Why solar power is the only option to double farmers’ income

In July, two interesting things happened that can, to a large extent, help Indian farmers augment their incomes. First, the Union finance minister (FM), in her maiden budget speech, asked why annadata (farmer) cannot become urjadata (producer of solar power). Second, in the Parliament the Minister of State for agriculture, responding to a question on the prime minister’s promise of doubling farmers’ income (DFI) by 2022, admitted that the existing set of policies cannot double farmers’ real incomes by 2022. I welcome and appreciate this honesty, although the PM may still be optimistic to fulfil his dream of DFI by 2022. I have been saying, for the last two years through this newspaper column, that it is almost impossible to DFI by 2022 with the set of policies that the government has adopted; they will not achieve even half the target. The remaining 4 years till 2022-23 require the real incomes of farmers to go up by 13-15% per annum. But, as they say, nothing is impossible in this world, so here is my single suggestion to move in that direction.