With farmer distress apparently taking a political toll of the ruling BJP, there is anticipation that the Union Budget, to be presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday, may focus strongly o
With farmer distress apparently taking a political toll of the ruling BJP, there is anticipation that the Union Budget, to be presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley on Monday, may focus strongly on agriculture.
Indian agriculture has been hit by back-to-back sub-normal monsoon rains in the last two years, with demands for compensation by farmers from a few states alone exceeding Rs 12,000 crore. Besides sub-normal monsoon rains, the plight of farmers worsened due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in a number of states last year.
Mr Jaitley is likely to give the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC) a budgetary allocation about 30 per cent higher, at over Rs 20,000 crore, for the next financial year (2016-17). The additional outlay has to be made to bear the cost of the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY), under which farmers have to pay just about 1.5 per cent of the premium while the rest of the cost would be shared equally by the Central and state governments.
Incidentally, the DAC received an allocation of Rs 15,500 crore for the current fiscal against a Budget estimate of Rs 16,646 crore. However, the DAC has sought over Rs 27,000 crore for the 2016-17 financial year. The department has to spearhead the implementation of not only PMFBY but also the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and Krishi Unnati Yojana, which are being given renewed thrust to bring about a qualitative improvement in the farming sector. Last year, the Centre unveiled the Krishi Unnati Yojana by consolidating various on-going schemes for better implementation; the scheme has sub-schemes for soil health management, horticulture, agriculture mechanisation and seeds, among others.
The ministry of agriculture has argued, sources said, with the finance ministry that any cut in allocation for the KUY would affect implementation of sub-schemes, including the soil health card programme.
