India, April 15 -- The state has spent enormous sums - Rs.43,000 crore in the last five years - on compensating farmers for crop losses due to natural calamities, and equally large sums on two loan waivers in recent years. This raises a pressing question: have state and central governments done more harm than good by failing to promote self-reliance among farmers?

When this was brought to the attention of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis recently, he asked the state agriculture department to suggest amendments in its policies to focus on capital expenditure, to build agri-infrastructure. The goal, he said, should be making farming sustainable and climate-resilient, thus ensuring enhanced income to farmers. Populist schemes such as the Rs...