E-Paper
Agriculture sector gets little in Union budget: Experts
Chandigarh The farmers’ community seems to have been ignored in the Union budget for financial year 2020-21 which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, feel experts
Chandigarh The farmers’ community seems to have been ignored in the Union budget for financial year 2020-21 which was tabled in Parliament on Monday, feel experts.
“The expenditure for agriculture sector in the upcoming financial year (2021-22) is ₹1.48-lakh crore which was ₹1.55-lakh crore in the current financial year (2020-21),” said Lakhwinder Singh Gill, former head of the economics department, Punjabi University. “It appears that the Modi government was not very keen for the sector. The opportunity to soothe the protesting farmers was not utilised properly,” he added.
Gill further said ₹40,000 crore for rural infrastructure in 713 districts of the country meant nothing and an announcement for a crop credit of ₹1.68 crore had little value as it was to be given by national bank of agriculture and rural development (NABARD).
Senior economist Sardara Singh Johal, who is also chancellor of the Central University, Bathinda, refused to comment.
Dean, social sciences, at Punjabi University, Kesar Singh Bhangu, welcomed the announcement for setting up 1,000 more e-national agriculture market (NAM), but said the fate of already functioning electronic mandis was unclear. “The government needs to explain the fate of the electronic mandis, which, I think, are not doing any good,” he said.
Head of economics department at Guru Nanak Dev University Neena Malhotra also felt that the government could have done more for the farmers. The government should have spent more on the agriculture sector for the reason that during the lockdown last year, only agriculture sector witnessed a growth while others suffered. She said the Union government has reaffirmed that minimum support price will continue, besides offering credits to farmers.
“Looking at the budget highlights, government has made its priorities clear that they want to spend more on infrastructure, railways and health sectors for the benefit of all sections of society in the long run,” she said.
