In the pre-digital era when there was no social media to capture, discuss and/or forward memes around the "mood of nation" in near-realtime, all we had was huge newspaper publications and tv "reports" which echoed sentiments during Budget speeches and it's resemblance to stock market indices.

Then the most important takeaway of any speech ended with a statement that : ‘No power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come’ and the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea.

The intention was to move away from a mixed economy and evolve to a market economy. A compulsory shift of sorts fueled by a shortage of dollar reserves but mostly backed by the evidence of then collapsed Soviet command-and-control.

Business growth and rivalry had a remarkable impact on various markets; a growth in our allocative efficiency, we found ourselves better off, and reforms quickly picked pace. Policy squadry over welfare vs. market forces have slowed market-orientation to an extent, but our liberalization thrust has gone well in the history - if we may say so. Let's take for example - Our software story, which has clearly been one of global success story, to the envy of the western world and a reason why India is fairly well poised today.

In the past 10 years or so, India has been lowering entry barriers for new startups and businesses complemented by a well planned exit policy. While we still fight to revive demand post the virus-hit world, the various "self-branded" half baked scientific truths on social media has begun to take a toll on reform efforts farther afield.

The recent farmer protests ( be it geniune or fueled by political connections) have nevertheless forced the government to suspend a policy of lifting restrictions to let private investment and market mechanisms play a major role in our farm sector.

While economic theory is not easy for all to understand, post-truth portrayals of the Centre’s agrarian agenda have suffused online forums. It has not squeezed out all space for talks, but it has made complex issues harder to take up. The peculiarities of agriculture, for instance, need to be deeply studied.

It is one of the sectors, which has not yet ridden itself of feudal vestiges, where primary sellers vastly outnumber direct buyers, and where supply is seasonal while demand is inelastic. This is no way means that the classical market pricing signals that act to get demand and supply in sync fail to work, but only re-empahsizes that we need a special safety net crafted for farmers to fall back upon in case of failure.

But first, let’s accept that we can’t prevail if the truth doesn’t.

By:
Asish Dash,
Co-Founder, Grazing Minds