Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of proposed farming laws in India on poverty levels in rural areas in that country.

We recognise the interest in the Indian Government's agricultural reform programme, and we respect India's democratic process, which includes the ability to debate and peacefully protest. Agricultural reform is a domestic issue for India and it is not for the UK to make public assessments about the efficacy of these reforms.