5. Excess subsidies are doubly detrimental to Indian agriculture; on one side they cause market distortion and a burden on national exchequer; on the other, they lead to environmental degradation. It is also true that Indian agriculture can’t sustain without the subsidies. Subsidies are a kind of imbroglio. Analyze.

Approach:

♤ Give a brief introduction of subsidy provisions in agriculture and first explain why subsidies are needed for the framers.

♤ Then relate the subsidies with three keywords in the question– “market distortion”, “environmental degradation” and “burden on national exchequer”.

♤ Give your conclusion that instead of subsidies we should invest the money in agriculture research.