Chapter-27: Digital Governance and Agricultural Reforms in India: A Political Analysis

This chapter examines the political impact of digital governance on recent agricultural reforms in India. Over the past decade, the Indian government has been using digital tools like e-NAM, PM-KISAN, and digital land records to make the agricultural sector more efficient, open, and responsive. Despite the fact that these efforts would ensure that there would be better access to the market and direct benefit transfers, its implementation has shown to have serious institutional and political problems. The chapter maintains that agricultural digital transformation is not just a technical process but more fundamentally one that is rooted in power relations and state capacity as well as federal relationships. The chapter sheds light on the contribution of inequality in the access to technology, data governance challenge, and centre-state coordination in shaping the results of policy on the ground. The paper also offers speculations on the tensions between reform-based policies and opposition to farmers particularly in the recent protests. The chapter brings together the perspectives of political economy and governance theory in giving a critical insight into the way the digital reforms are transforming Indian agriculture. The chapter suggests greater involvement, openness, and integrative approaches to digital governance in an effort to develop agriculture in India fairly.