Nearly four years after India’s farmers’ protests led to the repeal of three controversial farm laws, the government’s core agenda of corporatizing agriculture remains unchanged. Instead of outright legislation, this agenda is now pursued through centralized schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY), public-private partnerships, and digital agriculture initiatives involving multinational corporations such as Bayer, Amazon, and Syngenta. These developments shift control over agricultural research, infrastructure, and data to corporate entities, fostering farmer dependency on expensive technologies and undermining state and local governance. Meanwhile, promised protections like a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) remain unfulfilled, leaving farmers vulnerable to market volatility and corporate power.

The draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM) further threatens to dismantle traditional state-regulated markets by promoting private wholesale markets and direct corporate procurement, risking the erosion of India’s food security systems. As public institutions like the Food Corporation of India and the Public Distribution System face weakening, India risks increased reliance on multinational supply chains that prioritize profit over nutrition and sovereignty. In response, new farmer protests have emerged demanding MSP guarantees and the repeal of corporate-friendly policies, but these have been met with repression. The article warns that without a food system grounded in sovereignty and farmer rights, corporate capture of Indian agriculture will deepen, threatening national sovereignty and food security.