Business Standard published an op-ed by research fellow Anjani Kumar with co-authors, Shalander Kumar and Arabinda Kumar Padhee (ICRISAT) on the farm economy. Once the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown occurred, India’s general population took notice of migrant workers coming from outside of India to work and their particular challenges. Many workers will not return after the full re-opening of India. Some of these migrants are well-trained, have been exposed to non-agricultural livelihoods, and have higher aspirations. Today, there is a good opportunity for the respective state governments and industries to use this trained human resource in creating and promoting rural-based small and medium businesses, non-farm and agro-based value addition, and tertiary service provisioning enterprises. The Union government’s package of INR 20 trillion under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative can promote several non-farm and allied farming enterprises for rural people including agricultural sector migrants in boosting the rural economy. Building capacity and creating competition for the workforce by involving different states and industries, and eschewing restrictive inspection regimes, will be key to improving their condition.
