Which step was not initiated by the government to improve the marketi…

"The Narendra Modi led government has its task cut out. It will need to focus on agriculture technologies that can boost agricultural productivity, create value added farm products and tap ‘farm to fork opportunities’ to ensure better realization for farmers. It will also need to create millions of micro entrepreneurs and thousands of economic clusters in rural India, besides investing in rural roads, rural electricity, irrigation networks and national cold chain grids."

Based on the above case study, answer the questions below :

Which step was not initiated by the government to improve the marketing aspect of the rural economy ?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Land reforms

Land reforms change the ownership of landholdings. They deal with who owns the land, while marketing deals with how the crop is sold.

The government took four measures to improve marketing:

Regulation of markets: this creates orderly and transparent marketing conditions.
Physical infrastructure: roads, railways, warehouses, godowns and cold storages.
Cooperative marketing: farmers come together to get fair prices for their products.
Policy instruments: minimum support prices, buffer stocks and the Public Distribution System.

NCERT (2026-27): “5.4 Agricultural Market System … Let us discuss four such measures that were initiated to improve the marketing aspect. The first step was regulation of markets to create orderly and transparent marketing conditions. By and large, this policy benefited farmers as well as consumers. However, there is still a need to develop about 27,000 rural periodic markets as regulated market places to realise the full potential of rural markets. Second component is provision of physical infrastructure facilities like roads, railways, warehouses, godowns, cold storages and processing units. The current infrastructure facilities are quite inadequate to meet the growing demand and need to be improved. Cooperative marketing, in realising fair prices for farmers’ products, is the third aspect of government initiative.…”

NCERT (2026-27), chapter ‘Indian Economy 1950-1990’: “Land Reforms: … Equity in agriculture called for land reforms which primarily refer to change in the ownership of landholdings. Just a year after independence, steps were taken to abolish intermediaries and to make the tillers the owners of land.…”