The Union Budget 2022-23 has evoked negative response from farmers who said provisions for agriculture were disappointing and even silent on their key demands.
Kurubur Shanthakumar of Federation of Farmers’ Organisations said that the budget seems to be tailor-made for big-time private investors while there is no mention of some of their demands, including implementation of the recommendations of Swaminathan Committee Report on Agriculture or statutory guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for agricultural produce.
“The announcement of statutory guarantee for MSP was one of the key demands made by the farmers before withdrawing the year-long agitation against the contentious farm laws,” he said.
Other demands including abolition of GST on ingredients supplementing agricultural activities like power tiller, insecticides, pesticides, fertilizer, tractor, have also been ignored, he said.
Conceding some of these demands would have had a direct bearing on farmers and reduced the agricultural input cost, but the government has turned a deaf ear to their plea, said Mr. Shanthakumar. Instead, the duty on jewelry has been reduced which underlines the government’s lack of empathy for farmers, he added.
Some of the measures announced in the budget like linking of rivers and emphasis on millets are futuristic in scope, and offer no immediate benefit to farmers reeling under the impact of COVID-19. Hence, the budget is disappointing, Mr. Shanthakumar added.
Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) said that the budget has turned out to be a damp squib from the farmers’ point of view. Even the allocation of ₹2.37 lakh crore towards procurement of wheat and paddy under MSP was less than the ₹2.42 lakh crore announced in 2021.
Badagalpura Nagendra, president of the KRRS, said the Modi government has persisted with its policy of corporatising the agricultural sector, and there is no course correction despite withdrawal of the 3 farm laws consequent to an year-long agitation by farmers.
On the reference to interlinking of rivers, Mr. Nagendra said there was no blueprint nor has there been public debate on the pros and cons of the project, and it is a mere announcement without much substance. The budget on the whole is reflective of the government’s ‘anti-people, anti-farmers and pro-capitalists policies’, he added.
