Budget hailed for sops, flayed for timing

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 1

The allocation of funds for the agriculture sector in the Union Budget has received a mixed response from agriculturists and farmer leaders.

Marginal farmers having less than two acre of land are expected to get Rs6,000. However, leaders of associations feel that it is too little and late.

The Budget announced launching of the Kisan Yojana Programme wherein farmers owning up to two hectares would get Rs 6,000 per year. Besides, interest subsidy would be given to farmers pursuing animal husbandry, fisheries and affected by natural calamity.

A prominent farmer leader, Rattan Singh Randhawa, said the Budget depicts the election prospect as it is an election year. The government will have to put in untiring efforts to straighten the revenue records to identify and reach the real beneficiaries. “To take the farmers out of distress, they should be paid for their produce in accordance with the recommendations of the Swaminathan committee,” he said.

Referring to the Rs 1,450 MSP on maize, he claimed that the farmers were being paid less than Rs 1,000 in the market.

Economist Dr SS Chhina said, “Prosperity depends on output, income and purchasing power but nothing in this regard is there in the Budget. Rural development, particularly boost to agro-based industries, is missing.”

“Farmers are already availing subsidies on electricity and fertiliser, even then suicides are being reported from across the country. Rs 6,000 per annum aid to marginal farmers may not help them overcome the gap between their input cost and procurement rates.”

Rs 60,000 crore for the MNREGA is an encouraging move for rural areas.

BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina termed it a people-friendly and welfare-oriented Budget. He said all sectors, be it agriculture, health, education or defence, working class or housing, have been taken care of. He hailed the announcement of launching the Kisan Yojana Pogramme and interest subsidy to farmers pursuing animal husbandry, fisheries and affected by natural calamity.