Markets in Transition: Assessing the Role and Functions of the Shift from APMC to PACS in Bihar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12724/ajss.72.3Keywords:
Agrarian reform, Mandi system, Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act (APMC), Informal Credit Institutions, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Local Traders, Minimum Support Price (MSP)Abstract
Over the past few decades, Bihar's agriculture has experienced a significant transition. Many factors, such as the change in the agricultural markets, are affecting most of the agricultural activities. The agricultural markets are essential for agricultural produce, where the primary agricultural producer meets the first buyer. This paper analyses the transitions in Bihar's regulated agricultural market to a completely open market system. Regulated agricultural markets were established in Bihar in the 1960s and 1970s through the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act (APMC Act). However, the Bihar government repealed the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act (APMC Act) in 2006, aiming to encourage private investment and traders to buy agricultural commodities directly from farmers. It is also supposed to provide farmers with more options to sell their produce. As a result of the abolition of APMCs in Bihar, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) have emerged as key institutions in rural financial assistance and in the public procurement process. However, this transition in the agricultural market in Bihar has raised many questions, such as the state intervention in agriculture markets, the limitation of market liberalisation, the importance of the regulated agricultural markets, and which types of markets emerged for agricultural produce after the abolition of APMC Act regulated markets in Bihar. This study attempts to evaluate the role and function of agricultural markets that emerged in Bihar after the abolition of regulated agricultural markets.
References
References
Ali Jan, M., & Harriss-White, B. (2021). "Chapter 20: Agricultural markets". In Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved Sep 09, 2022, from https://www.elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/9781788972451/9781788972451.00028.xml
Acharya S. S. and Agarwal N. L. (2009), ‘Agricultural Marketing in India.’ Oxford &
IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd New Delhi.
Chavan, P. (2013). Credit and Capital Formation in Agriculture: A Growing Disconnect. Social Scientist, 41(9/10), 59–67.
Chatterjee S., Krishnamurthy M., Kapur D., & Bouton M. (2020). A Study of the Agricultural Markets of Bihar, Odisha, and Punjab. Final Report. Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia.
Chakravarti, A. (2001). Caste and Agrarian Class: A View from Bihar. Economic and Political Weekly, 36(17), 1449–1462. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4410549
Chengappa, P. G. (2003) ‘Institutional Aspects of Agricultural Marketing in India’, in S. Pal, M. Ruthyunjaya, P. K. Joshi, and R. Saxena, (eds), Institutional Change in Indian Agriculture. National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi, pp. 331– 48.
Chand, R. (2012). Development Policies and Agricultural Markets. Economic and Political Weekly, 47(52), 53–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41720551
Census of India 2011 - Bihar - Series 11 - Part XII B - District Census Handbook, Patna: Primary Census Abstract (PCA). (2014). Directorate of Census Operations, Bihar.
Dhar, N. S., Pandey, M., & Kumar, A. (2022). Identifying Socio-Economic Classes in Two Villages of Bihar. Review of Agrarian Studies, 12(1).
Government of India. (1928). Report of the Royal Commission on Agriculture. Ministry of Agriculture.
Geoffrey R. D. Underhill. (2000). State, Market, and Global Political Economy: Genealogy of an (Inter-?) Discipline. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), 76(4), 805–824. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2626461
Golait, R. (2007): 'Current Issues in Agriculture Credit in India: An Assessment, RBI Occasional Papers, 28: 79–100.
Heilbroner, R. L., & Milberg, W. (2012). The making of economic society. Pearson Education Company.
Heilbroner, R. L. (1985). The Nature and Logic of Capitalism (illustrated, revised ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Harriss-White, B. (1980). Regulated Foodgrains Markets: A Critique. Social Scientist, 8(8), 22–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/3516690
Harriss-White, B. (1984). State and Market: State Intervention in Agricultural Exchange in a Dry Region of Tamil Nadu, South India. Concept Publishing Company.
Kohli, A., Moon, C. I., & Sørenson, G. (2003). (ed.) States, Markets, and Just Growth. In Development in the Twenty-First Century. United Nations University Press. https://doi.org/10.1604/9789280810769
Kishore, A. (2004). Understanding Agrarian Impasse in Bihar. Economic and Political Weekly, 39(31), 3484–3491.
Kumar, A. (2022). “Land and Caste Relations in North Bihar: Observations from Two Villages.” Review of Agrarian Studies. Vol. 12, no.1, available at http://ras.org.in/5baea16fe33094ce0fa6dc641b7b811
Krishnamurthy, M. & Witsoe, J. (2012). Understanding mandis: Market towns and the dynamics of India’s urban and rural transformations. International Growth Centre, London school of economics, London.
Krishna, G. (2023.). Journey of Agricultural Produce Market Committee Law in Bihar: An Inquiry into the Implications of Repeal of Bihar APMC Law. LEAD Journal, Vol. 18/1, pages 51–68
Kumar, S. (2020). Bihar Agricultural Produce Market Committee: Origin and Growth. Eureka Journals, 4(1).
Lindblom, C. E. (2001). The Market System: What It Is, How It Works, and What To Make of It. Yale University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nq0cg
Prasad, P. H. (1986). Institutional Reforms and Agricultural Growth. Social Scientist, 14(6), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.2307/3517407
Pulin B. Nayak. (1996). The State and the Market. Economic and Political Weekly, 31(4), PE18–PE22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4403714
Purohit, P. (2016). Measurement of Regulations of the Agricultural Produce Markets: An Application to the Indian States. Economic and Political Weekly, 51(28), 36–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44004543
Riain, S. O. (2000). States and Markets in an Era of Globalization. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 187–213. http://www.jstor.org/stable/223442
Ramakumar, R & Chavan, P. (2007). Revival of Agricultural Credit in the 2000s: An Explanation. Economic and Political Weekly. 42. 10.2307/40277127.
Report (2012), 'Investment in Agricultural Marketing and Market Infrastructure- A Case Study of Bihar 2011-12', published by National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM), Jaipur.
Ramachandran, V. K., & Rawal, V. (2010). The impact of liberalization and globalization on India’s agrarian economy. In Globalization and Labour in China and India (pp. 107–130). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Rodgers, G., Mishra, S. K., and Sharma, A. N. (2016), “Four Decades of Village Studies and Surveys in Bihar,” in Himanshu, Jha, P., and Rodgers, G. (eds.), The Changing Village in India: Insights from Longitudinal Research, Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Stiglitz, J. E. (2016). The state, the market, and development (No. 2016/1). WIDER Working Paper.
Saroj, S. & Roy, D., Kishore, A. & Kishore, P. (2021). Impacts of Sweeping Agricultural Marketing Reforms in the Poor State of India: Evidence from Repeal of the APMC Act in Bihar. 10.22004/ag.econ.315092.
Srivastava, A. K. (2017). Role of Institutional Credit for Agricultural Development in Bihar. Journal of Rural Development, 36(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.25175/jrd/2017/v36/i1/112700
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Artha Journal of Social Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
