PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Planning & Economic Development

Examine the various causes of agrarian crisis in India.

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
GB visible distress (suicides, marches, migration) → crisis of profitability G33 farming no longer viable → causes structural & policy-driven, not natural
Body flow
unreformed land base (failed reforms, fragmentation, tenant exclusion / PM- Kisan) → state retreat (falling investment, weak irrigation, no extension) → Dhanagare: dependence shifts landlords → markets, state fails to regulate →
Counter-view
liberalisation exposure (WTO, subsidised imports, price shocks, input costs, moneylenders) → Gulati: farmer gets ~25% of consumer price → climate stress (drought, groundwater) → rainfed suicides Maharashtra/Karnataka
Conclusion routes
Sen & Bhagwati: subsidies mainly aid rich farmers, remove them → fault is misdirected support, not its absence @39 Sainath: neoliberal policy + corporate input costs, not natural failure Swaminathan’s remedy: procurement + C2+50% MSP as the corrective

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2018, Planning & Economic Development