Should Subsidies be given to Farmers? (A case study of Punjab State of India)

In the context of economics effects of agricultural subsidies, these have became a debatable issue in India. Agricultural subsidies like fertilizers, irrigation, electricity, seeds etc are given by centre as well as state governments to the farmers in India. The main purpose of these subsidies is to help the farmers, so that they can use the new technology and to reduce the cost of production. These subsidies have an impact on the farmers, financial position of government and on natural resources etc. In this paper, an attempt is made to know the impact of subsidies on farmers of Punjab state of India. From the study, it has been noted that subsidies which have direct relationship on productivity and income like seeds, fertilizers should be given to farmers.