While Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday detailed a 16-point programme to meet the government’s target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, experts in Maharashtra — which has been reeling under severe agrarian distress — termed the goal a “pipe dream” and panned the Budget for lacking concrete measures to handle the crisis.
On Saturday, Sitharaman began the Union Budget 2020-21 announcement by stating the plan for the agrarian sector.
Over all, the Narendra Modi government allocated ₹2.83 lakh crore in the Budget for agriculture, allied activities and irrigation development and set a target of ₹15 lakh crore as farm credit. The 16-point agrarian programme mentions bolstering investment in the agriculture supply chain, including the introduction of ‘Kisan Rail’ and ‘Krishi Udaan’ to carry perishable goods, and building of warehouses; modernising markets; ushering in land reforms by implementing model laws such as land leasing acts, etc.
However, in Maharashtra, which witnessed a prolonged drought, floods and unseasonal downpour in the past year, experts are sceptical if the budget announcements can tackle farmers’ core issues.
“The Budget does not address core issues of the farm sector related to improving output prices for crops or agrarian risk management. A national bail-out package on the lines for power, real estate and auto sector was expected, but not delivered,” said Kishore Tiwari, farm activist and chairperson of the Maharashtra Task Force on Agriculture. Tiwari was previously with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is now with the Shiv Sena.
{{/usCountry}}“The Budget does not address core issues of the farm sector related to improving output prices for crops or agrarian risk management. A national bail-out package on the lines for power, real estate and auto sector was expected, but not delivered,” said Kishore Tiwari, farm activist and chairperson of the Maharashtra Task Force on Agriculture. Tiwari was previously with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is now with the Shiv Sena.
{{/usCountry}}Tiwari claimed that none of the demands made to the Union finance minister, including setting up of a national commission for farmers, announcing direct incentives and subsidies, introducing technology in agriculture, assistance for farm widows, changing skewed export-import policies, had been addressed.
Vijay Jawandia, farmers’ leader and an agrarian expert, claimed that the 16-point programme had nothing new to offer, barring the Centre’s decision to encourage states’ implementation of the land-leasing law. “There has always been a train from Lasalgaon to carry onions or a train from Jalgaon that carries bananas, as well as flights that carry perishable commodities. So what’s new about Kisan Rail or Krishi Udaan? The situation on ground is that farmers are not getting minimum support prices for their crops and this Budget has nothing that addresses farm pricing. Have they increased the budget for employment guarantee scheme? How will there be an increase in purchasing power in rural areas?” he said.
Jawandia said the sole positive takeaway from the Budget would be implementation of the Model Land Leasing law that will allow farmers to lease out land to earn money and allow lease farmers to access government subsidies.
Another agrarian expert, Ajit Navale of the Left-aligned All India Kisan Sabha, also agreed that the 16-point programme was a repackaging of older announcements. “There has been a marginal increase of just ₹15,000 crore in the outlay from last year. Besides the insufficient outlay, the 16-point programme is replete with old announcements like zero-budget farming, building warehouses, etc,” said Navale.
“In the last budget, too, there was an announcement about making power generators for farmers as well as creating storage facilities in villages. These have been repeated again without any mention of what happened last year. There is some talk of encouraging traditional fertilisers instead of chemical ones, but that sounds like a way out from announcing fertiliser subsidy,” he said.
Navale also alleged that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme — announced in the last Budget — that promised annual compensation of ₹6,000 to smaller farmers had not been implemented well on ground.