India
is swiftly changing its policy of self-reliance in food production.
Despite claiming a bumper production in recent years, the government has
encouraged import of agricultural produces. More importantly, it has
allowed import of cereals like wheat, maize and non-basmati rice. The
volume of import of these grains increased by 110 times between 2014 and
2017. Farmers who produce them are at the centre of the current crisis
because they are the worst hit by the fall in the prices caused by the
import.
