai and the Institute of Legal Education (ILE), titled “Emerging Trends in Law: Exploring Recent Developments and Reforms” (ISBN: 978-81-986345-1-1).
Abstract
India’s economy is predominantly agricultural-based, and half of the country’s population makes a substantial contribution towards the sector. However, due to various factors like socioeconomic, environmental, and policy-related issues have contributed to the sector’s continuous decline in recent decades. The reasons and effects of this decline are examined in this research study, and have also emphasized the laws and policies that govern and regulate India’s agricultural sector. The study will also be exploring important topics such as farm earnings, over-reliance on monsoons, and the increasing rate of farmer suicides and agricultural hardships. The study will be analyzing the current policies and legislations, such as the land reform law, agricultural subsidies, and the minimum support price concept. The study will be examining the Contended Farm laws of 2020 and their reasons for getting repealed, and how it has affected the farmers’ welfare and agricultural sustainability. The study will be a combination of doctrinal research and policy analysis, wherein the study would be identifying the problems and weaknesses in the legislative framework. The study has also referred to the environmental regulations and climate change that have aggravated the agricultural problem. The study will be compared with agricultural reforms that have been adopted in other countries in order to understand and make reforms in India also. The research paper delves into establishing reforms that will help in recovering the agricultural sector in India by analyzing and addressing the issues, laws, and policies of the agricultural sector in India.
Introduction- Agriculture has always been the driving force of the Indian economy, giving employment to the people and contributing significantly to the GDP of the country. But the sector has been consistently on the decline over the past decade, which has led to concerns regarding economic stability, rural jobs, and food security. Indian agriculture, which was once a thriving sector, is now, in recent years, being confronted with numerous issues like land degradation, climate change, poor policies, and many more.