1. America has 1 in 100 workers farming. We have around 1 in 2. We need to move people from farms to urban jobs.

2. We cannot subsidise all procurement at MSP and if we force it that would hurt urban poor.

3. To the extent MSP buying is used, it cannot be focused on one region.

4. The fact that some rich farmers (and middlemen who are likely to be made redundant) who often use labour from poorer states want to be subsidised for producing wheat (and rice despite the semi arid region) and will block roads for that- is nothing short of a shame and a fraud.

5. Let us understand these rich farmers and their demands.

- Don’t tax us while we drive German cars
- Give us near free power water
- Subsidise
- Let us hire workers from Bihar, UP who will do actual farming
- And if you do not agree we will block roads and talk of geopolitics

6. I am in favour of schemes such as PM-Kisan which are cash transfers, in favour of agricultural derivatives which supplement insurance, and even MSP so long as it is implemented equitably across regions. Some rich farmers in one part of the country do not represent all farmers.

7. To those who are saying let us not compare with America they are missing the point. Most rich countries including non Western ones such as Japan and SKorea have less than 5% of workers in farming despite heavy subsidies-subsidies they can afford because 95%+ do something else.

8. In India, we do not tax agricultural income-including the richest farmers and then we want half the country to be subsidised across the entire value chain of farming. Where will the money come from? And even if it could, shouldn’t that go to infra, schools, hospitals, defense?

9. It seems the protesting rich farmers and their middlemen know that their hand greasing which enables procuring of shoddy grains while they themselves consume grain from other states in some cases: this gravy train will come to an end when private players do real quality check.

10. FCI godowns are overflowing with bad quality cereals. We have gone from being food deficient and exploding population to food surplus and slow growing population.

If India is to leapfrog to prosperity these reforms by PM Modi needed. Let states do heavy lifting beyond these.

11. When is a country rich? When more stuff (like food) is produced by fewer people.

There is no fixed number of jobs. Wealth leads to more jobs, safer ones, better paying ones and ones with fewer working hours etc.

The coming boom will absorb many.

We need to be firm for now.

12. It is a fact that the children of farmers, especially poorer farmers, in most cases do not want to be farmers.

Farming is often disguised unemployment in India; the situation requires more reforms like land leasing laws so that the landless farmers - the real ones - benefit.