ABSTRACT
As the Indian economy shifted to a higher growth trajectory following market-oriented reforms, the agriculture sector started decelerating. There was escalation of cost of cultivation and declines in the private rates of returns from cultivation of major crops. A spate of suicides among farmers further confirmed that Indian agriculture had been under serious stress. While some scholars ascribe the crisis primarily to the reform process, our contention is that the seeds of the crisis were lying beneath the very policy measures that earlier made the Green Revolution a resounding success. Moreover, it is shown that the suicide rate among farmers has generally been lower than that among the non-farmers, notwithstanding the fact that the suicide rate was unusually high among the farmers during 1995–2004. In view of the shift of emphasis of public policy from increasing production to increasing farmers’ income, policy options for farm income stabilization have been reviewed.
